And l say we continue to insist...
...upon the Church's immunity from secular interference...
...and we shall continue to insist upon it because that immunity...
...was ordained by God.
And this immunity from secular interference...
...should extend to the ordained priests...
...and servants of our holy Church.
And they shall be free from the threat of murder and harm...
...by the use of poison...
...or any other foul means...
...when their only crime has been to obey God's law...
...and uphold the sanctity of the Church.
I beg you to understand....
The king can't allow this. The vote is crucial.
One way or another, he must break the Church.
Now and for always.
Hey, you, come help me with this.
Come on. Snap to it.
-Hey, Mark. -What is this, Mr. Wyatt?
It's Christmas. The season of goodwill.
-What's wrong with everyone? -There's no mirth this year...
-...because everything is different. -How?
In case you hadn't noticed, the queen and her ladies aren't here.
Well, why should we all be sad about that?
You know what the French say:
"A court without ladies is like a garden without flowers."
Lady Anne, a Christmas present from His Majesty.
Thank you, Your Majesty.
I've also had a great bed made for you.
It's almost ready.
Your Majesty, a present from the Lady Anne.
Boar spears.
Made after the Biscayan fashion, apparently.
The best.
Thank you, sweetheart.
Another present for Your Majesty.
Come closer.
It's very fine.
Who sent it to me?
Her Majesty, Queen Catherine, Your Majesty.
I will not receive it. Take it away.
Don't let her spoil everything.
Your Majesty, the chancellor, Sir Thomas More.
-Sir Thomas. -Majesty. Mistress Anne.
I have a seasonal gift for you, with your permission.
It reminds us of what we have to celebrate.
Thank you, Sir Thomas.
I will treasure this.
We must meet soon, Thomas.
There's a great deal to do with the management of this kingdom.
There is a great clamour against the privileges enjoyed by the clergy...
...and their abuse of it.
Further measures will certainly have to be taken.
I look forward to consulting with Your Majesty.
Thomas?
Happy Christmas.
Your Majesty.
Charles.
-Majesty. -Happy Christmas.
Happy Christmas.
-Game of tennis? -Good idea.
Majesty.
-May I speak with you honestly? -l hope so.
Are you really gonna marry Mistress Boleyn?
Whatever the consequences? Whatever her history?
Why do you ask, Charles?
What do you mean, "whatever the history"?
Henry, I have it on very good authority...
...that she and Thomas Wyatt were once lovers.
She fornicated with him on many occasions.
Sometimes brazenly entering his chambers at night.
I've heard those rumours. She denies it.
Well, she would, wouldn't she?
I said, she denies it.
Happy Christmas.
-Happy Christmas, my Lords. -Happy Christmas, Majesty.
How do you find the king, Mr. Cranmer?
I swear to you, Mr. Cromwell, that he really is the kindest of princes.
I think you were born at a happy hour, for it seems, do or say what you will...
...His Majesty will always take it at your hand.
I am not so conceited...
...to suppose l am anything more to His Majesty than a diligent servant.
Your modesty does you honour.
But His Majesty clearly thinks that you are destined for better things.
Which is why he has appointed you...
...his special envoy to the court of the emperor.
He can't possibly do that.
Well, what l mean is...
...is why me?
I am nothing, Mr. Cromwell.
His Majesty trusts you absolutely.
You understand his great matter better than anyone and take his part.
You're better placed than most to represent him at the imperial court.
I'm sure that you'll be a great success.
And, on your way there, you'll have a chance to visit the city of Nuremberg.
The first city wholly run by Lutherans and reformers.
A city free of ancient superstition and idolatry.
Free of popery and the abuses of the clergy.
I shall look forward to your report.
The Duke of Suffolk has taken it upon himself to repeat the gossip...
...about you and Mr. Wyatt.
And do you believe any of it to be true?
If l did, would l be walking here with you?
I suppose you've banished the duke from court?
I've asked the French ambassador to come and see me.
I want him to draw up a new treaty of alliance with France...
...to nullify the threat against the emperor.
I'm glad.
You know my sentiment towards France.
But, forgive me, what has that got to do with me?
There is another reason why l want to see him.
I intend to arrange a visit to France for both of us.
I want to present you, formally, to King Francis.
Both as my future wife...
...and the future queen of England.
My God.
Your Grace, may we speak?
I'm here to inform Your Grace, as archbishop of Canterbury...
...that the king intends to put a bill before the new session of Parliament.
What does it concern, Mr. Cromwell?
First, it means to deny the pope much of the revenue he receives...
...from the English Church. It also means to lay indictments...
...against the privileges of leading clergy in this country.
Mr. Cromwell, what can be the cause of this further attack...
...upon our holy Church?
People can see that the monasteries are already sitting on great wealth...
...which could be better applied for the good of the commonwealth.
For the good of ordinary, hard-working people.
This does not strike me as an attack against abuses...
...but rather an open attack upon our faith...
...and the faith of our ancestors.
That is your judgement, Your Grace. It is not mine.
Neither is it the king's.
Nan?
-Yes, madam? -Draw me a bath.
-The walk has made me cold. -Yes, madam.
I've got such exciting news.
We're going to Paris.
I'm going to be presented before the king.
Nan?
Who has been in the apartment today?
Nobody, madam. Not to my knowledge.
Why?
Here is a book of prophecy.
This is the king...
...this the queen...
...and this is myself with my head cut off.
His Grace, the Duke of Suffolk.
Your Grace.
I have His Majesty's order to banish you from court.
You have displeased him, it seems.
Who are you, Mr. Cromwell?
I feel like I should know, but somehow l don't.
I am exactly as Your Grace finds me.
I serve His Majesty to the best of my ability.
Someone told me that you were once a mercenary soldier.
I saw some action in my youth.
As did Your Grace, l believe.
But l was never a soldier of fortune.
If l displeased the king, it was in a good cause.
I'm sure.
-Some would argue otherwise. -Like you?
I would never have the temerity to argue with Your Grace.
To my face, anyway.
Here is the order. You are to leave court at once.
I have here in my hands...
...the oath which all members of the clergy swear to the pope...
...at the time of their consecration.
It is in clean contrast to the oath they swear to us.
My beloved subjects...
...we thought the clergy were wholly our subjects.
But now we can see they are only half our subjects...
...if they are our subjects at all.
My Lords...
...l demand to know whose subjects are you.
The pope's...
...or mine?
Sir George Throckmorton, Your Honour.
Sir George, very glad to see you.
I know you're a good Catholic man...
...one who's never been afraid to speak his conscience.
So, in truth, should every man, Your Honour.
Indeed.
These days, it seems there are many who can be bullied into silence.
Or worse, into acting against their conscience.
Mark my words, Sir George...
...these next few days will determine the future of our faith.
Whatever Mr. Cromwell says, however he dresses his argument up...
...with honeyed words, the effect remains the same.
He is demanding that the clergy submit themselves totally...
...to the king's will and to secular authority.
God forbid he should ever succeed.
If he does, there'll be no more Church, no more religion...
...no more spiritual life in this kingdom.
Cromwell might as well rape the Blessed Virgin himself.
-Your Honour. -That's why l'm asking you...
...asking you and people like you, to remain strong and true.
If you do...
...then you will deserve God's great reward...
...and much worship will come to you, personally.
Believe me...
...in time, even the king himself will thank you.
We give thanks for the reign of the king's grace...
...and we ask God's blessing on him and on his people.
But on this holy day, we are obliged to say...
...that some of Your Highness' preachers are these days...
...too much like those of Ahab's days...
...in whose mouth was found a false and lying spirit.
Theirs is the gospel of untruth...
...not afraid to tell of licence and liberty for monarchs...
...which no Christian king should dare even to contemplate.
I beseech Your Highness to take heed...
...not to pursue the path you seem to be taking...
...or you will surely follow Ahab, who married the whore Jezebel...
...and surely will incur his unhappy end.
That dogs will lick your blood as they licked Ahab's...
...which God avert and forbid.
-That's quite enough. -Unhand me, you dogs.
I am a man of God. Unhand me!
Unhand me!
-Come on, now! -l am a man of God. Unhand me.
You shameless friar.
You'll be sewn in a sack and thrown in the Thames...
...if you don't speedily hold your tongue.
Keep your threats for your fellow courtiers.
As for us friars, we take no account of them...
...since we know the way to heaven is as good by water as by land.
All rise for the king.
Parliament is in session.
My Lords...
...your Graces...
...have you come to a decision?
Do you still deny me?
Or do you accept the authority of your king?
Your Grace.
Your Majesty.
Here is the submission of the clergy...
...to Your Majesty's will.
There.
-Thank you. -They've surrendered.
The Church is broken.
I never thought l would live to see this day in England.
Now, by act of Parliament, heretics are free to swan around...
...the streets of London without check.
If l could weep, Sir Thomas, I would weep tears of blood.
Sir Thomas More.
Sir Thomas.
Your Majesty.
I come to offer my resignation from my post as chancellor.
I ask Your Highness to allow me to withdraw from public life...
...so that l may spend what time remains to me...
...provisioning my soul, and in the service of God.
In this bag l carry the great seal of my office...
...which I find now too heavy to hold.
I discharge you, most willingly.
In everything you have done for me, Sir Thomas...
...you have always been good...
...and gracious...
...both in private and in public affairs.
Majesty.
I promise on my honour that I will never speak publicly...
...of Your Majesty's great matter.
But now, in private...
...l must confess to you, as someone who once enjoyed...
...Your Majesty's confidence and friendship, my deepest belief...
...that if Your Majesty saw fit to be reconciled with Queen Catherine...
...the divisions and hurts of your kingdom...
...would at once be healed.
There. l've said it.
Now my lips are forever sealed.
Thomas.
I will hold you to that promise.
Lady Elizabeth, I come on the king's business.
Mr. Wyatt.
-Where is the Lady Catherine? -Her Majesty is at prayer...
...and will be for a long time. She cannot be disturbed.
-l'm charged to deliver this. -What is it?
A command that Lady Catherine return her official jewels.
Lady Elizabeth.
-What do you want? -You know what l want.
Mr. Wyatt, l have no intention of becoming your mistress.
Nor anyone else's, for that matter.
I shall be a virgin when l marry...
...but l doubt l shall marry at all. I would rather be a bride of Christ.
A nun?
I don't think so.
Check your pocket.
Would God thou knewest The depths of my desire!
Then might l hope Thou nought I can deserve
Some drops of grace Would quench my scorching fire
All the arrangements have been made for my visit to France?
Oh, yes, everything is prepared and ready, Your Majesty.
King Francis is most eager to see Your Majesty again...
...and to sign with you a new alliance of friendship.
And the Lady Anne?
She will be received with all due honour.
I'm very glad to hear it.
I only want the best for her.
I want this visit to be special...
...and l don't want anything to spoil it.
Do you understand me?
I understand, completely.
And so does His Majesty.
Thank you, Mr. Smeaton.
Sweetheart.
Your Majesty, this is the young gentleman I told you about...
...Mark Smeaton.
Mr. Smeaton, the Lady Anne has told me a lot about you.
She says you play very well.
-Play something for us. -Your Majesty.
I know it was wrong of the Duke of Suffolk to say what he did...
...but do you think it's possible we could forgive him?
If you forgave him so quickly...
...some people might think that there was some truth to what he said.
Yes, but to refute them, to answer the matter directly...
...and to show how much l trust you, I will do a more important thing.
I will invite Mr. Wyatt to come to France with us.
That way, no one can accuse me ofjealousy or the slightest suspicion.
My love, you have no reason to be suspicious.
Nor will ever have.
I've received a most illuminating letter from our friend Cranmer.
It appears that in Nuremberg, clergy are allowed to marry.
And Mr. Cranmer has taken full advantage of that fact.
-You mean he got married? -So it seems.
Well, it won't do his career much good here, being illegal.
Well, it's illegal for the clergy to marry now, yes.
What are you saying?
You want priests to be able to marry?
Perhaps I have never fully explained myself to you, Your Lordship.
When, to you and to others...
...l have attacked the practises of the Catholic Church...
...pilgrimages, the worshipping of saints...
...the crawling to the cross...
...the veneration of priests...
...l've never been interested in reforming them.
No.
My real, my only interest...
...is in destroying them.
On the contrary, Mr. Secretary.
I think we understand each other perfectly.
There is something else, something very important...
...which must be done before we can sail for France.
What?
Tell me.
Make way for the Lady Anne. Make way.
To all and singular, as well nobles and gentills, as others...
...to whom these presents shall come, it is the king's pleasure...
...by this patent, to confer on the Lady Anne Boleyn...
...in her own right and on her offspring...
...the noble title Marquess of Pembroke.
And also by this patent, to grant her lands...
...worth 1 00,000 pounds a year...
...for the maintaining of her dignity.
The patent of your nobility.
Thank you, Your Majesty.
His Majesty the king and the Lady Anne Boleyn...
...Marquess of Pembroke.
-Your Majesty. -Your Majesty.
-My lady. -Your Majesty.
Our dearly beloved Archbishop Warham.
He died peacefully.
If one can say such a thing at such a time.
He is, perhaps, fortunate to be gathered now into heaven...
...before the final ruin of the Church he loved and served.
You are resigned then, Sir Thomas, to our ruin?
I don't know what else can be done.
We fought and we failed.
All I want now is to be left in peace...
...to write and pray.
Surely we have a duty still to act in the interests of Christendom...
...whatever the cost.
I have no fear of the cost.
But l have abjured the public realm.
It no longer interests me.
As it no longer interests His Grace.
Mistress Darrell.
I came to give you your poem back.
You cannot give a poem back.
Or a kiss, or a thought.
I am sorry that you are unhappy.
Burning, as you say.
I'm sure l have done nothing to cause it.
Nothing?
My lady, you are full of causes.
Your hair, your eyes...
...your lips...
...all are causes of my desire.
-l must go to Mass. -l know you must.
I know.
Stay a moment.
What are you doing?
I'm giving you a chance...
...to be penitent, my beautiful, pious lady.
Margaret...
...darling daughter...
...it might come to pass...
...that l could be held to account for my beliefs.
But the king allows for your conscience.
Nonetheless, it's better to be prepared.
I don't understand.
Sweetheart...
...we must discuss the question of martyrdom.
No, no.
Listen.
Because if l thought my wife and children...
...would encourage me to die in a good cause...
...it would so comfort me.
In great joy, I would merrily run to death.
Please.
Father.
What do you think? They are all in the French fashion.
This is the damask you gave me.
Do you like them?
I so want you to be proud of me.
Oh, l will be.
And these will help.
These are the jewels of the queens of England.
I shall have them reset for you.
I don't know what to say.
Yes, you do.
I love you.
I love you with my every breath.
With every fibre of my being. I love you and l am yours.
And l am yours.
Wait.
You have been so kind to me...
...let me be kind to you.
My love.
You are travelling with the king to France?
I am.
Will you carry out your mission while you are there?
If there is a good opportunity, yes.
I tell you this, if you succeed in killing the king's whore...
...you would be the beloved of God...
...of His Holiness and of the emperor.
And truly of all the faithful people of England.
And if l should die in the attempt?
Then the emperor will look after your family here on Earth.
And you will be welcomed into heaven by a fanfare of angels.
My dearest brother.
We are here to renew our friendship...
...and that of our two nations.
Come, let us celebrate.
This is a wonderful feast, brother.
But where is she?
Where is the Lady Anne?
She will be here.
I am sorry my wife and sister changed their minds about meeting her.
But what do you expect?
Women are often variable. Only madmen believe them.
I have it in mind, brother...
...that you and l should make arrangements for a joint crusade.
Like Richard, Coeur de Lion.
Warriors of God.
And, of course, no one will be happier than His Holiness...
...if we should commit ourselves to reconquer the Holy Land.
But still, we would be joint leaders in this venture. Yes?
Of course.
Your Grace.
I'm delighted to see you returned to His Majesty's good graces.
It gives me much pleasure to invite you and the duchess...
...to dine with us while we are in Calais.
Not as much pleasure as it gives me to refuse your invitation...
...my Lord.
There are rumours that Your Grace secretly supports the queen...
...and are against the king in this great matter.
And yet, for so long...
...you took immense pride in being totally indifferent...
...to the machinations and politics of this world.
So, what happened to you?
I grew up.
Mistress Boleyn.
You must feel so excited to be back in France...
-...after all your little adventures here. -Tut, Mark.
You ought to remember that I'm still in mourning for my poor husband.
Well, l wouldn't have called him poor. Dull, certainly.
-And impotent. -Really?
I can't wait to ride some young French stallion while I'm here.
Between you and me...
...neither can I.
She's ravishing.
Bravo.
Do I know you?
When you and your sister were here in France...
...as ladies in waiting to my queen.
I remember it so well.
Your Majesty is very gracious...
...but there are some things, perhaps, which Your Majesty knows about me...
...which I would rather you kept secret, and never mention to the king.
Madame la marquise, I am a Frenchman.
I would never betray the secrets of a woman.
Especially a beautiful woman, who must naturally have a great many.
Do you really support my marriage to the king?
For one thing, l hate the emperor...
...so that anything which discomforts him...
...like the divorce of his aunt...
...pleases me immeasurably.
But also, l know you are a friend of France...
...so we can do business.
But there is something else?
It is not my place to say this, madam...
...but perhaps we know each other well enough.
The fact is...
...the station you will be asked to occupy is not an easy one...
...especially to those not born to it.
It is much harder to have everything than to have nothing.
If l had not been born to be king...
...l would certainly not have wished that fate upon myself.
Majesty.
I've tried to run from the fire that burns me.
But when l look around...
...there the fire still is.
Sister.
When you remember how it was, when we were here before...
...could you ever have imagined this, Mary?
Not for all the world.
But then, I am not as clever as you.
I promise you, and l can tell only you...
...that the thing l have so longed for will be accomplished here.
I thought Francis behaved himself rather admirably.
You're beautiful.
Now, my love, let me conceive.
And we will have a son.