- 4/19/2025
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00:00The 19th of May, the anniversary of the death of a Queen of England.
00:15Every year on this day, a bouquet of red roses is delivered anonymously to the chapel of the Tower of London.
00:24They are accompanied by a simple request. They are to be laid just over there, on the spot where the second wife of Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, was buried on this day in 1536.
00:42I'm historian Tracey Borman. Over the next three nights, I'm going to explore the incredible story of Anne's downfall.
00:51Look at that, it's just exquisite.
00:55It's wonderful, isn't it?
00:56It all took place in the space of just 17 days.
01:01I studied Anne for most of my life. I think I know her well.
01:06But I'm going to do something that I've never done before.
01:08I'm going to follow in Anne's footsteps, take the journey with her, hour by hour, during the three most important days, from Queen to Outcast, to find the truth behind her downfall.
01:25That is incredible. Can I just put it in my pocket?
01:27I'll look at the day she's arrested, the day she's tried, and the day she's beheaded.
01:38In this first episode, I'll be tracing the events of Anne Boleyn's last day of freedom.
01:47For the first time in history, a Queen of England has been arrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London,
01:55and she faces charges for which the penalty is death.
01:59It's eight o'clock in the morning on Tuesday.
02:29Tuesday, the 2nd of May, 1536.
02:34Since dawn, three hours ago, the streets have been crowded with traders, selling to passing travellers.
02:43The River Thames is full of boats carrying people and goods.
02:49And in Whitehall, a plan is being hatched.
02:53At one of the king's palaces, he has almost 60.
03:00Servants are preparing Henry VIII's main meal of the day.
03:06Things seem normal.
03:07In 1536, Henry isn't yet the oversized king we tend to think of.
03:16He's fit and active, and his weight hasn't yet ballooned.
03:21And this morning, he's been busy already.
03:25He's sent a message to one of his other palaces.
03:29And it's a message that will change the course of history forever.
03:36Leaving Henry's palace at Whitehall,
03:39the messenger starts his journey eastwards along the River Thames,
03:45towards Henry's wife, Queen Anne Boleyn.
03:48She is at another royal palace down the river, in Greenwich,
03:54the magnificent palace of Placentia.
03:58This is Anne's favourite residence.
04:02The name means Pleasant Palace, but it will not live up to that today.
04:07We're told Anne starts the day watching a game of real tennis.
04:20It's a favourite sport of hers,
04:22and also of her husband, Henry, who frequently plays matches.
04:31Anne Boleyn stands out in the English court
04:34as stylish, intellectual and charismatic.
04:40She has already experienced plenty of drama in her 35 years.
04:46Born in England, Anne was educated in France,
04:50and later became a lady-in-waiting
04:52to Henry VIII's first wife, Catherine of Aragon.
04:57Henry spotted her at court, wooed her, and they fell in love.
05:02He had his marriage to Catherine annulled,
05:05and now Henry and Anne have been married for three years.
05:09They have a young daughter, the future Queen Elizabeth I.
05:20But today, unusually, Anne is watching alone,
05:24and that must feel ominous,
05:27given what happened yesterday at the May Day jousts.
05:30King Henry received some news which set him on edge.
05:37He left without warning for the palace at Whitehall,
05:41leaving Anne by herself at Greenwich.
05:47Anne loves to have a flutter on sporting events,
05:50and the story goes that she's just regretting
05:53not having placed a bet on the winner
05:55when the message that the king sent this morning
05:58arrives with ominous instructions.
06:02The king's message from Whitehall
06:05has arrived by boat at Greenwich.
06:08The instruction is simple but ominous.
06:14It says, by order of the king,
06:18Anne must present herself before the Privy Council
06:21here at Greenwich.
06:24Her heart must sink.
06:27She knows that the council
06:28is the most important advisory body in the kingdom,
06:32and so this must be really serious.
06:38The world Anne lives in is full of intrigue.
06:45As people struggle for the king's attention.
06:52Anne has climbed to the top,
06:54but there are plenty of people
06:57who want to drag her down.
07:04This letter by a foreign ambassador,
07:07Eustace Chapuis,
07:08is full of court gossip.
07:13Chapuis is reporting that Anne,
07:16whom he refers to throughout
07:18as the concubine and great whore.
07:22This is absolutely typical.
07:24There's nothing but criticism of Anne,
07:28the concubine,
07:30the woman who has led the king astray.
07:35In one of his most cutting comments,
07:38he reports that Henry is tiring of Anne
07:41and looking out for a new, younger wife.
07:44It's the joy and pleasure a man feels
07:48in getting rid of a thin, old, vicious horse
07:51in the hope of getting soon a fine horse to ride.
07:55It really is incredibly thrilling
07:57as a Tudor historian
07:59to get my hands on documents such as this.
08:03They're telling us
08:03what people are saying about Anne at this time,
08:06the sorts of rumours that are circulating.
08:09So you get the feeling
08:10of the weight of evidence
08:12that he's gathering against Anne.
08:15There's nothing here in her favour.
08:21It seems nobody is prepared
08:23to speak in her defence.
08:26The documents record
08:28what happens next on May 2nd
08:31at the palace in Greenwich.
08:35Anne is escorted from the tennis courts,
08:43which are part of the vast palace,
08:46to a council chamber
08:47at the other side of the complex.
08:53Anne makes her way across the courtyard
08:56to the Privy Council meeting
08:58in full view of everyone.
09:01I can only imagine
09:04what must be running through her mind.
09:06Perhaps she's fearing
09:08that like Catherine of Aragon,
09:10Henry is going to divorce her.
09:12She must be racking her brains
09:14trying to think of just what she's done wrong.
09:17At the council chamber,
09:29she is met by three grave-faced men
09:32who rise to their feet.
09:38One of them is the Duke of Norfolk,
09:41Anne's uncle.
09:42You'd have thought that he'd want to help her,
09:46but in fact,
09:47the two can't stand each other.
09:51Also there is William Kingston,
09:53constable of the Tower of London
09:55and a member of the Privy Council.
10:01Anne later claimed that...
10:03I was cruelly handled at Greenwich
10:05with the King's Council,
10:07with my Lord of Norfolk.
10:10And then he said,
10:12tut, tut, tut.
10:14Well, tut, tut, tut,
10:16that sounds like quite a mild reprimand.
10:19But what the council then said to Anne
10:21was earth-shattering.
10:24They charged her with adultery.
10:29With Sir Henry Norris.
10:31This is a bolt from the blue.
10:39Norris is one of the King's oldest friends.
10:43Until now,
10:45he's been one of Henry's most trusted courtiers.
10:50To make matters worse,
10:52Anne's also accused of adultery
10:54with a common and brash court musician,
10:58Mark Smeaton,
10:59and a mysterious third unnamed man.
11:05Anne must be absolutely reeling from this.
11:09But somehow she holds it together.
11:12She says...
11:13I am the King's true wife.
11:16And that no other man has ever touched her.
11:20It's interesting that even now,
11:22in the midst of her shock,
11:23the first thing she does
11:25is protest her innocence.
11:30Rumours travel like lightning
11:32in the Tudor court.
11:34After questioning,
11:35Anne's escorted under guard
11:37back to her rooms.
11:39Forced to cross the palace courtyard again
11:42in full view of everyone.
11:45This is all incredibly demeaning.
11:53No other Queen of England
11:55has ever suffered such humiliation.
12:00Gossip must already be spreading
12:03across the palace.
12:04And as Anne makes her way back
12:07to her private apartments,
12:09her mind must be spinning.
12:13What's going on?
12:14Is the King behind this?
12:16Or is it a plot
12:17by her enemies
12:18to destroy her?
12:21Little does she know,
12:23much worse is to come.
12:25I don't know.
12:55in greenwich at the palace of placentia and is back in her apartments under armed guard
13:06despite the charges she tries to follow her normal routine and sits down to dinner she's
13:18clearly doing her best to try and maintain appearances that all is well she's dressed
13:24in a sumptuous gown of red velvet and cloth of gold and she sits beneath a canopy of a state a symbol
13:33of her authority as queen which is ironic because that authority has started to crumble
13:40the people around Anne are acting strangely her ladies are upset and tearful and most ominous of
13:50all is that the king's waiter who usually appears at mealtimes to say much good may it do you on
13:59behalf of the king doesn't appear Anne is so distressed that finally her composure starts to crumble
14:10she must be wondering as must everybody else in the room what is going to happen next
14:19but today's events haven't come out of the blue
14:24Anne's troubles began three months ago
14:33when she was expecting a son
14:38Henry's marriage to his first wife Catherine had broken down because after almost 25 years
14:53they'd failed to produce a son
14:55to continue the Tudor dynasty he needs a male heir
15:01the duty now falls to Anne
15:06three months ago she was pregnant
15:11the king and queen were pinning all their hopes on it being a son
15:17proof of the anticipation of this new male arrival
15:24is a commemorative medal produced by Anne
15:27known as the most happy medal she planned to distribute it across the nation
15:33to celebrate the birth and to boost her own image
15:37just the prototype survives locked away in the British Museum
15:43feel like a burglar
15:44I'm about to come face to face with Anne
15:49for the very first time
15:52wow it is really exciting
15:55it's amazing the detail you can see so much more
15:59I've only ever seen pictures of this
16:00is that okay
16:02this feels like looking at Anne Boleyn
16:09it really is quite extraordinary
16:12and yet very very different to the way that I think of her
16:17the way that I've been influenced by those later portraits
16:20whereas this is the only known likeness of Anne
16:24actually taken during her lifetime
16:27so this is Anne as she really was
16:30this is just incredibly thrilling to see
16:33there weren't any others made
16:36this was it
16:37and Anne was quite a control freak
16:40so the chances are that Anne perhaps Henry too
16:44actually held this
16:46she was down the spine
16:48so this is a piece of propaganda
16:50this is the Tudor equivalent of Twitter
16:52I wonder what she made of it when she saw it
16:55can I just put it in my pocket now
16:58that is incredible
17:01but three months ago
17:17tragedy struck
17:19Anne suffered a miscarriage
17:27worse
17:29it seems it was a baby boy
17:32the air that Henry was so desperate for
17:36this is a major blow for Henry
17:40and an absolute disaster for Anne
17:43all of Henry's doubts come flooding back
17:50Henry believes that
17:55God did not permit them to have a son
17:58and there are rumours that he believed he might
18:02take another wife
18:04straight away
18:06Henry begins thinking of ditching Anne
18:09for someone who can give him a son
18:12step forward this man
18:15Thomas Cromwell
18:17the so-called fixer
18:19who has made it his job to make Henry's deepest wishes come true
18:23as Anne finishes her meal today
18:32she knows Cromwell must be behind this attempt to bring her down
18:37he spent the last few weeks secretly building a case against her from his base here at Austin Friars
18:50today the area lies in the shadow of the city of London's skyscrapers
19:00the son of a blacksmith
19:02Cromwell's risen to be the king's special advisor
19:06by promising to make Henry
19:09the richest sovereign who ever reigned in England
19:12I've come to Thomas Cromwell's power base
19:16to get a political perspective on him from journalist Owen Jones
19:21hi Owen
19:22hi how you doing
19:23nice to meet you
19:24well we're here on the site of Thomas Cromwell's original house
19:28and it's from here that he did so much of his plotting
19:31we can see him as the original spin doctor
19:34Mr Fixer
19:35there are some pretty obvious modern parallels aren't there
19:38I think the parallels are very very striking indeed
19:41you had to use cunning
19:42and you had to be devious
19:44you had to constantly see it as a chess game
19:46where you had to outmanoeuvre
19:48and defeat your opponents ruthlessly
19:50that kind of tradition of the spin doctor
19:53whether it be Peter Mandelson and Dominic Cummings
19:55I bet I wouldn't be surprised
19:57if they hadn't themselves looked back at Thomas Cromwell
20:00with some admiration
20:00and who knows
20:02maybe they were partly inspired by him
20:03so it's a case of the end justifying the means
20:06remorselessly so
20:07even if the way you get there
20:09is seen as morally very dubious
20:12very problematic
20:13even scandalous
20:14as long as you get to where you want to get to
20:17as long as you achieve that sacred goal
20:19then everything can be justified
20:21for people like Cromwell
20:22he has this huge amount of power and influence
20:25but he has a job to do
20:26instead of get Brexit done
20:28it's get rid of the Queen of England
20:30and so he knows the risks that he's taking
20:33and that if he fails
20:35really it's his neck on the line
20:37I think politicians are risk seekers
20:40they're adrenaline junkies
20:42they like the idea that they could suddenly
20:44amass all this power
20:46but at any moment it could all come crumbling down
20:48so I think there is that sense of politics
20:51is seen as a bit of a game
20:53from his house in Austin Friars
20:58Cromwell makes his way across the city
21:01to Greenwich
21:03the net is closing in on Anne
21:08Cromwell's skill is finding out
21:17what the King wants
21:19and making it happen
21:20when Henry had grown tired of his first wife Catherine
21:25Cromwell had turned against her
21:27now Henry has grown tired of Anne
21:30Cromwell has turned against her too
21:32well his first move has been to put Anne
21:35in front of the Privy Council
21:37now it's time to put the next part of his plan
21:41into action
21:42Cromwell enters Anne's dining room
21:46together with a large entourage
21:49of important men
21:51including her uncle
21:53the Duke of Norfolk
21:54earlier this morning
21:56Norfolk has been one of three men
21:58of the Privy Council
21:59to charge Anne with adultery
22:02now he's carrying a scroll
22:04which is a warrant for his niece's arrest
22:07clearly blood is not thicker than water
22:11in the Berlin family
22:12loyalty to the King
22:14is more important
22:15for political survival
22:17Anne rises from her seat
22:20asking why they have come
22:23Norfolk says
22:24we came by the King's command
22:27to conduct Anne
22:28to the Tower of London
22:29discovering that she is being taken to the Tower
22:36must be a horrific body blow for Anne
22:39her stomach must be churning
22:41yet remarkably she holds it together
22:45Anne replies
22:48if it be his majesty's pleasure
22:50then I am ready to obey
22:52she's given no time to pack
22:57to summon her ladies-in-waiting
22:59or say goodbye
23:00to her beloved
23:02two-and-a-half-year-old daughter
23:04Elizabeth
23:04why the need
23:07for all this haste?
23:09well Cromwell
23:10is painfully aware
23:12that Henry and Anne
23:13have always had
23:14a tempestuous relationship
23:16furious rows
23:18but each one followed
23:19by a passionate reconciliation
23:21he has to act fast
23:24to make sure that
23:25that doesn't happen this time
23:27the Queen of England
23:34is under arrest
23:36her freedom gone
23:37all she can do
23:39is wait in Greenwich
23:41to be taken down the Thames
23:42to the Tower of London
23:45but while events in Greenwich play out
23:49down the Thames in Whitehall
23:51her husband
23:53is keeping
23:54a low profile
23:55Henry doesn't want
24:06to face his wife
24:07or the public
24:08strangely though
24:10he doesn't seem
24:11greatly troubled
24:12by events
24:12that are happening
24:13ten miles from here
24:15in Greenwich
24:16in fact
24:17those people
24:18who do see him
24:19report that he's
24:20in great spirits
24:21even rejoicing
24:23at Anne's fate
24:24the court has never
24:27been so lively
24:28feasts and banquets
24:30follow one another
24:31much to the disgust
24:33of many of those there
24:34eyewitnesses report
24:36that he has
24:37daily gone out
24:38to dine
24:39here and there
24:39with ladies
24:40and sometimes
24:41has remained with them
24:42until after midnight
24:43it's all very strange behaviour
24:46but perhaps mentally
24:48Henry has already
24:49moved on from Anne
24:51this sudden rejection
24:53of Anne
24:54is particularly shocking
24:56because he courted her
24:57for so long
24:59but what attracted Henry
25:01to her in the first place
25:03it's difficult to know
25:05the truth about her looks
25:07and personality
25:08because pictures we have
25:10of her were painted
25:11after her death
25:13but there may be clues
25:15on the most happy medal
25:16I looked at earlier
25:18it features the only
25:20portrait of Anne
25:21created during her lifetime
25:24it's badly damaged
25:26but sculptor
25:27Lucy Churchill
25:28is using it
25:29to reconstruct
25:30her face
25:31I noticed
25:34when I looked at it
25:35under magnification
25:36I noticed so much
25:37more detail
25:38I'm about to see
25:41the restored likeness
25:42of Anne
25:43for the first time
25:45here is
25:46my version
25:47oh wow
25:49that's amazing
25:51I must admit
25:52that my first reaction
25:53on seeing this
25:54is
25:55what was Anne's
25:56appeal
25:56for
25:57Henry
25:58we know that
25:58he was absolutely
25:59besotted
26:00with her
26:01the fact that she
26:01isn't conventionally
26:02beautiful
26:03a lot of people
26:03are very disappointed
26:04she is heavy eyed
26:06heavy jawed
26:07she was described
26:08as not the most
26:09beautiful woman
26:10at court
26:11but she
26:12she could dance
26:13she was
26:14very good
26:15very witty
26:16very intellectual
26:17she had charisma
26:18and I think that's
26:19much more attractive
26:20than the idea of
26:22it being her
26:23superficial beauty
26:24that lured him in
26:25and what you can see
26:26from here
26:27is that she had
26:28self-confidence
26:29in spades
26:30yes
26:31it looks like
26:33more of a
26:34Henry VIII pose
26:35it looks like
26:35hands on hips
26:36you can't actually
26:36see the rest of her arms
26:38but back straight
26:39head raised
26:40this is Anne
26:41at her most
26:41self-confidence
26:42isn't it
26:43under arrest
26:51Anne's self-confidence
26:53is now
26:54in tatters
26:55at Greenwich
26:58she's been waiting
26:59for almost an hour
27:00for the boat
27:01to take her
27:02down the Thames
27:03Anne is about
27:05to leave
27:05her beloved
27:06Greenwich Palace
27:07for the last time
27:09next stop
27:11the tower
27:13yeah
27:15so
27:17so
27:20so
27:23so
27:29MUSIC PLAYS
27:59MUSIC CONTINUES
28:29And you can still see just over there the remains of the original Tudor pier
28:34from which Anne would have boarded the boat.
28:41I'm now following in the wake of Anne's journey to the Tower of London.
28:46MUSIC CONTINUES
28:51Usually, state prisoners would have been taken to the Tower
28:54under cover of darkness,
28:56but Anne suffers the humiliation of being rode there in full daylight.
29:04MUSIC CONTINUES
29:05They really want to make her arrest very public indeed.
29:12MUSIC CONTINUES
29:16If that isn't bad enough, her nemesis, Thomas Cromwell,
29:20is with her on the boat.
29:23It's as if he can't trust her arrest to others.
29:26He has to keep a close eye throughout.
29:30MUSIC CONTINUES
29:31The atmosphere on the boat must be toxic.
29:36MUSIC CONTINUES
29:36Cromwell's agents have been at work spreading the word
29:44that the Queen has been arrested
29:46and is heading down the river.
29:52Within a matter of hours,
29:55the sensational news is all around London.
29:58MUSIC CONTINUES
29:59Today, the Thames is very quiet,
30:10but at the time of Anne's arrest,
30:12it would have been a bustling thoroughfare
30:14filled with boats
30:16and also crowded with spectators watching from the shore.
30:21And they would have all been hostile
30:23to this woman who they saw as a usurper.
30:27She'd ousted the rightful queen, Catherine of Aragon.
30:34After a two-hour journey,
30:37Anne arrives at the Tower of London.
30:48This is the tower as Anne is seeing it
30:52as she arrives from Greenwich.
30:54MUSIC CONTINUES
30:56And it's incredibly imposing.
31:02When you see it from this view,
31:03you tend to approach by road
31:04and you don't get a sense
31:06of just how intimidating
31:08the fortress would have looked.
31:11Arriving here, particularly for Anne,
31:14who knows that she's arriving
31:15not as an honoured guest,
31:17but as a prisoner.
31:18MUSIC CONTINUES
31:19Well, most prisoners who are brought to the tower
31:30enter through Traitor's Gate,
31:32but Anne is brought here
31:34to what was known as the Court Gate,
31:37which was probably a nod to her status
31:39because, after all, prisoner she might be,
31:42but she's also still the Queen of England.
31:44MUSIC CONTINUES
31:44Well, as Anne steps down here,
31:51the thunder of the tower's cannon
31:54sounds all around her.
31:56MUSIC CONTINUES
31:57She's renowned for her composure,
32:05but that now begins to crumble.
32:07She falls to her knees,
32:09protesting her innocence.
32:11MUSIC CONTINUES
32:12When Anne last arrived here
32:15three years ago,
32:17it was for her coronation celebrations.
32:20Remembering this, she says...
32:22I was received with greater ceremony
32:24the last time I entered here.
32:25MUSIC CONTINUES
32:26The tower is a royal palace,
32:36but it's also an infamous prison.
32:42Responsibility for Anne
32:43now falls to Sir William Kingston,
32:46the constable of the tower.
32:50Anne asks him...
32:52Mr Kingston, do I go into a dungeon?
32:59MUSIC CONTINUES
33:00Anne expects to be taken
33:01to one of the many cells within the tower.
33:03MUSIC CONTINUES
33:05But instead, she's taken the other way,
33:09towards the Queen's apartments.
33:11MUSIC CONTINUES
33:11This is a great relief for Anne,
33:19and also a surprise.
33:22Perhaps it gives her a glimmer of hope
33:25that things might not be quite as bad
33:28as she feared.
33:29MUSIC CONTINUES
33:30But, on the other side of London,
33:33in Henry's Whitehall Palace,
33:35something incredible is cooking up.
33:39The case against Anne is developing fast,
33:43and it's about to get much darker.
33:46MUSIC CONTINUES
33:47So far, Anne knows she's accused of adultery
33:59with Mark Smeaton,
34:01Henry Norris,
34:03and a mysterious third man.
34:07But who is he?
34:10Rumours are circulating
34:12that this third man is, in fact,
34:14her own brother, George Boleyn.
34:19George has heard the rumour
34:21and, as yet, is unaware.
34:23He races across London to hear Whitehall Palace,
34:27which once stood where these buildings are now.
34:31MUSIC CONTINUES
34:32He's come to see the King,
34:34to plead his innocence,
34:35clear his name
34:36and make a case for the Boleyns.
34:39MUSIC CONTINUES
34:40But George's attempt to win the King over
34:44is in vain.
34:49Cromwell has the King in lockdown,
34:52so he can control exactly what's going on.
34:57George has no chance of a meeting.
35:01Instead, he is arrested on the spot
35:05and charged...
35:06MUSIC CONTINUES
35:08..with incest.
35:13As if the charges of adultery
35:16against Anne aren't enough,
35:17they've really stepped up a gear
35:19with this claim.
35:23Cromwell's plot to destroy the Queen
35:25is all falling into place.
35:29Now he needs Anne under lock and key
35:32while he plots his next move.
35:35MUSIC CONTINUES
35:36...
35:56MUSIC CONTINUES
35:57Anne is under the watch of the Constable of the Tower, Sir William Kingston.
36:24He leads her to the Queen's apartments.
36:27Well, thanks to this detailed map from the Tudor period, we know exactly where Anne's
36:34apartments were. They're on that lawn, long since demolished, but would have been very
36:39lavish. And they're certainly not what Anne is expecting. And that must have just added
36:44to her confusion. Why has she been brought here and lodged still as Queen?
36:50The Queen's apartments, together with a great hall, connected the White Tower to the outer
36:56walls. Just three years ago, Henry spent £3,500, that's £1.5 million in today's money, rebuilding
37:09them for Anne's coronation. Inside, they are sumptuously decorated and furnished.
37:21When Anne first sees her apartment, she cries out,
37:36It is too good for me.
37:38Which seems an odd thing to say, given she's just protested her innocence. Is this an admission
37:46of guilt? Or is Anne trying to be clever, pretending to be humble in order to invite compassion?
37:54Kingston. Kingston recalled that Anne...
37:58It's clear that Anne is almost hysterical at the thought of what might now happen.
38:15To make matters worse, she's been appointed four ladies whom she neither likes nor trusts. Incredibly,
38:26one of them is her own aunt.
38:31Once again, family loyalty counts for nothing with the Boleyns.
38:36Well, it's obvious that these ladies have been placed there as spies by Cromwell. He knows that
38:46the evidence he's gathered so far is not enough. He needs more. And he's hoping that while Anne
38:56is here in the tower, she'll say something to really incriminate herself.
39:00As Cromwell waits for incriminating evidence from his spies, he plots the next move from Austin
39:13Friars.
39:19He has the Queen under lock and key.
39:24But what next?
39:25Cromwell can't risk a repeat performance of Henry's split from Catherine of Aragon. She'd refused to go
39:34quietly and had caused a great deal of trouble for the King.
39:41Even after the annulment, most people in Britain still see Catherine as the true Queen. But not everyone
39:49does. Anne is a good deal less popular than Catherine, but she's not without powerful
39:55supporters who might make trouble if Henry tries to divorce her.
40:03So Cromwell knows he needs to get rid of them and fast.
40:10He's already imprisoned three of her allies. Sir Henry Norris, musician Mark Smeaton and a third man.
40:20Who has turned out to be her brother, George Boleyn, all accused of adultery with the Queen.
40:30Across London, Cromwell's trap is closing in on Anne and anyone who can help her.
40:37Now he must prepare for the trial of the century in which he'll bring down these supporters and the
40:47Queen of England herself.
40:49Just a stone's throw away from Cromwell's base at Austin Friars, at the Tower of London,
41:01Anne Boleyn prepares for her first night as a prisoner.
41:12Her mood is darkening.
41:14Kingston pays her a visit.
41:17Anne insists on her innocence to Kingston. She protests,
41:24I am the King's true wedded wife.
41:27And then she asks, Mr Kingston, do you know wherefore I am here?
41:35And he replies, no.
41:38Whether he does know or not is a different matter.
41:41In desperation, Anne demands to know where her supporters are, in particular, her father.
41:50The truth is, her father Thomas has abandoned her in order to save his own skin.
41:59Across the city in Whitehall, the King retires for the night.
42:04His wife imprisoned, he is alone.
42:12As the events of the day draw to a close, Cromwell sends a message to the King,
42:18here at Whitehall.
42:20The message updates the King with the allegations against his wife.
42:25When the King reads it, he's utterly distraught.
42:28An eyewitness tells us, the King begins to weep.
42:37Were the tears genuine?
42:39Was Henry just putting on a show?
42:41Or did he truly love Anne?
42:46I think it more likely that Henry was feeling sorry for himself.
42:50That the woman whom he'd raised to be Queen of England had betrayed him.
42:58I think it was the only thing that he'd raised to be, the only thing that he'd raised to be.
43:02At the tower, Anne is settling in for the first night away from her husband as a prisoner.
43:14The tower is a place full of foreboding, particularly at night.
43:19And I can only imagine what Anne must have been feeling during her first night as a prisoner here,
43:25desperately wanting to know what fate lay ahead for her.
43:32Well, there is a letter in existence that's said to have been written by Anne to her husband,
43:39the King.
43:40In it, she writes,
43:42Try me, good King, but let me have a lawful trial.
43:46And let not my sworn enemies sit as my accusers and judges.
43:51For my truth shall fear no open shame.
43:55Anne is asking for a fair trial.
44:00But is that what she's going to get?
44:02Next time, my investigation moves forward to the events of the 15th of May, 1536.
44:19This is Anne's trial.
44:21I'll follow the day of Anne Boleyn's trial moment by moment.
44:26I want to find out if she stands any chance of a fair hearing.
44:31Or is her fate sealed from the beginning?
44:34Can Anne possibly save herself?
44:41Well, the ominous clouds continue to gather over Tudor, London,
44:44as the fall of Anne Boleyn continues with the trial brand new tomorrow night at nine.
44:48It's trial by media for the modern royal family next,
44:51whose affairs and infidelities are being played out in public.
44:54That's after the break.
45:04So I know she's been the
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