"Sir John." "Your Majesty." "Welcome." "I lost my hat, riding here." "It's never too late." "You should marry again, have another family." "Perhaps you'll find a bride, while you're here with us." "Francis Weston..." "I believe your gentlemanly touch is required." "Perhaps we should make a noise, to wake him naturally?" "Someone laugh?" "Yes, do that, Tom." "I wasn't asleep." "Just resting my eyes." "This is no time to be shy." "Tell Cromwell what Henry asked you." "He asked me if I would look kindly on him." "If he wrote me a poem, for instance." "I said I would." "Good." "But if he attempts anything on your person... .. scream." "What if nobody comes?" "Don't scream." "Pray... out loud." "Something that will appeal to His Majesty's piety and sense of honour." "I'll get my prayer book." "I'm sure I can find something that will fit the bill." "Thomas Cromwell, Secretary to the King." "Show your colours!" "Tell him to let us in, before I show his arse my boot." "Well... .. how do I look?" "That's why he sent you, isn't it?" "To see if I really am dying?" "He used to call me his flower." "When my first son was born, it was winter." "There were no blooms to be had." "He gave me six dozen roses... .. made of the purest white silk." "Over the years, I have given them to those who have done me some service." "Will..." "Will you let the Princess Mary visit me?" "What harm can it do the King?" "Chapuys has written to the lady Mary, saying that he can get her out of the country." "Never!" "I answer for it with my life." "What does Henry imagine?" "Mary, returning with an army, turning him out of his Kingdom?" "It's laughable." "I answer for her intentions with my own person." "Your own person has a lot to do, madam - guaranteeing this, answering for that." "You can only die once." "And when I do... .. I will set Henry an example, for when his own time comes." "Do you think about the King's death a lot?" "I think about his afterlife." "Ah." "How is Boleyn's daughter?" "She lost the child, I am told." "I know how that is." "Hmm." "She and the King have hopes of another child, soon." "Particular hope, or general hope?" "My thoughts always confided in you." "I do hope there is no rift." "Well?" "Is she?" "She's said nothing, still?" "Of course, the wise woman says nothing until she feels the quickening." "Yes." "She's been wrong before... .. but, yes." "Does the King know?" "You should tell him." "He might knight you on the spot." "I suppose it's to be expected." "She was with the King for much of the summer - and when he wasn't with her, he would write her love letters and sent them by the hand of Harry Norris." "My lady, I must leave you." "And you were usually such a good listener." "The window was open." "He was such an innocent..." "What kind of monster would do such a thing?" "Perhaps he got up on the ledge somehow and... then his paws slipped." "~ Paws slipped?" "Paws slipped?" "~ Oh, get away, Mary!" "Oh, yes " "I've re-baptised my fool." "Well... the King's daughter is almost a dwarf, isn't she?" "The French will have a shock if they ever see her." "~ They'll have a shock." "~ Yes." "I know they're trying for a match between her and the Dauphin." "While my own daughter..." "I told you to go to France and negotiate her marriage." "~ But you said you were ill..." "~ I was ill." "You're never ill - unless you want to be." "Huh." "And now the French laugh behind my back." "The French never intended a match." "It's as if my daughter had never been born." "As if Katherine was still Queen." "As if I didn't exist." "I won't let them make a royal match for Mary." "I want you to visit her." "Take one of your handsome young men with you." "She's never had a compliment in her life - it shouldn't be hard to seduce her." "You want me to compromise her?" "Mm." "Do it yourself, if you want." "I heard she liked you." "All that's needed is for her to make a fool of herself in public, so she loses her reputation." "No." "No?" "No?" "What?" "That's not my aim." "Those are not my methods." "I know you're talking to the Seymours." "You think it's a secret, but nothing is secret from me." "I can't believe you'd put your money on such a bad risk." "There was a time, madam, that you would listen to my advice." "Let me advise you now." "Drop your plans and schemes." "Put down the burden of them." "Keep yourself in quietness, until your child is born." "For Jane... .. she's a distraction, that's all." "Let it run its course." "~ Pretend that you don't even see her..." "~ He'll never abandon me." "Never." "Since my coronation, there is a new England and it can't subsist without me." "I'm warning you... .. make terms with me, Cremuel... .. before my child is born." "I hear you're going to put all the nuns and monks out on the road." "Monsieur Chapuys, wherever my commissioners go, they meet monks and nuns who come to them, begging for their liberty - and after the scandals I've heard, I'm not surprised." "Monks selling broken meats from the Last Supper to the poor." "Young novices being visited in their beds by older monks." "They claim they're living the "vita apostolica", but you didn't find the apostles feeling each other's bollocks, did you?" "Tell your master I mean good religion to increase, not wither." "I won't tell my master lies, if I tell him what I see." "I see discontent." "I see famine, before the spring." "You're buying corn from the territories of the Emperor." "This trade could be stopped." "What could your master possibly gain, by starving my countrymen?" "He would gain this - he would see how evilly they are governed!" "Henry begins by mocking the Pope - he will end up embracing..." ".. the devil." "Eustache... .. what's happened?" "What is this?" "I have news from Kimbolton." "Queen Katherine..." "She has only one or two days to live and I don't want her to..." "Thomas, I don't want her to die alone, without anyone who loves her." "And I'm afraid the King won't let me go." "Will you let me go?" "It would be a kindness to let her have a visit from Ambassador Chapuys." "Why?" "So he can intrigue with her more conveniently?" "Her doctors suggest, Madam, that she will very soon be in her grave." "She'd fly out of it, shroud flapping, if she thought she could cause me trouble." "Your Majesty, the Emperor may be a fond nephew, but he won't keep up the quarrel for a dead woman." "This could mean the end to the threat of war - a new era." "Ambassador Chapuys..." "Ambassador Chapuys... has never acknowledged my wife as Queen." "Until he is prepared to bow before her, publicly, there will be no diplomacy with that man." "At last, God!" "Not before time!" "She's very much looking forward to seeing her younger brother - aren't you, dumpling?" "And I share her impatience." "It has been a long enough wait." "I suppose we must expect the country to mourn for her." "She was once given the title of "Queen"." "Mistakenly." "Majesty, do you wish the body brought to St Paul's?" "We will lay her to rest in Peterborough." "It will cost less." "She sent me a letter." "I don't want it." "Get rid of it, will you?" "Richard Rich says the King wants Katherine's plate and furs." "Rich had to point out that if she was never, in fact, his wife, he has no right to her property." "Oh, he'll have the furs." "'I commend unto you our daughter, Mary... '.. beseeching you to be a good father to her..." "'.. and lastly," "'I make this vow... '.. that mine eyes desire you, above all things.'" "If I'd been with you," "I could have put you out of danger." "I'd have beat it with a... with a blanket." "Oh, thank goodness that you..." "If I'd been here..." "Leave it!" "Peace, my husband," "I am not harmed." "My Lady." "Let me drink this." "This was a good piece..." "Yes, what is it?" "Water must be kept at hand and a woman appointed on every rota, to check that all the lights are being extinguished." "I can't imagine how this could have happened." "First, this is a household matter and not within your remit." "Second, she was in no danger." "Third, I don't know who lit the candle." "Four, if I did, I wouldn't tell you." "Five, no-one will tell you either." "If, as it may happen, some person visits the Queen after the lights are out... .. then it is an event over which we should draw a veil." "Some person?" "Some person, for the purposes of arson?" "Or the purposes of something else?" "Lady Rochford..." "Jane, when the time comes to unburden your conscience, don't go to a priest." "He'll give you penance." "I'll give you a reward." "How much does the lordship of Ripon bring in to the Archbishop?" "A little over £260, sir." "How much does Southwell bring in?" "A scant £150." "Ha?" "I thought it would be more." "Majesty... .. in the tournament, today?" "Hmm?" "If you should run against my son, Gregory, will you forbear to unhorse him... .. if you can help it?" "We can't help what we do, really." "When you're thundering down at a man, you can't check." "It's a very rare event, you know, Crom... .. to bring down your opponent." "If you're concerned about what showing he'll make, you needn't be." "He's very able." "I don't really mind what showing he makes." "I just don't want him to be... flattened." "You can't come." "Rafe is back." "I have to talk to him about some abbeys he's been surveying." "And there's my papers..." "Richard will be here, to represent me." "It's my first joust." "The Vatican has given Henry three months to return to obedience, or the bull of excommunication against him will be distributed through Europe." "The Emperor's fleet is set for Algiers with 40,000 armed men." "The Abbot of Fountains has been systematically robbing his own treasury, parliament opens in a fortnight." "The King says you're a credit to my house." "And you are." "Some years ago, before you were born," "I met an old Portuguese knight in Venice - one of those men who made a career of riding to tournaments, throughout Europe." "I don't know..." "For what it's worth..." "He said the secret to jousting was to sit easily in your saddle, like you're going out to take some air." "Carry your lance loose, until the very last moment and above all else... .. defeat your instincts to..." ".. survive." "Well, you're ready." "You look good." "Thank you." "Present." "You have to guess." "St Appollonia's teeth?" "No." "Teeth from the comb of Mary Magdalene?" "St Edmund's nail parings." "Tip them in with the rest." "The man must have had 500 fingers." "What else?" "The prior at Maiden Bradley claims he has a licence, under papal seal, allowing him to keep a whore." "Westminster Abbey bought the bones of a dead elephant." "Now, tell me what they wanted with..." "Gregory?" "It's the King, it's... it's Henry." "He's dead." "Ah." "The tournament hadn't begun." "The King was running towards the ring and the horse just went down." "No-one was near him, no-one to blame." "Master, if this is true..." "If he is dead..." "Should we escape now, before they block the ports?" "Fetch Fitzwilliam." "Move, move!" "Move!" "Move!" "~ Fetch a mirror to his lips." "~ It was tried." "What do you mean, leaving him lying here, untouched by Christian hands?" "!" "By God, Cromwell - you're a dead man!" "My Lord Norfolk, My Lord Norfolk!" "Where is the Queen?" "On the floor." "I told her myself." "My place to do it." "She warned you to be obedient." "And now she's Regent, your days are finished!" "No, no, no!" "No woman with big belly as Regent." "Me!" "Me!" "~ Gregory!" "~ We've brought the Master Treasurer." "Thank you, thank you." "The Princess Mary - if she falls into Boleyn hands, she's dead." "We have to get up-country before this news does." "Go, Fitzwilliam." "Go quickly." "Mary's keepers are Boleyns." "What if they won't yield her?" "Well, then she's dead." "We let her fall into the hands of the papists, they'll set her up as Queen - and I'm dead." "There'll be civil war." "I don't know..." "A woman cannot rule, Cromwell!" "A woman cannot rule!" "Oh, my God, oh, my God." "The King's breathing, the King's breathing!" "Long live the King!" "Come on, come on." "Come on, come on." "Come on..." "There you are, there you are!" "There you are!" "Do you see me?" "That's it, that's it." "Get back, move away." "Let him breathe!" "Let him breathe, let him breathe." "How many men can say," ""My only friend is the King of England?"" "You'd think I have everything... .. but take Henry away..." "I don't know, Crom." "You're not without support, you know?" "Forgive my scepticism." "I mean, you would have support... .. should you need it, against the Boleyns." "Well, why should I need that?" "The Queen and I are perfect friends." "Forgive my scepticism." "This support...?" "Sir Nicholas Carew says he thinks... you're an easy fellow to get on with." "Does he?" "Perhaps..." "Perhaps you should dine with him?" "What would have happened, Crom... if the king had not recovered?" "Anne would have all, to rule herself." "Though she'd have a fight with her Uncle Norfolk." "Between the two of them, which one would I back?" "The lady, I think." "Let the lady be Regent and the Boleyns will walk on our backs." "And your head will be on a spike." "But of course, that will come to pass anyway... if she gives Henry a son." "My Lord..." "I pray - the whole of England prays - that you will never joust again." "Why not geld me, while you're at it?" "That would suit you, wouldn't it, madam?" "The child had the appearance of a male and of about 15 weeks' gestation." "What do you mean, "the appearance of?"" "I only repeat the words of the doctor..." "Oh, get away with you, woman!" "You've never given birth." "What do you know?" "There should've been a matron at her bedside - but oh, no - you Boleyns must all crowd in, whenever disaster strikes." "I see that God will not give me male children." "If a king cannot have a son..." "If he cannot give stability to his realm... .. then it doesn't matter what else he can do." "The victories... the just laws..." ".. the famous courts..." ".. nothing." "It seems to me... that I was dishonestly led into this marriage." "How... dishonestly?" "It seems to me I was seduced... .. practised upon..." ".. perhaps with charms?" "With spells?" "Women do such things." "And if that were so... .. the marriage would be null, wouldn't it?" "'He sent her a purse - the King." "'Christ knows how much was in it.'" "What did she do?" "She sent it back." "And the letter he sent with it?" "'She didn't open it." "'But before she returned it..." "'She kissed the seal." "'Kissed it!" "'What genius possessed her?" "'" "Now Henry's walking around, talking about "the virtuous and chaste Jane"." "What do you say to that?" "The game's changed, Cromwell." "Now that Anne has failed again, it's possible that Henry may wish to remarry." "As long as the King holds by the present Queen," "I will hold by her, too." "So you have no interest of your own in this?" "I represent the King's interests." "That's what I'm for." "My Lord Bishop," "I hear you're leaving us for France?" "We shall miss you." "I went down to Putney... .. or to be accurate, I sent a servant." "I learnt things about you." "You've killed a man." "Not in this jurisdiction." "Do your worst, Stephen." "Put your men on the road, lay out money, search Europe..." "You'll not find any talent I possess that England cannot use." "That lad you knifed in Putney died." "You did well to run, Cromwell." "The family had a noose for you." "Your father... bought them off." "What?" "You see?" "I know things about your life you don't know yourself." "I am disturbing you?" "Eustache?" "No, I was just remembering." "Sit down." "The cardinal used to tell people that I was an orphan... .. or else that..." "I don't know..." "I was Irish." "Recently escaped from prison." "He said it was wise to deceive others about your past, even if there was nothing to conceal." "But I was wondering... whether it's possible to deceive oneself." "About what?" "Something you believed about your life." "Who you are..." "What you are." "You attended the funeral?" "I refused to." "She was not buried as a queen." "I hear the concubine wore yellow, to celebrate Katherine's death?" "She thought her passing would change her position." "So it may, but perhaps not in the way she thinks." "There is talk about this "Semer" girl." "May I meet her?" "And here I thought you'd come just for my company." "The lady you refer to is called "Seymour" - and I'm surprised you take such an interest." "I would have thought you were more interested in which French princess Henry will marry, should he dissolve his current arrangements." "Cremuel, you told me that was a fairy tale!" "You have expressed yourself a friend of my master." "Tell me you won't countenance a French match?" "I have influence on King Henry, Eustache... .. but I do not claim to govern him." "To succeed with Henry, you have to anticipate his desires." "But then... .. if he changes his mind... .. you stand out there... .. expose, no?" "It's Anne you should fear." "She is desperate and dangerous." "Strike first, before she strikes you." "Remember how she brought down Wolsey." "Perhaps you should come to mass, at court?" "Cromwell!" "You knew this was going to happen." "After all this time avoiding her, avoiding having to acknowledge her..." "This will get back to the Emperor." "Let's hope he will understand." "It had to be done, Eustache." "Why?" "Princes do not think as other men do." "Now you have acknowledged his second marriage." "Now, if he likes... .. he can let it go." "When the Boleyns closed around him - poor fellow." "Looked as if he was being carried off by slavers." "He didn't know what country he was going to wake up in." "No more do I." "Let's go - find a crust to gnaw on somewhere - leave them to it." "Cromwell?" "My master the Emperor hopes you will look kindly on a Spanish match for Princess Mary." "You presume too much, Chapuys!" "Do not presume to know my policy, ambassador!" "So this was all a bargaining tool, was it?" "~ Your Majesty..." "~ You bow to my wife, then you send me the bill?" "I have not forgotten how I helped your master against the French." "He promised me territory - next thing I hear, he's making a treaty with Francois!" "The Emperor treats me like an infant!" "First he whips me, then he pets me, then he whips me again!" "Well, tell him I am not an infant!" "And tell him to keep out of my family business!" "First he tells me how I should marry, then he wants to show me how to deal with my own daughter!" "I demand a profound and public apology!" "I don't know what I'm supposed to apologise for!" "I come here in good faith," "I'm tricked into meeting that creature face to face - and then I'm attacked by Henry!" "He wants my master, he needs my master - and instead, he plays these games!" "Peace, peace." "We will do the apologising." "Let him cool down." "~ Never fear, we can keep the talks going..." "~ Cromwell!" "I know what you've done." "You have gone too far in this matter." "You've made him promises, haven't you?" "Well, you have no authority!" "You have put my honour in jeopardy!" "What did I expect?" "What would a man like you know about the honour of princes?" "You've told him you have the king in your pocket?" "Don't deny it!" "You would train me up, like one of your boys - have me touch my cap when you come down in the morning and say "How do you, sir?"" "Well, I really believe you think you are the King... and I am the blacksmith's boy!" "Don't you?" "Don't you?" "God preserve Your Majesty." "And now... .. will you excuse me?" "Cross your wrists." "Like this." "Get it in the water." "Keep your wrists crossed." "Confuses the pain." "I trust a lesson has been learnt?" "You are not a gentleman born." "You should not meddle in affairs of those set above you." "His Majesty may be pleased to bring you into his presence..." "Come, Wolsey!" "We're fetching you to Hell, where Beelzebub is expecting you to supper!" "But you should always remember who it was that placed you where he could see you." "From now on, remember who you serve." "I shall profit from this lesson..." "I assure you, sir." "See you do." "And so..." "Majesty, if it please you..." "Look favourably on the Emperor's overtures... .. we beg you." "For the sake of the realm and the commonweal." "Well, if it's for the good of the commonweal, I..." "I shall begin negotiations with Chapuys." "I suppose I must swallow any personal insults I have received." "Other topics will not be open for discussion." "The Emperor has discussed Mary with his own councillors." "He'd like her married to his own relatives." "I will in no wise suffer her to leave this country, until her behaviour to me is as it should be." "Myself..." "I'd go up-country - and if she would not sign the oath," "I'd beat her head against the wall, till it were soft as a baked apple." "Thank you for that, my Lord Norfolk." "Her mother's death is still raw with her." "I have no doubt that she will see her duty, in these next weeks." "How pleasing to hear from you at last, Cromwell." "Are we to assume that this new-found reticence of yours relates to yesterday's events?" "When His Majesty, if I do recall correctly, administered a check to your ambition?" "Thank you again, My Lord Wiltshire." "There will be no foreign match for Mary." "That is final." "Will you walk with me?" "I wish we would go down to the weald one day - talk to the ironmasters." "I've had various drawings - mathematical drawings and advices... .. concerning how our ordnance can be improved, but I..." "I can't..." "I can't make as much of it as you would." "It's because..." "Well..." "Because you are my right hand, sir." "So, shall we go down?" "You and I, meet the charcoal burners?" "Of course." "But not this summer, sir." "I think you will be too busy." "Yeah." "I cannot live as I have lived, Cromwell." "You must free me from this... .. from Anne." "Perhaps she and Harry Percy..." "They were good as married, weren't they?" "And if that won't run, you know I was..." "I was, on occasion, with Anne's sister, Mary?" "Perhaps having been with kin so near..." "Anyway..." "I trust in your discretion and your skill." "Be very secret." "Does not Mistress Seymour have the tiniest hands?" ""Doesn't she have the tiniest hands?"" ""Does she not have the whitest throat?"" "Has she not the wettest cunt you've ever groped?" "That's enough." "Cromwell's spy is about." "They talk about the Queen." "They?" "Weston, Brereton... sometimes Norris." "Go on." "The Queen needs to conceive another child, quickly." "And they say that Henry cannot be trusted to do the deed, so... one of them has to step in and do him a favour." "Do they come to any conclusion?" "They wouldn't really do it - none of them." "It's just talk." "So do they come to any conclusion?" "I think it's every man for himself." "Well, I'm sure you're right." "Sounds like idle talk." "I don't think it will be necessary to use this... .. but thank you, Rafe." "Trouble is, Thomas..." "The King wants a new wife." "Fix him one." "I didn't... .. and now I'm dead."