The throne room at Richmond Palace, New Year's Eve, 1526. The bored King Henry VIII accepts lavish New Year's gifts from his friend Cardinal Wolsey and Katherine of Aragon, his Queen. But one clearly pleases him, formally presented on behalf of his wife's lady-in-waiting Anne Boleyn, an extravagant gift from a young unmarried lady to any gentleman, let alone the king.
It's a piece of jewellery depicting a maiden in a ship in a storm-tossed sea, and it conveys a message to the king, that Anne is willing to brave the political and religious tempest ahead. 'Despite the rough sea, she trusts in God that all will be well,' Anne confides to him, cryptically.
'The lady is right to have faith. The storm will pass – if she has patience enough,' Henry assures her. Then, before the calculating eyes of all the court, he invites her to walk with him and Anne leaves the throne room on Henry's arm...
And cut! We're not really at Richmond Palace, for only traces of it survive. Instead we're on location in the Great Hall at Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire, which back in Henry's day belonged to the Crown, filming BBC1's new three-part historical drama-documentary series Six Wives With Lucy Worsley.
Inside the lives of Henry's wives: Has history treated his six queens unkindly? Lucy Worsley goes back in time to find out in her revealing new BBC1 show
Lucy Worsley, historian, TV presenter and Joint Chief Curator at Historic Royal Palaces, plays an eavesdropping servant
Witnesses some of the most dramatic moments in Tudor history
By Mary Greene For Weekend Magazine
25 November 2016
Daily Mail
The throne room at Richmond Palace, New Year's Eve, 1526. The bored King Henry VIII accepts lavish New Year's gifts from his friend Cardinal Wolsey and Katherine of Aragon, his Queen. But one clearly pleases him, formally presented on behalf of his wife's lady-in-waiting Anne Boleyn, an extravagant gift from a young unmarried lady to any gentleman, let alone the king.
It's a piece of jewellery depicting a maiden in a ship in a storm-tossed sea, and it conveys a message to the king, that Anne is willing to brave the political and religious tempest ahead. 'Despite the rough sea, she trusts in God that all will be well,' Anne confides to him, cryptically.
'The lady is right to have faith. The storm will pass – if she has patience enough,' Henry assures her. Then, before the calculating eyes of all the court, he invites her to walk with him and Anne leaves the throne room on Henry's arm.
Henry VIII played by Richard Ridings and his sixth wife Catherine Parr in the new BBC show
And cut! We're not really at Richmond Palace, for only traces of it survive. Instead we're on location in the Great Hall at Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire, which back in Henry's day belonged to the Crown, filming BBC1's new three-part historical drama-documentary series Six Wives With Lucy Worsley.
With historian Lucy in every scene as an eavesdropping servant, we witness some of the most dramatic moments in the lives of Henry's six queens.
Always game for dressing-up, Lucy is a lady-in-waiting today in black velvet and French hood, looking on as Anne Boleyn flirts with the married king. 'I'm in the background,' she explains. 'And then I explain conspiratorially what's happened and what the motivation is.'
Divorced. Beheaded. Died. Divorced. Beheaded. Survived. History has immortalised these six women as stereotypes. There's Katherine of Aragon, the embittered first wife, and Anne Boleyn, the other woman. Jane Seymour was the good girl who gave Henry the male heir he desired, while Anne of Cleves was the ugly one. Katherine Howard was the harlot who slept around and Catherine Parr was the merry widow.
Historian Lucy Worsley (above) brings Tudor history to life in her new BBC show, where she plays a servant witnessing key moments
But Lucy wants us to look beyond the stereotypes – and see the story from the women's point of view. 'We're fascinated by Henry's wives because we recognise them,' says the show's executive producer Emma Hindley. 'They were wealthy, privileged young people who all knew each other. Court life was like Made In Chelsea.'
History has portrayed Katherine of Aragon as an abandoned wife whose only consolation was religion. But for once we meet Katherine, played by Spanish actress Paola Bontempi, when she was young, beautiful and red-haired.
'Katherine was phenomenal,' says Emma. 'Her parents created modern Spain and her mother was a warrior queen who rode into battle.
'Traditionally she's portrayed as bitter and unhappy. But she was married to Henry for 24 years – and they were in love. I was determined that in the show she'd look as much like the real Katherine as possible, with blue eyes, pale skin and auburn hair. As soon as Paola opened her mouth, I thought, 'That's her!' She speaks English without too heavy an accent – and Katherine had spent seven years in England before she married Henry.
'Katherine was a heroine. She took over as Regent when Henry went to fight in France. At that moment, the Scots decided to invade England. They were slaughtered and James IV of Scotland was killed at the battle of Flodden.'
Scott Arthur plays the King when he was wooing Anne Boleyn (Claire Cooper)
If only Katherine had been able to bear a healthy son as well as their daughter Mary, this would have been a match made in heaven. Imagine her humiliation then when Henry became besotted with Anne Boleyn. When he failed to achieve a papal annulment, he moved Anne into her own apartments in the palace at Greenwich. Katherine was ordered to give up her Crown jewels so that Henry could give them to Anne. Finally, Katherine was exiled to the Fens where she died in January 1536, still declaring her love for Henry.
Anne played a clever game. She'd seen how Henry had cast off his previous mistresses, including Bessie Blount, who bore him an illegitimate son, and Anne's own sister Mary. Anne was dark-haired and not as pretty as Mary by Tudor standards, but she had been schooled in France in the art of flirtation. She could argue with Henry about politics and religion – and he enjoyed their intellectual jousting.
Most importantly, she withheld sex. Back in the present, Lucy visits the Vatican library in Rome where 17 letters from Henry to Anne have ended up. 'It was incredible to read them,' Lucy says. 'I had mixed feelings, thinking, 'This is so beautiful, they're in love.' Then I remembered Katherine and felt guilty.'
Picture shows Catherine of Aragon (Paola Bontempi), right, as she tried to maintain her dignity while the king divorces her for Anne Boleyn
But it's clear from the letters that the relationship had still not been consummated. 'Henceforth my heart will be dedicated to you alone, and wishing greatly that my body was so too,' Henry wrote, before doodling Anne's initials in a heart. He and Anne married in secret in 1533, but after producing a daughter, Elizabeth, she had two miscarriages and Henry had her tried on trumped-up charges of treason.
Today Anne comes across as an ambitious woman who knew what she wanted. But was she really an adultress who betrayed the king, some say in an incestuous relationship with her brother George?
Lucy thinks not – having eavesdropped in the drama on Anne's confession to Archbishop Thomas Cranmer a few days before her execution. Nothing could save her neck but she could still save her immortal soul. Anne protested her innocence. 'Anne believed that if she told a lie in confession, she'd damn her soul eternally – so when she said she was innocent, we have to believe her,' Lucy insists.
As Anne's star waned, Henry's wandering eye landed on Jane Seymour. Jane was an English rose, blonde, pretty and compliant. She was pushed forward by her ambitious family who were religious conservatives, keen to reconcile Henry to the Pope.
Jane and Henry were married in May 1536, 11 days after Anne was beheaded. Jane was a peacemaker and did much to improve Henry's relations with his daughters Mary and Elizabeth. And most importantly, she gave birth to a healthy son, Edward, on 12 October 1537. Twelve days later she died. Henry mourned Jane for the rest of his life. When he eventually died, he was buried beside her in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle.
By now Henry was 46. He was fat, with a stinking, ulcerated wound on his leg from a jousting accident.
Meanwhile, his advisers wanted him to remarry to gain a Protestant ally in Europe. Understandably, eligible princesses weren't keen; one said she might have married him if she had two heads.
Henry's betrothal to Anne of Cleves has gone down as the worst blind date in history. Anne was the 'Flanders Mare', so ugly that she rendered Henry impotent, or so he claimed when he couldn't perform. Their marriage in January 1540 was unconsummated.
But was Anne really so unattractive? Her relationship with Henry got off to a bad start, explains Lucy. Henry, who was fond of disguises, burst into Anne's chamber with a masked entourage as a surprise two days before she was expecting to meet him. When this masked stranger grabbed her for a kiss, Anne let off a volley of German curses. Henry was humiliated.
But it all worked out fine for Anne in the end. Six months later, she agreed to an annulment. Henry's generous settlement made her one of the richest women in England. 'She made smart decisions,' says Lucy. 'Anne was the cleverest wife of the lot. She led a happy life and was still welcome at court. She even danced with her successor Katherine Howard. I like the idea of the two of them bonding while the old boy had gout.'
Less than three weeks after the annulment, in July 1540, Henry married Katherine Howard, who may have been just 17. Katherine has been viewed as a wh*re, says Lucy. 'But I think it's a tragic story. She was an abused child.' She was raised by her step-grandmother, the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, who ran a finishing school where morals were lax. Men had access to the girls' bedchamber and, at 13, Katherine had lain with her music master Henry Manox and then the Duchess's secretary Francis Dereham.
Far more dangerous was a relationship after her marriage with the courtier Thomas Culpeper. She wrote to him, 'It makes my heart die to think what fortune I have that I cannot be in your company...' But why would she risk an affair? Culpeper was a sexual predator, Lucy says, who had been accused of rape and murder. 'You can read the letter as placatory,' she says.
When a note was left for the king to find in the Chapel Royal at Hampton Court, Henry was sceptical about the allegations it contained but ordered an inquiry, and Katherine was executed in 1542.
The older king played by Richard Ridings with his young wife Katherine Howard (Lauren McQueen) who is was heartbroken to learn cheated on him
Henry was shattered by her infidelity. But he missed a wife's company and a year later he decided to try again. Catherine Parr was 31 and a widow. History remembers her as the nurse of Henry's old age.
But Catherine had her own agenda. She gave up the man she was hoping to marry, Jane Seymour's brother Thomas, in order to marry the king because she hoped to spread the new Protestant religion. This was dangerous. At heart Henry was still a Catholic. He was tolerant when Catherine began to write devotional books – she was the first woman to publish works in English under her own name. But she had enemies at court who persuaded Henry to charge her with heresy.
Catherine had a narrow escape. The king had issued a warrant for her arrest but she managed to appease him. 'In his own way he loved her,' says Lucy. Henry died in January 1547. Six months later, Catherine married Thomas Seymour.
By the end of the series, Lucy has witnessed pivotal moments in the lives of six queens. She's carried away blood-stained linen after Katherine of Aragon miscarries, swept up broken china after royal rows and looked on as Anne Boleyn discovers Jane Seymour sitting on Henry's knee. She hopes we'll see his wives as more than passive victims. 'I think they've all been underestimated,' she concludes.
Six Wives With Lucy Worsley will start on Wednesday 7 December at 9pm on BBC1
Read more: Inside the lives of Henry's wives: Has history treated his six queens unkindly? Lucy Worsley goes back in time to find out in her revealing new BBC1 show | Daily Mail Online
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
It's a piece of jewellery depicting a maiden in a ship in a storm-tossed sea, and it conveys a message to the king, that Anne is willing to brave the political and religious tempest ahead. 'Despite the rough sea, she trusts in God that all will be well,' Anne confides to him, cryptically.
'The lady is right to have faith. The storm will pass – if she has patience enough,' Henry assures her. Then, before the calculating eyes of all the court, he invites her to walk with him and Anne leaves the throne room on Henry's arm...
And cut! We're not really at Richmond Palace, for only traces of it survive. Instead we're on location in the Great Hall at Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire, which back in Henry's day belonged to the Crown, filming BBC1's new three-part historical drama-documentary series Six Wives With Lucy Worsley.
Inside the lives of Henry's wives: Has history treated his six queens unkindly? Lucy Worsley goes back in time to find out in her revealing new BBC1 show
Lucy Worsley, historian, TV presenter and Joint Chief Curator at Historic Royal Palaces, plays an eavesdropping servant
Witnesses some of the most dramatic moments in Tudor history
By Mary Greene For Weekend Magazine
25 November 2016
Daily Mail
The throne room at Richmond Palace, New Year's Eve, 1526. The bored King Henry VIII accepts lavish New Year's gifts from his friend Cardinal Wolsey and Katherine of Aragon, his Queen. But one clearly pleases him, formally presented on behalf of his wife's lady-in-waiting Anne Boleyn, an extravagant gift from a young unmarried lady to any gentleman, let alone the king.
It's a piece of jewellery depicting a maiden in a ship in a storm-tossed sea, and it conveys a message to the king, that Anne is willing to brave the political and religious tempest ahead. 'Despite the rough sea, she trusts in God that all will be well,' Anne confides to him, cryptically.
'The lady is right to have faith. The storm will pass – if she has patience enough,' Henry assures her. Then, before the calculating eyes of all the court, he invites her to walk with him and Anne leaves the throne room on Henry's arm.
Henry VIII played by Richard Ridings and his sixth wife Catherine Parr in the new BBC show
And cut! We're not really at Richmond Palace, for only traces of it survive. Instead we're on location in the Great Hall at Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire, which back in Henry's day belonged to the Crown, filming BBC1's new three-part historical drama-documentary series Six Wives With Lucy Worsley.
With historian Lucy in every scene as an eavesdropping servant, we witness some of the most dramatic moments in the lives of Henry's six queens.
Always game for dressing-up, Lucy is a lady-in-waiting today in black velvet and French hood, looking on as Anne Boleyn flirts with the married king. 'I'm in the background,' she explains. 'And then I explain conspiratorially what's happened and what the motivation is.'
Divorced. Beheaded. Died. Divorced. Beheaded. Survived. History has immortalised these six women as stereotypes. There's Katherine of Aragon, the embittered first wife, and Anne Boleyn, the other woman. Jane Seymour was the good girl who gave Henry the male heir he desired, while Anne of Cleves was the ugly one. Katherine Howard was the harlot who slept around and Catherine Parr was the merry widow.
Historian Lucy Worsley (above) brings Tudor history to life in her new BBC show, where she plays a servant witnessing key moments
But Lucy wants us to look beyond the stereotypes – and see the story from the women's point of view. 'We're fascinated by Henry's wives because we recognise them,' says the show's executive producer Emma Hindley. 'They were wealthy, privileged young people who all knew each other. Court life was like Made In Chelsea.'
History has portrayed Katherine of Aragon as an abandoned wife whose only consolation was religion. But for once we meet Katherine, played by Spanish actress Paola Bontempi, when she was young, beautiful and red-haired.
'Katherine was phenomenal,' says Emma. 'Her parents created modern Spain and her mother was a warrior queen who rode into battle.
'Traditionally she's portrayed as bitter and unhappy. But she was married to Henry for 24 years – and they were in love. I was determined that in the show she'd look as much like the real Katherine as possible, with blue eyes, pale skin and auburn hair. As soon as Paola opened her mouth, I thought, 'That's her!' She speaks English without too heavy an accent – and Katherine had spent seven years in England before she married Henry.
'Katherine was a heroine. She took over as Regent when Henry went to fight in France. At that moment, the Scots decided to invade England. They were slaughtered and James IV of Scotland was killed at the battle of Flodden.'
Scott Arthur plays the King when he was wooing Anne Boleyn (Claire Cooper)
If only Katherine had been able to bear a healthy son as well as their daughter Mary, this would have been a match made in heaven. Imagine her humiliation then when Henry became besotted with Anne Boleyn. When he failed to achieve a papal annulment, he moved Anne into her own apartments in the palace at Greenwich. Katherine was ordered to give up her Crown jewels so that Henry could give them to Anne. Finally, Katherine was exiled to the Fens where she died in January 1536, still declaring her love for Henry.
Anne played a clever game. She'd seen how Henry had cast off his previous mistresses, including Bessie Blount, who bore him an illegitimate son, and Anne's own sister Mary. Anne was dark-haired and not as pretty as Mary by Tudor standards, but she had been schooled in France in the art of flirtation. She could argue with Henry about politics and religion – and he enjoyed their intellectual jousting.
Most importantly, she withheld sex. Back in the present, Lucy visits the Vatican library in Rome where 17 letters from Henry to Anne have ended up. 'It was incredible to read them,' Lucy says. 'I had mixed feelings, thinking, 'This is so beautiful, they're in love.' Then I remembered Katherine and felt guilty.'
Picture shows Catherine of Aragon (Paola Bontempi), right, as she tried to maintain her dignity while the king divorces her for Anne Boleyn
But it's clear from the letters that the relationship had still not been consummated. 'Henceforth my heart will be dedicated to you alone, and wishing greatly that my body was so too,' Henry wrote, before doodling Anne's initials in a heart. He and Anne married in secret in 1533, but after producing a daughter, Elizabeth, she had two miscarriages and Henry had her tried on trumped-up charges of treason.
Today Anne comes across as an ambitious woman who knew what she wanted. But was she really an adultress who betrayed the king, some say in an incestuous relationship with her brother George?
Lucy thinks not – having eavesdropped in the drama on Anne's confession to Archbishop Thomas Cranmer a few days before her execution. Nothing could save her neck but she could still save her immortal soul. Anne protested her innocence. 'Anne believed that if she told a lie in confession, she'd damn her soul eternally – so when she said she was innocent, we have to believe her,' Lucy insists.
As Anne's star waned, Henry's wandering eye landed on Jane Seymour. Jane was an English rose, blonde, pretty and compliant. She was pushed forward by her ambitious family who were religious conservatives, keen to reconcile Henry to the Pope.
Jane and Henry were married in May 1536, 11 days after Anne was beheaded. Jane was a peacemaker and did much to improve Henry's relations with his daughters Mary and Elizabeth. And most importantly, she gave birth to a healthy son, Edward, on 12 October 1537. Twelve days later she died. Henry mourned Jane for the rest of his life. When he eventually died, he was buried beside her in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle.
By now Henry was 46. He was fat, with a stinking, ulcerated wound on his leg from a jousting accident.
Meanwhile, his advisers wanted him to remarry to gain a Protestant ally in Europe. Understandably, eligible princesses weren't keen; one said she might have married him if she had two heads.
Henry's betrothal to Anne of Cleves has gone down as the worst blind date in history. Anne was the 'Flanders Mare', so ugly that she rendered Henry impotent, or so he claimed when he couldn't perform. Their marriage in January 1540 was unconsummated.
But was Anne really so unattractive? Her relationship with Henry got off to a bad start, explains Lucy. Henry, who was fond of disguises, burst into Anne's chamber with a masked entourage as a surprise two days before she was expecting to meet him. When this masked stranger grabbed her for a kiss, Anne let off a volley of German curses. Henry was humiliated.
But it all worked out fine for Anne in the end. Six months later, she agreed to an annulment. Henry's generous settlement made her one of the richest women in England. 'She made smart decisions,' says Lucy. 'Anne was the cleverest wife of the lot. She led a happy life and was still welcome at court. She even danced with her successor Katherine Howard. I like the idea of the two of them bonding while the old boy had gout.'
Less than three weeks after the annulment, in July 1540, Henry married Katherine Howard, who may have been just 17. Katherine has been viewed as a wh*re, says Lucy. 'But I think it's a tragic story. She was an abused child.' She was raised by her step-grandmother, the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, who ran a finishing school where morals were lax. Men had access to the girls' bedchamber and, at 13, Katherine had lain with her music master Henry Manox and then the Duchess's secretary Francis Dereham.
Far more dangerous was a relationship after her marriage with the courtier Thomas Culpeper. She wrote to him, 'It makes my heart die to think what fortune I have that I cannot be in your company...' But why would she risk an affair? Culpeper was a sexual predator, Lucy says, who had been accused of rape and murder. 'You can read the letter as placatory,' she says.
When a note was left for the king to find in the Chapel Royal at Hampton Court, Henry was sceptical about the allegations it contained but ordered an inquiry, and Katherine was executed in 1542.
The older king played by Richard Ridings with his young wife Katherine Howard (Lauren McQueen) who is was heartbroken to learn cheated on him
Henry was shattered by her infidelity. But he missed a wife's company and a year later he decided to try again. Catherine Parr was 31 and a widow. History remembers her as the nurse of Henry's old age.
But Catherine had her own agenda. She gave up the man she was hoping to marry, Jane Seymour's brother Thomas, in order to marry the king because she hoped to spread the new Protestant religion. This was dangerous. At heart Henry was still a Catholic. He was tolerant when Catherine began to write devotional books – she was the first woman to publish works in English under her own name. But she had enemies at court who persuaded Henry to charge her with heresy.
Catherine had a narrow escape. The king had issued a warrant for her arrest but she managed to appease him. 'In his own way he loved her,' says Lucy. Henry died in January 1547. Six months later, Catherine married Thomas Seymour.
By the end of the series, Lucy has witnessed pivotal moments in the lives of six queens. She's carried away blood-stained linen after Katherine of Aragon miscarries, swept up broken china after royal rows and looked on as Anne Boleyn discovers Jane Seymour sitting on Henry's knee. She hopes we'll see his wives as more than passive victims. 'I think they've all been underestimated,' she concludes.
Six Wives With Lucy Worsley will start on Wednesday 7 December at 9pm on BBC1
Read more: Inside the lives of Henry's wives: Has history treated his six queens unkindly? Lucy Worsley goes back in time to find out in her revealing new BBC1 show | Daily Mail Online
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
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