Having arrested the King's secretary as a supposed French spy, Wolsey replaces him with his protege, a shrewd commoner named Thomas Cromwell. Princess Margaret reluctantly marries the decrepit King of Portugal, but the union is short-lived as she smothers him days later Henry's desire for Anne Boleyn intensifies. Charles V defeats Francis I and captures the latter at the Battle of Pavia. Meanwhile, Anne Boleyn leaves a distinct impression on Henry after their first face-to-face encounter at the masquerade for the visiting Charles of Spain.Īs a reward for his denunciation of Martin Luther in his book, the Defence of the Seven Sacraments, the Pope christens Henry "Defender of the Faith", but a brush with death causes the King to seek a solution to his lack of an heir. Henry enlists his closest friend Charles Brandon to escort her to Portugal after making him the Duke of Suffolk. The king breaks off his daughter Mary's engagement to the Dauphin of France in favor of a marriage to Charles of Spain and Henry's elder sister, Princess Margaret, is to marry the King of Portugal. Henry knights Sir Thomas More after he helps Henry denounce Martin Luther, and orders him to destroy any copies of the Lutheran "heresy" he can seize although he also considers Luther's work heretical, More is visibly pained by the order. While Cardinal Wolsey has lost his chance to be Pope with King Henry's decision to go to war against France, a new accord with Spain and Queen Katherine's nephew Charles, Holy Roman Emperor, offers him fresh hope. When Henry loses interest in Mary Boleyn after a short time, Thomas Boleyn turns to his younger daughter, Anne, to replace her. The English people celebrate after Lady Elizabeth Blount gives birth to Henry's illegitimate son, and this augments to Katherine's pain.
Katherine of Aragon continues to pray for Henry to give her a live, healthy son, but Henry wrestles with the theological problem of having married his brother's wife, and questions whether his lack of sons could be God's punishment. Boleyn and Norfolk betray the Duke of Buckingham's plot against the king and the Duke is executed. During the summit, Thomas Boleyn manoeuvres his elder daughter Mary into Henry's bed in an effort to secure favour for the family. With Thomas More's encouragement, King Henry meets with King Francis of France and the two sign Cardinal Wolsey's peace treaty. Boleyn's beautiful daughters Mary and Anne prepare to meet King Henry meanwhile, Henry discovers that a mistress of his named Lady Elizabeth Blount, who is one of the Queen's ladies-in-waiting, is pregnant with his child. Buckingham plots to murder Henry and thus grab the throne for himself, letting Thomas Boleyn and the Duke of Norfolk in on his plan. Meanwhile, Henry has an unsuspected rival to the throne in the person of Duke of Buckingham, who is a blood relative to earlier kings. The Chancellor arranges a summit that is to take place in France, and the king's daughter Mary is to be betrothed to the Dauphin of France, much against Katherine's expressed wishes. Thomas More, who is Henry's former teacher and a humanist, supports the treaty which further persuades a reluctant Henry to abandon his war plans. The Lord Chancellor, Cardinal Wolsey, who is more interested in his own ambitions than organising a war, manipulates the young king to propose a "Treaty of Universal Peace" with France instead.
Henry's uncle, the Ambassador to Urbino, is assassinated by the French and Henry seizes upon this event to plan a war with France to establish his immortal reputation and seize back the title of King of France. The aunt of the powerful Spanish king and Holy Roman Emperor Charles, Katherine is all that a Queen should be, and popular, but the difficult pursuit of a divorce approved by the Pope becomes a seductive option - especially when he encounters the beautiful, bold and intelligent Anne Boleyn. And weighing most on his mind is his failure thus far to produce a male heir with his Queen, Katherine of Aragon so far their only child (who survived beyond birth) is the young Princess Mary, on whom he dotes. However, he is troubled by religious unrest in his own kingdom, as well as political struggles and changing allegiances with other countries. Henry VIII is the young and virile king of England, one of the most powerful nations in the world, and seems to have it all.
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