Anne of the Thousand Days Page #5

then you must try a new strategy.

When I go down on my hunkers and pray,

good Oardinal, as I do day in, day out,

there's only one thing I pray.

Show me how to save England

from chaos when I'm dead.

That prayer has just been answered.

I shall remarry and have a son.

- Divorce? Oatherine?

- Annulment.

My marriage is cursed

and my sons born dead

because I've transgressed God's Law

in marrying my brother's wife.

It was incest and I've been punished.

I was never married in the eyes of God.

Indeed you were, My Lord.

Thoroughly married.

The Pope granted you a dispensation

to marry Oatherine when Arthur died.

Because England and Spain

needed one another.

Because your brother was 15

and had not consummated the marriage.

At 15, I was rogering maids

right, left and centre.

At the time I believed, and the Pope

believed, and my father chose to believe

that Oatherine was virgin.

I was deceived.

The marriage was consummated.

Prepare the evidence.

Get me a case for annulment.

My Lord, I beg you, as your faithful

servant, I beg you to consider.

Oatherine is a princess of Spain.

Try to annul your marriage and you'll

gather enormous forces against you.

Spain, Naples, Germany, the Netherlands.

All of them ruled by Oatherine's nephew.

The Roman Oatholic Ohurch.

- Your own people who love the Queen.

- I will marry Anne!

It could mean war.

It could mean the loss of your kingdom.

I will marry Anne

if it breaks the Earth in two

and flings the two halves into the void!

No. I don't believe it of him.

I fear it is true, madam.

As Spanish Ambassador, it is my duty

to have... many sources of information.

Then it is Wolsey, not the King.

That butcher's cur, Wolsey,

who put it in his mind.

Wolsey is preparing the case

to take to Rome.

[knocking]

Enter.

The King is here.

He wishes to see Your Majesty.

I will do all in my power to aid you.

I will send word today to your nephew.

- Yes and to His Holiness.

- This Pope bends to the wind.

Your hope lies in your nephew.

- Your Majesty.

- My Lord Ambassador.

It delights my heart to see you

privately after so many months, My Lord.

Sit, Kate. Sit.

Kate,

I'll come bluntly to the point.

God tells me that our marriage is a sin.

My conscience is deeply troubled.

Incest will be punished and we

have been punished with dead sons.

Our daughter, Mary,

is alive and well, Henry.

Our marriage must be annulled.

Then it is true.

Wolsey has brought you to this.

Kate.

- Kate, it's God's will.

- My conscience is clear.

Help me, for both our sakes.

Support me in my case to the Pope.

But I'm your wife.

Do you believe I can ask Pope Olement

to tell the world that my father lied?

My mother lied?

Ferdinand and Isabella,

the most christian princes,

that each of them lied that my marriage

to your brother was never consummated?

Your own father signed the paper

with them.

God knows he lied like a Trojan,

in season and out.

I've had little happiness in my life.

I was a lonely girl,

brought from Spain at 15

to be used for English politics.

When Arthur died I was pushed aside

and kept here for seven years

until I could be used for you.

And you, I loved.

With you I had my only happiness.

I love you still.

Then do as I ask!

No. I will not betray our daughter.

Our daughter is a threat,

not a blessing.

I must...

I must have a son!

Get one then,

from one of your women!

I'm your wife and your Queen.

And neither your nor the Pope

can make my child a bastard!

If you defy me,

I'll have you sent from the court.

You shall be shut away in the country.

It's you then, and not Wolsey,

who really wants this thing.

I will have it!

I too gave evidence that my marriage

to Arthur was never consummated.

Did I lie to the Pope

all those years ago?

Did I lie to God?

Did I lie to you?

No.

I will live and I will die your wife.

And your Queen.

As soon as I reach Rome, I shall

send dispatches back via Holland.

See that messengers are there.

Not long.

Not long to wait now, Nan.

I shall believe it

on the day it happens.

[nearby laughter and music]

Your Grace.

[music stops]

Yes?

The Spanish Emperor

has captured the Vatican.

- Oaptured the Vatican?

- Rome is sacked.

The dead in their hundreds

lie unburied in the streets.

- And the Pope?

- Is besieged.

What...?

By your gracious permission,

in private.

[courtiers gasp and mutter]

Well?

The Pope had fled from the Vatican

to the town of Orvieto.

- We exchanged letters.

- Yes and the annulment?

- He refuses to annul your marriage.

- He cannot!

- He cannot do anything else.

- What's his reason?

The Spanish Emperor's

got him by the nose.

The Pope won't offend that Emperor

by annulling his aunt's marriage to you.

Poor Henry.

He shall, by God Almighty.

I say he shall!

And to hell with the Spanish Emperor.

- Sir Thomas.

- My Lord Bishop.

Shall you in your conscience

accept the annulment

if the decision is for the King?

The Pope has answered the King's appeal

and has sent Oardinal Oampeggio

to try this case.

Oampeggio speaks for His Holiness.

I will accept that.

I shall speak against it

while I have breath.

I shall be silent

until I am forced to speak.

Well, I'm an old man and have no family.

At my age a good death is better

than a bad conscience.

Well, you will be the mother and father

and I shall be the uncle

of a queen next week.

- God be praised.

- I wonder what Anne is thinking.

Out there are my bishops,

my courtiers and my loyal subjects.

Oampeggio is not your subject.

But I am, Your Majesty.

And I promise you the verdict.

You shall see, Anne.

Wolsey has never failed me yet.

Pray silence for His Grace,

the Lord Oardinal of York.

Our commission from Rome

having been publicly read,

this inquiry will now proceed.

Henry, King of England,

come into court.

[trumpets]

[trumpets stop]

Here, my lords.

Oatherine, Queen of England,

come into court.

[courtiers mutter]

On. On.

What can I do

if the Queen will not appear?

- My Lord Oardinal.

- Ecco.

The King may now proceed.

My Lords, I have come to this court

not because I wish to discard a wife,

but because such grave doubts

are cast upon my marriage

and such grave fears

invest my conscience.

I do not wish to marry another woman

for carnal pleasure,

or nor for any displeasure

of the Queen's person or age.

This court has been convened

to try the validity of that marriage.

The bishops assembled here

have signed this document

declaring that the marriage is in doubt

and must be resolved by trial.

That is the truth,

if it please Your Highness.

No, Sir, that is not the truth.

- I do not give my consent.

- Wolsey.

Your memory is failing with age, Bishop.

We argued and in the end you agreed

that I should sign for you

and affix your seal.

My Lord, there is nothing more untrue.

I told you I would never

support this cause.

- [murmuring]

- Well, well, you're only one man.

Oontinue.

Hear the witnesses

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