The Tudors

King Henry VIII:
[to Anne Boleyn] I love your neck.

King Henry VIII:
You think you know a story, but you only know how it ends. To get to the heart of the story, you have to go back to the beginning.

Thomas Wyatt:
[talking to Thomas Tallis of Anne Boleyn] For what it's worth I did f*** her.

Queen Katherine:
[to Anne Boleyn] I know what you are trying to do, but do not think to take the King away from me. Let him play with you. Let him give you gifts. But he cannot give you his true heart... for *I* have that in my keeping.

Queen Katherine:
He will tire of you, like all the others.

Anne Boleyn:
And what if he does not?

King Henry VIII:
[after holding a council meeting] It is settled. We are to war with France. Now... I can go play. [Several courtiers laugh]

King Henry VIII:
Thomas Wyatt, were you in love with Anne Boleyn?

Thomas Wyatt:
Of course I loved her. But... from a distance.

King Henry VIII:
I have no heir. The Tudor Dynasty, all my father's work, finished, and it's MY fault!

Anne Boleyn:
[about Henry] They say all his liaisons are soon over. He blows hot, he blows cold...

Thomas Boleyn:
Perhaps you could imagine a way to keep his interests more... prolonged?

Duke of Buckingham:
I am a direct descendant of Edward II. This is MY crown!

Sir Thomas More:
If the lion knows its own strength, no man could control it...

Thomas Wyatt:
[about Anne Boleyn] If she gets her way, she will set our whole country in a roar...

King Henry VIII:
[to Wolsey] I want a divorce, and you will get one for me.

Anne Boleyn:
[Henry sticks his hand up her dress] Not like this.

King Henry VIII:
How then?

Anne Boleyn:
Seduce me. Write letters to me. And poems, I love poems. Ravish me with your words. Seduce me.

Cardinal Thomas Wolsey:
Lady Anne, what are you doing here?

Anne Boleyn:
I have an audience with His Majesty.

Cardinal Thomas Wolsey:
[amused] What would a silly girl like you have to say to a king?

Queen Katherine:
I am so glad to see you. It is often lonely here.

Charles V:
Lonely?

Queen Katherine:
Things are not well between us. His Majesty and I.

Charles V:
But... I saw with my own eyes how attentive he is to you. He looks at you with such devotion, it seems. With such love.

Queen Katherine:
I fear that is for your benefit. Henry is a good masquer. I think sometimes that he will ask me for a divorce.

Charles V:
A divorce? No, that's impossible.

Queen Katherine:
[Glances towards Henry as he crosses paths with Anne Boleyn once more] Is it?

Queen Katherine:
You have not answered my nephew's letters.

King Henry VIII:
Just because your nephew's the King of Spain. Does he think I have nothing better to do?

Queen Katherine:
You know he advises you to sign a treaty with the Emperor, recognizing France as our mutual enemy. He also advises you not to heed everything Wolsey tells you, because Wolsey is so biased with the French.

King Henry VIII:
Since when are you a diplomat?

Queen Katherine:
I am my father's daughter.

King Henry VIII:
[Grabbing Katherine tightly by her wrist] You are my WIFE. You are not my Minister, you are not my Chancellor, but my wife.

Cardinal Thomas Wolsey:
The King commands that you surrender this whole matter into his hands. Otherwise, the court will condemn you.

Queen Katherine:
I am surprised to receive such a request from such a wise and noble man as you. I am but a poor woman, lacking in both wit and understanding. How am I supposed to respond to such a request made to me out of the blue?

Cardinal Thomas Wolsey:
You know perfectly well what the King desires and what he shall have.

Queen Katherine:
All I know, Eminence, is that you, for your own purposes, have kindled this fire. All this time, all these years, I have wondered at your high pride and your vain glory. I have abhorred your voluptuous life and had no regard at all for your presumptuous power and your tyranny! I also know your malice against my nephew, the Emperor. You hate him like a scorpion. And why? Because he would not satisfy your ambition and make you Pope by force.

Cardinal Thomas Wolsey:
Madam, you should never presume to know...

Queen Katherine:
My only satisfaction is that in frustrating you, I hasten your fall from the King's good graces... an outcome I desire above all others.

Queen Katherine:
[as Katherine is called upon to testify, she falls to her knees at Henry's feet] My Lord. Sir. I beseech you, for all the love that has been between us, let me have justice and right. Give me some pity and compassion, for I am a poor woman, and a stranger, born out of your dominion. I have no friend here, and little counsel. I flee to you as head of justice in this realm. I call to God and all the world to witness that I have been to you a true, humble, and obedient wife, ever comfortable to your will and pleasure. I have loved all those who you have loved, for your sake, whether or not I had cause, whether they be my friends or enemies. By me you have had many children, although it has pleased God to call them from this world. But when you had me at first, I take God as my judge! I was a true maid, without touch of man! And whether or not it be true, I put it to your conscience.

Anne of Cleves:
If I cannot please the King, will he kill me?

Queen Katherine:
Tell me, do you prefer your place in this life rather than in heaven?

[after having caught Charles having sex with his daughter, Anna]

Duke of Buckingham:
What's this? Brandon!

Charles Brandon:
It's what it looks like, Your Grace.

Duke of Buckingham:
[livid] You violated my daughter!

Charles Brandon:
No, no. She begged.

[pulls out sword threateningly and holds it to Charles' throat]

Duke of Buckingham:
You've taken her honor!

Charles Brandon:
[smiling amusingly] I swear to your grace, someone else was there before me.

Duke of Buckingham:
[while holding his sword to Charles' throat] You son of a whore.

Charles Brandon:
[smirking] Yes, that is true, Your Grace.

Duke of Buckingham:
I should kill you for this!

[pause]

Duke of Buckingham:
Get out!

Anne Boleyn:
You can't have 3 people in a marriage!

Anne Boleyn:
[to Henry as they are lying in bed] I make you this promise. When we are married, I will deliver you a son.

Princess Margaret:
I hate you!

Charles Brandon:
No, you don't!

Princess Margaret:
Yes, I do. If it weren't for you I would still be the Queen of Portugal. And now, what am I?

Charles Brandon:
You are drunk and you are foolish!

King Henry VIII:
[furiously] How dare you look at me! I am your Lord and Master, not your brother! You are both banished from court. You will relinquish your London houses. You will remove yourself from my sight. Do you understand?

Princess Margaret:
[bowing] Yes, Your Majesty.

King Henry VIII:
And Margaret...

Princess Margaret:
What?

King Henry VIII:
[warningly] I have yet to decide whether to make your bedmate a head shorter.

King Henry VIII:
[embracing Anne, begging] Anne, I want to say something to you. If it pleases you to be my true loyal mistress and friend, to give yourself up to me body and soul, I promise, I'll take you as my only mistress. I won't have a thought or an affection for anyone else.

William Compton:
[to Thomas Tallis] You are beautiful, Thomas.

King Henry VIII:
[shouting in anger at the doctor] These men are not sick from the phlox but from cowardice, and I will not send cowards home. They will either fight, or I'll hang them by the wayside! You get them from their sickbeds back into that trench, or you'll find yourself a head shorter!

Brigitte:
What are you thinking?

Charles Brandon:
[Smiling] That I was dead and am alive again. Let me look at you.

Brigitte:
[after several moments she slowly slips off her garment and stands naked in front of them. When he doesn't react, she laughs] Say something.

Charles Brandon:
Words aren't important.

[Henry learns the truth from his council about Katherine Howard's infidelity]

King Henry VIII:
[exasperated] How misfortunate I am to have so many ill-conditioned wives.

Pope Paul III:
[Deciding on whether to approve Thomas Cranmer as Archbishop of Canterbury] We want to give the English Church the opportunity to return to its first allegiance, and our true faith. We want to please the King. We want to make him beholden to us. What better way to please him than to approve the appointment of a nobody? After all, what harm can a nobody inflict upon our Holy Church?

Queen Catherine of Aragon:
Do you know something, Mr. Brandon... if I had to choose between extreme happiness and extreme sorrow, I would always choose sorrow. [laughs ironically] When you are happy, you forget... You forget about spiritual things. You forget about God.

Anne Boleyn:
I'm so sorry.

King Henry VIII:
You and I are both young and by god's grace, boys will follow. [Anne nods in agreement]

Sir Francis Bryan:
[to Mary, who will not obey her father and acknowledge her illegitimacy] You are an unfilial daughter! Listen to me. I tell you, if you were my daughter, I'd slam your head against the wall 'til it was as soft as a boiled apple.

Mary Tudor:
So as long as I live, I shall never forgive myself.

[she signs the submission]

Jane Seymour:
[while Henry exchanges glances with Lady Misseldon over Jane's shoulder] Mary was so sweet and affectionate. She is everything I hoped she would be. It seems to be no wonder she's so marvelously beloved for her virtue and goodness in the hearts of the people. Your Majesty must invite her to court, show her off.

King Henry VIII:
[appearing to be in deep thought] Hmm...

Jane Seymour:
Your Majesty. Why will you not speak to me?

King Henry VIII:
Because I'm disappointed

Jane Seymour:
Why?

King Henry VIII:
I'm disappointed because you are not yet with child.

Jane Seymour:
I would really like to meet your daughter, Mary.

King Henry VIII:
[smiles and walks over to her] Never speak of such matters again.

[kisses her]

King Henry VIII:
[in agony from his ulcer] I'll destroy them. [pauses] And after I've destroyed them, I'll destroy you Cromwell.

King Henry VIII:
[to Jane Seymour when she gives an opinion on state matters] Don't speak of such matters again.

Sir Francis Bryan:
[to Lady Ursula] I was wondering if you'd like to become my mistress.

Lady Ursula Misseldon:
Sir.

King Henry VIII:
[about reconciliation with Mary] If she truly wants to forget the unhappy past, then she can start by disowning it!

[pointedly telling Sir Francis Bryan what she has heard of his reputation]

Lady Ursula Misseldon:
You like to board other men's boats.

King Henry VIII:
[Voiceover prologue] When we compare the present life of man on Earth with that time of which we have no knowledge, it seems to me like a swift flight of a single sparrow through a banquet hall on a winter's day. After a few moments of comfort, he vanishes from sight into the wintry world from which he came. Even so, man appears on Earth for a little while, but of what went before this life or what will follow, we know nothing.

King Henry VIII:
[Opening lines] In these last days I've been thinking a great deal about loss. What loss, your grace, is to man most irrecoverable?

Charles Brandon:
His virtue.

King Henry VIII:
No, for by his actions, he may redeem his virtue.

Charles Brandon:
Then, his honor.

King Henry VIII:
No, for again he may find the means to recover it, even as a man recovers some fortune he has lost.

Charles Brandon:
Then I can't say, Your Majesty.

King Henry VIII:
Time, your grace. Of all losses, time is the most irrecuperable for it can never be redeemed.

Charles Brandon:
But as to religion, I never read the Gospels and never shall. I'm sure they enlighten you, but I prefer them to remain mysterious. As to the promise of a better world, I can only say that England was merry before, and, all things considered, and with all things as they used to be in times past.

Edward Seymour:
Your Grace, if I do not have your support, may I ask if you will act against me?

Charles Brandon:
I'm not sure if this is any answer, my Lord Hertford, but I've always been drawn to a phrase used by the French peasants: "Praise the God of all, drink the wine, and let the world be the world."

Charles Brandon:
[Feverish and in bed] Has the dawn come yet?

Brigitte Rousselot:
Not yet, not yet.

Charles Brandon:
[Breathing heavily] I hate the night. It makes me think of perpetual night.

King Henry VIII:
I'll tell you, my Lord Hertford, as long as Charles Brandon served me, h-he never betrayed a friend nor took unfair advantage of an enemy. Hmmm... which is more than I can say for anyone else at my court... I never thought he would die.

King Henry VIII:
Master Holbein It is well done.

Jane Seymour:
You have killed him.

King Henry VIII:
This portrait is a lie!

Charles Brandon:
[Answering a question from Edward Seymour about whether he would take sides in, or hold back from, brewing political strife] There's an old French saying: Praise the God of all; drink the wine; and let the world be the world.

[last lines]

On Screen Text:
Henry VIII died on January 28, 1547.

On Screen Text:
His sole legitimate son became King Edward VI at the age of nine,

On Screen Text:
Only to die of illness six years later.

On Screen Text:
An attempt was made to prevent the King's eldest daughter, Princess Mary, from becoming Queen because of her Catholic beliefs.

On Screen Text:
She was crowned in 1553. Her reign was short and turbulent. She burned many Protestant martyrs, and became known as "Bloody Mary".

On Screen Text:
Her half-sister, Elizabeth, succeeded her in 1558. Known to history as the Virgin Queen, Elizabeth ruled England for forty-four years.

On Screen Text:
Her reign was called "The Golden Age".

On Screen Text:
In Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, the Tudor Dynasty produced the two most famous monarchs in English history.

Chapuys:
[Speaking of Elizabeth] The brat is now officially a bastard.

John Seymour:
[Seeing Jane kiss the King] Everything will change for her. That kiss is her destiny and fortune.

Edward Seymour:
...and ours!

King Henry VIII:
[to Sir Robert Tavistock who has found his fiancee posing nude for Hans Holbein] You have not to do with Master Holbein, but with me. I'll tell you frankly: if I had seven peasants, I could make seven lords. But if I had seven lords, I could not make ONE Holbein.

King Henry VIII:
[Smiles at Jane] I think you are pregnant.

Jane Seymour:
[she smiles and nods] I am. [Henry smiles very happily gets up and walks round to Jane's side of the table and kneels down next to her]

Jane Seymour:
[She turns towards Henry] My Love.

King Henry VIII:
My Queen.

Anne Boleyn:
[to Henry, pleadingly] You cannot have three people in a marriage!

Queen Katherine:
Wherever I go, I remain his wife.

Pope Paul III:
[discussing Henry VIII's divorce] So, what about this girl, this putain, the king's whore? Why doesn't somebody just get rid of her?

Anne Boleyn:
[complaining to Henry about Katherine still making his shirts] They are you and me! They are you and her!

King Henry VIII:
Why does it matter? They're just shirts for God's sake

Anne Boleyn:
It's so hard when we're about to get married, and she's still here!

King Henry VIII:
Look, I've have more important things to worry about OTHER THAN MY SHIRTS!

Charles Brandon:
[about Anne] She has had a previous engagement to Thomas Wyatt.

King Henry VIII:
She denies it.

Charles Brandon:
Well she would, wouldn't she?

King Henry VIII:
[Grabs Charles and slams him against the wall] I said she denies it!

Queen Katherine:
[to Cromwell about the royal jewels] I will not give up what is rightfully mine to a woman who is the scandal of Christendom!

Thomas Cromwell:
Ah, Mr. Cranmer!

Thomas Cranmer:
I'm so sorry to be late, Mr. Cromwell. It's completely unforgivable.

Thomas Cromwell:
Nonsense, we haven't even begun dining. It's good to see you. Mr. Boleyn, Mr. Wyatt, this is Mr. Cranmer.

Thomas Wyatt:
Mr. Cranmer, you are a man of the cloth, I believe.

Thomas Cranmer:
And are you not a poet, Mr. Wyatt?

Thomas Wyatt:
That's the least of my sins. You may take one of my confessions after supper.

Thomas Cromwell:
I wouldn't if I were you. It'll turn your hear white.

Thomas Cromwell:
We were discussing before you arrived the progress of the Congregation of Bishops, which was called to decide upon the King's supremacy. His Majesty has wisely decided to appoint George Boleyn here to negotiate with Their Graces.

George Boleyn:
I found most of them accommodating. Of course, there are a few stubborn exceptions.

Thomas Cranmer:
Bishop Fisher, I assume.

George Boleyn:
True.

Thomas Cranmer:
May I ask who else?

George Boleyn:
The archbishop himself, Warham. After years being perfectly pliable, he suddenly become rather intransigent.

Thomas Wyatt:
It's because he's old, and consequently, he's closer to his maker, to whom in due course he must explain himself.

Thomas Cromwell:
Well, I'm sure that there'll be a simple matter of him to explain how he helped liberate his church from superstition, religious falsehood and ecclesiastical greed.

Thomas Cromwell:
Majesty, this is Mr. Cranmer, of whom I have often spoken. It was Mr. Cranmer who first spoke to the fact that Your Majesty's Great Matter was a theological issue and not legal one.

King Henry VIII:
Mr. Cranmer. I have desired to meet you almost above any person now living. You are most welcome here at court.

Thomas Cranmer:
Majesty, I...

King Henry VIII:
It's funny. Some of the greatest and most celebrated minds in my kingdom sweated and struggled over an issue which you, an obcure cleric, if you forgive me, was able to resolve with perfect simplicity and a clarity of mind which put them all to shame.

Thomas Cranmer:
Majesty, I... Um... I...

Thomas Cromwell:
Mr. Cranmer, His Majesty has decided to appoint you his personal chaplain.

Thomas Cranmer:
I... ah...

Thomas Cromwell:
You must thank His Majesty.

Thomas Cranmer:
[bows] Majesty.

King Henry VIII:
You are welcome here, Mr. Cranmer.

Mary Boleyn:
Do I have to ask your opinion to fall in love?

Thomas Boleyn:
Yes! We are royalty! Everything is different!

King Henry VIII:
Charles, I want to ask you a question. Have any of the women you've bedded with lied about their virginity?

Charles Brandon:
Their virginity? I'd say it's the other way around.Did any of them not lie about it?

Pope Paul III:
[about Michelangelo's flare of temprament] We forgive him because he is a genius... whatever that is.

Pope Paul III:
You and I have done well, Campeggio, to avoid the craft of women. Celibacy is an immense relief.

King Henry VIII:
[upon seeing the harm from the jousting accident] You almost lost an eye.

Anthony Knivert:
[laughingly] Never use that one much anyway.

King Henry VIII:
[during a diner-dance] Mister Wyatt.

Thomas Wyatt:
[gets up and bows] Your Majesty.

King Henry VIII:
I hear you're a poet.

Thomas Wyatt:
I write poems, I don't know how to be "a poet".

King Henry VIII:
I've read some, I like them.

Thomas Wyatt:
My Lord, I don't know what to say.

King Henry VIII:
[whispering quietly up close] Were you in love with Anne Boleyn?

Thomas Wyatt:
[nervous] I...

King Henry VIII:
Cardinal Wolsey tells me you were once engaged.

Thomas Wyatt:
No, that's not true.

King Henry VIII:
Did you love her?

Thomas Wyatt:
[nervously] Lady Anne is so beautiful, it is the duty of every man to love her. Of course I loved her, but from a distance. Personally, I have a wife.

King Henry VIII:
[about his sister, Margaret] Charles, as you love me, take care of her.

Charles Brandon:
I will. Have no doubts, I shall treat her as if she were my own sister.

King Henry VIII:
[after he gets hit in the face during a joust] Come on, Anthony, let's do it again! [He gets back on his horse and rides around the jousting pit] People of England, your King is unharmed!

[discussing Fran?ois I]

King Henry VIII:
Is he handsome?

Thomas Boleyn:
He certainly thinks so.

King Henry VIII:
Is he vain?

Thomas Boleyn:
Your Majesty, he's French.

Queen Katherine:
Though I love Your Majesty and I'm loyal to you, in every way, I cannot disguise my distress and unhappiness.

King Henry VIII:
Well, you're going to have to.

Sir Thomas More:
Do you really think we should go to war?

Cardinal Thomas Wolsey:
I think we should try to do as the King wants us to do.

Sir Thomas More:
What if the King doesn't know what's in his best interests?

Cardinal Thomas Wolsey:
[smiling] Then we should help him decide.

King Henry VIII:
An important question, whether it is better for a king to be feared or loved.

King Henry VIII:
You are my wife. You are not my minister, you are not my chancellor, but my wife!

Cardinal Thomas Wolsey:
Ah, Mr. Pace. I trust you're keeping a good eye on my interests?

Mr. Pace:
Of course, Your Eminence. Like an eagle.

Cardinal Thomas Wolsey:
I don't want an eagle, Mr. Pace. They can soar too high. Be a pigeon, and sh*t on everything.

King Henry VIII:
Now, I can go play

King Henry VIII:
I intend to be a just ruler

King Henry VIII:
You didn't say much in council last night.

Sir Thomas More:
About what?

King Henry VIII:
About going to war with France.

Sir Thomas More:
As a humanist, I have an abhorrence of war.

King Henry VIII:
As a king, I am forced to disagree.

Cardinal Thomas Wolsey:
I trust you're keeping a good eye on my interests?

Richard Pace:
Of course, your Grace. Like an eagle.

Cardinal Thomas Wolsey:
I don't want an eagle, Mr. Pace. They can soar too high. Be a pigeon - and sh*t on everything.

Anne Boleyn:
Because the love I bear you is so great, it broke my heart to see you loved others.

King Henry VIII:
[Coming to hours after a jousting accident he whispers] Charles?

Charles Brandon:
Henry? He's alive! Ha ha ha! He's alive!

John Seymour:
I do imagine there are some at court who would like to see the Queen replaced.

Jane Parker:
[Enraged] You've just come from another's bed! Do not deny it!

George Boleyn:
Very well, I shan't.

Jane Parker:
[Very distressed] What makes it worse is that you've not forsaken my bed for that of another woman but another man! [They both are silent, and after a moment she realizes from the look on his face that it's true] Oh, God! Oh, my God, it's true! Oh, my God, it's disgusting! It's a sin!

George Boleyn:
[Fearing her voice will be heard] Shhhh!

Jane Parker:
[Livid] It's a sin against God! It's a sin against Nature! All those that practice it are condemned by the Gospels to live forever in Purgatory!

George Boleyn:
[Bitterly and sarcasticly] Sometimes, my love, I think that with you I'm already condemned to live in Purgatory. [He throws her down on the floor and leaves]

Thomas Boleyn:
Kings had no need for Parliament in the old days!

Thomas Cromwell:
These are not the old days, m'lord.

Thomas Wyatt:
[talking to Thomas Tallis of Anne Boleyn] For what it's worth, I did f*** her.

Princess Margaret:
Softly love and to love softly. Dew on the sycamore branch. By the creaking gate where my heart hurries afterwards through the path of wheat along the briar, to that stone, under which I lie.

Queen Catherine of Aragon:
Have you no kind things to say?

King Henry VIII:
Kind?

Queen Catherine of Aragon:
To your wife, the mother of your child. You treat me so unkindly and in public neglect me.

King Henry VIII:
Katherine, you must accept the inevitable. The weight of academic opinion is against us. We were never legally man and wife. And the court will decide in my favour and if the court does not decide in my favour, I shall denounce the pope as a heretic and marry whom I please.

Cardinal Thomas Wolsey:
Try to discover by subtle means, through his agents, if the emperor is prepared to support his aunt by use of force.

Sir Thomas More:
You think he might invade England in support of the queen?

Cardinal Thomas Wolsey:
[smiling] I don't think anything, but I imagine everything.

King Henry VIII:
Wolsey promises me I will have a divorce by summer.

Anne Boleyn:
Promises are easy.

King Henry VIII:
Alright, so you were a f***ing virgin! That's not the point!

Wiloughby:
[at the trial, referring to the morning after Prince Arthur married Katherine] He said, fetch me a drink Willoughby, I'm thirsty. Last night I was in the midst of Spain.

Lady Elizabeth Darrell:
[to Wyatt] I'm a Catholic. I believe in my faith. Perhaps you poets don't believe in anything.

George Boleyn:
If you could read Greek, Meater, you'd know that even the Greeks had problems with their wives.

Thomas Boleyn:
[to George] Successful people only recognize fear in others.

Anne Boleyn:
[Furiously standing up to her father, who tells her women shouldn't have opinions] I made the king fall in love with me! It was not you, nor George, nor any other man you can name. He fell in love with me, he respected me! And my opinions.

Queen Catherine of Aragon:
[about the plague] And your fear of The Sweat is greater than your infatuation with your mistress?

King Henry VIII:
[annoyed] Katherine, she is not my mistress. I do not sleep with her. Not whilst you and I are still married.

King Henry VIII:
[together with Anne Boleyn] Ah! Your Excellence, allow me to introduce...

French Ambassador:
Is this not Mademoiselle Anne? Enchant?. His Eminence, Cardinal Wolsey, has told me all about you, but he did not tell me how beautiful you are. For a Frenchman, that is almost a crime.

Anne Boleyn:
[in French] But the French tell every woman she is beautiful. Is this not a crime also?

Ambassador Bishop Chapuys:
[to Charles Brandon, who appears deep in thought] Your Grace.

Charles Brandon:
[turns to him, slightly startled] Excellency.

Ambassador Bishop Chapuys:
Your Grace seems somewhat distracted.

Charles Brandon:
I was just thinking of those who are no longer here to sup with us. I had a moment of nostalgia... even for my enemies. I understand Thomas Boleyn died recently.

Ambassador Bishop Chapuys:
Yes, and the only mourners at his funeral were the ghosts of his children.

King Henry VIII:
[Ebulliently to Brandon] Sex... great medicine!

Charles Brandon:
You're dead!

Lord Darcey:
Yes, but not yet at rest.

Jane Seymour:
My love.

King Henry VIII:
My Queen [they kiss].

King Henry VIII:
[At Jane's tomb] My darling, one day I will lie with you again. I promise. Then we will sleep together for eternity.

King Henry VIII:
Well, what do you think?

Court Fool:
I don't think! Are you mad? Thinking is dangerous... but I'll wink.

King Henry VIII:
Go to Hell!

Court Fool:
What? Go there? I thought I'd already arrived.

Thomas Cromwell:
[to Rich] What the King wills, the King must have... not to be argued with or crossed...

Richard Rich:
For God's sake, have you any news of the King?

Thomas Cromwell:
Yes, he's rewriting the Lord's Prayer and the Ten Commandments.

King Henry VIII:
I find her body out of such sorts, disordered and indisposed.

King Henry VIII:
[Angry at his advisors] I am not well-handled, Mr. Cromwell!

Anne of Cleves:
Lady Bryan, if I cannot please the King, will he kill me?

Thomas Cromwell:
[Speaking of Anne] I think when Your Magesty gets to know the lady better...

King Henry VIII:
I do not want to know the lady better!

Charles Brandon:
Your Majesty, I know what we've both lost. We've lost our youth. there's nothing in the world that can ever return it to us.

King Henry VIII:
Everyone has an agenda!

Charles Brandon:
[Praying] Oh, Lord... Lord, what shall I do?

Sir Francis Bryan:
[to Anne] You know, the less I know about your husband, the more he fascinates me.

Sir Henry Pole:
[to Edward seymour] You know, my Lord, this is the truth. The King never made a man, but he destroyed him again, so take a care, my lord.

King Henry VIII:
[to the French Ambassador] You have ten seconds to get out of my court, or I will beat you as the dog you are!

King Henry VIII:
[Final lines after the last of Cardinal Pole's family has been executed] There you are, Cardinal Pole. Now... eat your heart.

King Henry VIII:
In cases of extreme heresy the law makes no sistinction between a man and a woman, for, as you know, Sir Edmond, the Devil takes many forms, and yet it is always the Devil.

Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey:
[to his co-conspirators] What we must first decide is how best to approach Windsor, and in what manner to overcome the guards who surround the Prince and so remove him... For be there no doubt, gentlemen, he who possesses the heir to the throne will very soon possess the throne itself.

Edward Seymour:
Sir Christopher, whenever has innocence been cause to save a man's life... when the King deems him unfit to live in the Commonwealth.

Sir Christopher Haydon:
My Lord, this is a trial under law!

Edward Seymour:
[Forcefully] Mater Haydon, if you did not know it before, then you know it now! The law is whatever His Mejesty says it is - and if you provoke His Majesty, then you will feef the full force of it!

Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey:
[voiceover] The happy life be these; The quiet mind. The equal friend. No grudge nor strife. Wisdom joined with simplicity. The night, discharged of all care.

King Henry VIII:
My well-beloved commons, I come here today to speak with you to set forth my mind and the secrets of my heart. There should be perfect love and concord in this realm but instead there is discord and dissension in every place. What love and charity is there amongst the clergy when one calls the other heretic and anabaptist, and the other calls him papist and hypocrite? Are these tokens of charity amongst you? Are these the signs of fraternal love? The people look for light, and you bring them darkness. And as for the laity, you are not clean of malice and envy. For you slander and rebuke priests and bishops. You take it upon yourself to judge the clergy by the sole light of your fantastical opinions and vain expositions. Although you are permitted to read holy scripture, you must understand that it is under license, and only to inform your conscience, not to dispute and make scripture. I gave you the Bible in your own tongue, but I am sorry to see that that most precious jewel, the word of God, has been disputed, rhymed, sung, and jangled in every ale house and every tavern in this realm. I, whom God has appointed His vicar here, will see these divisions extinct and those enormities corrected, or God should account me an unprofitable servant. Therefore, be of charity with one another, like brother and brother. Love, dread, and serve God, to which I, as your supreme head and sovereign lord, exhort and require you. And I doubt not but that love and affinity which I spoke of at the beginning shall never be dissolved or broken between us.

King Henry VIII:
[to the Duke of Buckingham] Your Grace overwhelms me, your words touch me. They are the greatest gifts, greater than any riches.

Thomas Boleyn:
[to his daughter] There's something deep and dangerous in you, Anne. Those eyes of yours are like dark hooks for the soul.

Knivert:
[observing Henry and Francis wrestling] What bet will you lay?

Charles Brandon:
[cheering on] Go, Henry!

Compton:
Two kings, two queens and a fool...

Knivert:
Who's the fool?

Compton:
[amusingly] I don't know yet, but it's a full house.

Sir Thomas More:
[restraining Henry after he has lost the match and refuses to sign the treaty] All right! If you want the world to know that the King of England is easily changeable, shallow, intemperate, incapable of keeping his word! Then of course I will go and tell them. After all, I am merely Your Majesty's humble servant!

Charles Brandon:
I have got to get me one of those.

King Henry VIII:
On pain of death, Stay!

King Henry VIII:
[after he loses a wrestling match to Francis] I want a rematch! I want a rematch!

King Francis I:
Let's have it then!

King Henry VIII:
Are you afraid?

King Francis I:
Of what am I suppose to be afraid of?

King Henry VIII:
OF ME! [quietly to More] I won't sign it! I won't sign the treaty! Tell them I won't sign it!

Sir Thomas More:
Your Majesty...

King Henry VIII:
Tell them!

Sir Thomas More:
Fine! If you want the world to know that the King of England is not capable of keeping his word, easily changeable, shallow, then of course I will tell them! After all, I am merely Your Majesty's humble servant!

King Henry VIII:
You've been at the French Court for two years. Tell me, what French graces have you learned?

Mary Boleyn:
[while kneeling before him] With Your Majesty's permission...?

King Henry VIII:
Granted.

[she unlaces his breeches and gives him a blow-job]

King Henry VIII:
Does the Duchess love you any better, Charles?

Charles Brandon:
She seems to but only for the sake of appearances.

King Henry VIII:
[sighs] How can I help you, Charles?

Charles Brandon:
Well, when she consents to make love with me again, strike a medal to commemorate it. [They both laugh]

Mary Tudor:
[Outraged] How dare you speak to me like that?

Catherine Howard:
[Spitefully] I dare because I can.

King Henry VIII:
Your Grace, I will appoint you commander of the armies if you have the will and the stomach for the fight.

Charles Brandon:
Majesty, I can only thank God for the chance to win honor and glory in the field. What man would not prefer to die with a sword in his hand and a cry in his throat rather than in a bed in England.

Charles Brandon:
[to Surrey] The King does not just want France back but all his honor and his youth as well. In that, he is like me.

Bishop Gardiner:
[to Rich referring to the Queen] I think the King should be aware how perilous a matter it is to cherish a serpent in one's own bosom.

Ambassador Charles de Marillac:
Do you take me for a fool?

Ambassador Bishop Chapuys:
No, Excellency. You are what you are... and so am I.

Charles Brandon:
I've been told that the French consider their strong ramparts and double walls make them invulnerable to our artillery.

King Henry VIII:
Well, we shall see about that. We brought enough cannon here to conquer Hell.

Brigitte:
Why are you here... in France? This isn't your country.

Charles Brandon:
It used to be.

Brigitte:
Then, we all used to live in Eden. Doesn't mean we can go back again.

King Henry VIII:
[to Elizabeth] Without knowledge life is not possible.

Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey:
Wench, how'd you like to suck the cock of a man who's a member of the Order of the Garter? What would your friends say?

Serving Girl:
They'd tell me not to swallow.

Lady Rochford:
[during Henry's northern visit] Catherine! Your Majesty! You must wake up! The King and Lady Mary are speaking to the people of Lincoln.

Catherine Howard:
[after a sexy night with her young lover] Mm... beastly tired... say I'm sick!

Lady Rochford:
[grumbling] I'll say your sick! You've got a sickness all right, Catherine Howard, and it's getting worse by the day! Pray God it don't prove fatal to us all!

Robert Aske:
Our faith is to be maintained! And not destroyed!

Queen Katherine:
If I had to choose between extreme sorrow and extreme happiness, I would always choose sorrow, for when you are happy you forget about spiritual things, you forget about God.But in your sorrow, He is always with you

Thomas Boleyn:
What happened?

Charles Brandon:
I grew up

Sir Thomas More:
[to Henry] In this bag I carry the great seal of my office, which I find too heavy to hold.

Lady Elizabeth Darrell:
I came to give you your poem back.

Thomas Wyatt:
You cannot give a poem back... or a kiss... or a thought.

King Francis I:
[to Anne] It is much harder to have everything than to have nothing.

Thomas Cromwell:
Your Grace. May we speak? I am here to inform Your Grace, as Archbishop of Canterbury, that the King intends to put a bill before the new session of Parliament.

Bishop Wanham:
What does it concern, Mr. Cromwell?

Thomas Cromwell:
In the first place, it means to deny the Pope much of the revenue he now receives from the English Church. It also means to lay indictments against the privileges of leading clergy in this country.

Bishop Wanham:
Mr. Cromwell, what could be the cause of this further attack upon our Holy Church?

Thomas Cromwell:
People can see for themselves that the monasteries are already sitting on a great wealth, which could be better applied elsewhere for the good of the whole commonwealth. For the good of ordinary, hard-working people.

Bishop Wanham:
This does not strike me as an attack against abuses. But rather, an open attack upon our faith and the faith of our ancestors.

Thomas Cromwell:
If that is your judgement, Your Grace, it is not mine. Neither is it the King's.

Thomas Cromwell:
Your Grace. I have His Majesty's order to banish you from court. You have displeased him, it seems.

Charles Brandon:
Who are you, Mr. Cromwell? I feel like I should know, but somehow I don't.

Thomas Cromwell:
I am exactly as Your Grace finds me. I serve His Majesty to the best of my ability.

Charles Brandon:
Someone told me that you were once a mercenary soldier.

Thomas Cromwell:
I saw some action in my youth. As did Your Grace, I believe.

Charles Brandon:
But I was never a soldier of fortune. If I displeased the King, it was in a good cause.

Thomas Cromwell:
I'm sure. Although some would argue otherwise.

Charles Brandon:
I would never have the temerity to argue with Your Grace.

Thomas Cromwell:
Not to my face anyway.

Thomas Cromwell:
Here is the order. You are to leave court at once.

William Peto:
[gives a cermon in church] 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's preachers are these days too much like those of Ahab's days, in whose mouths 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! [shouting and clamouring. Guards arrive to remove the friar] Unhand me, you dogs! I am a man of God! Unhand me!

Thomas Cromwell:
[outside, in the hall] You shameless friar! You'll be sewn in a sack and thrown into the Thames if you don't speedily hold your tongue.

William Peto:
Keep your threats for your fellow courtiers. As for us friars, we take no account of them at all, since we know very well that the way to heaven is as good by water as by land.

Mark Smeaton:
Mistress Boleyn! You must feel so excited to be back in France, after all your little adventures here.

Mary Boleyn:
Tut, Mark. You ought to remember that I'm still in mourning for my poor husband.

Mark Smeaton:
Well, I wouldn't have called him poor. Dull, certainly.

Mary Boleyn:
And impotent.

Mark Smeaton:
Really?

Mary Boleyn:
I can't wait to ride some young French stallion while I'm here.

Mark Smeaton:
Well, between you and me, neither can I!

Sir Thomas More:
Sir George! Very glad to see you. I know you are a good Catholic man who has never been afraid to speak his conscience.

George Throckmorton:
So, in truth, should every man, Your Honour.

Sir Thomas More:
Indeed. But these days, it seems there are many who can be bullied into silence, or worse, into acting against their conscience. Mark my words, 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 will be no more Church, no more religion, no more spiritual life in this kingdom! Cromwell might as well rape the Blessed Virgin himself!

George Throckmorton:
Your Honour!

Sir Thomas More:
That's why I'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.

Thomas Cromwell:
How do you find the King, Mr. Cranmer?

Thomas Cranmer:
I swear to you, Mr. Cromwell, that he really is the kindest of princes.

Thomas Cromwell:
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.

Thomas Cranmer:
I am not so conceited as to suppose I am anything more to His Majesty than a diligent servant.

Thomas Cromwell:
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.

Thomas Cranmer:
He can't possibly do that! What... what I mean is... why me? I... I am nothing, Mr. Cromwell.

Thomas Cromwell:
His Majesty trusts you absolutely. He knows that you understand his Great Matter better than anyone else, and that you take his part. You're in a better place 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 Nurnberg. The first city wholly run by Lutherans and reformers. A city free of ancient superstitions and idolatry. Free of Popery and the abuses of the clergy. I shall look forward to your report.

Anne Boleyn:
These are the jewels of the Queen of England.

Anne Boleyn:
I don't know what to say.

King Henry VIII:
Yes you do.

Anne Boleyn:
I love you, I love you so much, I love you with every fiber of my being. [Henry smiles] You have been so kind to me. Now let me be kind to you. [She gives Henry a "handy"]

Thomas Wyatt:
These bloody days have broken my heart. My lust, my youth did them depart, And blind desire of estate. Who hastes to climb seeks to revert. Of truth, circa regna tonat.

Thomas Cromwell:
Princes are different from others - are not easily understood, gentlemen.

Anne Boleyn:
[Indignantly] I know the truth! You look for dead men's shoes!

Sir Henry Norris:
Madame, I really must protest.

Anne Boleyn:
I mean, you suppose if anything bad happened to the King, then you would think to have me!

Sir Henry Norris:
Madam, if ever I had such a thought, then I wish my head were cut off.

Anne Boleyn:
Oh, that could be arranged!

Sir Thomas More:
I am... reminded of something Wolsey once told me. That I should only ever tell the king what he ought to do, not what he could do; for if the lion knows his own strength, no man could control him.

King Henry VIII:
Have I made you unhappy?

Anne Boleyn:
No. I would only be unhappy if you ever stopped loving me.

King Henry VIII:
London would have to melt into the Thames first.

Queen Catherine of Aragon:
I had always thought fancied that the King, after pursuing his course for some time, would turn away, would hear to his conscience and change his purpose, as he has done so often before. I believed with all my heart that he would return to reason, but now, I...

Chapuys:
Madame, I pray you, don't give way.

Queen Catherine of Aragon:
No Excellency, I shall never give way.

King Henry VIII:
The need for reformation in the Church is manifest. The Emperor has a duty to promote it, as do I in my own domain. I'm glad we've had this opportunity to exchange opinions.

Chapuys:
[bowing] Your Majesty.

Thomas Cromwell:
You condemn all reformers as heretics?

Sir Thomas More:
Wolsey was far too soft on them. I intend not to be.

Sir Thomas More:
Will you burn them?

Thomas Cromwell:
Sir Thomas, I notice you allow yourself none of the trappings of your great office.

Sir Thomas More:
I'm not so vain as to display its power, Master Cromwell, but I'll tell you this, I fully intend to use it.

Queen Katherine:
[to Henry, about scholars opinion on their divorce] For every scholar that would vote for you, I could find a thousand that would vote for me.

Anne Boleyn:
[murmuring of disapproval; Anne is wearing purple, the color of royalty] You know, I sometimes wish all Spaniards were at the bottom of the sea.

Katherine's lady:
Mistress Boleyn, you should not abuse the Queen's honor with such language.

Anne Boleyn:
I care nothing for Katherine. I would rather see her hanged than acknowledge her as my mistress.

Cardinal Thomas Wolsey:
Lord, we have not spoken as long or as often as we should, I've often been about other business. If I wanted forgiveness, I should ask for it, but for all I have done and for all I am yet to do there can be no forgiveness. And yet I think I am not an evil man, for evil men pray louder, seek penance and think themselves closer to Heaven than I am. I shall not see its gates Lord, nor hear your sweet words of salvation. I have seen eternity, I swear, but it was in a dream and in the morning all was gone. I know myself for what I am and I throw my pour soul upon your forgiveness in the full knowledge that I deserve none.

Cardinal Thomas Wolsey:
[praying to God] God, we have not spoken this long or as often as we should. I've often been about other business. If I wanted forgiveness I should ask for it, but for all that I have done and for all that I am yet to do, there can be no forgiveness. And yet I think I'm not an evil man. Evil men pray louder, seek penance, and stick themselves closer to Heaven than I am. I shall not see its gates Lord. Nor hear your sweet words of salvation. I have seen eternity, I swear. But it was in dream and in the morning all was gone. I know myself for what I am. And I throw my poor soul upon your forgiveness, in the full knowledge that I deserve none at your loving hands.

Cardinal Thomas Wolsey:
[on his arrest for treason] If I had served God as diligently as I served the king, he would not have given me up in my gray hairs.

King Henry VIII:
[Speaking to Jane, who is near death] Don't go! Please, don't go! Just because you have given me everything you promised, please don't leave me! You are the milk of human kindness, the light in my dark, dark world. Without you life is a desert, a howling wilderness... [Looking upward] Please, God, in your mercy, don't take her away from me. My son needs his mother, and I need my queen! [He sobs]

King Henry VIII:
[Looking at a ship's model with Cromwell] Every year the Doge of Venice travels out in this ship into the lagoon in order to renew his marriage vows with the sea. Marriage with the sea! [laughs] What prince does not want to have such an elemental mistress!

Sir Francis Bryan:
[Having sex standing up behind the drapes during a court dance] This is madness!

Sir Francis Bryan:
I like madness!

Mary Tudor:
I know of no Queen of England, save my mother. And I will accept no other queen, except my mother

George Boleyn:
Oh, my Lord! What in God's name is that?

Thomas Cromwell:
It;s called a printing press, my lord, [reading the paper in an intelligible voice] and it will change the world!

King Henry VIII:
Some wine?

French Ambassador:
Of course! Which domain does it come from? Is it Bordeaux?

King Henry VIII:
This is English wine.

French Ambassador:
English wine?

King Henry VIII:
We've been making wine in England since the Romans.

French Ambassador:
[Sarcastically] As late as that? [He drinks some] It's, uh, very fruity... and strong like a gladiator sweats. [Although Henry laughs, he is clearly not amused]

King Henry VIII:
These wretched men have filled my whole realm with uproar! They have to, and will be punished for it.

Robert Aske:
Why should we fear, John, when we are about God's work?

Sir Francis Bryan:
[Referring to catherine Howard] What do you think, my grace?

Charles Brandon:
I think she looks fit for a king.

King Henry VIII:
[to Cromwell] If there is anything important to be done, I know best who to do it.

King Henry VIII:
[caressing Anne] Your neck. I love your neck.

Anne Boleyn:
Forgive me, I spoke of things I should not.

King Henry VIII:
No, no, I give you leave that we may always speak freely with each other, honestly, openly and with a true heart. For me, that is the true definition of love.

Cardinal Thomas Wolsey:
[upon seeing her at court] Lady Anne, what are you doing here?

Anne Boleyn:
I have an audience with His Majesty?

Cardinal Thomas Wolsey:
[incredulously, walking away] What would a silly girl like you have to say to a king?

King Henry VIII:
[Challenging Charles to arm wrestle] If you can beat me, then you can come back to court.

Queen Catherine of Aragon:
[to Anne Boleyn] You are expensive, huh? An expensive whore!

Cardinal Campeggio:
I have received a petition from the dukes of Suffolk and Norfolk and Lord Boleyn, saying the divorce has an overwhelming support of the people of England.

Sir Thomas More:
As Your Eminence would quickly discover if he stepped outside these doors and saw the people, that is a manifest lie. On the contrary, the people love their queen and they have every reason to do so.

Cardinal Thomas Wolsey:
[about her divorce] Your Majesty, I beg that you yield to the King's will.

Queen Catherine of Aragon:
And what is his will?

Cardinal Thomas Wolsey:
As His Eminence proposes, that you join a religious community of your choosing and take a vow of perpetual chastity.

Queen Catherine of Aragon:
[discusted] You speak to me of chastity. Have you not a mistress and two children, Your Eminence?

King Henry VIII:
I want you to go to Rome Mr. Cromwell. I want you to force his f***ing holiness into submission. If necessary by telling him that if he does not grant me my f***ing annulment, then England will withdraw its submission to Rome and I will withdraw my allegiance to him.

Queen Catherine of Aragon:
[to Henry, at the trial] My Lord. Sir. I beseech you, for all the love that has been between us, let me have justice and right. Give me some pity and compassion for I am a poor women in a stranger born out of your dominion. I have no friends here and little council. I flee to you, as head of justice in this realm, I call God and all the world to witness that I have been to you a true, humble and obedient wife, ever comfortable to your will and pleasure. I have loved all those whom you have loved for your sake. Whether or not I had cause, whether they be my friends or enemies. By me you have had many children although it has pleased God to call them from this world. But when you had me at first [loudly] I take God as my judge, I was a true maid without touch of man. And whether or not it be true, I put it to your conscience.

Princess Margaret:
[to her husband, Charles Brandon] You don't know the meaning of the word, Charles. You can love for perhaps a year, a month, a day, even for an hour. And in that hour, I believe you love as well and deeply as any man. But after that hour... you love another, and another. Your *love* is most generous where it is most hurtful.

Anne Boleyn:
[to Thomas Wyatt about his work] You are a poet as I am a woman. Poets and women are always free with their hearts, are they not?

King Henry VIII:
[speaking to Wolsey about court funds] My father was a careful man, a shrewd man, a businessman. He left me a great deal of money, Your Eminence. I intend to spend it.

King Henry VIII:
[conversing with Wolsey about their defenses] What we lack in men, we can more than make up for in ships. We are in an island race, Cardinal. We have the best and bravest sailors in the world. I will have the greatest navy.

Queen Katherine:
Sometimes I think the king will ask me for a divorce...

Charles V:
A divorce? No. That is impossible.

Queen Katherine:
[quietly] Is it?

King Henry VIII:
I like you.

Charles V:
Except for the chin, what's not to like?

King Henry VIII:
I like you already.

Charles V:
Except for the chin, what's there not to like?

King Henry VIII:
[Henry is chasing after Anne Boleyn] Sister.

Princess Margaret:
Brother.

King Henry VIII:
[He grabs Anne Boleyn's hand and looks stunned and she smiles and keeps eye contact with Henry] Perseverance you are my prisoner now. [Anne pulls her hand away from Henry and smiles at him and vanishes with Brandon]

Lady Elizabeth:
[to Mary] As God is my witness, I shall never marry... never!

Catherine Parr:
[to Thomas Seymour] As surely as God is God, I desire to marry you above all others.

Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey:
[Playing cards] You play very well, Mr. Leigh. Always the sign of a wasted life.

Catherine Parr:
[Talking about her first husbabd] It was not a happy marriage, Your Majesty.

King Henry VIII:
[laughs ironically] Do you think such a thing exists?

Catherine Parr:
[Smiling radiantly] Yes, I believe that with all my heart and soul.

Mary Tudor:
Tell me what is happening in Court. Is the King thinking of marrying again?

Ambassador Bishop Chapuys:
There is a new law enacted. It requires that any lady the king may marry must - on pain of death - disclose any charge of sexual misconduct that might be brought against her. Frankly, my lady, this lowers the field. The ladies at court are... how you say?... not exactly known for their virtue.

King Henry VIII:
[Angrily to Edawrd Seymour] If I were you, I would not think if thinking draws you to the wrong conclusion!