HISTORIC INACCURACIES?
I'm doing a project on the historical accuracy of this film...any helpful insights on accuracies/inaccuracies in this film? Thanks so much!
shareI haven’t watched the film in awhile, however here are some inaccuracies I recall:
I think they suggest that Mary Boleyn was married after her affair to Henry; this was not the case. She married William Carey prior to this.
They show Henry becoming interested in Jane Seymour before he actually started to notice her (I think in the film they meet straight after Anne gives birth to Elizabeth; this is far too premature).
Henry was not present at Anne’s trial. Anne did not come face to face with Mark Smeton in court; Smeton was tried proir to Anne. Also Anne’s father also did not participate in her trial.
Whilst Henry and Anne were disappointed upon Elizabeth’s birth, both were good at concealing their disappointment. In the film Henry gets mad in front of many people, but the actual Henry appears to have not wished to appear angry and disappointed in front of his enemies.
Katherine of Aragon was very dark in this, although she was not a brunette.
Like all productions on this period, they rush things – so one minute Thomas More is being executed and the next the depict Anne suffering from her notable miscarriage of Jan 1536. They also overlooked various political issues like Cromwell’s desire for an Anglo-Imperial alliance and the worries that Anne was an impediment to this.
The scene between Henry and Anne in the Tower is fictional. Upon her arrest, trial and days prior to her execution, Henry stayed well away from her, feeling sorry for himself and revelling in his new found freedom.
‘Noli me tangere; for Caesar's I am’
THANK YOU SO MUCH! I appreciate your comments... :)
shareThat's ok :)
‘Noli me tangere; for Caesar's I am’
The scene between Henry and Anne in the Tower is fictional. Upon her arrest, trial and days prior to her execution, Henry stayed well away from her, feeling sorry for himself and revelling in his new found freedom.
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Wasn't he going back and forth from where Jane Seymour was staying, and wooing her, while Anne was in the tower? What a nice guy!
Jane was moved slightly away, to distance herself from the events (as it wasn’t seemly for Jane to be present when the king was ridding himself of one wife). So during the trial she went to stay in a residence owned by Nicholas Carew and then she moved to Chelsea. Henry sent messengers to keep Jane up to date but he rode to see her immediately after he learnt of Anne’s execution. And then the pair got engaged the following day. He didn’t like wasting his time...
‘Noli me tangere; for Caesar's I am’
Also, a big historical inaccuracy was Mary Tudor, Henry and Catherine's daughter, being present at her mother's sickbed. SHe was kept well away from her dying mother as punishment for them both for not acknowledging Henry as the supreme head of the church of england and for Catherine to not grant him the annulment. The only contact they had was in secret letters every blue moon. If Elizabeth had been born by this time (i can't remember the movie timeline), she would have been one of the baby's nurses.
Another thing that bothered me a little was the conversion of Mary Boleyn into a dark haired shrew. She was actually very sunny, and was contentedly married to Carey.
Also, a big historical inaccuracy was Mary Tudor, Henry and Catherine's daughter, being present at her mother's sickbed. SHe was kept well away from her dying mother as punishment for them both for not acknowledging Henry as the supreme head of the church of england and for Catherine to not grant him the annulment. The only contact they had was in secret letters every blue moon. If Elizabeth had been born by this time (i can't remember the movie timeline), she would have been one of the baby's nurses.
I agree that Mary was not at her mother’s side when Katherine died, but Mary was never a nurse to the baby Elizabeth. She was sent to live in the same establishment as Elizabeth for financial and political reasons but she was never made to wait on her. Elizabeth had her own team of staff to do that. The imperial ambassador Chapuys once alleged that Mary was to serve her baby sister as a maid, but Mary was never actually made to do this. It appears that she didn’t even see her sister much as Mary stayed away from Elizabeth’s household even though she was sharing the same establishment as the infant. Mary was certainly humiliated during this time, but the humiliation came in the form of reducing her goods like her clothing and jewellery and stripping her of her title and removing her right to take precedence over others. However she was still treated slightly better than the servants of the household as she was still recognised as the king’s daughter, albeit his illegitimate one. To have her acting as a maid to her sister would have been very inappropriate and Henry appears to have never wanted her to do this. So she was to pay homage to her sister but not serve her like a member of the staff.
‘Noli me tangere; for Caesar's I am’ share
another innacuracy is the scene where Anne and Henry Percy are together in Anne's garden and Percy asks whether or not Anne is a virgin, and she replies no. there have been rumors, but it is not known for sure whether or not Anne was a virgin by the time she was betrothed to Percy. we do know, however, that Anne was not a virgin when she married Henry VIII, seeing as they consummated their relationship a month before they were married in secret (which was correctly portrayed here).
It surprises me how attached I feel to the music -James Anthony Pearson ()
>>>I think they suggest that Mary Boleyn was married after her affair to Henry; this was not the case. She married William Carey prior to this.<<<
Mary Boleyn DID marry after her affair with the king. While she was married to William Carey at a young age, he died in 1528. In 1534, Mary married William Stafford, by whom she had at least one child, perhaps two. Because Stafford was a commoner, historians believe it was a marriage based on love.
Mary Boleyn DID marry after her affair with the king.
Her affair dates to after her marriage to Carey.
Mary married Carey on 4 February 1520. Traditionally her affair with Henry is fixed to c.1522-1525 (when examining issues of royal grants to her husband). She was not rumoured to be the king's mistress until after her marriage (around about a year or two into it).
‘Noli me tangere; for Caesar's I am’ share
Sorry. Maybe I should have been a little more specific.
Mary was married to William Carey before the accepted timeframe of her affair with Henry. Carey died after the affair with the king had ended. She then married William Stafford.
I'm sure I'm way too late with this (just browsing lol!) Thomas More was allowed to speak from the scaffold although he was told to keep it brief - which he did.
The King's good servant but God's first
also IIRC they seem to portray Anne as being sexually active to the point of promiscuity as a young girl. She tells Percy that she had some kind of thing with a boy when she was only a child.... This is from a highly suspect source IIRC.
And Mary is shown as being pregnant by the King. later on, Anne says that if she and Henry had a bastard son, he would only be 4th in line to the throne (Im a bit vague about details but rougly she says soemthing like "first woudl come Mary (ie H's legitimate daughter,) then the duke of Richmond, then Mary's son by Henry, and finally her own child, and she wants to have her child in line for the throne, ie she wants to be Henry's queen not his mistress.
However while Henry may have considered naming Richmond as his heir, it is unlikely... and if he WANTED to break with the rules of inheritance and nominate one of his bastards as heir, he could just as easily pick Anne's as Mary's or young Richmond...Also it is unlikely that Mary Boleyn did have a son by the King....
I think they suggest that Mary Boleyn was married after her affair to Henry; this was not the case. She married William Carey prior to this.
In the beginning of the film, Mary Boleyn is married to William Carey and pregnant with Henry's child. She later gives birth to a son and Henry tells Anne no one can prove the child is his because Mary was married to Carey at the time of conception. share