Anne of the Thousand Days

In London, 1536, Henry VIII considers whether or not he should sign the warrant for the execution of his second wife, Anne Boleyn. Nine years earlier, in 1527, Henry has a problem: he reveals his dissatisfaction with his wife, Catherine of Aragon. He is enjoying a discreet affair with Mary Boleyn, a daughter of one of his courtiers, Sir Thomas Boleyn, but the king is bored with her too. At a court ball, he notices Mary's eighteen-year-old sister, Anne, who has returned from her education in France. She is engaged to the son of the Earl of Northumberland, and they have received their parents' permission to marry. The king, however, is enraptured with Anne's beauty and orders Cardinal Wolsey, his Lord Chancellor, to break the engagement. When news of this decision is carried to Anne, she reacts furiously. She blames the cardinal and the king for ruining her happiness. When Henry makes a rather clumsy attempt to seduce her, Anne bluntly informs him how she finds him. Henry brings her back to court with him, and she continues to resist his advances out of a mixture of repulsion for Henry and her lingering anger over her broken engagement. However, she becomes intoxicated with the power that the king's love gives her. Using this power, she continually undermines Cardinal Wolsey, who initially sees Anne as a passing love interest for the king. When Henry again presses Anne to become his mistress, she repeats that she never will give birth to an illegitimate child. Desperate to have a son, Henry suddenly comes up with the idea of marrying Anne in Catherine's place. Anne is stunned, but she agrees. Wolsey begs the king to abandon the idea because of the political consequences of divorcing Catherine. Henry refuses to listen. When Wolsey fails to persuade the pope to give Henry his divorce, Anne points out this failing to an enraged Henry. Wolsey is dismissed from office, and his magnificent palace in London is given as a present to Anne, who realizes she has finally fallen in love with Henry. They sleep together, and after discovering that she is pregnant, they are secretly married. Anne is given a splendid coronation, but the people jeer at her in disgust. Months later, Anne gives birth to a daughter, Princess Elizabeth. Henry is displeased because he wanted a son, and their marital relationship begins to cool. His attentions are soon diverted to Lady Jane Seymour, one of Anne's maids. Once she discovers this liaison, Anne banishes Jane from court. During a row over Sir Thomas More's opposition to Anne's queenship, Anne refuses to sleep with her husband again unless More is put to death. More is executed, but Anne's subsequent pregnancy ends with a stillborn boy. Henry demands that his new minister Thomas Cromwell find a way to get rid of Anne. Cromwell tortures a servant in her household into confessing to adultery with the queen; he then arrests four other courtiers who are also accused of being Anne's lovers. Anne is taken to the Tower and placed under arrest. When she is told that she has been accused of adultery, Anne laughs until she sees her brother being brought into the Tower and learns he faces the same accusation. At Anne's trial, she manages to cross-question Mark Smeaton, the tortured servant who finally admits that the charges against Anne were lies. Henry makes an appearance, then visits Anne in her chambers that night. He offers her freedom if she will agree to annul their marriage and make their daughter illegitimate. Anne refuses, saying that she would rather die than betray their daughter, whom she claims will rule after Henry. He slaps her and tells her that her disobedience will mean her death. In the present, Henry decides to execute Anne. A few days later, she is taken to the scaffold and beheaded by a French swordsman. Henry rides off to marry Jane Seymour. Meanwhile, Elizabeth toddles alone in the garden as she hears cannon firing, announcing her mother's death.