Short History Of... - The Tudors, Part 1 of 2

Episode Date: March 30, 2025

The Tudors are the most famous royal family in English history, ruling from 1485 to 1603. The dynasty began with the reign of King Henry VII, and ended with his granddaughter, Elizabeth I. Marked by political, religious, and cultural change, the Tudor era shaped the course of English history, and paved the way for modern Britain.  But how did the first Tudor king fight his way to power? What drove his son, Henry VIII, to break away from Rome and establish his own church? And who were the astonishing women who defined the reign of the Tudors? This is a Short History Of The Tudors, part one of two. A Noiser production. Written by Nicola Rayner. With thanks to Tracy Norman OBE, Chief Historian at Historic Royal Palaces and the author of several historical biographies, including The Private Lives of the Tudors.   Get every episode of Short History Of a week early with Noiser+. You’ll also get ad-free listening, bonus material, and early access to shows across the Noiser network. Click the Noiser+ banner to get started. Or, if you’re on Spotify or Android, go to noiser.com/subscriptions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It is late March 1502. A cold wind howls through the battlements of Ludlow Castle near the English border with Wales. A servant shivers as he makes his way along a cold stone corridor. The flickering candle in his lantern gives a weak light to guide the way for his visitor, a Catholic priest in a long black cassock. The mood in the castle is somber. Even its great hall, once filled with laughter and the melody of lutes, stands silent. At last, the pair reach the royal bedchamber, where they knock lightly on the door. A weak female voice tells them to enter.

Beside the bed, the sixteen-year-old Spanish princess Catherine of Aragon sits with her hands clenched in silent prayer for her ailing husband, while a young woman attends the fire in the hearth. Rushes strewn across the flagstones muffle the priest's footsteps as he approaches the great oak bed. And there, amid the scent of burning medicinal herbs, lies Arthur, the Prince of Wales, eldest

son of King Henry VII. The fifteen-year-old heir to the throne is almost motionless. Gaunt, hollow-eyed and skeletal, he is unrecognizable from the healthy young man who returned to the castle in December after his opulent wedding celebrations in London. Now, beads of sweat cling to Arthur's waxy brow, and every exhalation is a struggle. The priest begins to murmur in Latin. The room's candlelight catches the glint of his golden cross as he raises it over Arthur. The young prince stirs briefly. His lips part, though no words come, only another shallow, rattling breath. Princess Catherine tells the servant urgently to fetch the doctor again.

He makes his way back out into the castle corridors. The physicians, he knows, have already tried all their remedies. Even so, no one is prepared to give up on the future monarch, whom everyone hoped would become the second Tudor king, in a line established fewer than twenty years ago by his father. The days pass in this way, hurrying from room to room, fetching another doctor or another priest, while the prince heads to his inevitable destination. And then at last it comes.

The servant is hidden in the shadows of the room, when the first light of dawn creeps through the leaded glass on April the 2nd. Prince Arthur's chest rises, falls, and does not rise again. The fire is left to die in the grate, and the windows are opened to release the sickly fog of impotent remedies, sickness, and the windows are opened to release the sickly fug of impotent remedies, sickness and death. Somewhere in the distance, a raven calls. And though nature is oblivious, the course of England's future has changed forever. The Tudor dynasty ruled England from 1485 to 1603, beginning with Henry VII and ending

with his granddaughter Elizabeth I. The Tudors are the most famous royal family in English history. Every school child can recite rhymes about Henry VIII, famed for his six marriages and break with the Catholic Church. While his daughter, known as Good Queen Bess, oversaw the Elizabethan Golden Age. Marked by political, religious and cultural change, the Tudor era shaped the course of English history, paving the way for modern Britain. But how did the first Tudor king fight his way to power? What drove his son to break away from Rome and establish his own church with himself at its head?

And who were the astonishing women who defined his reign and the years that followed? I'm John Hopkins from the Noisy Network. This is a short history of the Tudors, part one of two. If Prince Arthur had not died, his younger brother Henry would never have become England's most famous king. But to understand the rise of the Tudor dynasty, we need to go back a little further. By April 1483, the Wars of the Roses between the rival houses of Lancaster and York have dominated England's political landscape for almost 30 years, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths. Disagreement about the true royal lineage is the subject of bitter dispute. And now the death of the once warlike King Edward IV

of the House of York leaves a succession crisis. Though the crown immediately passes to the late king's 12-year-old son, who becomes Edward V, the future is by no means secure. Soon, young Edward and his brother are confined to the Tower of London by their uncle Richard of York, who then proclaims himself king. The boys are never seen again.

But when Richard's own son dies, the next in line becomes his distant cousin, the 28-year-old Lancastrian Henry Tudor. Tracy Borman, OBE, is chief historian at historic royal palaces and the author of several historical biographies, including The Private Lives of the Tudors. Their claim to the throne actually descended from an illegitimate line. Ultimately, they traced their descent from the sons of Edward III, and in particular, John of Gaunt, but from John of Gaunt's affair with Catherine Swinford. So that's where the Tudor line came from,

or the Tudor claim to the throne came from. So, yeah, it didn't bear close scrutiny. throne came from, so yeah, it didn't bear close scrutiny. Henry Tudor began life in Pembroke in Wales in 1457, but his arrival was a traumatic one. Before he is even born, his father was captured by the Yorkists and died of the plague in captivity. the Yorkists and died of the plague in captivity. Henry's mother, Margaret Beaufort, widowed at just 13, almost lost her life giving birth to Henry. She never has another child,

but believes Henry is destined to be king, and she will stop at nothing to secure the future for him. He's sent to Brittany for his safety for a while, and by 1485 he's become a magnet for Lancastrian exiles, unhappy with Richard III's reign. He now learns that Richard has designs on marrying his niece, Elizabeth of York, the sister of the princes in the tower. It's bad news for Henry, who is keen to match with Elizabeth himself. If she and Richard had children, Henry's own claim to the throne would be weakened.

He needs to make his move. Henry leaves Brittany with a ragtag army of prisoners and mercenaries. Richard in turn rallies his forces, and the pair meet at the fateful Battle of Bosworth Field. With his royal army now almost ten thousand strong, the king looks like the favorite to win against this Welsh underdog to begin with. Really, it was one family and in fact, two brothers, the Stanley brothers, who were very powerful noblemen. One of them was married to Henry Tudor's mother,

Margaret Beaufort, but despite that, it looked like they were going to fight on the side of Richard III. But then at the last moment, when they saw the way the battle might be going, they changed allegiance and fought for Henry Tudor. And that was decisive. Richard makes a final, last-ditch bid to kill Henry himself. He comes within striking distance before Henry's men descend upon him with swords and halberds. His corpse, stripped naked,

is paraded through the streets of Leicester. A brutal and bloody end to the Wars of the Roses. A brutal and bloody end to the Wars of the Roses. Henry Tudor is crowned Henry VII in October 1485. And the following year he makes good on his promise to marry Elizabeth of York. Their union not only symbolizes the reconciliation of the warring houses, but also marks the dawn of the Tudor dynasty. At their wedding, the white rose of York and the red rose of Lancaster are conjoined to form the Tudor Rose. The marriage between Henry and Elizabeth is a fertile one. The couple have seven children, four of whom survive into

adulthood. Arthur, Margaret, Henry and Mary. In his reign, the first Tudor king wastes no time quelling rebellions and cementing his position. Henry VII was a very wily king. He was very clever. And what he did brilliantly was to secure England's position internationally. So he was very good at international diplomacy. He made this brilliant alliance with Spain, with the mighty monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella. And this was cemented in a marriage alliance between his eldest son, Prince Arthur, and their daughter Catherine of Aragon. And that really was a moment. Arthur, the Prince of Wales, marries Catherine of Aragon on November 14, 1501, at St Paul's Cathedral.

Thousands of people line the streets to catch a glimpse of the glittering Spanish princess. After a wedding feast, the couple proceed to nearby Baynard's Castle. Even after Arthur climbs into bed next to his new wife, their guests do not leave. The royal couple are blessed in bed and wine and spices are served to their guests in the bedchamber before the newlyweds are finally left in peace to consummate their marriage. But do they? Far from being a private affair, this question will have far-reaching consequences in the years to come. Whatever happened behind closed doors, the couple are soon on the move. The royal court is a mobile one, travelling from sumptuous residence to sumptuous residence, with Ludlow Castle being the traditional seat of the Prince of Wales.

But after retreating here for the cold winter that follows, both now fall prey to what is known as the Great Sickness, a deadly strain of influenza. Catherine survives, but Arthur dies at just 15. His brother Henry, a charismatic 10-year-old, is now next in line to the throne. In 1503, to maintain the political alliance between England and Spain, the king begins discussions about marrying Catherine of Aragon to his younger son,

though her unpaid dowry and her previous marriage complicate matters. That summer, young Henry's sister Margaret marries James IV of Scotland, creating a strategic alliance between England and Scotland. It is a crucial moment for the Tudor dynasty. Flame haired and handsome, the heir to the English throne becomes a teenager, throwing himself into his lifelong passions, jousting, hunting, wine, and women. His behavior alarms his more temperate father, but young Henry proves irrepressible. Though he's keen for more contact

with his possible fiance, Catherine, the two are kept apart while the negotiations continue. As the youthful Henry becomes more vigorous, his father, now in his 50s, suffers recurring bouts of tuberculosis. His own devoted mother, Lady Margaret, moves into Richmond Palace to nurse him, but to no avail. In April 1509, Henry VII, England's first Tudor king,

takes his final breath. The coronation of Henry VIII in June 1509 seems to herald a bright new era. In the place of his dour, wily father is a vigorous youth of seventeen. An athletic figure of six foot two, Henry is popular and charismatic. The new king seems to have the world at his feet, but he is gathering a reputation for a nasty temper as well as a paranoid streak. But there is another less well-reported side to him too. There was one quote that really changed things for me about Henry VIII because you think of this tyrant and all-powerful mercurial man and yet one visitor to Henry's private apartments described him as being the most timid man you could hope to meet and that is astonishing and I thought I must have misread

it are they talking about Henry VII? No they're not and the reason was Henry VIII was a hypochondriac. He was absolutely paranoid about sickness and disease and you can understand why. His brother Arthur died when he was just 15. Then shortly afterwards Henry's mother Elizabeth, whom he adored, she died in childbirth, aged just 37. So life was short and Henry was very aware of that and he was also aware that by the time he came to the throne he was his father's last throw of the dice, the only surviving male heir in an age when of course boys counted. So he was aware of the fragility of life and I think this really did make him very very paranoid about sickness and disease. If anybody so much as sneezed in his presence, they'd be banished from the court. so much as sneezed in his presence, they'd be banished from the court.

Now he is king, producing his own heir becomes a priority. But for that to happen, he needs a wife. Special papal permission is now in place for Henry to marry his brother's widow on the condition that she swears her virginity is still intact. In one of his first acts as king, Henry finally weds Catherine of Aragon in a quiet June ceremony at Greenwich Palace. This time, there is no doubt that the wedding has been consummated.

Catherine's first pregnancy is announced in November 1509, but it sadly ends with a stillbirth. Before long, though the queen is pregnant again, the king embarks on the first of his many extramarital affairs. The woman in question is banished to a convent, and with another baby on the way, Katherine and Henry patch things up. In the early hours of New Year's Day, 1511, the Queen gives birth to a boy.

A son and heir, named Henry, after his father. The kingdom rejoices. There are jousts, pageants, and fireworks to celebrate. No one can party like the Tudors, and their feasts of this time are prodigious. But the bonfires have barely fallen cold before tragedy strikes. The young prince dies at just two months old. His tiny coffin is carried in procession from Richmond to Westminster. His parents are heartbroken.

Within a couple of years, Catherine is pregnant again, but by this stage she also has more immediate concerns. Her husband has launched an invasion of northern France, personally leading his army on the campaign. Honoring the so-called Old Alliance with France, the Scottish king declares war on England and invades the north. With Henry away, a heavily pregnant Catherine dons armor and rides north to rally the troops. The conflict culminates in the catastrophic Battle of Flodden, where James IV of Scotland

is killed, leaving his infant son to become King James V. Catherine sends Henry a piece of James's bloodied coat to use as a banner, but miscarries shortly afterward. Finally, in 1514, peace is restored. Henry signs a treaty with the French Louis XIII and marries his sister to him to further solidify the alliance. Both events are brokered by his indispensable right-hand man, Cardinal Wolsey. And there is more good news on the horizon, for Catherine at least. In 1516, she gives birth to a healthy daughter, Mary. A few years later, the restless king does finally get his wish of a son, but as he's born to one of his wife's ladies-in-waiting, he is illegitimate. So the problem of succession remains.

After many failed pregnancies, Catherine is no longer in her youth, and Henry's frustration is growing. But a fork in the road appears when, in 1521, an aristocratic household returns from working with Henry's sister in France. A family by the name of Bullin. It is the elder sister, Mary Bullin, who first catches Henry VIII's eye. Though she's already married, she becomes his mistress and bears him two children, though the king never acknowledges them as his own. Once the affair is over, Anne learns from her sister's mistakes. Petite and fragile looking, with long dark hair, Anne's intelligence, charisma, and Parisian sense of style are praised by her many admirers, chief among them, the king

himself. But though he showers her with jewels, rich fabrics, and increasingly passionate letters, Anne refuses to sleep with him while he is still married to Catherine. As Henry's admiration for his new favorite grows, his affection for Catherine dwindles. Claiming that he has realized that God is displeased with his marriage to his brother's widow, in 1527 he commands Wolsey to secure an annulment. Henry's argument does little to convince the Pope, who is in sway to Charles V, the most powerful man in Europe, who happens to be Catherine's

nephew. The Pope refuses to annul the marriage and Wolsey's failure marks his downfall. Stripped of his titles and palaces, he is arrested and summoned to the Tower. But he dies on the way south from York. And if the Pope thought Henry would take no for an answer, he is very much mistaken. So all-consuming is his quest for a divorce that it becomes known as the King's Great Matter. In 1529, he convenes what is called the Reformation Parliament to challenge the Pope's authority in England.

It is a move that marks the beginning of his legislative efforts to reduce papal influence. But though it will take a while to enact so seismic a shift, Henry has no intention of waiting much longer for Anne. So, in 1531, he banishes Catherine from court. Worse still, she is forbidden from taking Mary with her. She will never see her daughter again. Meanwhile, alongside Anne Boleyn, someone else's star is on the ascendant. Thomas Cromwell, the son of a blacksmith, is a shrewd and capable administrator,

emerging now as one of the King's most trusted advisors. The Tudors loved a favorite. I think Henry VIII and Elizabeth had more favorites than any of the other Tudor monarchs, and they seemed in particular to like to keep ministers and noblemen close, although the exception to that was Thomas Cromwell of course. He was low born, he was the son of a blacksmith. Henry VIII's other favourite and powerful minister, Thomas Wolsey, was the son of a butcher, so you get these two commoners, but as a general rule, favourites tend to be dukes or earls or other members of the nobility. With Catherine now absent from court, Henry and Anne are now living almost as husband and wife.

By December 1532, Anne is pregnant, and early the next year the pair marry in secret, is pregnant, and early the next year, the pair marry in secret, ignoring the small matter of Henry's bigamy. Just a few months later, Henry's first marriage is finally annulled by the archbishop, another favorite he has maneuvered into position. Now visibly pregnant, Anne is crowned as Queen Consort in June 1533. But when she gives birth in September in one of the grandest of beds in Henry's possession,

it is to a healthy baby girl. Boys will follow, her husband tells her. He is not consoling his wife. He is issuing an order. In spite of the King's disappointment, Anne is besotted with her daughter, whom she names Elizabeth. She declares her intention to breastfeed herself, highly irregular for royal consorts, but Henry puts a stop to this this and a wet nurse is promptly hired. Before long Elizabeth is sent off to Hatfield House to be raised away from court, as is traditional.

In the meantime, though Henry seems to have what he wanted from Rome, he's unable to walk away from the grudge match. Eventually after seven long years of negotiations, Henry broke with Rome, so separated England from the rest of Catholic Europe, and created this new church, the Church of England, and appointed himself Supreme Head. And that title was later watered down to Supreme Governor, and the current monarch is still Supreme Governor

of the Church of England. Once the genie was out of the bottle, if you like, of course then there's the dissolution of the monasteries, there's sweeping reform, there's translations of the Bible from Latin into English and there's really then England starts to embrace all of these reformist ideas that had been gathering ground in Europe earlier in the 1500s. Henry himself, however, is often a myth that he became Protestant. He never did. He always remained Catholic. He just wasn't Roman Catholic.

Henry turns to Cromwell to oversee the revolutionary religious reforms that follow. Henry turns to Cromwell to oversee the revolutionary religious reforms that follow. The most controversial is the dissolution of the monasteries, in which he seizes vast monastic lands and treasures, often selling the properties themselves to his loyal supporters. The dissolution brings Henry enormous riches, but it also sparks widespread opposition from the people, many of whom struggle to accept this sudden, radical transformation of their religion. Meanwhile, bitterly disappointed by what he sees as Anne's failure to provide him with a male heir, the King's eye starts to wander again.

In the summer of 1535, he visits Wolf Hall in Wiltshire, the family home of Jane Seymour, one of Anne's ladies-in-waiting. Fair and pale, Jane's beauty and charisma are seldom remarked upon in the way of Anne's. But her meek docility is appealing to the King. Even so, all is not lost for Anne, who is once more expecting a baby. And though many still consider Catherine of Aragon the rightful queen, her death in 1536 is a cause for celebration in court,

with Henry and Anne wearing joyous yellow. But the good times don't last long. Anne now miscarries a baby boy. Then the king falls from his horse while jousting, badly injuring his leg. 1536 wasn't a great year for Henry. Probably be his annus horribilis, in the words of the late queen.

But I don't buy into the theory, which has had a lot of airspace recently that Henry sustained a head injury during that jousting accident and that that changed his whole personality It wasn't such a sudden change as that Also, there's no reliable evidence that says he had a head injury to start with just a leg injury And I think really the traits that came out in his later life had always been there. He was an indulged, spoiled child used to getting his own way and you definitely see that in his later reign. And I think really his personality darkens partly because he's tormented by the pain of his ulcerated legs and it makes him irascible and short-tempered.

But also it's born of disappointment. In the wake of his injury, the King decides his marriage to Anne Boleyn is cursed. He returns the full beam of his attention onto Jane Seymour, and he sets Thomas Cromwell the task of getting rid of Anne. By the end of April, she's becoming increasingly uneasy. And when one of the court musicians, Mark Smeaton, is arrested on suspicion of adultery with her, the net is clearly tightening and fast.

tightening and fast. It is May the 1st, 1536. A day of festivities at Greenwich Palace that marks the arrival of spring. Henry VIII's court is celebrating with a customary jousting tournament. Accompanied by her ladies-in-waiting, Anne Boleyn enters the enclosed arena known as a Tilt Yard. The stands are already brimming with excited spectators. Anne takes a seat in the royal stand and straightens her sumptuous gown of rich velvet and brocade. Its square neckline adorned with a string of pearls. As usual, a French hood, a crescent-shaped headpiece embellished with jewels, frames her face.

In the preparation area, she spots her brother, George, putting on his armor. A servant tightens the leather straps on his breastplate and hands him his shield, which is decorated with the Bolin coat of arms. His horse is armored, too, in a decorative covering and protective headgear. It's a pleasant spring day with celebratory flags fluttering in the breeze. But things have been uneasy lately between Anne and her husband, and the rumors about him and Jane Seymour are only growing. Now there is a roar from the spectator stand. Henry has arrived. As the crowd leap to their feet, her husband greets her cordially, but does not quite meet

her eye. Perhaps he's unhappy to be missing the action. Henry intended to joust himself today, but the ulcerous wound in his leg is showing no signs of healing. He's no longer the athlete he once was, but though he's both heavier and angrier, he's still the king. And now he is here, the tournament can begin. The contestants are ready, their armor gleaming, their lances couched, held horizontally under their arms. At a signal, the two knights ride at each other from opposite sides of the long wooden

barrier known as the Tilt, which prevents collisions between the horses. Anne's brother leads the challenges, thrilling the crowd with collisions so hard that they cause the lances to splinter and snap. Anne feels a flush of pride at her brother's skill and when one of the defenders horses become skittish and refuses to enter the arena, the king calls down that the rider could take his own mount. Anne sneaks a glance at her husband. Perhaps he is not in bad spirits after all.

But then, halfway through the contest, a page appears with a folded piece of paper for Henry. The King reads it, and his face flushes hotly. Anne knows the expression too well. A look of fury. Anne strains to make out the words on the paper. Is that Mark Smeaton's name? She never should have allowed the musician into her chambers to hear him play. Has court gossip twisted her mistake into something more sinister? Henry leaps to his feet, almost knocking his chair over, and marches out of the arena, a clutch of noblemen following behind. The Queen gestures for the jousting to continue, fixing a smile on her face.

But she can't take her eyes from the diminishing figure of her husband in the distance. What she doesn't know is that this will be the very last time she sees him. Capitalizing on rumors and gossip spurred by Anne's natural flirtatiousness, Cromwell orchestrates an adultery case against her. He implicates no fewer than five men, including her own brother, George Boleyn. Though the accusations are based on little more than rumor, the fact that they show Henry willing to play the cuckold are a sign of how keen he is to get rid of his second wife.

On May 2, Anne is arrested without warning on a charge of adultery and taken to the Tower of London. Her trial takes place around a fortnight later, presided over by the Duke of Norfolk, Anne's own uncle, who represents the absent king. There, Anne is charged not just with adultery, but also with incest and perversion. Her defense of herself is convincing. The only crime she can admit to is allowing Mark Smeaton into her chambers to listen to his playing the virginals. But her estranged husband has already sent for an expert executioner from Calais.

The Queen is convicted of adultery, a treasonable offense in a royal wife, and sentenced to death. On May the 19th, 1536, she walks the brief distance from her royal apartments at the Tower of London to the scaffold site. Stylish to the last, she wears a mantle of ermine over a dark grey gown and a petticoat in crimson, the colour of martyrs. After being blindfolded, she is put to death in front of the assembled crowd with one clean swipe of the sword. The first time in England's history that a king has executed his own wife. Five of the men accused of adultery with Anne, including George, meet a similar fate, though they must make do with the traditional acts. Though they must make do with the traditional acts. The day after Anne's death, Jane Seymour travels by barge in secret to Hampton Court.

She and Henry marry later that month. The new queen is careful to distinguish herself from her predecessor with a modest English style of clothing. She also insists that all her ladies sport a higher neckline in a bid to control the king's lustful urges. Before long, Jane conceives. Her pregnancy leaves her with a craving for cucumbers, which her stepdaughter, Mary, duly provides.

Her other stepdaughter, three-year-old Elizabeth, is soon officially removed from the line of succession, thanks to Henry's insistence that his marriage to her mother was unlawful. Now demoted from Princess to Lady Elizabeth, she remains at Hatfield House. In May 1537, Jane travels to Hampton Court to escape a plague raging across London. The Queen enjoys a summer of seclusion at the refurbished palace before Henry VIII's longed-for son finally arrives on October the 12th. The overjoyed king rides to Hampton Court, where Edward is christened. His half-sisters, 21-year-old Mary and little Elizabeth, witness the ceremony in which their baby brother is carried into the chapel,

dressed in a white gown and wrapped in a gold cloth. Afterwards, Edward is carried back to his parents to be blessed, but his triumphant mother sitting up in bed begins to sicken. In a matter of days, she is gone, felled by pure-pruled fever, a bacterial infection caused by lack of hygiene in the delivery room. The mourning period is pronounced. Courtiers and servants are issued with black gowns and cloth, while the king and his immediate

family don the traditional royal mourning color of deep blue. Jane Seymour goes down in history as the only wife Henry really loved. He keeps her clothes, unlike those of his other wives, preserving them at the Palace of Whitehall. And hers is the only portrait that hangs in the royal collection until the time of his death. For two years, the Tudor widower Henry VIII remains a bachelor. It is the longest time England has been without a queen. But in 1539, he is persuaded by the ever-present Thomas Cromwell to consider Anne of Cleves, a noblewoman from a small Protestant-leaning state in modern-day Germany. Henry allows Cromwell's negotiations to begin.

But in the meantime, he wants to see what his future wife looks like. The preeminent artist, Hans Holbein, is dispatched to capture the ladies' likeness. Holbein, who's really like the court photographer, his works are so dazzlingly realistic and detailed. And for the first time, really, after the more stylized art of the medieval period, you get this window into the Tudor world, thanks to this rich legacy of art. Though it's possible that Cromwell advises Holbein to paint Anne from a flattering angle,

Henry is delighted with the resulting portrait and a marriage treaty is finalized. Anne begins the journey to England, while the excited King plans a surprise. He arranges to meet his betrothed in disguise while she stays at Rochester Castle, following the old chivalric tradition that a lady would instantly recognize her true love. But Anne is terrified when a group of masked men burst into her room at Rochester, and when one of them tries to kiss her, she curses him in German. Both parties are a disappointment to each other. Unlike Henry's petite first three wives, Anne is tall and big boned, with skin pitted with

the marks of smallpox. Henry is furious with Cromwell for matching him with her. Whatever her physical appearance, it's fair to say that Henry, 48 years old to Anne's 24, is no longer the dashing figure he once was. His jousting injury has left the formerly sporty king with an ever-expanding waistline. He now dons a huge, loose-fitting coat over other layers of clothing to disguise his bulk, and leans on a gold-topped staff for stability. Though the couple can only communicate with a translator, the wedding takes place as agreed. Publicly, the royal event is celebrated with pageantry and splendor.

But behind closed doors, it's a disaster. The pair are unable to consummate their union. And though Henry is likely suffering from impotence by this stage, he blames Anne, and even calls her virginity into question. Despite his failing prowess, the old patterns continue. And this time, it's one of the Queen's maids of honor who turns his head. Catherine Howard is the Auburn-haired teenage niece of the Duke of Norfolk and a cousin of Anne Boleyn. Well for Henry, this was his midlife crisis, I think. So Catherine was much younger than him, probably about 30 years younger, really.

We don't know exactly how old she was, but probably a teenager when she met and married Henry. And he sort of fell head over heels in love. But I think he was just trying to recapture something, recapture his lost youth. Raised by her father's stepmother, the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk. This is not the first time pretty Catherine has drawn the attention of a much older man. Unbeknownst to the King, Catherine might have been as young as 12 when her music teacher took sexual advantage of his position. A later physical relationship followed with her kinsman, Frances Deerham.

She was this very pretty, fairly flighty young girl, but she had also been preyed upon. And I think that's something that we've seen in recent years. We've reassessed Catherine. She was seen as this kind of airhead, really, until recently, when now actually we realize what a victim she'd been, how she'd been preyed upon throughout her life, probably child abuse really. The problem is, as usual, that Henry has an inconvenient wife still in place, a situation for which he is unable to forgive his former favorite Thomas Cromwell. Now the increasingly powerful Duke of Norfolk seizes his opportunity to accuse his rival Cromwell of corruption and heresy.

Cromwell is arrested in June 1540 and executed not long afterwards. The marriage is swiftly annulled, but pragmatic and no doubt all too aware of the fate of her predecessors, Anne complies readily. She is richly rewarded with the gifts of Richmond Palace and bletchingly manor for life, as well as a generous annual income, and she is given the new exalted status of the King's sister. Shortly after the annulment, and on the very same day that Cromwell is executed, Henry wastes no time in marrying Catherine Howard. But it is a case of marry in haste,

repent at leisure in his fifth unhappy match. In spite of the jewels and gifts lavished on his young bride, and even a belated fitness regime Henry adopts for her, it is not long before Catherine wins a reputation for giddiness and worse, adultery. Unlike her cousin Anne, Catherine takes it further than flirtation. Not long after her husband's fiftth birthday, she begins an affair with one Thomas Culpepper, a gentleman from the King's privy chamber. To make matters worse, her

former lover, Francis Deerham, returns from Ireland and gets back in touch. Possibly because of blackmail, the Queen appoints him as private secretary. Deryn swiftly proves a liability, boasting that when the king dies he will marry Catherine. The claim doesn't go down well with the jealous Culpeper, and as the situation becomes a tinderbox, rumors begin to spread. Eventually, inevitably, they reach the ears of the king. Henry's first reaction is to call for a sword to slay the queen, before breaking down into tears about what he calls such ill-conditioned wives. At first, Catherine denies the accusations of adultery, but her ladies in waiting talk, and the men also reveal the truth in interrogation.

In 1541, she is deprived of the title of Queen and imprisoned in Sion Abbey. We never know the exact age of Catherine Howard, but when she is executed the following February, she may be still as young as eighteen years old. After Catherine's death in 1542, Henry VIII in many ways cuts a sad figure, humiliated, paranoid, and in almost constant agony from his leg injury. But though his personal life leaves much to be desired, he can maybe take some solace from his leg injury. But though his personal life leaves much to be desired, he can maybe take some solace from his vast wealth. By this point in his reign, he boasts 100,000 precious objects in his possession and 56 residences.

In other ways, too, his old zeal remains intact. To stop the Welsh coming under Catholic influence, he decides Wales should be ruled by England. Between 1536 and 1542, Acts are passed, merging the two and ending the privileges of the Marcher Lords, the nobles appointed by the King to guard the border between England and Wales. In their place, Wales is allowed to send representatives to the English parliament. It is an act of union that more closely resembles a forced marriage. Around the same time, a parliament meeting in Dublin

salutes Henry as King of Ireland, superseding the title of lord granted to English kings by the Pope centuries before. It's a shift that cements Henry's break with the Roman Catholic Church, putting control of the country in his hands instead of Rome's. And by pledging his son, Edward, to the infant Mary, Queen of Scots, for the first time he brings together the component nations of the British Isles. But though there's unity in the kingdom, the Queen's throne is once again empty. The candidate to fill it emerges in Catherine Parr, a 31

year old, twice widowed noblewoman. She's a very important queen. She was a remarkable woman. She's often dismissed as being the kind of nursemaid to the ailing Henry. It wasn't like that. Henry was deeply attracted to Catherine and to her mind as well as her body. She was a bit of a powerhouse intellectually. She was quite radical in terms of her religious views. She had opinions and she wasn't afraid to express them.

She was great company for Henry. But Catherine's marriage to Henry comes at no small cost. When Henry first courts her, she is in love with another man, Thomas Seymour, the handsome but hot-headed brother of the late Queen Jane. When a jealous Henry learns of this, he finds a reason to send Seymour away from court. Catherine, putting her own desires aside, agrees to marry the King. Catherine is just four years older than her 27-year-old stepdaughter Mary, but she proves a loving stepmother

and encourages Henry to reconcile with his daughters. Recognizing the intellectual abilities of both Edward and Elizabeth, she takes a keen interest in their schooling, and it is not long before Elizabeth joins Catherine at Hampton Court Palace. In 1543, trouble arises again in Scotland. The French mother of Mary, Queen of Scots, breaks her daughter's engagement to Prince Edward, instead arranging for her betrothal

to the Dauphin of France, who is heir to its throne. It is a move that threatens to bring Scotland under French control, a prospect Henry VIII finds intolerable. He embarks on his final overseas campaign, leading an army to France in 1544. During his absence, he appoints his wife, Catherine, as Regent General, and empowers her to rule in his name. It is the summer of 1544. It is warm in the vast Great Hall at the heart of Hampton Court Palace.

The everyday sounds of the court echo down from the hammer beam ceiling. There is the usual low murmur of courtiers' whispers, and from somewhere in the palace, the strains of a lute. Seated on the throne on a raised platform amid a small cluster of advisors, Catherine Parr reads a parchment on her lap, her lips pressed into a contemplative line. Her stepdaughter, Lady Elizabeth, stands a few yards away at the periphery of things,

half hidden behind a column of carved oak. Barely eleven, her red hair gleams in the sunlight, streaming through the great hall's tall windows. In her skirts, she conceals a copy of Plutarch's Lives, borrowed from her stepmother's library. It is her beloved stepmother who nurtures Elizabeth's love of learning. But today's lesson is not one to be learned in books. It is of a more practical nature. Elizabeth has never seen a woman sit on her father's throne. Never seen a woman in this kind of position of power at all.

As Catherine continues to read, the advisors murmur recommendations, buzzing like flies. Occasionally Catherine glances up to listen and nod, but she keeps her own counsel, assessing the document without haste or fluster. After pausing to think, she signs the parchment with a flourish of the quill. Then the great wooden doors fly open, and there's a sudden commotion as a new arrival approaches, bowing low to her in supplication. He has another petition in his hand.

Elizabeth can't tell what it's about, but from the agitation of the advisors, she can tell it's one that is ruffling feathers. As the discussion continues, Elizabeth glances up at a tapestry hanging on the wall, depicting her father Henry's style of leadership, his brash, roaring authority. But Catherine's power is different. A balance of strength and tact. She meets the petitioner's eyes and those of her advisors evenly, neither yielding nor

dominating. She keeps her voice steady, her reasoning irrefutable. The fluster around her calms, and as the latest meeting ends, she rises, smoothing her skirts. Then as if sensing Elizabeth's gaze, she meets her eyes and inclines her head just a touch, perhaps hoping Elizabeth has learned the lesson. How to hold her own in male company, how to make herself heard in spite of louder voices. Should she ever need to do so? On Henry VIII's return from France, his health deteriorates.

Recent research has suggested he may have been suffering from Type 2 diabetes, which might account for his vast appetite and prodigious thirst. More recent analysis suggests he could have belonged to a rare blood group that can prevent a healthy partner from bearing an infant after a first pregnancy. For whatever reason, the king's health is poor. Now morbidly obese, he can't go up and down steps without a rope and pulley system that has since been called the world's first chairlift. Tormented by pain, Henry lashes out at those closest to him.

In 1546, a conspiracy led by conservatives at court almost succeeds in turning the paranoid king against his wife, whose adherence to more radical reformist views is a source of some friction. A warrant is drawn up for her arrest. But clever Catherine hears of the rumor just in time, throwing herself upon her husband's mercy and blaming her womanly weakness. Luckily for her, she's forgiven, and the final storm between Henry VIII and one of his wives

passes. That famous schoolyard rhyme to help remember his wives, divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived, might have ended up very differently. Deteriorating further, Henry falls sick with a fever in January 1547 at Whitehall Palace. The Queen and her eldest stepdaughter, Mary, rush to be with him. He refuses to see them at first, but at last lets Catherine in. It is God's will that we should part, he tells her.

Bedecked in sumptuous nightclothes, the second Tudor king dies on the 28th of January, aged 55. He is interred next to Jane Seymour in St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. One of history's most famous kings, Henry VIII, did what had previously been considered undoable. He defied the Roman Catholic Church and survived. The most important and lasting legacy has to be in religion. Henry VIII of course breaks with Rome, makes himself supreme head, and then that title becomes supreme governor, and that's had a very long tale. King Charles III became supreme governor of the Church of England

when he acceded to the throne in September 2022. So that's been a sort of 500 year legacy, really. But when he dies, Henry VIII knows nothing of the future. The England he leaves is still religiously divided and financially strained by costly wars. Internationally, his country continues to face tense relations with France and Scotland, while Protestant and Catholic powers vie for influence across Europe.

Perhaps, in his dying moments, Henry reminds himself that he leaves behind a son, Edward, who might reign for many decades to come. Or did doubts linger in his mind about the fragility of life and his kingdom's uncertain future? Join us next time for the second part of this short history of The Tudors. That is the million dollar question, isn't it? We're all still obsessed with the Tudors. I say long may it continue because this is the reason I became a historian. I think really when it comes to the Tudors you couldn't make it up. It's got all the drama of a soap opera, the king who marries six times, the virgin queen, Shakespeare. It's a very self-confident

age with the overseas exploration. And I think crucially as well, we feel closer to it thanks to art as well, literature, architecture, lots of Tudor buildings still exist. So there's a divide between medieval and then the Tudors. They usher in this beginning of modernity really. But for me, it's all about the larger-than-life personalities and the sheer drama.