Henry began his pursuite of Anne Boylen in early 1526. It would end, catasrophically, for Anne.

At first it was lust, then love on the king’s part, “his so great folly” recorded in the seventeen letters he wrote to her in 1527 and 1528. But when Anne refused to become his mistress (“I had rather lose my life than my honesty” – in the end she lost both) Henry conceived the idea of marrying her. That required a Papal annulment of his marriage to Katherineof Aragon.

This ought not to have posed a problem for a king, but David Starkey’s research in the Vatican Archives has revealed the real story of Henry’s futile six-year struggle to get what he wanted from Clement VII. During this time, and prompted by Anne, Henry began to re-think the nature of the English monarchy. He came to believe that he had spiritual as well as temporal powers: that the King, not the Pope, should rule the Church in England.

The result was the break with Rome, a new wife for Henry, and a new religion for his subjects. But the marriage did not last long. Henry’s court had always been a dangerous place. “Circa Regna tonat”, wrote Thomas Wyatt: “round the throne the thunder rolls”. When Queen Anne turned against Henry’s chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, Cromwell knew that he had to move against her to save himself. He manipulated Henry’s naturally suspicious nature to engineer Anne’s execution.

But for Henry, his marriage to Anne has long ceased to be about her. It was all about him, and his new supremacy over men’s souls and the wealthy Church which ministered to them. Money and power had triumphed over love.

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