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The story of monarchy in Britain
for the last 1,500 years

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is one of a dialogue
between Crown and people,

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monarch and Parliament,

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that has shaped our social
and political life to this day.

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But 500 years ago
that dialogue broke down.

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A taxpayers' strike
and dynastic conflict

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led to civilwar and revolution.

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Politics fused with religion,
first strengthening the monarchy,

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then bringing it to its knees.

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In this revolutionary period,

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the monarchy acquired
a potent new symbol -

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an elaborate, outsized crown
made for the Tudor dynasty.

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Known as the Crown Imperial,
it came to represent the monarchy's

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inflated claims to rule Church
as well as state

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and Scotland as well as England.

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But the very scale
of the crown's claims triggered

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an equal and opposite reaction

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and within 100 years
a king was beheaded,

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the monarchy abolished
and the Imperial Crown itself

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smashed and melted down.

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This series tells the story
of how and why this happened.

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Of the Tudors, who carried
the Crown of England to its peak.

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Of the Stuarts,
who united England and Scotland

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but eventually mishandled both.

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And of the revolution,
which tried but failed

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to extirpate monarchy in Britain.

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The man who ordered the Imperial
Crown to be made was Henry Tudor,

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founder of the Tudor dynasty.

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But Henry was a man who should
never have been king at all.

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He seized the throne
against all the odds.

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He was helped by his teenage mother,
who became a great power broker.

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While his enemies, three brutal
brothers, tore themselves apart

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through murder and betrayal.

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But behind the beheadings and the
gore was the fundamental question

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of how England should be ruled.

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Henry thought he knew the answer.

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But his cure
proved as bad as the disease.

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The story begins five years before
Henry Tudor's birth,

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when a nine-year-old girl
was summoned to court.

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Her name was Margaret Beaufort

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and, with her fortune
of ¡ê1,000 a year,

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she was the richest
heiress in England.

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Even more importantly,
as the direct descendent

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of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster,
Margaret was of the blood royal.

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Her cousin,
the Lancastrian king, Henry VI,

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had decided that she should marry
his own half-brother Edmund Tudor,

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a man more than twice her age.

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It was a sordid mixture of money and
power, with the technicalities fixed

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by a venal and accommodating Church.

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Henry VI was weak.

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He'd failed in war,

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was incapacitated
by long bouts of madness,

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and had fathered only a single
child, leaving the succession

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dangerously in doubt.

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The union of Margaret and Edmund
would, Henry hoped, strengthen

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the weakened royal family.

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It might even produce
a future heir to the throne.

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When Margaret was barely 12,

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the earliest legally permissible
age for sexual intercourse,

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he brought her to Wales, where
they lived together as man and wife.

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Shortly before Margaret's
13th birthday she became pregnant

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but six months later, weakened
by imprisonment in a Welsh feud

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and finished off by the plague,
Edmund died on the 1st of November.

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And his child bride, widowed
and heavily pregnant, sought refuge

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with her brother-in-law
here at Pembroke Castle.

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And it was in Pembroke Castle,
in a tower chamber like this,

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that Margaret gave birth
to the future Henry VII

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on 28th January, 1457.

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Actually, it was a miracle
that both mother and child survived.

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It was the depths of winter, the
plague still raged, whilst Margaret,

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short and slightly built even as
an adult, was not yet fully grown.

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Probably, the birth did severe
damage to her immature body because,

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despite two further marriages,

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Margaret was to have
no more children.

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Yet out of this traumatic birth
an extraordinary bond was forged

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between mother and son.

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Behind every successful man,
it is said, there is a strong woman.

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In Henry's case it was his mother.

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Margaret would need to be strong
because her son was born into

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an England torn apart by civil war.

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For their family, the Lancastrians,

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was not the only one
with a claim to the throne.

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Their opponents were the three
brothers of the House of York.

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They had at least as good a claim
to the throne, which they determined

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to make good by force.

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The resulting conflict was known

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as the Wars of the Roses,
after the emblems of the two sides -

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the red rose of Lancaster
and the white rose of York.

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Such emblems, known as badges,
were worn not only by the followers

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of the two rival royal houses, but
by all the servants of the nobility.

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And the more land you had,
the bigger the private army

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of badge-wearing retainers, as
they were called, you could afford.

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The forces of York and Lancaster
and their noble allies were

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evenly balanced, with the result
that after 15 years of fighting

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the crown had changed hands twice,

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between the Lancastrian king, Henry
VI, and his rival Edward of York,

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who'd made himself Edward IV.

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The final showdown came
at Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire,

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in May 1471.

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Edward -
young, warlike and charismatic,

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and supported by both his brothers,

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the 18-year-old Richard,
Duke of Gloucester,

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was determined to annihilate the
House of Lancaster once and for all.

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The battle soon
turned into a massacre,

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leaving thousands dead on the field.

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It was a decisive victory for York,
a disaster for Lancaster.

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After the battle,
many of the Lancastrians

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fled to Tewkesbury Abbey, where
they took refuge in the church here.

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Edward and his men then burst in,
in hot pursuit.

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There are two different versions
of what happened next.

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According to the official account,

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Edward behaved with exemplary
decorum, pardoning the fugitives,

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offering up solemn thanks
at the high altar for his victory.

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But the unofficial accounts

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tell a different
and much more shocking story.

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In fact, Edward and his men had
begun to slaughter the Lancastrians

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and they were only saved
by the intervention of a priest,

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vested and holding
the Holy Sacrament in his hands.

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Edward then recovered control of
the situation by issuing his pardon.

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But already enough blood had been
spilt to pollute the church

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and to require
its solemn reconsecration.

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A day or two later, despite
his promise of pardon, Edward

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ordered the beheading of most of
the remaining Lancastrian leaders.

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Now, only the life of the feeble
Lancastrian king, Henry VI,

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stood between Edward and
an unchallenged grasp of the throne.

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On 21st May, Edward entered
the City of London in triumph.

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That night, between the hours of 11
and 12 midnight, Henry VI

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was murdered here in the Tower of
London, probably with a heavy blow

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to the back of the head.

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Only one man is named as being
present in the Tower at the time -

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Edward's younger brother, Richard,
Duke of Gloucester, who, at the age

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of only 18, was already emerging
as the most effective hatchet man

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of the Yorkist regime.

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Now, surely,
the Wars of the Roses were over.

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No-one, a Yorkist chronicler
exulted, of the stock of Lancaster

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remained among the living
who could claim the throne.

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But one Lancastrian claimant,
however remote, did remain.

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Henry Tudor.

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14 years had passed
since Margaret had had her son.

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Now the teenaged Henry
was in danger of his life.

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Not even the massive walls

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of Pembroke Castle could protect
the boy against the vengeful power

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of Edward of York,
and his mother urged him to flee.

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He took ship at Tenby,
and crossed the Channel to Brittany.

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And there Henry was to endure

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a decade and a half
of politically fraught exile

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before he would see
either England or his mother again.

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Having annihilated his Lancastrian
enemies,

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Edward IV of York
was now King indeed.

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But the problem of nobles
who were almost as rich and powerful

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as the King himself remained.

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And richest and most powerful of all

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was Edward's middle brother
George, Duke of Clarence.

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The man Shakespeare described as
"False, fleeting purjur'd Clarence"

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The phrase is memorable.

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But it's misleading.

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It suggests
that the key to his story lies

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in Clarence's character defects.

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It doesn't.
It lies instead in his position.

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For Clarence was what
Queen Elizabeth I,

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who would hold the same unenviable
place herself,

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called the "second person".

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His title, Duke of Clarence,
was the one that was given in

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the Middle Ages to the King's
second son.

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As such, he was endowed with vast
estates and many grand castles

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like Tutbury and Warwick.

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Here he kept
what he called his "court"

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with a state that was almost royal.

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Only the life of Edward himself and,
in time, Edward's two young sons,

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stood between Clarence
and the royal throne itself.

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Some second persons were content
to remain merely loyal lieutenants.

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Clarence wasn't one of them.

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To undermine his brother,
Clarence started to stir up old,

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dangerous rumours.

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Rumours that cast doubts on

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the legality of Edward's marriage
to his Queen, Elizabeth Woodville.

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Elizabeth Woodville was one
of the most controversial women

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ever to have been Queen of England.

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She was beautiful,
ambitious, greedy and a widow

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of modest family background,
on her father's side at least.

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Edward first met her when she
petitioned him about a problem

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with her late husband's estate.

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Edward immediately propositioned
her, but Elizabeth defended herself,

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it's said, with a knife.

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Edward, as seems then to have

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been his habit when women resisted
his advances, offered her marriage.

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The two were married secretly
at her father's house.

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Perhaps Edward had always intended

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to repudiate this
clandestine marriage

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to an obviously unsuitable wife.
But he didn't.

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Had the marriage turned out
to be valid after all?

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Had Edward even fallen in love?

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At any rate, six months later
the marriage was made public

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and Elizabeth acknowledged as Queen.

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By the mid-1470's, Elizabeth had
presented Edward with five daughters

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and, crucially, two sons.

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Immortalised in stained glass
at Canterbury Cathedral,

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they looked like the perfect
royal family.

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Edward had what every king desired.

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An heir and a spare.

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The elder was called Edward,
the younger, Richard.

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History would know them
as the Princes in the Tower.

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But if their parents' marriage
could be proved invalid,

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the princes would become bastards,

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and Clarence would
be heir once more.

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So the ambitious second person
revived an old rumour.

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That his brother Edward had already
been married to another woman

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at the time he married Elizabeth,
thus making the union illegal.

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The rumour of a previous marriage
may well have been true.

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Certainly, bearing in mind Edward's

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notorious way with women,
it was plausible.

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That only made it the
more dangerous, and

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by throwing his weight behind it,

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Clarence had tested his brother's
patience once too often.

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Clarence was arrested

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and put on trial before a specially
convened parliament in January 1478.

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Edward had packed the
parliament with his own supporters.

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He was himself
both judge and prosecutor,

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and no-one dared to speak on behalf
of the accused but Clarence himself.

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The verdict of guilty was a
foregone conclusion,

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and on 18th February 1478,
Clarence was executed in the Tower.

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The middle brother of York was gone.

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But the
problem he represented was not.

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The monarchy had been further
weakened by the Wars of the Roses.

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Much royal land had been given away

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to buy support from the nobles,
some of whom, like Clarence himself,

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had threatened to become
mightier than the King.

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Edward needed to strengthen his
own position and that of the Crown.

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To help him do it,
he enlisted a surprising ally -

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a man who had spent 30 years
working for the enemy.

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Sir John Fortescue had served as
the Lancastrian Lord Chief Justice,

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had spent years in exile,
then been captured after Tewkesbury.

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But the King had not only pardoned
him, he'd placed him on his Council.

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At first sight,
it's rather surprising that

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Edward decided to spare Fortescue.

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As an enthusiastic hanging judge,

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Fortescue had planned the judicial
murder of the young Edward

238
00:17:37,460 --> 00:17:39,579
and the whole Yorkist family.

239
00:17:39,580 --> 00:17:43,059
He'd written
powerfully and learnedly against

240
00:17:43,060 --> 00:17:45,259
Edward's claim to the throne.

241
00:17:45,260 --> 00:17:49,259
But Edward
set these personal grievances aside.

242
00:17:49,660 --> 00:17:52,579
He had work for the old man to do.

243
00:17:52,580 --> 00:17:55,339
Fortescue, the leading intellectual

244
00:17:55,340 --> 00:17:59,339
of Lancastrian England,
would play an important part in the

245
00:17:59,500 --> 00:18:04,499
construction of a new, reformed
Yorkist monarchy of England.

246
00:18:06,100 --> 00:18:11,099
Fortescue could be called England's
first constitutional analyst,

247
00:18:12,460 --> 00:18:16,459
his key ideas shaped
by the years of exile he'd spent

248
00:18:16,460 --> 00:18:18,619
in Scotland and France.

249
00:18:18,620 --> 00:18:22,379
For his experience of how other
countries were governed led him

250
00:18:22,380 --> 00:18:27,379
to reflect on his own, and to ask
a series of fundamental questions.

251
00:18:29,100 --> 00:18:33,099
What was unique and valuable about
the English system of government?

252
00:18:33,700 --> 00:18:37,539
What had gone wrong with it
to breed the dreadful malaise

253
00:18:37,540 --> 00:18:39,419
of the Wars of the Roses?

254
00:18:39,420 --> 00:18:43,419
And how could the disease be cured
without killing the patient?

255
00:18:46,740 --> 00:18:50,739
Fortescue set out the answers
in this remarkable book.

256
00:18:51,180 --> 00:18:54,499
It's usually called
"The Governance Of England",

257
00:18:54,500 --> 00:18:58,499
but its full title, as it appears
in this early printed edition,

258
00:18:58,700 --> 00:19:02,699
is "The Difference Between An
Absolute And Limited Monarchy".

259
00:19:03,700 --> 00:19:08,599
Or, in Fortescue's own lawyer Latin,
"Dominium Regale"

260
00:19:09,100 --> 00:19:13,099
and "Dominium Politicum Et Regale".

261
00:19:14,340 --> 00:19:16,339
France, Fortescue says,

262
00:19:16,340 --> 00:19:21,339
is the supreme exemplar of absolute
monarchy, and England, of limited.

263
00:19:22,340 --> 00:19:25,539
And the key to the
difference between the two lies

264
00:19:25,540 --> 00:19:27,939
in the rules governing taxation.

265
00:19:27,940 --> 00:19:30,739
In France, the King could tax

266
00:19:30,740 --> 00:19:32,619
the common people at will,

267
00:19:32,620 --> 00:19:36,259
a system Fortescue
strongly disapproved of,

268
00:19:36,260 --> 00:19:40,259
as it made the King rich,
but kept the people poor.

269
00:19:40,260 --> 00:19:43,699
But in England, the rule,
established since at least

270
00:19:43,700 --> 00:19:45,299
the 13th century,

271
00:19:45,300 --> 00:19:49,299
was that the King could only tax
with the agreement of Parliament.

272
00:19:49,580 --> 00:19:51,819
This certainly made the English
rich,

273
00:19:51,820 --> 00:19:55,819
with a standard of living that
was the envy of foreign visitors

274
00:19:55,980 --> 00:19:59,979
and the boast of patriotic
Englishmen like Fortescue.

275
00:20:02,820 --> 00:20:05,419
But did the rules limiting taxation

276
00:20:05,420 --> 00:20:09,419
make the English King poor,
and because he was poor, weak?

277
00:20:10,420 --> 00:20:14,019
Fortescue thought that they did
and that this weakness

278
00:20:14,020 --> 00:20:17,499
was the explanation
of the Wars of the Roses.

279
00:20:17,500 --> 00:20:22,499
The issue was the relative imbalance
of wealth and power between the King

280
00:20:23,020 --> 00:20:25,859
and his greatest subjects,
the nobility.

281
00:20:25,860 --> 00:20:30,859
The King was relatively poor,
whereas a handful of the nobles were

282
00:20:31,220 --> 00:20:36,219
extremely rich, which made them, in
Fortescue's phrase, "over-mighty".

283
00:20:38,600 --> 00:20:41,639
One solution would be
for the King of England

284
00:20:41,640 --> 00:20:44,079
to follow the path
of French absolutism

285
00:20:44,080 --> 00:20:49,079
and impose by force taxes that
Parliament wouldn't vote by consent.

286
00:20:49,640 --> 00:20:52,679
But such a challenge to
traditional English freedom

287
00:20:52,680 --> 00:20:54,799
would be dangerously revolutionary.

288
00:20:54,800 --> 00:20:58,759
Fortescue instead proposed to
strengthen the Crown

289
00:20:58,760 --> 00:21:02,359
within the existing system
of limited monarchy.

290
00:21:02,360 --> 00:21:06,959
The King, he said, should acquire
land, and rule by virtue of being

291
00:21:07,240 --> 00:21:09,279
the richest man in the kingdom.

292
00:21:09,280 --> 00:21:13,279
The execution of his brother
Clarence allowed Edward

293
00:21:13,280 --> 00:21:18,279
to do just that, by keeping
Clarence's vast estates for himself.

294
00:21:18,680 --> 00:21:22,039
The royal revenues from land
now increased rapidly,

295
00:21:22,040 --> 00:21:24,479
which meant
that Edward didn't need to call a

296
00:21:24,480 --> 00:21:29,479
parliament again for the unusually
long period of almost five years.

297
00:21:29,880 --> 00:21:33,239
But land,
as Fortescue also understood,

298
00:21:33,240 --> 00:21:35,959
was about power as well as cash.

299
00:21:35,960 --> 00:21:39,479
And Edward took advantage
of his new-found freedom

300
00:21:39,480 --> 00:21:42,799
to redraw the political map.

301
00:21:42,800 --> 00:21:45,519
He carved England
up into territories,

302
00:21:45,520 --> 00:21:50,519
each controlled by a trusted member
of his own household or family.

303
00:21:51,040 --> 00:21:54,759
It was all very cosy,
but it depended

304
00:21:54,760 --> 00:21:58,759
to a dangerous extent on the force
of Edward's own personality.

305
00:21:59,160 --> 00:22:01,719
It also loosened ties of loyalty,

306
00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:05,359
since it meant that those
outside the charmed circle didn't

307
00:22:05,360 --> 00:22:10,359
care very much one way or another
about who the King happened to be.

308
00:22:11,040 --> 00:22:15,039
But as long as Edward remained alive
and well, none of that mattered.

309
00:22:15,800 --> 00:22:17,599
And for the next five years,

310
00:22:17,600 --> 00:22:22,599
the King grew rich
and his Yorkist regime grew strong.

311
00:22:23,280 --> 00:22:28,279
It seemed that the Lancastrian Henry
Tudor, still sheltering in Brittany,

312
00:22:28,800 --> 00:22:32,799
would live out the rest of his life
in exile.

313
00:22:38,600 --> 00:22:42,599
But at Easter 1483,
disaster struck the House of York.

314
00:22:44,440 --> 00:22:49,439
Edward was taken ill with a fever
after going fishing on the Thames.

315
00:22:49,920 --> 00:22:53,919
Within ten days he was dead.

316
00:22:56,560 --> 00:23:00,559
Only Richard,
youngest of the brothers, remained.

317
00:23:00,720 --> 00:23:04,679
He was not his brother's heir...

318
00:23:04,680 --> 00:23:10,679
..but soon he would make
his own brutal bid for power.

319
00:23:16,580 --> 00:23:19,539
It is spring 1483.

320
00:23:19,540 --> 00:23:22,099
After the unexpected death of

321
00:23:22,100 --> 00:23:27,099
King Edward IV all eyes turn west,
towards Ludlow in the Welsh Marches,

322
00:23:27,700 --> 00:23:31,579
where Edward's son,
heir and namesake

323
00:23:31,580 --> 00:23:35,019
Prince Edward was being brought up.

324
00:23:35,020 --> 00:23:40,019
But at 12, was the boy old
enough to rule in his own name?

325
00:23:40,140 --> 00:23:42,579
His mother thought he was.

326
00:23:42,580 --> 00:23:45,219
Others thought not.

327
00:23:45,220 --> 00:23:48,899
A faction emerged
in favour of appointing his uncle,

328
00:23:48,900 --> 00:23:50,739
Richard, as protector

329
00:23:50,740 --> 00:23:55,739
or regent until the boy was old
enough to exercise power himself.

330
00:23:55,980 --> 00:23:58,139
But Queen Elizabeth Woodville

331
00:23:58,140 --> 00:24:01,059
was determined to get her son
crowned quickly.

332
00:24:01,060 --> 00:24:04,739
The council agreed that the
coronation should take place

333
00:24:04,740 --> 00:24:07,339
without delay.

334
00:24:07,340 --> 00:24:09,299
On the 23rd of April

335
00:24:09,300 --> 00:24:14,099
Edward left Ludlow for London,
his coronation and his reign.

336
00:24:14,380 --> 00:24:19,379
His escort, as his council insisted,
was limited to 2,000 men.

337
00:24:19,900 --> 00:24:23,899
It was enough to put on
a fine show as the young king

338
00:24:24,260 --> 00:24:26,139
took possession of his kingdom.

339
00:24:26,140 --> 00:24:32,139
But other of the great lords were
able to muster as many men or more.

340
00:24:33,900 --> 00:24:36,299
Unbeknown to the boy or his mother

341
00:24:36,300 --> 00:24:39,339
Richard
was summoning his own troops.

342
00:24:39,340 --> 00:24:42,339
He was heading south.

343
00:24:48,500 --> 00:24:51,219
Late on the night of April 30th

344
00:24:51,220 --> 00:24:54,899
Queen Elizabeth Woodville,
waiting in London for the arrival of

345
00:24:54,900 --> 00:24:58,859
her son Prince Edward,
received alarming news.

346
00:24:58,860 --> 00:25:02,859
Edward's cavalcade had been
intercepted by his uncle Richard,

347
00:25:03,220 --> 00:25:07,219
who had taken possession
of his young nephew.

348
00:25:08,580 --> 00:25:13,579
Elizabeth, immediately suspicious of
Richard's motives, fled that night

349
00:25:13,620 --> 00:25:16,979
with her younger son
into the safe sanctuary

350
00:25:16,980 --> 00:25:20,479
of the Abbey at Westminster.

351
00:25:26,820 --> 00:25:30,779
Richard entered London with
his nephew a few days later.

352
00:25:30,780 --> 00:25:34,779
The council quickly ratified
Richard's role as protector.

353
00:25:35,100 --> 00:25:39,499
Young Edward's coronation
was postponed until late June.

354
00:25:39,980 --> 00:25:43,979
He was placed in lodgings
in the Tower.

355
00:25:48,140 --> 00:25:51,339
What was Richard doing and why?

356
00:25:51,340 --> 00:25:53,299
Hitherto, he'd had the reputation,

357
00:25:53,300 --> 00:25:55,539
in contrast with the flighty
Clarence,

358
00:25:55,540 --> 00:25:59,379
of rock solid loyalty
to his brother Edward,

359
00:25:59,380 --> 00:26:01,699
who'd rewarded him
with the Government

360
00:26:01,700 --> 00:26:03,619
of the whole
of the north of England.

361
00:26:03,620 --> 00:26:08,619
There, he'd won golden opinions
as a fine soldier and a fair judge.

362
00:26:09,460 --> 00:26:13,459
Nevertheless, his portrait
suggests a man not entirely at ease.

363
00:26:13,980 --> 00:26:16,979
He's tight lipped
and he's fiddling nervously

364
00:26:16,980 --> 00:26:18,619
with the rings on his fingers.

365
00:26:18,620 --> 00:26:22,259
He also had the tic
of biting hard on his lower lip

366
00:26:22,260 --> 00:26:27,259
and pushing and pulling constantly
his dagger in and out of its sheath.

367
00:26:28,180 --> 00:26:31,779
Was he repressed, paranoid?

368
00:26:31,780 --> 00:26:34,539
A hypocrite
with an iron grip on himself?

369
00:26:34,540 --> 00:26:39,539
Or did he genuinely believe, in view
of Edward's tangled marital history,

370
00:26:39,780 --> 00:26:43,779
that he, Richard,
was now rightful King of England?

371
00:26:45,260 --> 00:26:48,739
On June 10th Richard
summoned his troops to London.

372
00:26:48,740 --> 00:26:52,739
His bid for the crown
had begun in earnest.

373
00:26:52,940 --> 00:26:56,819
A week later Queen Elizabeth was
compelled to give up her

374
00:26:56,820 --> 00:27:00,099
younger son Richard
into his uncle's charge.

375
00:27:00,100 --> 00:27:04,099
The young Prince
joined his brother in the Tower.

376
00:27:06,660 --> 00:27:10,659
Richard had both nephews, first
and second in line to the throne,

377
00:27:11,620 --> 00:27:13,379
under lock and key.

378
00:27:13,380 --> 00:27:16,179
And, on 25th June

379
00:27:16,180 --> 00:27:19,339
Parliament decreed that
King Edward's marriage

380
00:27:19,340 --> 00:27:24,339
to Queen Elizabeth was invalid,
and the princes bastards.

381
00:27:26,300 --> 00:27:30,259
Richard had succeeded where his
brother Clarence had failed.

382
00:27:30,260 --> 00:27:34,259
He'd robbed his nephews of
their right to the crown.

383
00:27:35,500 --> 00:27:39,499
And cleared his own
path to the throne.

384
00:27:41,780 --> 00:27:46,779
He was crowned King Richard III
at Westminster on July 6th

385
00:27:46,900 --> 00:27:50,899
with the full blessing of
Parliament.

386
00:27:53,180 --> 00:27:56,019
During those frantic weeks

387
00:27:56,220 --> 00:28:00,059
the two Princes had been seen
less and less around the Tower.

388
00:28:00,060 --> 00:28:04,059
Now, they seemed to have
disappeared altogether.

389
00:28:05,140 --> 00:28:08,899
By the late summer of 1483
everybody,

390
00:28:08,900 --> 00:28:12,419
including the princes own mother,
Elizabeth Woodville,

391
00:28:12,420 --> 00:28:15,419
took for granted
that they were dead.

392
00:28:15,420 --> 00:28:18,939
They also took it as read
that the responsibility

393
00:28:18,940 --> 00:28:22,339
for their deaths rested with
Richard.

394
00:28:22,340 --> 00:28:25,619
For only Richard had the power,

395
00:28:25,620 --> 00:28:29,619
the opportunity and
above all the motive.

396
00:28:31,820 --> 00:28:35,699
To this day their exact
fate remains a mystery.

397
00:28:35,700 --> 00:28:39,699
Writing 30 years later,
Thomas More claimed that Richard

398
00:28:40,180 --> 00:28:45,179
ordered the Constable of the Tower
to do them to death, but refused.

399
00:28:45,500 --> 00:28:48,139
Others, however, proved willing.

400
00:28:48,140 --> 00:28:51,979
The two boys, More says,
were smothered to death

401
00:28:51,980 --> 00:28:55,979
with pillows in their sleep.

402
00:28:58,820 --> 00:29:00,819
His brothers were dead.

403
00:29:00,820 --> 00:29:02,499
The princes gone.

404
00:29:02,500 --> 00:29:04,259
The crown was his.

405
00:29:04,260 --> 00:29:08,259
But apparently doing away with
the rightful heirs to the throne

406
00:29:08,300 --> 00:29:12,299
was a step too far, and
opposition to Richard was growing.

407
00:29:12,900 --> 00:29:17,899
Soon, he'd be fighting to the death
for the crown he'd taken by force.

408
00:29:22,940 --> 00:29:26,939
It was a plot between two powerful
mothers - Queen Elizabeth Woodville,

409
00:29:28,060 --> 00:29:32,959
whose sons were lost and Margaret
Beaufort, whose son Henry Tudor was

410
00:29:33,380 --> 00:29:37,379
in exile, that would prove Richard's
undoing, and decide England's fate.

411
00:29:39,660 --> 00:29:43,959
Sometime in the late summer of 1483
Queen Elizabeth Woodville,

412
00:29:44,740 --> 00:29:48,739
still in sanctuary here in
the abbot's lodging at Westminster,

413
00:29:48,940 --> 00:29:52,939
received a visit from a singular
Welshman - Dr Lewis Caerleon.

414
00:29:53,540 --> 00:29:57,439
Dr Caerleon
was a scientific jack of all trades.

415
00:29:57,540 --> 00:30:01,439
Mathematician, astronomer,
astrologer and physician.

416
00:30:01,860 --> 00:30:05,419
And he was a master of all of them.

417
00:30:05,420 --> 00:30:09,419
The sanctuary, of course, was
heavily guarded by the King's men.

418
00:30:09,620 --> 00:30:12,779
But Dr Caerleon was waved through

419
00:30:12,780 --> 00:30:14,979
because he was the
Queen's physician.

420
00:30:14,980 --> 00:30:19,979
He was also, not co-incidentally,
physician to Lady Margaret Beaufort.

421
00:30:21,580 --> 00:30:23,899
In his doctors bag he carried,

422
00:30:23,900 --> 00:30:27,339
on Lady Margaret's behalf,
a remarkable proposal.

423
00:30:27,340 --> 00:30:29,979
That the Queen's eldest daughter,

424
00:30:29,980 --> 00:30:33,979
also called Elizabeth,
should marry Margaret's son Henry.

425
00:30:34,340 --> 00:30:36,779
And that York, Woodville

426
00:30:36,780 --> 00:30:40,979
and Tudor should join together
against the usurping Richard III.

427
00:30:42,180 --> 00:30:45,539
That Elizabeth accepted the proposal

428
00:30:45,540 --> 00:30:49,339
confirms that she was convinced
her sons were dead.

429
00:30:49,340 --> 00:30:54,339
That Margaret made it shows
she'd realised Richard's murderous

430
00:30:54,780 --> 00:30:58,979
ambition had opened her son's path
to the throne of England.

431
00:31:00,860 --> 00:31:02,939
Margaret, now in her forties,

432
00:31:02,940 --> 00:31:07,939
had been nursing her hopes for her
exiled son Henry Tudor for years.

433
00:31:08,500 --> 00:31:12,499
Now, she could
put them into practice.

434
00:31:12,540 --> 00:31:16,539
His mother's plot under way,
the 28-year-old Henry set sail

435
00:31:16,820 --> 00:31:21,819
from Brittany, where he'd lived in
exile for 15 years, to make his bid

436
00:31:22,340 --> 00:31:25,659
for England's throne.

437
00:31:25,660 --> 00:31:29,659
On the 7th of August 1485,
at Milford Haven,

438
00:31:30,060 --> 00:31:32,219
just a few miles from his birthplace

439
00:31:32,220 --> 00:31:36,219
at Pembroke Castle, Henry Tudor's
army made land fall in the evening.

440
00:31:36,940 --> 00:31:40,939
His years of exile were at an end.

441
00:31:41,820 --> 00:31:45,919
As soon as he stepped ashore
Henry knelt, overcome with emotion

442
00:31:46,660 --> 00:31:50,659
after his return from a decade and
a half of exile, and began to recite

443
00:31:50,860 --> 00:31:54,859
the psalm, "Judge me, Lord
and fight my cause."

444
00:31:55,420 --> 00:31:59,919
Then he kissed the sand and making
the sign of the cross,

445
00:32:00,220 --> 00:32:04,219
called in a loud voice for his
troops to follow him

446
00:32:04,560 --> 00:32:08,859
in the name of God and St George.

447
00:32:09,120 --> 00:32:13,419
It was a magnificent beginning
for a would-be King of England.

448
00:32:15,780 --> 00:32:19,779
But only 400
of Henry's men were English.

449
00:32:19,980 --> 00:32:24,979
Instead, most of the rest of his
little army of 2 or 3000 were
French.

450
00:32:25,420 --> 00:32:29,419
They'd come in French ships
with the aid of French money

451
00:32:29,500 --> 00:32:31,699
and the blessing of the French king.

452
00:32:31,700 --> 00:32:34,859
Indeed, most of Henry's own ideas

453
00:32:34,860 --> 00:32:38,219
about kingship
were probably French as well.

454
00:32:38,220 --> 00:32:42,219
So, just what kind of
King of England would he be?

455
00:32:42,340 --> 00:32:45,939
Assuming, that is,
he was able to wrench the crown

456
00:32:45,940 --> 00:32:49,139
from Richard's powerful grasp.

457
00:32:53,520 --> 00:32:57,519
The two sides came face to face at
Bosworth in the Midlands,

458
00:32:58,000 --> 00:33:01,999
where the fate of England's monarchy
would be decided.

459
00:33:03,480 --> 00:33:07,319
The battle began when the vanguard
of Richard's army, thinking to

460
00:33:07,320 --> 00:33:12,319
overwhelm Henry's much smaller
force, charged down the hill here.

461
00:33:18,000 --> 00:33:22,999
But instead of breaking and running,
Henry's front line smartly reformed

462
00:33:23,200 --> 00:33:27,199
themselves into a dense
wedge shaped formation.

463
00:33:30,040 --> 00:33:34,039
Against this the attack crumbled.

464
00:33:43,160 --> 00:33:48,159
Richard, high up there on Ambien
Hill, now caught sight of Henry

465
00:33:48,320 --> 00:33:52,319
with only a small detachment of
troops at the rear of his army.

466
00:33:52,640 --> 00:33:56,639
With courage, or desperation,
Richard decided that the battle

467
00:33:57,040 --> 00:33:59,759
would be settled by single combat.

468
00:33:59,760 --> 00:34:02,159
Richard with Henry.

469
00:34:02,160 --> 00:34:06,119
Wearing his battle crown,
with a light robe with

470
00:34:06,120 --> 00:34:08,759
the royal arms over his armour,

471
00:34:08,760 --> 00:34:12,759
Richard led a charge
with his heavily armed
household knights down the hill.

472
00:34:26,880 --> 00:34:30,119
With magnificent courage
Richard cut down

473
00:34:30,120 --> 00:34:34,719
Henry's standard bearer and came
within an inch of Henry himself.

474
00:34:35,040 --> 00:34:38,159
But once again Henry's foot soldiers

475
00:34:38,160 --> 00:34:42,019
proved capable of assuming
an effective defensive position.

476
00:34:42,120 --> 00:34:44,199
And Richard, isolated,

477
00:34:44,200 --> 00:34:48,199
was unhorsed and run through
by an unknown Welsh pike-man.

478
00:34:48,560 --> 00:34:52,559
Mutilated and stripped.

479
00:34:55,960 --> 00:34:59,959
The third and last of the brothers
of the House of York was dead.

480
00:35:00,560 --> 00:35:04,559
By his wreckless ambition
Richard had split the Yorkist party

481
00:35:04,920 --> 00:35:08,919
and handed victory and the crown
to Henry Tudor.

482
00:35:14,880 --> 00:35:18,879
Henry was crowned Henry VII
two months later,

483
00:35:19,040 --> 00:35:24,039
promising to restore the glory
days of his namesake, King Henry V.

484
00:35:26,160 --> 00:35:30,159
The symbolic union of
York and Lancaster was made flesh

485
00:35:30,760 --> 00:35:35,759
in January 1486, when Henry Tudor
married Elizabeth of York,

486
00:35:36,520 --> 00:35:40,519
just as their respective
mothers had planned.

487
00:35:41,080 --> 00:35:45,879
A new iconography was created,
merging the two once warring roses

488
00:35:46,080 --> 00:35:50,079
into one - the Tudor Rose.

489
00:35:53,080 --> 00:35:55,559
But two years after the wedding

490
00:35:55,560 --> 00:35:59,559
Henry ordered a new
ostentatious crown to be made.

491
00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:03,999
One that hinted at political
ambitions that went well beyond

492
00:36:04,480 --> 00:36:07,679
Fortescue's limited monarchy.

493
00:36:07,680 --> 00:36:11,679
The crown was soon known
as the Crown Imperial.

494
00:36:12,200 --> 00:36:16,199
Its unusual size, weight
and splendour symbolised the

495
00:36:16,480 --> 00:36:20,479
recovery of the Monarchy from the
degradation of the War of the Roses.

496
00:36:20,960 --> 00:36:24,879
While the French fleur-de-lys,
alternating with the traditional

497
00:36:24,880 --> 00:36:28,979
English Cross round the band of the
crown, looked back nostalgically to

498
00:36:29,480 --> 00:36:33,479
England's lost conquests in France.

499
00:36:33,480 --> 00:36:37,039
But might there
be more to it than that?

500
00:36:37,040 --> 00:36:41,439
Henry had witnessed at first hand
the powers of the absolute monarchy

501
00:36:41,720 --> 00:36:43,359
in France.

502
00:36:43,360 --> 00:36:47,359
Some said he'd liked what he'd seen.

503
00:36:47,560 --> 00:36:51,559
Might the Imperial Crown
be the means by which these ideas,

504
00:36:52,160 --> 00:36:56,159
as Fortescue had feared,
could be smuggled back into England?

505
00:37:11,620 --> 00:37:17,619
At Winchester Cathedral in 1486,
it seemed that the new Tudor dynasty

506
00:37:17,860 --> 00:37:21,399
had set the seal
on its triumphant beginnings.

507
00:37:21,500 --> 00:37:25,499
The Queen had borne King Henry VII,
a son and heir.

508
00:37:26,620 --> 00:37:29,379
He was named Arthur,
and his christening

509
00:37:29,380 --> 00:37:32,539
at Winchester Cathedral
was designed to signal

510
00:37:32,540 --> 00:37:34,659
the start of a new Arthurian age.

511
00:37:34,660 --> 00:37:38,659
The baby's godmother
was the Yorkist Dowager Queen,

512
00:37:38,820 --> 00:37:42,539
Elizabeth Woodville, whose kinsmen
also played their part.

513
00:37:42,540 --> 00:37:47,539
King Henry had, it seemed, ushered
in a new age of reconciliation.

514
00:37:48,700 --> 00:37:51,899
But it was to be short-lived.

515
00:37:56,820 --> 00:38:00,219
Just a few months after the
christening, Elizabeth Woodville

516
00:38:00,220 --> 00:38:04,099
was stripped of her lands
and sent to a nunnery,

517
00:38:04,100 --> 00:38:07,979
effectively banishing her
from court forever.

518
00:38:07,980 --> 00:38:09,659
What had happened?

519
00:38:09,660 --> 00:38:13,959
It was, almost certainly, because
there were too many queen mothers

520
00:38:14,420 --> 00:38:17,219
and would-be queen mothers around.

521
00:38:17,220 --> 00:38:20,899
For Elizabeth Woodville,
in her moment of restored glory,

522
00:38:20,900 --> 00:38:24,539
had reckoned without her
sometime fellow-conspirator,

523
00:38:24,540 --> 00:38:26,259
Lady Margaret Beaufort.

524
00:38:26,260 --> 00:38:30,559
Henry VII had already honoured
Lady Margaret with the title of

525
00:38:30,940 --> 00:38:32,979
"My Lady The King's Mother."

526
00:38:32,980 --> 00:38:36,979
But, since she hadn't actually
been crowned Queen, she had to defer

527
00:38:37,660 --> 00:38:39,839
to Elizabeth Woodville who had,

528
00:38:39,940 --> 00:38:43,179
and Lady Margaret didn't like that
one little bit.

529
00:38:43,180 --> 00:38:47,179
So, Elizabeth Woodville,
Margaret decided, had to go.

530
00:38:47,220 --> 00:38:50,139
Indeed, Margaret gave precedence

531
00:38:50,140 --> 00:38:53,539
only reluctantly
to Queen Elizabeth of York herself.

532
00:38:53,540 --> 00:38:55,659
She wore the same robes,

533
00:38:55,660 --> 00:38:58,019
signed herself Margaret R

534
00:38:58,020 --> 00:39:01,779
and walked only half a pace
behind the Queen.

535
00:39:01,780 --> 00:39:07,779
Lady Margaret, in short, was proving
to be the mother-in-law from hell.

536
00:39:08,100 --> 00:39:12,099
Margaret's behaviour
was a political disaster.

537
00:39:12,220 --> 00:39:15,859
She was the heiress
of the House Of Lancaster.

538
00:39:15,860 --> 00:39:19,779
The humiliated Elizabeth
was of the House Of York,

539
00:39:19,780 --> 00:39:23,219
and the Yorkist nobility
felt spurned too.

540
00:39:23,220 --> 00:39:27,719
Henry's dream of reconciliation
was fading, and within a year,

541
00:39:27,980 --> 00:39:31,619
he faced a major uprising
by rebellious Yorkists,

542
00:39:31,620 --> 00:39:33,939
which he only narrowly beat off.

543
00:39:33,940 --> 00:39:37,939
But in 1491,
foreign affairs intervened.

544
00:39:40,460 --> 00:39:46,459
The French invaded Brittany,
where Henry had spent his exile.

545
00:39:46,820 --> 00:39:51,819
Hoping to strengthen his position
at home through victory abroad,

546
00:39:51,900 --> 00:39:55,999
Henry followed the traditional path
of declaring war on France.

547
00:39:56,780 --> 00:40:00,779
The result was an curiously
half-hearted affair.

548
00:40:01,140 --> 00:40:04,619
A reluctant Parliament
made part of its grant conditional

549
00:40:04,620 --> 00:40:06,179
on the duration of the war,

550
00:40:06,180 --> 00:40:10,179
whilst Henry himself
delayed setting sail for France

551
00:40:10,340 --> 00:40:14,739
until almost the end of the
campaigning season in October 1492.

552
00:40:15,180 --> 00:40:18,099
Three weeks later,
the French offered terms

553
00:40:18,100 --> 00:40:20,139
and on the 3rd November,

554
00:40:20,140 --> 00:40:27,139
Henry agreed to withdraw in return
for an annual payment of ¡ê12,500.

555
00:40:27,140 --> 00:40:30,099
The English
soothed their injured pride

556
00:40:30,100 --> 00:40:32,659
by calling the payment a tribute.

557
00:40:32,660 --> 00:40:34,939
But the world knew better.

558
00:40:34,940 --> 00:40:38,939
Once the English armies had aroused
terror throughout France.

559
00:40:39,260 --> 00:40:43,259
Now, they were a mere nuisance
to be got rid of by the payment

560
00:40:43,580 --> 00:40:46,179
of an easily affordable bribe.

561
00:40:46,180 --> 00:40:49,219
It was a sharp lesson for Henry.

562
00:40:49,220 --> 00:40:51,019
England's limited monarchy

563
00:40:51,020 --> 00:40:55,719
couldn't match the financial and
military might of French absolutism.

564
00:40:55,940 --> 00:40:59,939
Now, he'd failed to achieve
glory in war,

565
00:41:00,020 --> 00:41:03,139
and failed to unite
York and Lancaster.

566
00:41:03,340 --> 00:41:07,099
There was nothing left
but to lower his sights

567
00:41:07,100 --> 00:41:12,099
and return to the financial methods
previously advocated by Fortescue

568
00:41:12,260 --> 00:41:14,619
and implemented by Edward IV.

569
00:41:14,620 --> 00:41:18,619
He did so with a novel degree
of personal involvement,

570
00:41:18,940 --> 00:41:22,939
as each surviving account book of
the Treasurer Of The Chamber shows.

571
00:41:24,180 --> 00:41:29,179
Henry has checked every single entry
in it and to confirm the fact,

572
00:41:29,340 --> 00:41:34,039
he's put his initials, HR,
known as the sign manual, alongside.

573
00:41:34,460 --> 00:41:38,459
Indeed, he had to make the sign
manual so often that he changes

574
00:41:39,100 --> 00:41:43,099
his style of handwriting from this
rigid grid here of laborious

575
00:41:43,900 --> 00:41:49,899
separate strokes to a much more
fast, fluid, cursive hand here.

576
00:41:51,180 --> 00:41:53,219
It was privatised government,

577
00:41:53,220 --> 00:41:58,219
medieval-style, with England run as
the King's personal landed estate.

578
00:41:58,260 --> 00:42:03,259
It would make Henry rich,
but would it make him secure?

579
00:42:03,540 --> 00:42:05,419
Events showed not.

580
00:42:05,420 --> 00:42:09,099
In 1497, he faced another rebellion.

581
00:42:09,100 --> 00:42:13,099
This one nearly cost him his throne.

582
00:42:13,340 --> 00:42:16,659
The uprising was fronted by
a ghost from the past,

583
00:42:16,660 --> 00:42:19,419
a man claiming to be Richard,
Duke Of York,

584
00:42:19,420 --> 00:42:22,379
the younger of the
Princes In The Tower,

585
00:42:22,380 --> 00:42:26,379
returned from exile
to claim his crown.

586
00:42:28,060 --> 00:42:31,859
He was a fraud,
a Fleming called Perkin Warbeck,

587
00:42:31,860 --> 00:42:34,059
but he had powerful backers,

588
00:42:34,060 --> 00:42:38,059
the Scots,
who threatened to invade England.

589
00:42:47,580 --> 00:42:51,879
A reluctant Parliament granted
a substantial tax to the King

590
00:42:52,140 --> 00:42:57,019
of ¡ê120,000, and the royal army
began to move north.

591
00:42:57,420 --> 00:43:01,019
But the tax sparked rebellion
in Cornwall.

592
00:43:01,260 --> 00:43:05,259
The rebels could see no reason
why they should pay to fight

593
00:43:05,860 --> 00:43:08,299
the 400-mile distant Scots.

594
00:43:08,300 --> 00:43:12,299
And with the South empty of troops,
a rebel Cornish army marched

595
00:43:12,540 --> 00:43:16,539
unopposed across
the breadth of England.

596
00:43:17,380 --> 00:43:21,979
As the Cornish rebels approached
dangerously near London,

597
00:43:22,260 --> 00:43:26,259
Queen Elizabeth Of York
collected her beloved second son,

598
00:43:26,420 --> 00:43:30,919
Prince Henry, from Eltham and took
refuge with the boy in the tower.

599
00:43:31,460 --> 00:43:34,019
It was a close-run thing.

600
00:43:34,020 --> 00:43:38,019
If his father were defeated,
Prince Henry would share the fate

601
00:43:38,380 --> 00:43:42,679
of his Yorkist cousins, the Princes
In The Tower, and be done to death

602
00:43:42,980 --> 00:43:44,819
in the grim fortress.

603
00:43:44,820 --> 00:43:47,379
Instead, on 17th June 1497,

604
00:43:47,580 --> 00:43:52,379
Henry VII defeated
the Cornish Rebels at Blackheath,

605
00:43:52,460 --> 00:43:57,459
and on 5th October,
Perkin Warbeck himself was captured,

606
00:43:57,860 --> 00:44:01,859
as the Treasurer Of The Chamber's
account book notes exultantly.

607
00:44:02,440 --> 00:44:05,499
But Henry VII
had learned his lesson.

608
00:44:05,500 --> 00:44:09,139
In the remaining dozen years
of his reign, he would summon

609
00:44:09,140 --> 00:44:13,139
only a single brief parliament
and he would impose

610
00:44:13,340 --> 00:44:17,339
no more direct
parliamentary taxation.

611
00:44:18,300 --> 00:44:22,299
Without parliament, contact between
King and people was weakened,

612
00:44:22,620 --> 00:44:24,659
and the narrowing of government

613
00:44:24,660 --> 00:44:28,659
was further intensified
by a series of personal tragedies.

614
00:44:30,100 --> 00:44:32,659
In 1502, Arthur,

615
00:44:32,660 --> 00:44:36,659
Henry's son and heir, died,
perhaps of tuberculosis, aged 15.

616
00:44:39,020 --> 00:44:40,579
Worse was to come.

617
00:44:40,580 --> 00:44:45,579
A year later, Henry's much-loved
wife Elizabeth died in childbirth.

618
00:44:46,180 --> 00:44:52,179
She was only 37 and her funeral saw
an outpouring of public grief.

619
00:44:54,300 --> 00:44:57,539
Most grief-stricken of all
was Henry VII himself,

620
00:44:57,540 --> 00:45:00,459
and the deaths in quick succession

621
00:45:00,460 --> 00:45:03,379
of his son and wife
changed him greatly.

622
00:45:03,380 --> 00:45:05,619
His character became harder,

623
00:45:05,620 --> 00:45:08,859
his style of government
more authoritarian.

624
00:45:08,860 --> 00:45:13,859
The sole purpose of Henry's kingship
became to make him rich.

625
00:45:14,140 --> 00:45:18,139
Racking up rents on royal lands
was no longer enough.

626
00:45:18,180 --> 00:45:21,379
Instead, in direct defiance
of Magna Carta,

627
00:45:21,380 --> 00:45:23,739
he resorted to selling justice,

628
00:45:23,740 --> 00:45:27,739
turning fines on the nobility
for running private armies

629
00:45:27,900 --> 00:45:30,419
into a method of revenue-raising.

630
00:45:30,420 --> 00:45:35,419
He'd ceased to be a king and become,
so his disgruntled subjects thought,

631
00:45:35,700 --> 00:45:38,939
a money-grabbing miser.

632
00:45:38,940 --> 00:45:41,939
He'd crushed
his overmighty subjects,

633
00:45:41,940 --> 00:45:44,459
avoided the trap of weak kingship,

634
00:45:44,460 --> 00:45:47,379
but along the way,
he'd become a tyrant,

635
00:45:47,380 --> 00:45:51,379
a kind of absolute monarch.

636
00:45:51,700 --> 00:45:55,299
Was Sir John Fortescue,
seen here in effigy

637
00:45:55,300 --> 00:45:59,799
on his fine tomb in Ebrington
Church, turning in the grave,

638
00:46:00,020 --> 00:46:03,219
where he'd rested
for the last 30 years

639
00:46:03,220 --> 00:46:06,099
since his death in 1479?

640
00:46:06,100 --> 00:46:09,899
For Fortescue believed passionately
that a monarchy

641
00:46:09,900 --> 00:46:11,659
richly endowed with land

642
00:46:11,660 --> 00:46:15,659
would be a guarantor of
English freedom and property rights.

643
00:46:15,940 --> 00:46:18,419
But it hadn't quite
turned out like that.

644
00:46:18,420 --> 00:46:21,459
Henry had acquired
the land and the money,

645
00:46:21,460 --> 00:46:23,739
getting his hands on more of both

646
00:46:23,740 --> 00:46:26,659
than any king
since the Norman conquest.

647
00:46:26,660 --> 00:46:30,139
What he hadn't delivered on,
however, were Fortescue's

648
00:46:30,140 --> 00:46:34,019
twin ideals of freedom and property.

649
00:46:34,020 --> 00:46:39,019
Instead, by the end of his reign,
they both seemed as dead and buried

650
00:46:39,380 --> 00:46:43,379
as the old Chief Justice himself.

651
00:46:48,900 --> 00:46:52,999
Henry died on April 21st 1509.

652
00:46:53,860 --> 00:46:56,939
He'd reigned for almost 24 years.

653
00:46:56,940 --> 00:47:00,939
Henry was buried here,
next to his beloved wife,

654
00:47:00,940 --> 00:47:04,939
in this magnificent Lady Chapel he
commissioned at Westminster Abbey.

655
00:47:05,860 --> 00:47:09,959
A few feet away would soon lie the
other significant woman in his life,

656
00:47:10,820 --> 00:47:14,919
but for whom he might never
have been King, his mother.

657
00:47:15,340 --> 00:47:19,299
Henry died in his bed
and he died rich.

658
00:47:19,300 --> 00:47:22,859
But, if the last 40 years
had proved anything at all,

659
00:47:22,860 --> 00:47:26,779
it was that the traditional English
limited monarchy had,

660
00:47:26,780 --> 00:47:29,539
in the age of continental absolutism

661
00:47:29,540 --> 00:47:33,539
and increasingly professional
armies, ceased to work.

662
00:47:33,780 --> 00:47:37,539
Henry's successor
would give it one last try.

663
00:47:37,540 --> 00:47:41,499
And then, to his surprise
and everyone else's,

664
00:47:41,500 --> 00:47:45,499
he would create a new,
revolutionary imperial monarchy.

665
00:47:46,300 --> 00:47:50,299
This successor was Henry's second
son and namesake,

666
00:47:50,700 --> 00:47:53,419
and, reigning as King Henry VIII,

667
00:47:53,420 --> 00:47:58,419
he would change the face
of England forever.

668
00:48:19,820 --> 00:48:23,819
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