The Game of Crowns: The Tudors (2024)

for those in power or vying for it there can be no [Applause] rest over centuries kings and queens are crowned overthrown imprisoned reinstated and murdered if this had been the work of fiction we would think it was pushing credulity he still did not have a legitimate male Heir and I think this is the beginning of the [Music] end this is a dangerous game of strategy cunning and deception Mary is undoubtedly the biggest threat to Elizabeth dynasties will rise and fall all in answer to the everpresent question that fueled Civil War and blood feuds which pitted brother against brother father against son cousin against cousin family who killed one another who will wear the bloody crown of England I am the king I am the king there was no Dynasty like the Tuda Dynasty for drama this thing to this is the game of [Music] crowns it's 1484 Civil War has raged on in England for almost half a century Richard III who's rumored to have killed his infant nephews the rightful heirs to the throne after imprisoning them in the Tower of London sits on the throne safe behind castle walls in London he is yet to learn that 250 Mi west of the capital A young man is about to land on the KY pemr Shire Coast an army of French mercenaries in tow he is about to set his sights on the very Throne Richard III has battled and butchered his way onto now his claim to the throne was rather tenuous his father was the illegitimate son of Katherine of Vala and a relationship with an Owen chuda so Not only was his claim an illegitimate one but it also only came through his [Music] mother the odds really were stacked against Henry chuda at the Battle of [Music] Bosworth not only did Richard III have the support of the Nobles and a much larger Army he was also a seasoned Warrior whereas Henry chuda had much less [Music] experience [Music] [Applause] but the battle was really decided by the Stanley brothers who held back their troops of around 6,000 and waited to see which side was likely going to win they then joined H and fought alongside Henry [Music] Huga on the battlefield at Bosworth two armies Clash to decide who will sit on the throne on the battlefield at Bosworth a king will die caught in The Fray of soldiers swords and horses hooves on the battlefield at Bosworth a king will emerge triumphant and go on to found one of the greatest dynasties in British history his name is Henry Tudor born January the 28th 1457 to Margaret bordt and Owen Tudor in H Brookshire Henry's claim to the throne is a tenuous one Henry I 7th had a very difficult hereditary claim to the throne of which he was well aware it was almost no claim at all he becomes king in 1485 when King Richard III is slain at the Battle of Bosworth field he is crowned King Henry iith of England on October the 30th knowing that many of the Nobles surrounding him have a stronger claim to the throne than he does Henry is endlessly paranoid his Reign is one of Terror he very much rules with an iron fist people are scared of Henry the 7th and he rules through finances very cunningly he dates his accession to the throne to the day before Bosworth field and that means that anyone who fought for Richard III was actually committ committing treason against their lawful King of England which means of course he can seize their property or say that they owe him money and this very much keeps nobility in line but he doesn't rule through love a key part of establishing the Tudor dynasty on the throne is Henry's marriage to Elizabeth the AIS to the house of York in a union which unites the two Waring families as one and the house of York had always used the symbol of the white rose and we see it all all the time in yorkist iconography the House of Lancaster had on occasion used a red rose symbol and Henry very cleverly actually noted these two symbols and created the Tuda Rose which is a red and white rose and which symbolized the union of the House of Lancaster and the house of York Henry knew that any children they should have would be of both the lancastrian and the York line ending in perpetuity the wars of the Roses is they have a successful marriage and no less than seven children are born securing the Next Generation in the Tuda Dynasty Prince Arthur is their eldest and he is the future of the dynasty Arthur Prince of Wales was supposed to be the heir that succeeded to Henry chuda and much hope and expectation lay on his shoulders he wants to use ideas of the legendary King of the Brit because of course the chud is a Welsh the descendants of the Britains so Arthur is named Arthur to reference King Arthur and he's raised in his own household he's raised to become king he was the prince of Wales he therefore set up court at Ludo in order to secure the realm and to have alliances with other countries he was also married to the infanta of Spain Catherine of Aragon tragically their marriage was to be a short-lived one for Arthur contracted the sweating sickness and died suddenly in [Music] 1502 this is devastating both for Henry and for Elizabeth all of his father's hopes are undone in his eldest son's death and must now rely upon his only remaining male Heir Prince Henry everything changed for Henry when Arthur died he is the Second Son of Henry 7th and Elizabeth York from having been the spare he was now the heir and all of England's hopes rested upon his shoulders and he's always intended to be a great nobleman but of course isn't raised to become king he's declared Prince of Wales and he now becomes the sole focus of his father's Ambitions and his father's efforts because his father has no brothers he he has no other surviving Sons so Henry VII is the future of the Tuda Dynasty Henry I 7th died in 1509 leaving the throne to his 17-year-old son now Henry VII Henry I 7th was never a popular King most of his court feared him so on his death there is a sense of Celebration you know of of joy that England is now going to get this young and charismatic King Henry VII very much resembled his grandfather Edward IV who'd been very very popular and there is a real sense of hope for the future he's seen as a true Renaissance Prince he's Highly Educated he's incredibly good-looking the young Henry VII was described as so beautiful he'd make a pretty woman he was very much conversant in the language of courtly love he enjoyed singing dancing composing music and also playing playing instrument um he's athletic um he's very into his Sports he's very muscular and well-built he's very very tall he is a king of which England can be proud and there is very much celebration at his accession to the throne in 1509 when Henry VII ascended to the throne one of his first acts was to ask his brother's widow Catherine of AR for her hand in marriage however to marry the new King has to gain a special dispensation from the Pope in Rome the pope approves this and Henry and Katherine are wed and crowned king and queen of England strengthening once again England's alliance with Spain and the rest of Catholic Europe when she marries Henry VII after several years of waiting um she must must have felt that all her prayers have been answered he is incredibly good-look and undoubtedly Catherine fell deeply in love with [Music] Henry Katherine of aragan was raised her whole life to be Queen both her parents are monarchs her mother is Isabella of Castile and her father is f and king of aragan so she is incredibly Royal she was wiy and determined and also courageous Catherine in many ways was an ideal Queen consort she was supportive of hemry and his many campaigns abroad but she was also happy to be subservient to him she was a loyal wife to Henry and also expected loyalty back proves herself to be a good wife and a great Queen Henry adores her and the country follows [Music] suit she fulfills all her duties as Queen save one securing a male Heir for the first 10 years of her life married to Henry Catherine spent most of it pregnant and tragically out of six children only one was to survive in 1516 after many years of sadly losing children Katherine of aragan gave birth to a daughter who was christened Mary now it is often stated that Henry was disappointed at the birth of a daughter but actually I think we have evidence that he was relieved that at last a child was surviving into its infancy and well for Catherine as the daughter of a female Sovereign the idea of a reigning Queen is is not so alien for Henry coming out of the wars of the Roses it is a terrifying Prospect with Katherine 6 years older than Henry and nearing middle age the king begins to worry with only one daughter and no legitimate Sons the succession of the Tudor dynasty is not yet assured the king prays and prays asking God for a son and for a wife who could give him one in his wife's gaggle of ladies in Waiting he finds the answer to his prayers a young fertile and beautiful woman named an berin Henry had many Mistresses during his marriage to Catherine of aragan but Anne was a Wy woman and does not want to fall victim to every whim and wish of the king like many of his Mistresses had including her own sister Mary Belin Henry VII was actually quite slow in his advances towards amberin who joined his court in 1522 he actually had a relationship with an Sister Mary Belin in the inim years before he turned his attentions towards her but we know for certain by 1526 that Henry VII was falling head over heels in love for [Music] Anin Anin had always looked for a good marriage because marriage is a way towards social status for women there is no doubt that Henry adored an he loved her deeply in his letters he talks about being struck by the dart of love she is insistent if he was ever to have her it would be as his wife and queen she favored the French Fashions but also she was highly intelligent she had been afforded an education that was quite different to the women around her in England and she also had very radical religious ideas too so she really rebuffed Henry's advances until she got to the point where Henry offered her a legitimate path a hand in marriage and a crown for the second time pertaining to his relationship with Katherine of aragan the the King has to seek a special dispensation from the Pope the only real way that Henry was going to be able to marry Anne was if the pope would anull his marriage to Catherine of Aragon and Anne and Henry knew that the best mechanism uh for achieving that end would be through the king's Minister Thomas [Music] Wolsey at Henry's behest Cardinal woy travels to Rome where he'll petition Pope Clement to Grant the analment of the king's marriage to the queen on the grounds that it was and had always been illegitimate Anne and Henry placed their hopes in Cardinal Wy and he was dispatched to Rome to try to bring about the inment the the Cardinal appeals to Pope Clement for an analment of Henry and Katherine's marriage on the basis that the initial dispensation was void as the marriage clearly disobeyed instructions in The Book of Leviticus which states that the marriage of a brother's wife was incestuous and would bear no children Henry wanted to anull his marriage to Katherine vargan on the basis that she had been his brother's wife so they're related to within the first degree of affinity they are as far as the church is concerned brother and sister this became a matter of international tension Catherine's nephew the Holy Roman Emperor Charles I is vehemently against the annulment as is Queen Catherine herself pressure comes from all sides for Pope Clement as Queen Catherine and King Charles I urge him not to the marriage and woy and Henry push for the dispensation to be made while the pope is in the emperor's power he will never Grant the analment of The Emperor's aunt's marriage the English try and Cardinal Wy tries but he's in an impossible situation he can never do it he will never be able to anull this marriage between the wills of two powerful Kings the pope delays his decision as long as possible the indecision infuriating both Henry and Anne who begin to doubt wo's loyalty to the crown over the church Wolsey returns to England without the Pope's annulment Wy ultimately fails to secure an analment for Henry from his marriage to Catherine of aragan and this leads to his dramatic fall enraged by W's failure to secure the analment woy is arrested Henry turns to more drastic measures Thomas Cromwell one of Henry's key ministers at court proposes a new plan to Grant Henry's divorce Reformation Henry knows that the pope is not going to Grant his analment to his first Queen Catherine of aragan there is no solution other than breaking away from the pope because if the pope will not Grant the analment then perhaps the church needs to move from the pope and therefore he is greatly influenced by these new thinkers including Anne Belin and taking the unprecedented step to break with the Church of Rome and to instore himself as king as the head of his new church as soon as Thomas krmer is confirmed as Archbishop of Canterbury he disavows his oath of allegiance to the pope and declares the English church separate from Rome with the King as its Supreme head and this is the moment that the English church goes Its Own Way in order to do this Henry actually elevates himself Beyond kingship and proclaims that he is an emperor of his own Empire this is really the beginnings of the British Empire this is where it all begins an and cromwell's shared reformist views make them indomitable allies and so Begins the break from Rome fueled more by political Affair than theological dispute having installed himself as was the Supreme head of this new church in England Henry grants his own divorce and begins preparations to marry an berin Catherine is given the title The dower princess such was Catherine's impression on people that even her enemy Thomas Cromwell said of her if not for her sex she could have defied all the heroes of history in the winter of 1532 Anne and Henry journey to Cal to gain the approval of King Francis I of France in a private conference with Anne he gives them his Blessing and by the time they reach over on their ship they are lovers they wed hurriedly in secret and again publicly two months later and Anne is crowned queen Henry had moved Heaven and Earth to marry Amin and the price for for crowning her was the delivery of the much long for male Heir that Henry so desired but the child that Anne had in 1533 wasn't a son it was a daughter the future Elizabeth the first Elizabeth was born at Greenwich Palace in September 1533 um she's the first child of Henry VII and amberin the first since the break with Rome so her birth was really looked forward to Henry certainly was expecting his son we know that in fact because he prepares the birth announcements for the birth of a prince unfortunately for her parents of course she is a girl and the birth announcements are amended to add an S to say princess now some historians have suggested that Henry was furious at Anne for the delivery of a daughter and indeed that this was the beginning of the end of their relationship but actually we have good evidence that Henry consoled an and suggested that the delivery of a healthy daughter was a good sign for the sons that would follow Elizabeth's birth was disappointing and he really did want to have a son but he knew that both he and Anne were young enough to have more children and Anne does quickly become pregnant again the following year Henry VII loved jousting and it is an incredible ly dangerous sport once in his youth actually he came close to being killed when he forgot to put the visor down on his helmet and his friend the Duke of suffk um didn't notice and jousted at him and actually the Lance splintered and he was very lucky to survive in 1536 Henry suffered a disastrous accident whilst jousting some reports state that he was unconscious whilst others just mention the fact that he was severely injured he fell badly and his horse landed on top of him this really changed Henry's lifestyle it in many ways emasculated him one account suggests that he was unconscious for several hours and there were also suggestions that perhaps there is some sort of brain damage I think this is a turning point in Henry's life and not for the better [Music] he will never recover from his [Music] injuries I think this narrowing of his uh abilities and I think this continual pain that Henry is in really changes his personality I think he becomes hot-headed and irrational and would lash out to to agree that he hadn't previously and it really hammered home to the king and to his court he still did not have a legitimate male Heir not long after Henry's jousting accident and tragically miscarries amberin would blame her final miscarriage on the news of the king's accident and I think this is the beginning of the end of an's life Henry told an that he could see that he would have no more boys by her which was particularly ominous the trauma of Henry's injury and Anne's miscarriage has put the couple at odds Henry by this stage was involved with Anne's lady in waiting Jane Seymour who had herself declared that she would not become the king's mistress Thomas Cromwell and Anne who had once been United in the pursuit of the same cause are now Waring over the king's favor in the ensuing weeks Anne makes one crucial mistake she threatens cromwell's life the end for Anne came very quickly very dramatically on the 2nd of May May 1536 Anne is arrested at the palace of Greenwich and is taken to the Tower of London she has no idea why she has been arrested but two people do her husband Henry VII and his Minister Thomas Cromwell Cromwell poisons Henry against her and she is arrested and charged with adultery incest and treason and is executed on the 19th of May 1536 by the blade of a French swordsman Henry ordered that a cannon was fired at the moment that am was executed and this was his queue to move on indeed he proposed to Jane Seymour the next day and they were married only 2 weeks later compared to Henry's first two queens Jane Seymour was rather less complicated she was rather Meek and slightly milder than Catherine and Anne and was certainly happy to be more pliant to Henry's will it is a marriage that he hopes will bear Sons um Jane comes from a very fertile family she has many brothers and he's hopeful that Jane will prove a very different wife to [Music] amberin finally at the start of 1537 Jane realizes she's pregnant and when she feels the baby quickens as she feels the baby move the whole country erupts into celebration Henry is incred incredibly solicitous throughout her pregnancy he vows to remain close to her so she's not frightened by any rumors this is probably a reference to Amin's final miscarriage and the fact that she blamed it from Henry's fall from a horse after many years of Heartache Jane Seymour finally gave Henry the son and air that he so desperately craved when Jane goes into labor in October 1537 the whole country hold their breath and it's a very long very arduous labor finally after two days Jane gives birth and it is a healthy Prince and everybody celebrates Henry was elated there was much celebration throughout the kingdom and lavish feasts and jousts were prepared this is the moment that Henry has been waiting for for nearly 30 [Music] years [Music] to Henry's great relief in October 1537 a son is born whom they call Edward and everything seems all right with Jane she seems to be recovering well she's able to send out the official birth announcement shortly after the birth but tragically all was not well in the birthing chamber child birth is a very very common form of death for women in the period and Jane holds on until the 24th of October 12 days after the birth of her son before sadly dying in the night Henry VII was absolutely crestfallen at the death of Jane Seymour he really appears to have entered into a prolonged period of mourning and depression Henry at this point had gone through a huge amount of Heartache he had gone to extraordinary lengths to secure this son and air and then tragically his wife had been snatched away from him he really must have felt that everything was stacked against him at this [Music] point heartbroken without his third Queen Henry falls into a deep [Music] depression Thomas romwell one of the king's closest advisers visits the king he has a proposal so most kings in the period chose their wives for diplomatic reasons they wanted to make a grand foreign Alliance which would bring friendship between the countries Henry had been unsuccessful in finding a French bride and then an imperial bride rather like am berin Thomas Cromwell was something of a religious radical and he understood that Henry's kingdom was rather less secure than it should be because of his newly founded Church of England therefore cromwell's proposal was to create an alliance with a Protestant country he explains that Henry should marry an of cleaves in a diplomatic move that would ensure a good relationship with the powerful duche in the Holy Roman Empire intrigued by the proposition Henry dispatches his favorite court painter H Hine the younger to take her [Music] likeness months later the painter returns with a portrait of a young and healthy woman Henry agrees to the union the marriage contract was signed in September 1539 and an then made her way towards England Henry the8's first meeting with an of cleaves couldn't have gone worse an was supposed to Voyage to court to meet hemry but like a Lovick boy Henry can't wait to meet her and decides to visit her in Disguise Henry VII arrived to find an of cleaves looking out of a window at a bear baiting below now as part of Court etiquette and as part of the language of courtly love Henry's courtiers knew that Henry would often appear in Disguise and they in turn were supposed to recognize the king no matter what he was wearing this was to flatter the king now Anne grew up in a completely different environment to this she wasn't conversant in the language of courtly love at all and when Henry VII burst into her chamber she was completely unimpressed with this man that stood before her her visitor then left the room and returned wearing a purple cloak which was a cue for everyone to recognize the king and as they fell to their knees and of course realized her mistake and recognize that this was Henry the8 this was her sutor but the damage had already been done and I think actually in that moment Henry VII saw perhaps for the first time in his life a genuine reaction to how unattractive he had become an hadn't recognized him as this all powerful Majestic person she'd simply seen an obese and slightly aging man before her Henry would leave that chamber and Proclaim I like her not and state that she was nothing like as was depicted in her painting actually most people seem to have agreed that the portrait was a good likeness but there was just something about Anne that didn't appeal to Henry but I think the truth of the matter was that there was an ugly aging and smelly person in that chamber and it wasn't an of cleaves it was Henry unable to get out of the marriage for fear of offending Europe the couple marries though they divorce soon as an alliance with Cleaves is less desirable an is afforded the title The King's sister and gifted a great portfolio of properties Henry is Now 49 years old and once more without a queen having served Henry loyally for many years Thomas Cromwell was now seen by the king as the architect of this incredibly awkward marriage between an of cleaves and himself and he really blamed Cromwell the Duke of norfol a noble of of conservative views and an old rival of the reformist Cromwell has another proposal for the king noticing how vulnerable Cromwell now was waiting in the wings was the Duke of Norfolk who had never been fond of Cromwell and he had a niece who was in an of Cav's employe Catherine Howard he saw this as an opportunity not only to place his young niece in the king's bed but also to bring down RW he offers Henry the hand of his young niece Katherine Howard and convinces him that Cromwell no longer prioritizes the king's wishes but his own having fallen far from the king's Graces on the 28th of July 1540 Cromwell is led to the scaffold at Tower Hill where The Executioner's axe awaits him Cromwell has been sent to the Tower of London in disgrace and he isn't even afforded a trial he is actually condemned to death by an act of attainer in his last letter to King Henry VII he writes a postcript at the end of the letter begging three times for Mercy Mercy Mercy but no mercy came and Thomas Cromwell was taken to the public scaffold sight on Tower Hill and beheaded on the very day that the King married Catherine Howard Katherine Howard is really Henry 's midlife crisis she'd been a lady in waiting to an of cleav she's a teenager Henry VII is absolutely boted by Catherine he lavishes gifts upon her jewelry and clothes but soon rumors start at court that all is not well with Catherine's past she was a woman with a past or a girl with a past really and she'd had two previous lovers one of which had been consummated and the Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas kma leaves a letter for the king to find which details some troubling facts about Catherine's past at first Henry VII is entirely dismissive of these claims but he does order that Thomas kmer investigate but then things take a turn for the worse a letter is discovered in the possession of Thomas C pepper one of Henry VII's favorites at court this is a romantic letter it talks of Catherine longing to see him and this sends Henry into an absolute rage he is blinded by this rage and suggests that he is going to kill Catherine with his own sword she is confined to her apartments and then is imprisoned at Sion Abbey but rather unlike Anne who is dispatched within 19 days of her arrest Catherine languishes in prison Henry can't quite believe what has happened it is reported as this time that there is no more room in the Tower of London for it is so full of Howard relatives and eventually Catherine is taken herself to the Tower of London she is taken to the Queen's apartment and is afforded a private execution on Tower green [Music] Henry VII's Sixth and final Queen was cathine par Catherine was a relatively young woman when Henry first took notice of her but actually she had already been twice widowed she was very very reluctant to marry Henry and actually seems to have been quite horrified when he declared his interest in her Henry however would not be refused there were claimed that Catherine actually said it was better to be his mistress than his wife but if that was the case he ignored her and insisted on marriage I think at this point in his life Henry is looking for peace and stability and looks to Katherine par to rehabilitate his family life to bring his children together and uh to bring Harmony once more to the royal family Katherine is incredibly fond of the King's Daughters Mary and Elizabeth and indeed persuades Henry to restore the girls to the line of succession Catherine par is an incredibly intelligent woman she is very well read and has very radical religious ideas too she's also the first queen to ever publish a book and the first woman to publish a book in England under her own name and in English [Music] Henry VII had been ill on and off for the latter part of 1546 and just before Christmas he leaves the queen and his daughter Mary and goes to Westminster and it's clear very quickly that he's dying he spends his last few weeks cloistered away with his Council and particularly his secretary William padet who is very close to Edward Seymour Henry's brother-in-law the brother of Queen Jane and the uncle of the heir to the throne during this period Henry asks that a new will is drawn up he' previously made a will in the early days of his marriage to Katherine par and he seems to have named her as Regent in the event of his death but this new will completely overturned that instead of naming anyone as Regent Henry in fact established a council of equal ranking Executives so all of these men have an equal role to play and they it was hoped that they would guide Edward through his minority into his adult [Music] reign on the 28th of January 1547 Henry dies at age 55 at the palace of whiteall his son Edward is little more than 9 years old and is now King of England obviously he came to the throne as a child he's 9 years old he's a a shy uncertain boy succession to the extent that at his coronation he actually forgets his French when he's talking to the ambassadors Edward v 6 was a highly intelligent young man he was well versed in most subjects and he was also a radical religious thinker this was certainly encouraged by his uncles who shared the Protestant faith in fact he was something of a relig just Zealot and unlike his father who remained a traditional catholic Edward imposed a fully Protestant Reformation on England for the first time Edward enacts many Protestant reformations during his short Reign by the time he is 12 multiple Catholic rebellions have been quelled prayer books published in his native English and his uncle and protector Edward Seymour the Duke of Somerset has been executed and although his laws are overturned in the reign of his half sister his is the model that is followed by Elizabeth in her religious settlement with her book of common prayer which is of course Edward's book of common prayer he matures as a ruler in his six years there were just signs there were just hints of the Monarch that he could have become [Music] Edward is now 15 and is Gravely ill he has not had a chance to marry and siren Heir and is loath to let his new Protestant England fall into his sister Mary's Catholic hands Edward is a boy king and a fiercely Protestant one too and he Heir at the time is his elder sister Mary who is a devout Catholic and a Roman Catholic too this causes enormous tensions between the two their differences are so great that Edward cannot conceive of his sister Mary succeeding to the throne and undoing the Protestant Reformation that he has enacted upon the country and he goes to Great Lengths in order to disinherit his sister from the line of succession by June he knows that he is dying he redrafts his will naming his cousin the 16-year-old Lady Jane gray his successor she will only be Queen for 9 days he unfortunately dies at the age of 15 but his legacy is certainly the Protestant Reformation because it is under Edward that protestantism becomes established in England when we think about Edward we often think of him as a boy King as a footnote to the reign of his father but actually the Protestant Reformation really should set his Reign apart and we should look more closely at just what Edward [Music] achieved in the wake of of Edward's Death Lady Jane gray is suddenly proclaimed Queen and is taken to the Tower of London which is usually the uh Center of political power at the point of a coronation Mary arrives in London with an army of men and seizes the Tower of London Lady Jane gray is arrested and later executed and Mary takes her rightful place on the throne of England the eldest child of Henry VII Mary is a devout Catholic she swiftly unravels all of the Protestant policies of her brother and declares her parents marriage valid now aged 37 she starts her search for a husband she decides to Ally herself with Catholic Spain by marrying her cousin King Philip II Philip would become her co-ruler and King of England as well as king of Spain when Mary came to the throne one of her first actions was to finally marry and she chose for her husband King Philip II of Spain and it's a really good match for Mary he is the son of the Holy Roman Emperor so one of the most powerful princes in Europe and Mary has always been very close to her Spanish relatives and so she is very very excited by her marriage to Phillip Mary was desperate to beget a son and air to secure her own succession unfortunately it is an incredibly unpopular marriage in England because in the 16th century the husband of a queen is a king so who whoever Mary marries will become king of England and nobody wants a Spanish King such was the dislike for a foreign man to sit on the throne of England alongside Mary Rebellion Sparks early in 1554 there is a Great Rebellion against Mary it is led by Sir Thomas Wyatt and it begins in Kent Thomas Wyatt rebels in favor of Princess Elizabeth ascending to the throne w marches his troops up to London and actually it's really it's a very very dangerous situation for Mary and she is urged to flee her Capital by her advisors she refuses and actually makes a speech at the Guild Hall in London and it's absolutely the speech of her life and we can see Elizabeth modeling later speeches on this Mary talks about being married to her country and it really rallies the people of London in her support so that when Wyatt's troops cross the river into London they are met with a substantial Army and they are defeated that day Mary believes that Elizabeth is part of this conspiracy and arrests her sister imprisoning her in the Tower of London indeed it is likely she is held in the very same rooms that her mother was once held in this must have been terrifying for Elizabeth however Mary ultimately knew that Elizabeth was her only Heir there no one else to succeed her so therefore she had no choice but to let Elizabeth [Music] go she is desperate for an heir of her own she learned from her own succession to power that without an air all her Reformation would be undone Mary believed that she came to the throne with God's favor that God had supported her so she sees her queenship as divinely inspired so it's seems only natural that she will give birth to a Catholic heir to the throne to keep her half sister away from the crown Mary was determined to have a son and air and at one point she believed very much that she was pregnant so she has all the symptoms of pregnancy the doctors agree everyone is very very excited and she makes preparations for the birth she then retires for her lying in which is usually about a month before woman believes she'll give birth and so she waits and then she waits and she waits some more and nothing happens tragically this was a phantom pregnancy and no children ever came from her marriage to Phillip heartbroken and grieving Mary considers her false pregnancy to be God's punish punishment for her having tolerated Heretics in her realm with her husband away at war with France the Queen's persecution of Protestants becomes more and more violent to believe in a different God than that of the Monarch was an act of disloyalty so heresy was both a civil and religious offense which amounted to treason as a result many people were arrested ared imprisoned and executed including the Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas cranmer who served both Henry VII and Edward the 6th the Archbishop would be one of the thousands burned at the stake for their faith during Mary's reign as a result of these burnings she gains the name Bloody Mary by the start of 1558 it is clear that it's only a matter of time before Elizabeth takes the throne Mary is not going to have a child and her health is declining Mary has gone down in history as Bloody Mary which I think is particularly unkind she was England's first queen regnant who reigned in her own right so I think it's uniquely unfair and even misogynistic to land Mary with this really unfortunate title the bishop of Winchester John White Praises Mary at her funeral service she was a king's daughter she was a King's sister she was a king's wife she was a queen and by the same title a king also after only 5 years on the throne and having provided no air Mary dies in 1558 leaving her throne begrudgingly to her Protestant sister Elizabeth following her accession at Hatfield Elizabeth makes her way to London she's met by cheering crowd she is Henry VII's daughter and in fact her coronation portrait is very much reminiscent of her father she's displaying herself as Henry the8's daughter her coronation is set for 15th of January 1559 an auspicious day selected by the court astrologer Dr John D and they hoped that the young Elizabeth would provide more stability more peace and Harmony Elizabeth like her brother before her is zealous in her commitment to the Protestant cause but she knows from witnessing firsthand the decisions made by her sister Sister Mary pertaining to religion that forced conversion can only end in Terror and in Bloodshed when Elizabeth became Queen England was a Catholic country and so the question of what the state religion would be was was really on everybody's lips because she was well known to be a Protestant in 1559 she created her religious settlement where she set the state religion and it was a Protestant church but when she came to the throne she knew that she had to be pragmatic she knew that she needed to unify her kingdom she stated that she had no desire to open Windows into men's souls and this must have been something of a relief to her kingdom Elizabeth tried to take something of a compromise approach something of a middle way some Catholics refus to come to church and actually although Elizabeth has this reputation for moderacy the penalties against Catholics who wouldn't conform could be very severe and went all the way up to execution Elizabeth unfortunately suffered many illnesses during her early Reign including catching small pox this created great anxiety throughout the country and not least in her Council Elizabeth of course was unmarried at this point she had no children no Heir under the laws of succession the next in line to the throne was Catherine gray however she was then a prisoner in the tower because she had made a secret marriage to the ear of Hartford and Elizabeth in her anger had invalidated the marriage and imprisoned Catherine and her husband and Catherine's infant children if you look at strict hereditary the heir to the throne was Mary Queen of Scots who was unlikely to appeal to anyone in England um she's a Catholic she's educated in France she's a foreign ruler so it's a real Constitution tional crisis and the privy Council meet to decide who will be the heir what would happen to the Tuda Dynasty if she were to die without one no one is quite clear what will happen and it really hammers home the uncertainties the fact that the stability in England hangs on the life of just one woman the Monarch must secure the succession of the House of Tudor she knows that she is the last of her siblings she is the third and and final of Henry VII's surviving children her advisers think she needs a husband to support her and an heir to succeed her Elizabeth actually receives a deputation from the House of Commons not long after she becomes Queen where they petition her to marry she takes it in very good Grace but she says to them you know since I've been a child I have decided that I'm going to remain unmarried that I'm going to be a virgin I'm going to reign as a Virgin Queen and it doesn't really cause any stir which is surprising but really it's because just nobody believed her I mean it was a ridiculous suggestion that this young girl of 25 would hope to reign as Queen of course she had to marry of course she had to give England the king her role was to produce HS to continue the dynasty I think Elizabeth chose not to marry for a number of different reasons I think it began at an early age I think she knew uh from the example set by firstly her mother and then her stepmother Katherine Howard how vulnerable Queen could be at the hands of a king I think this left a psychological imprint on Elizabeth's mind I think the thought of marrying terrified her quite frankly but also Elizabeth was determined perhaps for the first time in her life to have control over herself and of her kingdom she had been left in incredibly vulnerable by the downfall of her mother and she had been delegitimized she had been removed from the succession and I think in a way Elizabeth wanted to rule without a [Music] husband she knew that if she had married her husband would automatically have become a king regnant and Elizabeth wanted control not only of her own destiny but that of her kingdom too Mary Queen of Scots is undoubtedly Elizabeth's rival Mary was born in 1542 and when she was 6 days old she became reigning Queen of Scotland Mary is undoubtedly the biggest threat to Elizabeth and this is because of her place in the English succession so Mary is effectively her Heir she is the next hereditary heir to the throne Mary Queen of Scots was Elizabeth's first cousin and she had something of a tempestuous Roar in Scotland indeed she was forced to abdicate her throne because of her actions after she realized she couldn't stay in Scotland any longer Mary fled to England and it was the absolute worst decision she could have taken because Elizabeth was the one person who could never allow Mary to have her freedom because Mary is such a threat to her [Music] rule Elizabeth knew that Mary as a Catholic would become a figurehead for those who opposed Elizabeth's rule indeed people already thought that Mary had a more legitimate claim to the English throne and this really matters to Elizabeth because Elizabeth is still legally illegitimate so legally she has no title to the throne other rather than by Act of Parliament and by her father's will when Elizabeth hears that Mary has landed in the north of England she orders that she be placed under house arrest and Mary remains imprisoned by Elizabeth for 20 years the two women never meet Mary is desperate to come to court to plead her case with Elizabeth but Elizabeth will not see her instead Mary slowly begins to lose hope she starts plotting against Elizabeth and there are several plots at least that her name is mentioned in or that she seems to have had Direct involvement in Mary did conspire to overthrow Elizabeth and to place herself on the English Throne lastly of course she is involved in the babington plot where she gives her consent to murder Elizabeth in many respects this is a really sensible policy for Mary because actually were Elizabeth to die at any point during Mary's imprisonment it's really likely that Mary would be declared Queen of England she knows that there's just one heartbeat between her and the English Throne as her endless imprisonment continues Mary's support for the murder of Elizabeth is evident if that would lead to her own liberty and Catholic domination of England then corresponden is intercepted By Elizabeth's men that will lead to Mary's demise the letter reads let the great plot commence signed [Music] Mary it had been proved without doubt that Mary had consented to murder Elizabeth Elizabeth knew that Mary wanted her dead in 1586 after being convicted of treason having been implicated in the babington plot Elizabeth could not let the Scott itish Queen Liv knowing that Mary's execution could spark a war with Catholic Europe she reluctantly signs the death [Music] warrant Mary was executed at fing ha castle and her execution sent shock waves throughout Europe not least in [Music] Spain the execution of Mary Queen of Scots broke International tensions and the Spanish made a move Spain invades the English occupied Netherlands then turns their enormous Fleet of ships upon the island of Britain the Armada anchored off Cal readying for attack the English were expecting an invasion from Spain and Philip built a great Fleet the Spanish Armada so Elizabeth goes to her troops at Tilbury to try and ready her forces Elizabeth really showed her metal at a speech that she gave at Tilbury she talks about having the body of a weak and feeble woman but having the heart and stomach of a king and a king of England she really rallies the troops she portrays herself as a war leader the Spanish had a much larger Fleet and the odds were stacked against the queen but then the weather breaks storms form and winds blow scattering the Spanish Fleet her commanders Lord Howard of Effingham and Francis Drake are able to scatter the Spanish Fleet partly by Aid of a Protestant wind that blows in the English favor the armad is entirely scattered and in fact the ships that remain have to sail all the way around Scotland and Ireland to get home to Spain because they just cannot go back down the English Channel England sends burning fire ships which Scorch and sink the armada's [Music] gallions it is a Triumph of Elizabeth's Reign the English sail back to Plymouth Victorious this is where the mythology of Elizabeth really starts the truth of the matter is that it was more the weather than uh anything that Elizabeth had done that was the downfall of the Armada but this is where Elizabeth the powerful Virgin Queen really comes into prominence it is at this point that the mythology of Elizabeth begins from this point onwards she becomes Gloriana the Virgin Queen the semi Divine monarch of myth and of magic under her steady and guiding hand England grows more and more prosperous if you'd ask Henry VII back at his death to rank his children Elizabeth would definitely be the least of his children and yet actually she is the one that we really remember she Reigns for 44 years it's remembered as a time of General Prosperity Elizabeth's Court was really the center of power in the Kingdom this is where all of the decisions about policy are made but it's also a place of great exuberance Elizabeth loved lavish celebrations she enjoyed party Banquets and above all she loved dancing it's the age of Shakespeare it's the Age of Exploration and Elizabeth's right at the center reigning alone Elizabeth dies in 16003 and with her dies the tutor Dynasty Elizabeth was destined to be the last of her Dynasty and of course she knew this she had no children she had no nephews and nieces there was no one else to carry on the Tor line so in part of course her Legacy is dynastic change and the fact that the king of Scots became the king of England and United the two kingdoms but her Legacy is so much more than this Elizabeth died childless and at the end of her Reign came the end of the chuda dynasty actually I think one of Elizabeth's greatest legacies was demonstrating that a queen could rule in her own right without a man she was a queen who did did not need a king she was undoubtedly the woman that proved that women could reign in England she reigned for over 40 years and she reigned independently she didn't have a king and she was very much in control of her kingdom James I 6th of Scotland becomes James the of England and a new era Dawns in the battle for the English crown [Music] [Music]

Channel: Royalty TV

Views: 173,697

Keywords: queen, queen elizabeth, queen elizabeth ii, elizabeth ii, prince charles, king charles, charles iii, prince charles iii, king charles iii, prince andrew, prince edward, prince philip, princess diana, diana, diana spencer, prince harry, prince william, princess meghan, meghan markle, princess kate, kate middleton, fergie, royal, royal family, royalty, royal wedding, royal marriage, documentary, royal documentary, full documentary, royal doc, royal docs, doc, docs

Id: B79jTupKN-A

Length: 69min 54sec (4194 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 01 2024