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After historian Dr Suzannah Lipscomb
revealed the background leading up to Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn’s
courtship in the
first episode of this series, in the next programme of
Henry and Anne: The Lovers Who Changed History she
discusses how a seven-year whirlwind romance led to Anne ruling as
Queen for just 1,000 days before her rapid fall and execution. How
did Henry suddenly turn against the woman he was supposedly
infatuated by to then send her speedily to her death? This final
episode of the Channel 5 series will ask whether the romance was
destined to fail from the offset, or did the relationship simply
become too strained and pressured in a world of fast-paced politics
and changing alliances?
Just as seen in the first episode, Dr Lipscomb travels to the
locations where the Royal couple’s romance blossomed. To begin
with, Suzannah takes a trip to Thornbury Castle in Gloucestershire,
where Henry and Anne spent a ten day break together in 1535.
Nowadays, the castle is unique as it allows couples to not just get
married within the castle grounds, but it also acts as a hotel and
lets visitors stay in the same room that Henry and Anne once slept
in.
This episode takes a closer look at the King himself. Was Henry
VIII the same man as we see in his lavish portraits? Or was he a
complex character, who struggled with how he wished to be
portrayed? Dr Lipscomb looks particularly at how the events of the
1530s effected Henry politically and emotionally, including the
death of Catherine of Aragon, Princess Mary’s forced allegiance to
her father, and Anne’s failure to produce a longed-for male heir.
The King’s serious jousting accident that occurred in this period
is sometimes disregarded as having any effect on the diplomacy of
the 1530s and his relations with his wife. However, this episode
looks carefully at how such a near-fatal incident could be a clear
indicator into how a popular, Renaissance King allegedly turned
into a cold and cruel ruler.
Suzannah also visits the Tower of London where Anne once entered
the fortification’s walls the night before her coronation.
Harrowingly, after a trial condemning her for ‘imagining the King’s
death’, alongside rumours of incest and adultery, Anne re-entered
the same walls to await her death by a French swordsman on Tower
Green. Suzannah travels back to Anne’s childhood home, Hever
Castle, so to view a prayer book that Anne supposedly kept with her
in the Tower before her execution. It is in the pages of this book
that Suzannah reveals an inscription by Anne’s hand of great
poignancy, creating an idea of a woman, convicted to death, who
forever bound herself to her King and her husband.
The second episode of Henry and Anne: The Lovers Who Changed
History will be broadcast on Channel 5 at 8pm on Thursday
27th February. It will be available to watch online on
Demand5 soon after the first broadcast.
Photo credit: Lord Mariser via photopin cc]]>
