Elizabeth R (1971–…): Season 1, Episode 1 - The Lion's Cub - full transcript
(DOG YELPING)
Why are you here, uncle?
And you, Master Fowler?
Your Majesty, are you harmed?
I am cold.
How did they enter?
—Answer me!
-Leave him.
I have a key to every door in the palace.
Then you will be tried for it.
I have the trust of His Majesty. I have it.
Not the Council, nor my brother, the Protector.
I have it.
I am the true friend and guardian of His Majesty.
Take the dog and bury it.
I'll bring you another dog tomorrow.
A litter to choose from, Your Grace.
We believe this matter turns to treason.
Arrest the Lord High Admiral and Master Fowler.
Take them away.
—Your Majesty...
—Go now.
He is ill. That's the reason. His Majesty is ill.
You have lost, my lord.
I paid his debts.
We shall investigate
every source of money to your purse.
I showed him how to be a true king.
We shall investigate your dealings
as Lord High Admiral.
I gave him my trust.
We shall investigate your reason
for attempting to abduct His Majesty.
I was his only friend!
No, my lord, he had another.
And for many months she lived under your roof.
We shall investigate your dealings
with the princess Elizabeth.
(FOOTSTEPS IN HALL)
Kat?
(KEYS jANGLING)
Kat Ashley?
Kat Ashley!
Kat Ashley!
—Sir Robert Tyrwhit?
—Your Grace.
Where are my people?
I am sent by the Council by order of the King.
I pray His Majesty is well.
—He is well.
—I long to see him, I long to come to court.
Your mistress Ashley
and your treasurer Parry are arrested.
What have they done?
The rest of your household
are forbidden your presence
during the time I am here to question you.
I will not be questioned. I am Elizabeth.
You are but a subject, lady.
And I tell you plainly, when there is
a question of treason,
-you are as any other subject and you will answer.
—What treason?
You will not question, Your Grace, you will answer.
So I will, Master Tyrwhit,
for anything that threatens my loving brother
the King threatens every loyal subject.
Thomas Seymour, the Lord High Admiral,
is in the Tower.
I see you are moved by this news.
He was my guardian and my friend.
He and my dear stepmother Catherine.
She is dead, lady. But you are alive
and young and a great prize.
And the Admiral has proposed marriage to you.
No.
—You agreed to marry him.
—No!
It is treason for any subject to attempt marriage
in secret to an heir to the throne.
All the world knows that.
And it is forbidden you to attempt marriage
in the lifetime of His Majesty
without the permission of the Council.
I will never marry. Never, never, never.
You were misled.
You were flattered. The Admiral is handsome.
Even His Majesty
misplaced his trust in the Admiral.
The Council will protect you
from your youth and inexperience.
Confess your dealings fully.
The blame will be taken
by mistress Ashley and Thomas Parry,
who worked in the interests of Seymour.
They are my true and loyal servants.
When we came to arrest Parry, your loyal servant,
he took his chain of office from his neck
and threw it down. Here it is.
And he was distraught,
as any guilty man would be.
And he said, "I would to God
I had never had dealings with the Admiral."
I have done nothing wrong.
It is generally believed
that you are with child by Seymour.
I will not have
—such vile and filthy rumours spoken.
—It is spoken.
—I will not have my honour impuned.
—Then confess.
I will not have the people taught
to think ill of me while I am kept here alone.
—Tell the Council.
—You may write to them.
They shall deny it by proclamation
or else let them bring me to court
where all men can see that I am not with child.
—Let me face my accusers.
—You have a guilty look and a guilty manner.
It is anger and shame,
to hear such monstrous charges.
No subject can love the King
and have Seymour as a friend.
I have not seen the Admiral
since he was my guardian!
He planned to marry the King to Lady Jane Grey,
whose wardship he bought for £2,000.
—He came by night to take the King.
—I know nothing of these matters.
He planned two marriages. His Majesty
to Lady Jane, and the Admiral himself to you.
Thus he would hold England in his hands.
His chaplain was waiting to perform
the ceremonies in his apartments that night.
Do you think me such a fool
that I would act without the consent
of the good Protector and the Council,
in any question, no matter how small,
that could bear upon the succession?
The penalty for treason for a woman
is decapitation or burning.
Remember the death of your mother, Your Grace?
You are not here to trap the Admiral,
but to destroy me.
If you have proof of the Admiral's treason,
you need nothing from me.
—The Council will decide.
—By law, you may condemn him now.
But I tell you
if he could have had you, my lady,
he would never have married the Queen Dowager.
Don't blush. It is true. He spoke of it himself.
Ask the Council and his brother, the Protector.
He's a fine man, and he would die for you.
He's a fine man, in bed and out.
Up. Up, my lady.
You're lazy, lying a—bed.
Oh, let me help you.
My lord!
—No! Go!
—Is it wrong to get the child from bed?
She's 14, Lord Admiral.
If anything goes amiss, I shall bear the blame.
I'm her guardian.
By God's wounds, I'll do as I choose!
Then I shall speak to the Queen, your wife.
Do so. Then I shall speak
to the Council about you, mistress.
(ELIZABETH GIGGLING)
ELIZABETH: How could [help it?
(PANTING)
(LAUGHING)
(GASPING)
(PANTING)
(EXCLAIMING)
(GIGGLING)
Child. My child, your gown is cut to pieces.
ELIZABETH: We were wrestling.
It was only a game.
It was the mourning gown for your father,
the King.
But the Queen held me.
—It was only a game.
—It was wrong.
(Sobbing) How could I help it?
TYRWHIT: Treason, madam.
KAT: My lady, you are evilly spoken of.
ELIZABETH: What harm is there in flattery?
Your beauty,
and your many excellent qualities,
both of mind and person, have bewitched me.
I'm no longer master of myself.
I have so much respect for you,
my princess, that...
I dare not tell you of my hopes.
We are banished out of the house.
What has happened?
Lady, answer me. What has happened?
ELIZABETH: Poor Queen. All affect/on is false.
Those I've loved laugh at my grief.
The more I've loved and trusted them,
the...the more they mock me.
They...they mock me.
Sweetheart, not I, my dear wife.
You taunted me.
You wanted me dead.
By God's precious soul, I deny it.
And you, lady?
And you?
(SOBBING)
Lady Tyrwhit.
I am appointed by the Council
to be your new mistress.
I will have no mistress other than mistress Ashley.
Touch nothing of mine.
I like it no better than you, Your Grace.
I loved the late, sweet Catherine,
which you did not.
—That is a lie.
—I am ordered here, and here I stay.
I know why you are here, madam.
I have just spoken with your husband.
I am innocent and alone,
and kept from the loving company
of my brother the King.
His Majesty is more interested in what
your servants will say than in any words of yours.
—They have done nothing.
—Then they need fear nothing.
Where are they taken?
Where are they kept?
The Tower.
Have they made any confession?
Have my servants made any confession?
(BOLT CLICKING)
"The first occasion that I did take
of talking of the marriage
"between the Lord Admiral
and the Lady Elizabeth...
"was about 14 days before Christmas last."
You wretched man.
They showed me the rack.
You swore you would say nothing
if horses pulled you apart.
They showed me the instruments.
Mistress, you must write all you know
of the dealings between Her Grace
and the Lord Admiral.
After confession,
there is mercy.
They gave me until morning to reply, Master Cecil.
Why have you come now?
Speak softly. They're sleeping.
I've come here to advise you.
You are ever my friend, but you serve them.
Why should I trust you?
By morning, you must write your confession.
There is very little time.
I've come here to tell you the law.
Now, listen to me, make no interruption.
The Parry confession is treason
only if you used the man
as your messenger to the Admiral.
And only then if the object of your message
was to arrange your marriage.
The Ashley confession is treason
if you admit that from the beginning,
even during the life of the late Queen,
it was your plan to marry the Admiral
or he to marry you.
Now, both confessions are treason
if it was your intention to take any action against
or without permission of the Council.
Hold to that.
Must I admit all that happened
in the household of the Admiral?
How could an innocent child
prevent the attentions of her guardian
when even the Queen took part
in these early morning romps?
—I will not betray my servants to save myself.
—Show them to be the fools they are.
Gossiping fools. But ensure your own innocence.
If you are innocent, they are innocent.
—And the Admiral?
—Nothing can save him.
—Poor Thomas.
—And I believe his brother,
the Protector, will not be long after him.
—And then?
—I shall be secretary to a new master.
Why do you risk yourself for me?
I risk myself for the proper order of the realm.
My brother is a sickly king.
The proper order is that after him comes Mary,
who would put her head on the block
before she denied the Pope and the old religion.
Whatever qualms or scruples touch my mind,
I serve the proper order and the good of this land.
To Mary, you and your friends are heretics.
Will you swallow your conscience with the Mass,
Master Cecil?
I will do what I must,
speak softly and wait for better times.
So will we all.
Save the Admiral, who will be dead.
I will do what I can to save you from harm,
Your Grace,
for after Mary, you will reign.
That is the proper order.
I have trusted no man since the day
when I was eight,
and Queen Catherine Howard ran screaming
along the galleries of the palace
to plead with the Great Henry.
The guards took her
and, screaming still, dragged her away.
On every hand, men had betrayed her,
and one before her.
First there is trust,
then passion,
then death.
I am a lawyer.
I've told you the law in this matter. Trust that.
Now sit, Your Grace,
and write the document
which I shall deliver tomorrow.
It is a sign of guilt that you will now speak
and before, you denied everything.
I did not understand, Master Tyrwhit, that you
required servants' gossip regarding the Admiral.
You spoke to me of treason.
I know nothing of treason.
In every line, your servants speak of marriage.
My stepfather, the Admiral,
is a foolish, strutting man.
His messages of marriage and all such stuff
caused us laughter.
Is it treason to mock a fool?
When I showed you
their confessions yesterday, you were in terror.
—That is true.
—Tell the Council that, Master Cecil.
I was in terror that my dear Ashley
and my foolish Parry,
who can barely keep his accounts in good order,
had been tortured for my sake.
—That is clever.
—Their writing was wild.
The Tower is a fearsome place, Sir Robert.
My terror was for them.
I do not believe your put—on innocence, madam.
Can you see into my soul?
No, madam.
Master Cecil, knowing myself innocent,
I humbly beg the Council to release my servants,
for if I am innocent, they cannot be guilty.
My liege, it is my joy to bring you
the first printing of the new prayer book.
—There are other matters...
—God comes first in all things, my lord.
—Where is the Lord Protector?
—Diplomatically ill.
Why, has he abandoned his brother?
With your permission, Your Majesty...
—His Majesty may now consider and dispute...
—The charge of treason requires...
—His Majesty is tired by temporal...
—If the Admiral is to be condemned...
—Reading of the articles...
—Does he repent?
Repent?
My uncle, the Admiral. Does he repent?
He does not repent.
Then he must die.
Your Majesty.
The evidence from Hatfield is that Elizabeth,
Her Grace, has been slandered and is innocent.
Does she love me?
She loves you more than her life.
She writes most lovingly. Her letters comfort me.
All the houses and property of the Lord Admiral
have been sold one by one.
His servants have been turned out
to shift for themselves.
His goods have been confiscated.
—And he is condemned...
-But not yet dead.
Nothing can save him now.
—Your Grace, madam...
—Master Cecil?
Your servants are freed.
A proclamation is made clearing your good name.
When do they return? When do I see my dear Kat?
That is forbidden, and you must stay here.
You'll be safer here.
Today a traitor died, defying the King's majesty
and the King's Council.
My love.
This day died a man of much wit
and very little judgment.
Well said, Your Grace.
(LABOURED BREATHING)
Lord,
may I live with thee forever.
Yet...
would I might live and be well
for thy league's sake.
(GASPS, STOPS BREATHING)
(INAUDIBLE)
Your Grace.
I see that my brother is dead
and that I am now Queen.
No other reason would bring you on your knees
before me, Master Cecil.
—Madam, I...
—And I never doubted
that you would be the first
to turn your coat and come running to me.
I've known you for an enemy these many years.
It is most urgent and necessary...
You are my enemy in religion and in statecraft.
Forgive me, Your Grace, but I must tell you...
But I will not persecute you for it.
Madam, the act of succession has been altered.
Northumberland has married his youngest son
to the Lady Jane Grey
and she will be proclaimed the Queen.
—Northumberland?
—Yes.
—Your master?
—No more.
Who dubbed you Sir William Cecil,
and to whom you owe all allegiance?
—Madam, you're disinherited, a named bastard.
—Again.
—As is the princess Elizabeth.
-justly so.
—She is the daughter of a whore.
—No, not justly so.
You serve her. That's why you're here.
You serve Elizabeth.
Trap me, discredit Northumberland,
and she will reign, to the joy of all heretics.
That is your plan.
Madam, I swear to you,
if you take the bait and go to London
believing that you will be proclaimed Queen,
you will be welcomed into the Tower
and never again leave it.
But if I rule, you and your friends
shall have no joy of it.
I shall bring this land back to the true church.
Your news is false.
You would never risk yourself for me.
You are the most cunning man in the kingdom.
Madam, I could be at Dover.
I could be clear away, Your Grace.
I care for my skin as much as the next man.
And as you say,
I have no taste for the old religion.
But I will not see the right order overthrown
and the people betrayed.
You are the next rightful queen.
Is the King dead?
Without doubt.
God be praised.
Ride to the Eastern counties.
Proclaim yourself sovereign.
Go now, Your Grace.
Cause my head to ache.
I am unfamiliar with crowns.
Your Grace will have
a more comfortable crown in due time.
Will that please your master the French King,
Monsieur de Noailles?
All the bells in all the cathedrals in France
will ring with joy on that day.
Do they ring today for my dear sister?
No, Your Grace,
because your dear sister is half Spanish.
And as you see, the imperial ambassador
is already her dearest friend.
Must we choose, then?
Must the English queen
choose either Spain or France for a friend?
Is it one or the other?
It would take a genius to have us both,
Your Grace.
And you have chosen me because Sefior Renard
has my sister in his hand.
Who would not choose to be the friend
of the youngest and most beautiful princess
in the whole of Europe?
Your master, the French King.
For he has chosen the young Scottish queen
and he has her safe in France.
Your Grace, that lady is a child who will be content
to rule France when her time comes.
Well put.
When you write your secret letters to France,
tell His Majesty we must all be content
with our lot and thank God for it.
COURTIERS: God save Queen Mary!
—I thank you, my good people.
—Madam...
I am your loving sister and queen.
We have been through many perils together.
Will you serve me truly?
With all my heart.
God save the princess Elizabeth!
Where is that gentleman? Who is it?
—Sir Thomas Wyatt.
—Send him from the court!
We will speak privately!
(ALL MURMURING)
There will be no peace until Elizabeth is banished.
She is clever, and the people love her.
She has a spirit full of incantation.
Her mother Boleyn was a witch and a whore
and to my eternal shame,
I had some dealings in the divorce.
Now in my old age,
I repent and would do all I can to make amends.
When I look at them together,
I see Catherine of blessed memory,
and I see the witch Boleyn
tormenting her to the grave.
Why am I hated?
—You are loved.
—I am merciful.
I have spared Lady Jane and her lord.
I will spare Cranmer if he recants.
I condemned Northumberland with regret.
The people support you.
They ousted Northumberland for you.
The people are glad that I'm old enough to die
in time for you to become queen.
I am your loyal servant, sister. I want nothing.
—Then you will obey me.
—With all my heart.
I have ordered the celebration of a requiem Mass
in memory of our brother the late King.
—Will you go with me?
—Sister,
I was taught to serve God first,
and then the King.
Sister, I have been in peril under two kings.
I know the shifts you make.
—You cannot deceive me with clever words.
—Let me leave the court, Your Grace.
No. You will give a focus to my enemies.
Mary, I am your loving sister, your loyal subject.
—I will serve you with heart, with body, with goods.
—In the true religion?
I was brought up another way. I beg you
to leave the use of my conscience to myself.
A private man may have the use of his conscience.
My sister may not,
to give heart to every heretic in the land.
Madam, in the reign of our late brother, you were
brought before the Council to deny your beliefs.
You defied the Council but you were not punished.
You were allowed the use of your conscience.
But mine is the true faith!
I would gladly have died for it.
Would you die for the Lutheran heresies
or the abominations of Calvin
and his brothers in Christ?
Or is it that you fear that the people
will not love you if you return to the true faith?
Or do you hate me?
Does your conscience trouble you?
I am at your mercy.
I have opened my heart to you.
I rode with you joyfully against the rebels
and traitors who would have stolen your crown.
I am unloved.
And yet I loved
and befriended you as a child, did I not?
—Answer me.
—Yes, madam!
Did I not help you with your study?
Play with you?
Ease your pains when you were sick?
Madam, you did, to my comfort and joy.
But you defy me.
You look at me with the eyes of your mother,
who said of my mother,
"She will be my death or I hers."
And when my mother lay dead
and they took her heart from her body,
they found at the heart's centre
a black and terrible core.
Madam, I beg you, let the past be buried.
No water would wash away the blackness
of that thing that had stopped my mother's heart.
And it came there by foul practices of witchcraft!
God forbid that should be true!
I...
It gives me no pleasure
to see you fearful and trembling.
It is not fear. The service was long.
My head is painful.
Will you hear Mass? Answer me honestly.
I cannot without belief.
Belief will come. Try.
Leave me.
Sister, do not cast me away.
—You must choose.
—I have many enemies. They will speak ill of me.
Leave me!
Do you wish me dead?
It seems true the Queen is angry with you,
Your Grace.
The Queen is my loving sister, Your Excellency.
But you are quite isolated
here in your apartments.
The young men of the court dare not visit you.
Parliament, guided by the Lord Chancellor,
has annulled the great divorce.
I am once again the bastard Elizabeth,
and therefore solitary.
Ah. Now I see.
I had expected to hear you talk of the marriage,
but being solitary, you will not have heard.
—The marriage?
-Her Majesty is to marry.
She no longer wears black,
the court is full of colour, of course.
Philip of Spain. And she talks of children.
Children? She is too old for children.
Her doctors, what do her doctors say?
Do they say that?
My spies tell me
that she has good hopes of children.
I must see her. I must speak with her.
She will not see you, Your Grace.
The good people of parliament would never
allow a change in the act of succession.
Only treason can displace a prince.
Or a male child for a queen.
Your Majesty.
Lady.
I beg you, grant me the favour
of books and teachers.
I have been brought up in error,
and I am deeply penitent.
What errors?
When I cannot sleep at night,
I hear your voice saying,
"Mine is the true faith
and I would gladly die for it."
This has never been a secret, sister.
If my loved and revered sister the Queen
would die for her faith,
if she has been brought safe through all her perils
by her true faith,
then I, Elizabeth, must be in error,
and I long to learn the truth.
Is this true?
Grant me instruction.
Help me to serve God as you would have me do.
I have prayed for you!
I am happy!
Stay with Princess Elizabeth. Instruct her.
Let her hear her first Mass
on the nativity of the Virgin Mary.
I thank you with all my heart.
My lords,
this lady and I are the daughters of that king
who made himself the supreme head in earth
of the Church of England.
The words of that act are burned in my heart.
For in my time of greatest peril, I bowed to them.
"The King has power to repress,
redress, reform, correct, restrain and amend
"all errors, heresies, abuses, offences,
contempts and enormousies
"in the matter of religion."
Mark what has happened.
That king is dead.
I will not have title of
Supreme Head of the Church in England.
I adhere to the true church.
And now God has guided my sister to that haven.
With God's help, it is I who shall amend
all errors in this land.
And with mercy and with loving kindness,
the Pope shall forgive us.
Be faithful.
The church, Catholic and universal,
hath, from the beginning, proclaimed...
How clever she is.
She must be made queen
before Mary delivers us all to the Spanish papist.
Amen to that.
But she must leave the court.
She must be safe in the country when we act.
I will talk to her.
Take this letter.
If you betray her, the Spaniards will rule here.
Sir Thomas, no one can detest
the Protestant heresy more than I.
But the thought of France surrounded
by the power of Spain in England,
in the Netherlands, in Spain itself,
and controlling the channel,
is enough to keep me faithful unto death.
Madam, I came at once. Is it rebellion?
—Terrible rumours.
—An uprising? The heretics?
The Prince of Spain!
The Prince?
Oh, madam, be calm.
The Prince is in perfect health.
He has broken my heart.
—Your Grace?
—He has mistresses. He has bastards.
—I believed him pure!
—He is as chaste as ice.
How can I marry such a man?
Even when his wife was alive...
Madam, you must not believe these lying rumours.
Or lying servants defending their masters.
Your Majesty may take my life
if you find him other than I have told you.
Is it true?
Is he as you have told me?
His picture does not lie.
He is as wise as he is handsome.
Brave in war, faithful in love.
And in religion, the Pope's elect
of all the princes in Christendom.
I long for him.
I must say it.
Madam, he may not come here.
Why? Why?
For his safety's sake.
Till the plots and treason of the friends
of Madam Elizabeth have been unmasked.
But Elizabeth, she is loyal.
She has embraced the true faith.
She mocks the Mass.
She stoops and bends and moans,
and her ladies rub her back and stomach
even at the moment of the elevation of the Host.
I believed her ill. She often is.
In her apartment afterward, she laughs and jests
with the French ambassador.
-Are your spies reliable?
—Yes.
—Has she mocked me?
—Yes.
—Has she betrayed me?
—Yes.
How can I bring her down
and bring your master safe to this court?
First, let her go from court, which she longs to do.
—No. I would have her under my eye.
—Send spies with her.
Keep up all appearances of friendship.
Are there many who would rise against me
for her sake?
She is much loved by the people.
—It is true.
—She is tainted with heresy.
—It is true.
—And she is young.
Leave me.
Young.
Young.
She is young.
Oh, God.
Oh, God...
all my youth
is gone.
Hear nothing ill on me, sister.
I will hear only the truth of you.
Send, as you promised me, the copes
and chasubles that I may hear Mass each day.
(HORSES APPROACHING)
—We shall see her Queen within the month.
—Or you will be dead.
God be with you, my dear sister.
The whole country will rise with me.
God be with you.
The rebels will flock around her.
It is a great risk.
Only treason will do to remove
Madam Elizabeth from the line of succession,
and treason we must have.
MAN: Long live the princess Elizabeth!
Be faithful!
Free.
Free, free, free!
(GUN FIRING)
(MEN SHOUTING)
(FLIES BUZZING)
You would have done better to have fallen
on your sword than be taken, Thomas.
—Nothing can save you.
—I repent my action!
—I repent!
—You will die the...
the vile death of a traitor.
My lord, beg the Queen for mercy for me?
Help me!
Thomas, you've rebelled against
your lawful sovereign.
Against the Spanish marriage. That is all!
That is not all.
You may die cleanly by the axe if you confess.
Confess?
The rebellion was to crown the princess Elizabeth.
I cannot say it.
And the Princess knew of it
and approved of it.
—Your Grace.
—My lord.
—Please be seated.
—I demand to see the Queen.
—The Queen will not see you.
—Why am I here?
I am old and cannot stand long without pain,
but stand I must until you sit, lady.
I was five years in the Tower
in your brother's reign.
My joints swelled with the cold wind
that blows in from the river from the East.
I have never recovered from that time.
You are ill, I'm told.
Yes, I see you are.
You would suffer greatly from that East wind.
And from the doubts and fears
that crowd the spirit as day drags into day.
The Lady Jane Grey was executed eight days ago.
She was pardoned.
True, but her father, who was also pardoned,
chose to follow the traitor Wyatt.
Traitors are not pardoned twice.
Both are dead.
The rebellion has quite changed the Queen.
Her blood is up.
If you wish to live,
you must confess and place yourself
upon the mercy of Her Majesty.
I pray God I may die
the shamefullest death that any died
if I have any part in this treason
against the Queen's lawful majesty.
—The Queen will pardon you.
—I have done nothing.
You have caused rebellion.
Noble blood has been shed for you
in battle and on the block.
Beg for mercy while there is time.
To beg for mercy is to confess guilt.
I will not beg and I do not confess.
If I am guilty, show me your proof, my lord.
(Whispering) She will never confess.
But she shall not inherit.
I swear she shall not inherit.
I will bear a son. I will bear Philip a son.
Madam, the precious person of Philip
cannot be entrusted to you
while the dangerous traitor Elizabeth is alive.
But the rebellion is over.
God has delivered my enemies into my hands.
It is safe now for him to come, as you promised.
Not while Elizabeth lives.
He shall come. I love him. He shall come to me.
No!
If you will not answer,
the Queen will have you in the Tower.
I shall stand condemned without trial.
People will say, "She must be guilty, for she is
shut up in the Tower with other traitors."
The Queen will have it.
I have heard in my time of many cast away for the
want of coming to the presence of their princes.
This is your doing, my lord!
It is the Queen's pleasure.
Thomas Seymour would not have perished if he
could have come to his brother the Lord Protector.
—Let me see the Queen. Let me speak with her.
—There is no remedy but your confession.
I beg you! Let me write to her.
Tomorrow is Palm Sunday.
Each good citizen will keep the Church
and carry his palm.
In that quiet time,
you will go by boat to the Tower.
You have the night to think on it.
Madam, you will best go in out of the rain.
Better sit here than a worse place.
Madam, you must enter.
I am as true a subject, being prisoner,
as ever entered by these stairs.
I speak it before God,
having no other friend but God alone.
Madam, you will be ill if you sit here longer.
I pray God may confound me eternally
if I ever, by any means,
was privy to the treachery of Sir Thomas Wyatt
or any that rebelled with him
against the Queen's lawful majesty.
Lord preserve Your Grace.
Up! Up! Stand up! Move! Get up!
My lord, why are these poor fellows
kept here in the rain?
It is the rule here, Your Grace,
when any prisoner is landed here.
Is it so? Then I beseech you, dismiss them,
or do you fear that one poor woman prisoner
is not guarded enough?
If Your Grace does not come in,
then you shall be made to.
Dismiss your men!
Go! Go, all of you.
My lord Lieutenant, let us take heed
and do no more than our commission.
Let us remember
that she is the daughter of a king
and she may come to judge us in time.
If we are just, we have nothing to fear.
I will not be put into that cruel and doleful place.
I will not enter by Traitor's Gate.
Your Grace, my child, you will be ill.
—You will die if you stay out here!
—Stop that howling. Stop at once.
It is your business to comfort me,
not to howl and talk of illness and death.
Foolish woman. Where is my book?
There, there. Now open it.
Have faith.
Now we will go in.
Walk with me. We will go in together.
"My soul magnifieth the Lord,
and my spirit has rejoiced in God my saviour.
"For he hath looked
on the low degree of his handmaiden,
"for lo now henceforth
all generations shall call me blessed."
Lady Jane Grey's scaffold is left standing.
It is to strike fear into the prisoners.
I'm not so fearful this time as last.
It does strike fear.
We need food. Hot food and wine,
and fresh clothes for my mistress!
Tell His Excellency that the princess Elizabeth
must be warm and well—fed,
or he will answer for it.
Don't stand there gaping.
—Go!
—Stay.
Kat, you are too shrill.
Good sir, it would help to bear this grim place
if my servants could bring me
warm clothes and good wine.
Speak to your captain for me.
I will not forget you.
Surely the people will not let her kill me.
The people are in great confusion.
They hate a traitor,
and they hate the Spanish marriage.
They won't see the rightful queen put down,
and they won't bow their necks to a foreigner.
As for religion, God help us, they would be the
Jews or Turks, so long as they are left in peace.
Then they will hate me if they think me a traitor.
The people will never hate you, Your Grace.
If it comes to it,
I will ask her to send to France
for an executioner who uses a sword.
She could not deny me that.
There is a precedent.
Your Grace!
Sir, I am sad to see you in this place.
Bishop Gardiner will tell you it's a fair exchange.
He was here during the late reign.
This lady, Elizabeth, your goddaughter,
stands in as great a peril
as the lady you married to her father.
Through you, Bishop? Is it through you?
Are you buying your place in heaven
through the deaths of those you once supported?
She does not understand.
The Queen is implacable.
The Queen will have either dead traitors
or those who truly confess and repent and recant.
Oh, I believe this lady understands very well.
Madam, before you stands the great Archbishop
who pronounced the divorce,
and who stood at the right hand
of King Henry, your father,
the great Archbishop who devised
the prayer books of Edward, your brother.
Look well at him.
He is degraded from all offices.
The divorce is revoked, the prayer books are gone,
the Mass is returned.
What hope have you, madam,
if this man is so cast down?
(GROANING)
Forgive me.
It's the East wind.
It's very cruel to the joints of an old man.
You felt it in your time, didn't you, Gardiner?
It is the duty of a godfather
to guide with wisdom.
Guide this lady from her folly
of defiance and silence.
Are you innocent, Elizabeth?
I am innocent.
Then God be with you.
—Your Grace.
—Who is this?
Sir Thomas Wyatt.
A foul traitor.
Your devoted follower.
I know nothing of this man.
Sir Thomas?
Lady, it was for you that we rebelled
against the lawful queen.
I wrote to you.
You had a letter from me.
This is the letter.
My lord, I am alone. I have no counsel, no friend.
My enemies wish me dead. I am innocent.
I love my sister with all my heart.
Lady, you shall be fairly heard, I promise you.
I will speak to the Council
if anything untoward is done here.
You do not deny the letter?
Where is my reply, Bishop?
Sir Thomas will testify
that you were privy to the rebellion.
Then bring me to trial and bring him to testify.
See what he will say when he has taken the oath
and faces the people.
Either bring me to trial or declare me innocent.
I am deeply troubled
to see Her Grace so tormented.
Out! Out! Take him out. Take him out of my sight!
I will survive.
What in God's name?
Her Majesty will see no one.
I am the Lord Chancellor. Let me pass.
Save her confessor.
—Confessor?
—And her doctors.
—How long?
—Since midnight.
—Will she die?
—The doctors think it possible.
She despairs.
She says her prince has denied her
and all men love and protect her sister.
Then you will see that her prince comes to her,
and without delay.
—Agreed.
—Write urgently to Madrid.
Give a copy to her confessor,
then Her Majesty will know it is not a trick.
But the princess Elizabeth...
(FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING)
(BOLT CLICKING)
—Is it death?
—You must prepare yourself.
Your chaplain will hear your confession
and write down your last words.
They will be witnessed
by your servant, Mrs Ashley.
Is it now?
Within the hour.
Let me write to the Queen.
I dare not, my lady.
A few words only. My chaplain could deliver them.
The Queen is sick, Your Grace.
She will see no one.
—Ill?
—Yes.
Good Lieutenant, I have had no trial.
You must prepare yourself, Your Grace,
for there is no appeal.
—Is that the warrant?
—It is.
Then give it to me.
—I may not.
—May not?
May not show the heir to the throne
the warrant that concerns her?
By God's death, you may!
Or is it conspiracy?
-Are you part of a conspiracy, sir?
—No conspiracy!
Here is the seal.
—Have you read this document?
—I have.
Then where is the signature
of my sister the Queen?
As the Queen was sick,
the Lord Chancellor signed for her.
You have proof?
The Lord Chancellor himself gave me the warrant.
Will you execute me
when the Queen is ill and may die
and I am the next heir?
Will you take such a terrible action?
If you kill me, the Lord Chancellor will deny
all knowledge of this warrant.
You will die for it.
He's the head of the Council.
He's the first man in the land. I cannot deny him.
Good sir, if you value your life,
go not to the first man,
but to the first woman in this kingdom.
See if she will condemn her sister
without witnesses and without trial.
I will do as you say.
Come. You shall be my witness.
Stop, stop! Are you mad? You will be heard.
I have won, I have won! Kat, Kat, Kat!
Don't you see? They've tried to kill me unlawfully.
They will not bring me to trial.
They know the law will not condemn me.
She will sign the warrant now.
—She was too ill to sign before.
—Well or ill, she dare not.
Gardiner signed and failed.
She dare not let the world see
that she is her sister's murderer.
Are you sure?
I know how clever you are, my lady,
but are you sure?
All that is left to them is the assassin.
Of that, I am sure.
Oh, God, help us both.
Kat! Kat!
—What is happening?
—I know not.
—Where is mistress Ashley?
—I know not...
Come, you can be open with me.
I will not betray you.
Sir Thomas Wyatt goes to the block out there.
You're not to see or hear.
And mistress Ashley?
She's shut away in another place.
She may not see anyone...
—What is this?
—Your escort, Your Grace.
Where is the Lieutenant of the Tower?
He is replaced for failing in his duty.
And you, what are you?
Do you come to take me
for a lamb to the slaughter?
I, Sir Henry Bedingfield,
am commanded by Her Most Gracious Majesty...
to keep you close confined
until such time as you shall confess
your practices against her.
Close confined? Am I not already close confined?
Where do you take me, to Pomfret Castle,
where there have been other murders in the past?
Out!
Remember me.
You have not answered.
My orders are you must be moved
in secret from this place.
In secret?
Then, Master Bedingfield, you will drag me,
for I do not go willingly to my death.
I am innocent.
Madam, I am a true knight
and no man shall harm you.
Then why in secret?
The Prince of Spain has come this day
and meets the Queen's Majesty.
There must be no disturbance in this happy time.
You are to be far from London.
You must be shut away.
Come, rise up, Your Grace,
and gather your belongings.
The salute is fired for the royal Spanish galleon.
Shut away.
Even the Tower is not enough for her.
I must be shut away.
A true knight!
Then, Master Bedingfield,
you shall collect my belongings with all chivalry,
for I swear, I will not.
—Madam...
—Do it!
Madam, I do only what the Queen commands.
We must go with all speed,
and the people must not see you.
God bless the people...
and God bless Her Majesty,
my most loving sister.
(SNORING)
Oh, Philip...
husband.
Jailer!
Your Grace...
I go mad with the sound
of everlasting keys in locks,
of guards changing, of voices in the night
crying the hour and that all is well.
All is not well with me, jailer!
Your Grace, I beg you not to name me such.
You are such. You allow me no ink,
no quill, no paper.
—The Councillors...
—The Queen will not hear me.
You convey no appeals from me to your masters.
Your Grace, see. Read.
Here, as I showed you before,
here are my instructions.
They are written
in the Queen's Majesty's own hand...
I know them, I have them by heart.
Item: I am not cleared of suspicion.
Item: I must be kept
without conference with any person.
Item: I must talk with no man, woman, or child
without your choosing,
and always in your presence, jailer.
Item: you must record and render faithfully
in writing for the Council
every word I speak and every action I make.
Your Grace, forgive me. I thus not do otherwise.
I am worse treated
than any common prisoner in Newgate.
I see I must continue this life
without all worldly hope.
Master Cecil!
Your Grace,
the Queen's Majesty is angered by your silence.
I am a poor prisoner at Woodstock, Master Cecil.
My only comfort is to walk daily
in the pleasant fields of holy scriptures.
I am sorry Her Majesty is angry.
Her Majesty is merciful.
Confess that Wyatt and his rebels
had certain knowledge of your favour
and you will be forgiven and set free.
You may trust that promise,
for the Queen is big with child
and desires happiness through all the land
when an heir is born to her.
I would not wish the Queen, my sister,
one hour of trouble
at this moment of joy for all true subjects,
but I cannot sin against God and my honour
by confessing what is false.
I am sorry to find you so stubborn, madam.
Here are listed those of your household
who resist the true church.
Now, you must tell these
ignorant fools and knaves
that this realm has bowed itself in humble
penitence and supplication
before Cardinal Pole, the Pope's legate,
and has received a solemn absolution.
Tell them further
that the Lord Chancellor, Bishop Gardiner,
has passed through parliament a Bill of Heresy,
and those who do not conform, madam,
no matter how innocent they seem to be
in other matters, will be burnt to death.
Tell them also that no one, high or low,
will be spared.
That great heretic Archbishop Cranmer
recanted only from fear,
and in the false hope
that he would be spared the flames.
Is he burnt?
—Is the old man burnt?
—At the last, he...he denied his recantation.
He defied the true church
and thrust first into the flames
the hand that had signed the papers.
So warn your servants, madam,
that false repentance,
which is a mockery
of the living body of Christ upon the cross,
will be smelled out,
and the offenders will die for it.
I shall do as you say.
They shall conform as I do.
I am most happy to see, Master Cecil,
that you have been guided back to the true faith.
Madam, I'm proud to tell you that I so plainly
swore my former errors and made amends
that I, of all men, was chosen by our
gracious sovereign
to escort the Pope's good Cardinal from exile
back to this penitent land.
Master Bedingfield, order my chaplain
to prepare to say Mass
so that Master Cecil and I may receive that most
comfortable sacrament
before he begins his journey back to court.
I would take that most kindly, Master Bedingfield.
What should I do? What should I do?
—Stand firm.
—I cannot!
She is with child. All my hopes are dead.
I cannot bear to be shut up year after year
until I'm old and withered. I must escape.
No, it's impossible, you must give them
no excuse to bring you to trial.
Then I will go into exile. You must help me.
Go to de Noailles, he will arrange matters.
I will go to France.
No, be silent, be still. I swear to you,
if you hope to ascend the throne of England,
you must never leave the realm.
—I will never be queen.
—The Queen is old.
The Queen is often sick. The child may be stillborn
or die as your brother Edward died.
—That is possible.
—De Noailles is not your friend.
De Noailles and his master the King of France
have only one friend, she is the Queen of Scots!
If you flee to France, you will never return.
You will be a prisoner, and the Scottish queen
will reign here after Mary, your sister.
—That is true.
—And above all, you are the hope of the people.
If you run like a coward,
you will lose their love and kill their hope.
But is it true?
I have spoken to no man save my jailers
for these many months.
I believe myself abandoned by all but God.
It is true.
Master Cecil, tell my sister
I prostrate myself before her.
I rejoice at her news,
and I pray God she may be delivered
of a healthy male child to rule this kingdom.
Amen.
Mea culpa. Mea culpa.
Mea maxima culpa. I am past my time,
and the child is dead in my womb.
I have...I have sinned and God punishes me.
I've tolerated heretics
and now I carry death in my womb.
Mary, mother of God, intercede for me.
(GROANING)
I will burn the heresy out of this land
and be forgiven.
(Sobbing) I must bear a son. Mea culpa.
She is not with child, she has a growth
in her womb. The doctors despair.
—The family is cursed.
—I must leave this land.
You must remember, Your Highness,
the purpose for which you came to England.
I have done my duty. I do not find her agreeable.
She is virtuous, and she is the Queen.
She is old, ugly, and barren.
And I can neither get to the crown matrimonial
nor any right to the succession.
Consider. If Elizabeth succeeds,
she will make an alliance with France.
If Elizabeth is destroyed or set aside,
the crown goes to the Queen of Scots.
So, I waste my time here. My father is dying.
I'm going home.
There are two pressing reasons
why you should stay, Your Highness.
Well...
First, you may prevent
more of these stupid burnings.
She is too devout to hear reason.
They are so prejudicial to the Catholic party
that I fear for our lives.
And the second?
To befriend Elizabeth, Your Grace.
It has been your earnest endeavour
to have the lady dead.
She is young. She is pleasing in appearance,
full of wit and learning, and the people love her.
She is now our best hope.
She is also a prisoner, and I have no power
to order her to court.
The Queen and the Council are implacable.
The Council will not be implacable
on the day the Queen dies.
They will prostrate themselves
at the feet of Elizabeth.
Yes. Well, I shall be in Spain, thank God.
And on that day, parliament, the church,
and the people
will combine to have the Princess
married to a great prince.
No. One of that family is enough for any man.
Elizabeth has, by all reports,
a passionate nature, Your Grace.
What?
—She's mettlesome and ripe for the marriage bed.
—Oh...
Yes, but she is shut away, or I would see her.
I believe, Your Highness, the Queen,
who loves you more than her life,
could be persuaded to bring the lady to court.
Aye.
—Your Grace, I take my leave of you.
—Master Bedingfield,
if ever I should need to keep someone
close confined, then I will send for you.
The discharge of this, my service, were
the joyfullest tidings that ever came to me,
as our Lord Almighty knows.
So, I am to wear my finest gown
to meet the great Prince of Spain,
by command of the Queen herself.
God preserve Your Majesty.
And that loving heart
which brings me once more to your sight.
The King ordered it.
—The King had you brought from imprisonment.
—I thank God for it.
—You still do not confess your offence.
—I am innocent.
Then you maintain
that you have been wrongfully punished?
—I must not say so.
—To me, you mean?
—You will say so to others, I believe.
—No, madam.
You will tell the King I am a tyrant.
You will speak ill of me to my husband.
Madam, I swear I will not.
I tell you plainly, madam...
that though I can prove no fault in you,
I will not have you near me.
My husband wishes to see you.
After that, I will banish you.
Not only from this court, but from this land.
The Queen's Majesty, my dear wife, is unwell.
She cannot bear a child.
—I pray God that is not true.
-Oh, the lady is barren.
I am returning to Spain. My father is dying.
I shall be King in my own right
before you see me again.
I believe you to be much wronged.
I am your friend
and will speak for you to the Queen.
I have never, in all my life, done anything
to imperil the person of the Queen...
Princess, what's past is dead.
We must now make other shifts.
It is my joy to find you both beautiful
and full of wit,
wise in statecraft and true in religion.
You have all the virtues, lady.
And you have a loving prince for a friend.
—I will banish her from the kingdom.
—I do not wish it!
I'll marry her to some petty prince
far from this realm.
—And I do not wish that.
—You found her pleasing?
—I found her innocent.
—Ha! As innocent as her mother.
You'll treat her gently, as her rank demands.
She is the illegitimate child of a criminal.
Who was punished as a public strumpet.
She is no sister of mine. She shall not
inherit this realm. She has bewitched you.
—Tomorrow I return to Spain.
-Oh, God.
If you wish to see me again, treat her gently.
Do not desert me. I live only for your company.
And for your safe return.
Bring her with you to Greenwich tomorrow.
It will calm the violent feelings against you
and every Catholic
if she is seen to ride by your side.
Good night, madam.
I pray to God he returns
before I am too old to bear him a son.
Your Majesty, I will take my leave
and keep myself, as you ordered me,
from your sight.
Do so.
My husband would have you treated gently.
Take this. Wear it. Think of me.
You will know that I am dead
if this betrothal ring is brought to you...
for I never take it from my finger.
Madam, it is so hard to bear
the long months away from court.
The times are terrible and full of rumour.
Any villain may start a plot and use my name,
and I am helpless to defend myself.
You will never be accused unheard.
My husband thinks well of you.
Sweet sister, keep me with you,
acknowledge the succession.
I will die first.
(LABOURED BREATHING)
(BREATHING STOPS)
(HORSES APPROACHING)
This is the Lord's doing.
It is marvellous in our eyes.
You are the only right heir,
by blood and lawful succession to the crown.
I pledge myself to serve you
as my only Sovereign Lady and Queen.
You shall be my Chief Secretary
of the Privy Council.
This is my judgment of you...
that you will not be corrupted
by any manner of gift,
that you will be faithful to the state,
and that without respect for my private will,
you will give me the counsel that you think best.
There is much to do.
I pray Your Majesty is in good health.
I may not be a lion, but I am a lion's cub
and I have a lion's heart.
Why are you here, uncle?
And you, Master Fowler?
Your Majesty, are you harmed?
I am cold.
How did they enter?
—Answer me!
-Leave him.
I have a key to every door in the palace.
Then you will be tried for it.
I have the trust of His Majesty. I have it.
Not the Council, nor my brother, the Protector.
I have it.
I am the true friend and guardian of His Majesty.
Take the dog and bury it.
I'll bring you another dog tomorrow.
A litter to choose from, Your Grace.
We believe this matter turns to treason.
Arrest the Lord High Admiral and Master Fowler.
Take them away.
—Your Majesty...
—Go now.
He is ill. That's the reason. His Majesty is ill.
You have lost, my lord.
I paid his debts.
We shall investigate
every source of money to your purse.
I showed him how to be a true king.
We shall investigate your dealings
as Lord High Admiral.
I gave him my trust.
We shall investigate your reason
for attempting to abduct His Majesty.
I was his only friend!
No, my lord, he had another.
And for many months she lived under your roof.
We shall investigate your dealings
with the princess Elizabeth.
(FOOTSTEPS IN HALL)
Kat?
(KEYS jANGLING)
Kat Ashley?
Kat Ashley!
Kat Ashley!
—Sir Robert Tyrwhit?
—Your Grace.
Where are my people?
I am sent by the Council by order of the King.
I pray His Majesty is well.
—He is well.
—I long to see him, I long to come to court.
Your mistress Ashley
and your treasurer Parry are arrested.
What have they done?
The rest of your household
are forbidden your presence
during the time I am here to question you.
I will not be questioned. I am Elizabeth.
You are but a subject, lady.
And I tell you plainly, when there is
a question of treason,
-you are as any other subject and you will answer.
—What treason?
You will not question, Your Grace, you will answer.
So I will, Master Tyrwhit,
for anything that threatens my loving brother
the King threatens every loyal subject.
Thomas Seymour, the Lord High Admiral,
is in the Tower.
I see you are moved by this news.
He was my guardian and my friend.
He and my dear stepmother Catherine.
She is dead, lady. But you are alive
and young and a great prize.
And the Admiral has proposed marriage to you.
No.
—You agreed to marry him.
—No!
It is treason for any subject to attempt marriage
in secret to an heir to the throne.
All the world knows that.
And it is forbidden you to attempt marriage
in the lifetime of His Majesty
without the permission of the Council.
I will never marry. Never, never, never.
You were misled.
You were flattered. The Admiral is handsome.
Even His Majesty
misplaced his trust in the Admiral.
The Council will protect you
from your youth and inexperience.
Confess your dealings fully.
The blame will be taken
by mistress Ashley and Thomas Parry,
who worked in the interests of Seymour.
They are my true and loyal servants.
When we came to arrest Parry, your loyal servant,
he took his chain of office from his neck
and threw it down. Here it is.
And he was distraught,
as any guilty man would be.
And he said, "I would to God
I had never had dealings with the Admiral."
I have done nothing wrong.
It is generally believed
that you are with child by Seymour.
I will not have
—such vile and filthy rumours spoken.
—It is spoken.
—I will not have my honour impuned.
—Then confess.
I will not have the people taught
to think ill of me while I am kept here alone.
—Tell the Council.
—You may write to them.
They shall deny it by proclamation
or else let them bring me to court
where all men can see that I am not with child.
—Let me face my accusers.
—You have a guilty look and a guilty manner.
It is anger and shame,
to hear such monstrous charges.
No subject can love the King
and have Seymour as a friend.
I have not seen the Admiral
since he was my guardian!
He planned to marry the King to Lady Jane Grey,
whose wardship he bought for £2,000.
—He came by night to take the King.
—I know nothing of these matters.
He planned two marriages. His Majesty
to Lady Jane, and the Admiral himself to you.
Thus he would hold England in his hands.
His chaplain was waiting to perform
the ceremonies in his apartments that night.
Do you think me such a fool
that I would act without the consent
of the good Protector and the Council,
in any question, no matter how small,
that could bear upon the succession?
The penalty for treason for a woman
is decapitation or burning.
Remember the death of your mother, Your Grace?
You are not here to trap the Admiral,
but to destroy me.
If you have proof of the Admiral's treason,
you need nothing from me.
—The Council will decide.
—By law, you may condemn him now.
But I tell you
if he could have had you, my lady,
he would never have married the Queen Dowager.
Don't blush. It is true. He spoke of it himself.
Ask the Council and his brother, the Protector.
He's a fine man, and he would die for you.
He's a fine man, in bed and out.
Up. Up, my lady.
You're lazy, lying a—bed.
Oh, let me help you.
My lord!
—No! Go!
—Is it wrong to get the child from bed?
She's 14, Lord Admiral.
If anything goes amiss, I shall bear the blame.
I'm her guardian.
By God's wounds, I'll do as I choose!
Then I shall speak to the Queen, your wife.
Do so. Then I shall speak
to the Council about you, mistress.
(ELIZABETH GIGGLING)
ELIZABETH: How could [help it?
(PANTING)
(LAUGHING)
(GASPING)
(PANTING)
(EXCLAIMING)
(GIGGLING)
Child. My child, your gown is cut to pieces.
ELIZABETH: We were wrestling.
It was only a game.
It was the mourning gown for your father,
the King.
But the Queen held me.
—It was only a game.
—It was wrong.
(Sobbing) How could I help it?
TYRWHIT: Treason, madam.
KAT: My lady, you are evilly spoken of.
ELIZABETH: What harm is there in flattery?
Your beauty,
and your many excellent qualities,
both of mind and person, have bewitched me.
I'm no longer master of myself.
I have so much respect for you,
my princess, that...
I dare not tell you of my hopes.
We are banished out of the house.
What has happened?
Lady, answer me. What has happened?
ELIZABETH: Poor Queen. All affect/on is false.
Those I've loved laugh at my grief.
The more I've loved and trusted them,
the...the more they mock me.
They...they mock me.
Sweetheart, not I, my dear wife.
You taunted me.
You wanted me dead.
By God's precious soul, I deny it.
And you, lady?
And you?
(SOBBING)
Lady Tyrwhit.
I am appointed by the Council
to be your new mistress.
I will have no mistress other than mistress Ashley.
Touch nothing of mine.
I like it no better than you, Your Grace.
I loved the late, sweet Catherine,
which you did not.
—That is a lie.
—I am ordered here, and here I stay.
I know why you are here, madam.
I have just spoken with your husband.
I am innocent and alone,
and kept from the loving company
of my brother the King.
His Majesty is more interested in what
your servants will say than in any words of yours.
—They have done nothing.
—Then they need fear nothing.
Where are they taken?
Where are they kept?
The Tower.
Have they made any confession?
Have my servants made any confession?
(BOLT CLICKING)
"The first occasion that I did take
of talking of the marriage
"between the Lord Admiral
and the Lady Elizabeth...
"was about 14 days before Christmas last."
You wretched man.
They showed me the rack.
You swore you would say nothing
if horses pulled you apart.
They showed me the instruments.
Mistress, you must write all you know
of the dealings between Her Grace
and the Lord Admiral.
After confession,
there is mercy.
They gave me until morning to reply, Master Cecil.
Why have you come now?
Speak softly. They're sleeping.
I've come here to advise you.
You are ever my friend, but you serve them.
Why should I trust you?
By morning, you must write your confession.
There is very little time.
I've come here to tell you the law.
Now, listen to me, make no interruption.
The Parry confession is treason
only if you used the man
as your messenger to the Admiral.
And only then if the object of your message
was to arrange your marriage.
The Ashley confession is treason
if you admit that from the beginning,
even during the life of the late Queen,
it was your plan to marry the Admiral
or he to marry you.
Now, both confessions are treason
if it was your intention to take any action against
or without permission of the Council.
Hold to that.
Must I admit all that happened
in the household of the Admiral?
How could an innocent child
prevent the attentions of her guardian
when even the Queen took part
in these early morning romps?
—I will not betray my servants to save myself.
—Show them to be the fools they are.
Gossiping fools. But ensure your own innocence.
If you are innocent, they are innocent.
—And the Admiral?
—Nothing can save him.
—Poor Thomas.
—And I believe his brother,
the Protector, will not be long after him.
—And then?
—I shall be secretary to a new master.
Why do you risk yourself for me?
I risk myself for the proper order of the realm.
My brother is a sickly king.
The proper order is that after him comes Mary,
who would put her head on the block
before she denied the Pope and the old religion.
Whatever qualms or scruples touch my mind,
I serve the proper order and the good of this land.
To Mary, you and your friends are heretics.
Will you swallow your conscience with the Mass,
Master Cecil?
I will do what I must,
speak softly and wait for better times.
So will we all.
Save the Admiral, who will be dead.
I will do what I can to save you from harm,
Your Grace,
for after Mary, you will reign.
That is the proper order.
I have trusted no man since the day
when I was eight,
and Queen Catherine Howard ran screaming
along the galleries of the palace
to plead with the Great Henry.
The guards took her
and, screaming still, dragged her away.
On every hand, men had betrayed her,
and one before her.
First there is trust,
then passion,
then death.
I am a lawyer.
I've told you the law in this matter. Trust that.
Now sit, Your Grace,
and write the document
which I shall deliver tomorrow.
It is a sign of guilt that you will now speak
and before, you denied everything.
I did not understand, Master Tyrwhit, that you
required servants' gossip regarding the Admiral.
You spoke to me of treason.
I know nothing of treason.
In every line, your servants speak of marriage.
My stepfather, the Admiral,
is a foolish, strutting man.
His messages of marriage and all such stuff
caused us laughter.
Is it treason to mock a fool?
When I showed you
their confessions yesterday, you were in terror.
—That is true.
—Tell the Council that, Master Cecil.
I was in terror that my dear Ashley
and my foolish Parry,
who can barely keep his accounts in good order,
had been tortured for my sake.
—That is clever.
—Their writing was wild.
The Tower is a fearsome place, Sir Robert.
My terror was for them.
I do not believe your put—on innocence, madam.
Can you see into my soul?
No, madam.
Master Cecil, knowing myself innocent,
I humbly beg the Council to release my servants,
for if I am innocent, they cannot be guilty.
My liege, it is my joy to bring you
the first printing of the new prayer book.
—There are other matters...
—God comes first in all things, my lord.
—Where is the Lord Protector?
—Diplomatically ill.
Why, has he abandoned his brother?
With your permission, Your Majesty...
—His Majesty may now consider and dispute...
—The charge of treason requires...
—His Majesty is tired by temporal...
—If the Admiral is to be condemned...
—Reading of the articles...
—Does he repent?
Repent?
My uncle, the Admiral. Does he repent?
He does not repent.
Then he must die.
Your Majesty.
The evidence from Hatfield is that Elizabeth,
Her Grace, has been slandered and is innocent.
Does she love me?
She loves you more than her life.
She writes most lovingly. Her letters comfort me.
All the houses and property of the Lord Admiral
have been sold one by one.
His servants have been turned out
to shift for themselves.
His goods have been confiscated.
—And he is condemned...
-But not yet dead.
Nothing can save him now.
—Your Grace, madam...
—Master Cecil?
Your servants are freed.
A proclamation is made clearing your good name.
When do they return? When do I see my dear Kat?
That is forbidden, and you must stay here.
You'll be safer here.
Today a traitor died, defying the King's majesty
and the King's Council.
My love.
This day died a man of much wit
and very little judgment.
Well said, Your Grace.
(LABOURED BREATHING)
Lord,
may I live with thee forever.
Yet...
would I might live and be well
for thy league's sake.
(GASPS, STOPS BREATHING)
(INAUDIBLE)
Your Grace.
I see that my brother is dead
and that I am now Queen.
No other reason would bring you on your knees
before me, Master Cecil.
—Madam, I...
—And I never doubted
that you would be the first
to turn your coat and come running to me.
I've known you for an enemy these many years.
It is most urgent and necessary...
You are my enemy in religion and in statecraft.
Forgive me, Your Grace, but I must tell you...
But I will not persecute you for it.
Madam, the act of succession has been altered.
Northumberland has married his youngest son
to the Lady Jane Grey
and she will be proclaimed the Queen.
—Northumberland?
—Yes.
—Your master?
—No more.
Who dubbed you Sir William Cecil,
and to whom you owe all allegiance?
—Madam, you're disinherited, a named bastard.
—Again.
—As is the princess Elizabeth.
-justly so.
—She is the daughter of a whore.
—No, not justly so.
You serve her. That's why you're here.
You serve Elizabeth.
Trap me, discredit Northumberland,
and she will reign, to the joy of all heretics.
That is your plan.
Madam, I swear to you,
if you take the bait and go to London
believing that you will be proclaimed Queen,
you will be welcomed into the Tower
and never again leave it.
But if I rule, you and your friends
shall have no joy of it.
I shall bring this land back to the true church.
Your news is false.
You would never risk yourself for me.
You are the most cunning man in the kingdom.
Madam, I could be at Dover.
I could be clear away, Your Grace.
I care for my skin as much as the next man.
And as you say,
I have no taste for the old religion.
But I will not see the right order overthrown
and the people betrayed.
You are the next rightful queen.
Is the King dead?
Without doubt.
God be praised.
Ride to the Eastern counties.
Proclaim yourself sovereign.
Go now, Your Grace.
Cause my head to ache.
I am unfamiliar with crowns.
Your Grace will have
a more comfortable crown in due time.
Will that please your master the French King,
Monsieur de Noailles?
All the bells in all the cathedrals in France
will ring with joy on that day.
Do they ring today for my dear sister?
No, Your Grace,
because your dear sister is half Spanish.
And as you see, the imperial ambassador
is already her dearest friend.
Must we choose, then?
Must the English queen
choose either Spain or France for a friend?
Is it one or the other?
It would take a genius to have us both,
Your Grace.
And you have chosen me because Sefior Renard
has my sister in his hand.
Who would not choose to be the friend
of the youngest and most beautiful princess
in the whole of Europe?
Your master, the French King.
For he has chosen the young Scottish queen
and he has her safe in France.
Your Grace, that lady is a child who will be content
to rule France when her time comes.
Well put.
When you write your secret letters to France,
tell His Majesty we must all be content
with our lot and thank God for it.
COURTIERS: God save Queen Mary!
—I thank you, my good people.
—Madam...
I am your loving sister and queen.
We have been through many perils together.
Will you serve me truly?
With all my heart.
God save the princess Elizabeth!
Where is that gentleman? Who is it?
—Sir Thomas Wyatt.
—Send him from the court!
We will speak privately!
(ALL MURMURING)
There will be no peace until Elizabeth is banished.
She is clever, and the people love her.
She has a spirit full of incantation.
Her mother Boleyn was a witch and a whore
and to my eternal shame,
I had some dealings in the divorce.
Now in my old age,
I repent and would do all I can to make amends.
When I look at them together,
I see Catherine of blessed memory,
and I see the witch Boleyn
tormenting her to the grave.
Why am I hated?
—You are loved.
—I am merciful.
I have spared Lady Jane and her lord.
I will spare Cranmer if he recants.
I condemned Northumberland with regret.
The people support you.
They ousted Northumberland for you.
The people are glad that I'm old enough to die
in time for you to become queen.
I am your loyal servant, sister. I want nothing.
—Then you will obey me.
—With all my heart.
I have ordered the celebration of a requiem Mass
in memory of our brother the late King.
—Will you go with me?
—Sister,
I was taught to serve God first,
and then the King.
Sister, I have been in peril under two kings.
I know the shifts you make.
—You cannot deceive me with clever words.
—Let me leave the court, Your Grace.
No. You will give a focus to my enemies.
Mary, I am your loving sister, your loyal subject.
—I will serve you with heart, with body, with goods.
—In the true religion?
I was brought up another way. I beg you
to leave the use of my conscience to myself.
A private man may have the use of his conscience.
My sister may not,
to give heart to every heretic in the land.
Madam, in the reign of our late brother, you were
brought before the Council to deny your beliefs.
You defied the Council but you were not punished.
You were allowed the use of your conscience.
But mine is the true faith!
I would gladly have died for it.
Would you die for the Lutheran heresies
or the abominations of Calvin
and his brothers in Christ?
Or is it that you fear that the people
will not love you if you return to the true faith?
Or do you hate me?
Does your conscience trouble you?
I am at your mercy.
I have opened my heart to you.
I rode with you joyfully against the rebels
and traitors who would have stolen your crown.
I am unloved.
And yet I loved
and befriended you as a child, did I not?
—Answer me.
—Yes, madam!
Did I not help you with your study?
Play with you?
Ease your pains when you were sick?
Madam, you did, to my comfort and joy.
But you defy me.
You look at me with the eyes of your mother,
who said of my mother,
"She will be my death or I hers."
And when my mother lay dead
and they took her heart from her body,
they found at the heart's centre
a black and terrible core.
Madam, I beg you, let the past be buried.
No water would wash away the blackness
of that thing that had stopped my mother's heart.
And it came there by foul practices of witchcraft!
God forbid that should be true!
I...
It gives me no pleasure
to see you fearful and trembling.
It is not fear. The service was long.
My head is painful.
Will you hear Mass? Answer me honestly.
I cannot without belief.
Belief will come. Try.
Leave me.
Sister, do not cast me away.
—You must choose.
—I have many enemies. They will speak ill of me.
Leave me!
Do you wish me dead?
It seems true the Queen is angry with you,
Your Grace.
The Queen is my loving sister, Your Excellency.
But you are quite isolated
here in your apartments.
The young men of the court dare not visit you.
Parliament, guided by the Lord Chancellor,
has annulled the great divorce.
I am once again the bastard Elizabeth,
and therefore solitary.
Ah. Now I see.
I had expected to hear you talk of the marriage,
but being solitary, you will not have heard.
—The marriage?
-Her Majesty is to marry.
She no longer wears black,
the court is full of colour, of course.
Philip of Spain. And she talks of children.
Children? She is too old for children.
Her doctors, what do her doctors say?
Do they say that?
My spies tell me
that she has good hopes of children.
I must see her. I must speak with her.
She will not see you, Your Grace.
The good people of parliament would never
allow a change in the act of succession.
Only treason can displace a prince.
Or a male child for a queen.
Your Majesty.
Lady.
I beg you, grant me the favour
of books and teachers.
I have been brought up in error,
and I am deeply penitent.
What errors?
When I cannot sleep at night,
I hear your voice saying,
"Mine is the true faith
and I would gladly die for it."
This has never been a secret, sister.
If my loved and revered sister the Queen
would die for her faith,
if she has been brought safe through all her perils
by her true faith,
then I, Elizabeth, must be in error,
and I long to learn the truth.
Is this true?
Grant me instruction.
Help me to serve God as you would have me do.
I have prayed for you!
I am happy!
Stay with Princess Elizabeth. Instruct her.
Let her hear her first Mass
on the nativity of the Virgin Mary.
I thank you with all my heart.
My lords,
this lady and I are the daughters of that king
who made himself the supreme head in earth
of the Church of England.
The words of that act are burned in my heart.
For in my time of greatest peril, I bowed to them.
"The King has power to repress,
redress, reform, correct, restrain and amend
"all errors, heresies, abuses, offences,
contempts and enormousies
"in the matter of religion."
Mark what has happened.
That king is dead.
I will not have title of
Supreme Head of the Church in England.
I adhere to the true church.
And now God has guided my sister to that haven.
With God's help, it is I who shall amend
all errors in this land.
And with mercy and with loving kindness,
the Pope shall forgive us.
Be faithful.
The church, Catholic and universal,
hath, from the beginning, proclaimed...
How clever she is.
She must be made queen
before Mary delivers us all to the Spanish papist.
Amen to that.
But she must leave the court.
She must be safe in the country when we act.
I will talk to her.
Take this letter.
If you betray her, the Spaniards will rule here.
Sir Thomas, no one can detest
the Protestant heresy more than I.
But the thought of France surrounded
by the power of Spain in England,
in the Netherlands, in Spain itself,
and controlling the channel,
is enough to keep me faithful unto death.
Madam, I came at once. Is it rebellion?
—Terrible rumours.
—An uprising? The heretics?
The Prince of Spain!
The Prince?
Oh, madam, be calm.
The Prince is in perfect health.
He has broken my heart.
—Your Grace?
—He has mistresses. He has bastards.
—I believed him pure!
—He is as chaste as ice.
How can I marry such a man?
Even when his wife was alive...
Madam, you must not believe these lying rumours.
Or lying servants defending their masters.
Your Majesty may take my life
if you find him other than I have told you.
Is it true?
Is he as you have told me?
His picture does not lie.
He is as wise as he is handsome.
Brave in war, faithful in love.
And in religion, the Pope's elect
of all the princes in Christendom.
I long for him.
I must say it.
Madam, he may not come here.
Why? Why?
For his safety's sake.
Till the plots and treason of the friends
of Madam Elizabeth have been unmasked.
But Elizabeth, she is loyal.
She has embraced the true faith.
She mocks the Mass.
She stoops and bends and moans,
and her ladies rub her back and stomach
even at the moment of the elevation of the Host.
I believed her ill. She often is.
In her apartment afterward, she laughs and jests
with the French ambassador.
-Are your spies reliable?
—Yes.
—Has she mocked me?
—Yes.
—Has she betrayed me?
—Yes.
How can I bring her down
and bring your master safe to this court?
First, let her go from court, which she longs to do.
—No. I would have her under my eye.
—Send spies with her.
Keep up all appearances of friendship.
Are there many who would rise against me
for her sake?
She is much loved by the people.
—It is true.
—She is tainted with heresy.
—It is true.
—And she is young.
Leave me.
Young.
Young.
She is young.
Oh, God.
Oh, God...
all my youth
is gone.
Hear nothing ill on me, sister.
I will hear only the truth of you.
Send, as you promised me, the copes
and chasubles that I may hear Mass each day.
(HORSES APPROACHING)
—We shall see her Queen within the month.
—Or you will be dead.
God be with you, my dear sister.
The whole country will rise with me.
God be with you.
The rebels will flock around her.
It is a great risk.
Only treason will do to remove
Madam Elizabeth from the line of succession,
and treason we must have.
MAN: Long live the princess Elizabeth!
Be faithful!
Free.
Free, free, free!
(GUN FIRING)
(MEN SHOUTING)
(FLIES BUZZING)
You would have done better to have fallen
on your sword than be taken, Thomas.
—Nothing can save you.
—I repent my action!
—I repent!
—You will die the...
the vile death of a traitor.
My lord, beg the Queen for mercy for me?
Help me!
Thomas, you've rebelled against
your lawful sovereign.
Against the Spanish marriage. That is all!
That is not all.
You may die cleanly by the axe if you confess.
Confess?
The rebellion was to crown the princess Elizabeth.
I cannot say it.
And the Princess knew of it
and approved of it.
—Your Grace.
—My lord.
—Please be seated.
—I demand to see the Queen.
—The Queen will not see you.
—Why am I here?
I am old and cannot stand long without pain,
but stand I must until you sit, lady.
I was five years in the Tower
in your brother's reign.
My joints swelled with the cold wind
that blows in from the river from the East.
I have never recovered from that time.
You are ill, I'm told.
Yes, I see you are.
You would suffer greatly from that East wind.
And from the doubts and fears
that crowd the spirit as day drags into day.
The Lady Jane Grey was executed eight days ago.
She was pardoned.
True, but her father, who was also pardoned,
chose to follow the traitor Wyatt.
Traitors are not pardoned twice.
Both are dead.
The rebellion has quite changed the Queen.
Her blood is up.
If you wish to live,
you must confess and place yourself
upon the mercy of Her Majesty.
I pray God I may die
the shamefullest death that any died
if I have any part in this treason
against the Queen's lawful majesty.
—The Queen will pardon you.
—I have done nothing.
You have caused rebellion.
Noble blood has been shed for you
in battle and on the block.
Beg for mercy while there is time.
To beg for mercy is to confess guilt.
I will not beg and I do not confess.
If I am guilty, show me your proof, my lord.
(Whispering) She will never confess.
But she shall not inherit.
I swear she shall not inherit.
I will bear a son. I will bear Philip a son.
Madam, the precious person of Philip
cannot be entrusted to you
while the dangerous traitor Elizabeth is alive.
But the rebellion is over.
God has delivered my enemies into my hands.
It is safe now for him to come, as you promised.
Not while Elizabeth lives.
He shall come. I love him. He shall come to me.
No!
If you will not answer,
the Queen will have you in the Tower.
I shall stand condemned without trial.
People will say, "She must be guilty, for she is
shut up in the Tower with other traitors."
The Queen will have it.
I have heard in my time of many cast away for the
want of coming to the presence of their princes.
This is your doing, my lord!
It is the Queen's pleasure.
Thomas Seymour would not have perished if he
could have come to his brother the Lord Protector.
—Let me see the Queen. Let me speak with her.
—There is no remedy but your confession.
I beg you! Let me write to her.
Tomorrow is Palm Sunday.
Each good citizen will keep the Church
and carry his palm.
In that quiet time,
you will go by boat to the Tower.
You have the night to think on it.
Madam, you will best go in out of the rain.
Better sit here than a worse place.
Madam, you must enter.
I am as true a subject, being prisoner,
as ever entered by these stairs.
I speak it before God,
having no other friend but God alone.
Madam, you will be ill if you sit here longer.
I pray God may confound me eternally
if I ever, by any means,
was privy to the treachery of Sir Thomas Wyatt
or any that rebelled with him
against the Queen's lawful majesty.
Lord preserve Your Grace.
Up! Up! Stand up! Move! Get up!
My lord, why are these poor fellows
kept here in the rain?
It is the rule here, Your Grace,
when any prisoner is landed here.
Is it so? Then I beseech you, dismiss them,
or do you fear that one poor woman prisoner
is not guarded enough?
If Your Grace does not come in,
then you shall be made to.
Dismiss your men!
Go! Go, all of you.
My lord Lieutenant, let us take heed
and do no more than our commission.
Let us remember
that she is the daughter of a king
and she may come to judge us in time.
If we are just, we have nothing to fear.
I will not be put into that cruel and doleful place.
I will not enter by Traitor's Gate.
Your Grace, my child, you will be ill.
—You will die if you stay out here!
—Stop that howling. Stop at once.
It is your business to comfort me,
not to howl and talk of illness and death.
Foolish woman. Where is my book?
There, there. Now open it.
Have faith.
Now we will go in.
Walk with me. We will go in together.
"My soul magnifieth the Lord,
and my spirit has rejoiced in God my saviour.
"For he hath looked
on the low degree of his handmaiden,
"for lo now henceforth
all generations shall call me blessed."
Lady Jane Grey's scaffold is left standing.
It is to strike fear into the prisoners.
I'm not so fearful this time as last.
It does strike fear.
We need food. Hot food and wine,
and fresh clothes for my mistress!
Tell His Excellency that the princess Elizabeth
must be warm and well—fed,
or he will answer for it.
Don't stand there gaping.
—Go!
—Stay.
Kat, you are too shrill.
Good sir, it would help to bear this grim place
if my servants could bring me
warm clothes and good wine.
Speak to your captain for me.
I will not forget you.
Surely the people will not let her kill me.
The people are in great confusion.
They hate a traitor,
and they hate the Spanish marriage.
They won't see the rightful queen put down,
and they won't bow their necks to a foreigner.
As for religion, God help us, they would be the
Jews or Turks, so long as they are left in peace.
Then they will hate me if they think me a traitor.
The people will never hate you, Your Grace.
If it comes to it,
I will ask her to send to France
for an executioner who uses a sword.
She could not deny me that.
There is a precedent.
Your Grace!
Sir, I am sad to see you in this place.
Bishop Gardiner will tell you it's a fair exchange.
He was here during the late reign.
This lady, Elizabeth, your goddaughter,
stands in as great a peril
as the lady you married to her father.
Through you, Bishop? Is it through you?
Are you buying your place in heaven
through the deaths of those you once supported?
She does not understand.
The Queen is implacable.
The Queen will have either dead traitors
or those who truly confess and repent and recant.
Oh, I believe this lady understands very well.
Madam, before you stands the great Archbishop
who pronounced the divorce,
and who stood at the right hand
of King Henry, your father,
the great Archbishop who devised
the prayer books of Edward, your brother.
Look well at him.
He is degraded from all offices.
The divorce is revoked, the prayer books are gone,
the Mass is returned.
What hope have you, madam,
if this man is so cast down?
(GROANING)
Forgive me.
It's the East wind.
It's very cruel to the joints of an old man.
You felt it in your time, didn't you, Gardiner?
It is the duty of a godfather
to guide with wisdom.
Guide this lady from her folly
of defiance and silence.
Are you innocent, Elizabeth?
I am innocent.
Then God be with you.
—Your Grace.
—Who is this?
Sir Thomas Wyatt.
A foul traitor.
Your devoted follower.
I know nothing of this man.
Sir Thomas?
Lady, it was for you that we rebelled
against the lawful queen.
I wrote to you.
You had a letter from me.
This is the letter.
My lord, I am alone. I have no counsel, no friend.
My enemies wish me dead. I am innocent.
I love my sister with all my heart.
Lady, you shall be fairly heard, I promise you.
I will speak to the Council
if anything untoward is done here.
You do not deny the letter?
Where is my reply, Bishop?
Sir Thomas will testify
that you were privy to the rebellion.
Then bring me to trial and bring him to testify.
See what he will say when he has taken the oath
and faces the people.
Either bring me to trial or declare me innocent.
I am deeply troubled
to see Her Grace so tormented.
Out! Out! Take him out. Take him out of my sight!
I will survive.
What in God's name?
Her Majesty will see no one.
I am the Lord Chancellor. Let me pass.
Save her confessor.
—Confessor?
—And her doctors.
—How long?
—Since midnight.
—Will she die?
—The doctors think it possible.
She despairs.
She says her prince has denied her
and all men love and protect her sister.
Then you will see that her prince comes to her,
and without delay.
—Agreed.
—Write urgently to Madrid.
Give a copy to her confessor,
then Her Majesty will know it is not a trick.
But the princess Elizabeth...
(FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING)
(BOLT CLICKING)
—Is it death?
—You must prepare yourself.
Your chaplain will hear your confession
and write down your last words.
They will be witnessed
by your servant, Mrs Ashley.
Is it now?
Within the hour.
Let me write to the Queen.
I dare not, my lady.
A few words only. My chaplain could deliver them.
The Queen is sick, Your Grace.
She will see no one.
—Ill?
—Yes.
Good Lieutenant, I have had no trial.
You must prepare yourself, Your Grace,
for there is no appeal.
—Is that the warrant?
—It is.
Then give it to me.
—I may not.
—May not?
May not show the heir to the throne
the warrant that concerns her?
By God's death, you may!
Or is it conspiracy?
-Are you part of a conspiracy, sir?
—No conspiracy!
Here is the seal.
—Have you read this document?
—I have.
Then where is the signature
of my sister the Queen?
As the Queen was sick,
the Lord Chancellor signed for her.
You have proof?
The Lord Chancellor himself gave me the warrant.
Will you execute me
when the Queen is ill and may die
and I am the next heir?
Will you take such a terrible action?
If you kill me, the Lord Chancellor will deny
all knowledge of this warrant.
You will die for it.
He's the head of the Council.
He's the first man in the land. I cannot deny him.
Good sir, if you value your life,
go not to the first man,
but to the first woman in this kingdom.
See if she will condemn her sister
without witnesses and without trial.
I will do as you say.
Come. You shall be my witness.
Stop, stop! Are you mad? You will be heard.
I have won, I have won! Kat, Kat, Kat!
Don't you see? They've tried to kill me unlawfully.
They will not bring me to trial.
They know the law will not condemn me.
She will sign the warrant now.
—She was too ill to sign before.
—Well or ill, she dare not.
Gardiner signed and failed.
She dare not let the world see
that she is her sister's murderer.
Are you sure?
I know how clever you are, my lady,
but are you sure?
All that is left to them is the assassin.
Of that, I am sure.
Oh, God, help us both.
Kat! Kat!
—What is happening?
—I know not.
—Where is mistress Ashley?
—I know not...
Come, you can be open with me.
I will not betray you.
Sir Thomas Wyatt goes to the block out there.
You're not to see or hear.
And mistress Ashley?
She's shut away in another place.
She may not see anyone...
—What is this?
—Your escort, Your Grace.
Where is the Lieutenant of the Tower?
He is replaced for failing in his duty.
And you, what are you?
Do you come to take me
for a lamb to the slaughter?
I, Sir Henry Bedingfield,
am commanded by Her Most Gracious Majesty...
to keep you close confined
until such time as you shall confess
your practices against her.
Close confined? Am I not already close confined?
Where do you take me, to Pomfret Castle,
where there have been other murders in the past?
Out!
Remember me.
You have not answered.
My orders are you must be moved
in secret from this place.
In secret?
Then, Master Bedingfield, you will drag me,
for I do not go willingly to my death.
I am innocent.
Madam, I am a true knight
and no man shall harm you.
Then why in secret?
The Prince of Spain has come this day
and meets the Queen's Majesty.
There must be no disturbance in this happy time.
You are to be far from London.
You must be shut away.
Come, rise up, Your Grace,
and gather your belongings.
The salute is fired for the royal Spanish galleon.
Shut away.
Even the Tower is not enough for her.
I must be shut away.
A true knight!
Then, Master Bedingfield,
you shall collect my belongings with all chivalry,
for I swear, I will not.
—Madam...
—Do it!
Madam, I do only what the Queen commands.
We must go with all speed,
and the people must not see you.
God bless the people...
and God bless Her Majesty,
my most loving sister.
(SNORING)
Oh, Philip...
husband.
Jailer!
Your Grace...
I go mad with the sound
of everlasting keys in locks,
of guards changing, of voices in the night
crying the hour and that all is well.
All is not well with me, jailer!
Your Grace, I beg you not to name me such.
You are such. You allow me no ink,
no quill, no paper.
—The Councillors...
—The Queen will not hear me.
You convey no appeals from me to your masters.
Your Grace, see. Read.
Here, as I showed you before,
here are my instructions.
They are written
in the Queen's Majesty's own hand...
I know them, I have them by heart.
Item: I am not cleared of suspicion.
Item: I must be kept
without conference with any person.
Item: I must talk with no man, woman, or child
without your choosing,
and always in your presence, jailer.
Item: you must record and render faithfully
in writing for the Council
every word I speak and every action I make.
Your Grace, forgive me. I thus not do otherwise.
I am worse treated
than any common prisoner in Newgate.
I see I must continue this life
without all worldly hope.
Master Cecil!
Your Grace,
the Queen's Majesty is angered by your silence.
I am a poor prisoner at Woodstock, Master Cecil.
My only comfort is to walk daily
in the pleasant fields of holy scriptures.
I am sorry Her Majesty is angry.
Her Majesty is merciful.
Confess that Wyatt and his rebels
had certain knowledge of your favour
and you will be forgiven and set free.
You may trust that promise,
for the Queen is big with child
and desires happiness through all the land
when an heir is born to her.
I would not wish the Queen, my sister,
one hour of trouble
at this moment of joy for all true subjects,
but I cannot sin against God and my honour
by confessing what is false.
I am sorry to find you so stubborn, madam.
Here are listed those of your household
who resist the true church.
Now, you must tell these
ignorant fools and knaves
that this realm has bowed itself in humble
penitence and supplication
before Cardinal Pole, the Pope's legate,
and has received a solemn absolution.
Tell them further
that the Lord Chancellor, Bishop Gardiner,
has passed through parliament a Bill of Heresy,
and those who do not conform, madam,
no matter how innocent they seem to be
in other matters, will be burnt to death.
Tell them also that no one, high or low,
will be spared.
That great heretic Archbishop Cranmer
recanted only from fear,
and in the false hope
that he would be spared the flames.
Is he burnt?
—Is the old man burnt?
—At the last, he...he denied his recantation.
He defied the true church
and thrust first into the flames
the hand that had signed the papers.
So warn your servants, madam,
that false repentance,
which is a mockery
of the living body of Christ upon the cross,
will be smelled out,
and the offenders will die for it.
I shall do as you say.
They shall conform as I do.
I am most happy to see, Master Cecil,
that you have been guided back to the true faith.
Madam, I'm proud to tell you that I so plainly
swore my former errors and made amends
that I, of all men, was chosen by our
gracious sovereign
to escort the Pope's good Cardinal from exile
back to this penitent land.
Master Bedingfield, order my chaplain
to prepare to say Mass
so that Master Cecil and I may receive that most
comfortable sacrament
before he begins his journey back to court.
I would take that most kindly, Master Bedingfield.
What should I do? What should I do?
—Stand firm.
—I cannot!
She is with child. All my hopes are dead.
I cannot bear to be shut up year after year
until I'm old and withered. I must escape.
No, it's impossible, you must give them
no excuse to bring you to trial.
Then I will go into exile. You must help me.
Go to de Noailles, he will arrange matters.
I will go to France.
No, be silent, be still. I swear to you,
if you hope to ascend the throne of England,
you must never leave the realm.
—I will never be queen.
—The Queen is old.
The Queen is often sick. The child may be stillborn
or die as your brother Edward died.
—That is possible.
—De Noailles is not your friend.
De Noailles and his master the King of France
have only one friend, she is the Queen of Scots!
If you flee to France, you will never return.
You will be a prisoner, and the Scottish queen
will reign here after Mary, your sister.
—That is true.
—And above all, you are the hope of the people.
If you run like a coward,
you will lose their love and kill their hope.
But is it true?
I have spoken to no man save my jailers
for these many months.
I believe myself abandoned by all but God.
It is true.
Master Cecil, tell my sister
I prostrate myself before her.
I rejoice at her news,
and I pray God she may be delivered
of a healthy male child to rule this kingdom.
Amen.
Mea culpa. Mea culpa.
Mea maxima culpa. I am past my time,
and the child is dead in my womb.
I have...I have sinned and God punishes me.
I've tolerated heretics
and now I carry death in my womb.
Mary, mother of God, intercede for me.
(GROANING)
I will burn the heresy out of this land
and be forgiven.
(Sobbing) I must bear a son. Mea culpa.
She is not with child, she has a growth
in her womb. The doctors despair.
—The family is cursed.
—I must leave this land.
You must remember, Your Highness,
the purpose for which you came to England.
I have done my duty. I do not find her agreeable.
She is virtuous, and she is the Queen.
She is old, ugly, and barren.
And I can neither get to the crown matrimonial
nor any right to the succession.
Consider. If Elizabeth succeeds,
she will make an alliance with France.
If Elizabeth is destroyed or set aside,
the crown goes to the Queen of Scots.
So, I waste my time here. My father is dying.
I'm going home.
There are two pressing reasons
why you should stay, Your Highness.
Well...
First, you may prevent
more of these stupid burnings.
She is too devout to hear reason.
They are so prejudicial to the Catholic party
that I fear for our lives.
And the second?
To befriend Elizabeth, Your Grace.
It has been your earnest endeavour
to have the lady dead.
She is young. She is pleasing in appearance,
full of wit and learning, and the people love her.
She is now our best hope.
She is also a prisoner, and I have no power
to order her to court.
The Queen and the Council are implacable.
The Council will not be implacable
on the day the Queen dies.
They will prostrate themselves
at the feet of Elizabeth.
Yes. Well, I shall be in Spain, thank God.
And on that day, parliament, the church,
and the people
will combine to have the Princess
married to a great prince.
No. One of that family is enough for any man.
Elizabeth has, by all reports,
a passionate nature, Your Grace.
What?
—She's mettlesome and ripe for the marriage bed.
—Oh...
Yes, but she is shut away, or I would see her.
I believe, Your Highness, the Queen,
who loves you more than her life,
could be persuaded to bring the lady to court.
Aye.
—Your Grace, I take my leave of you.
—Master Bedingfield,
if ever I should need to keep someone
close confined, then I will send for you.
The discharge of this, my service, were
the joyfullest tidings that ever came to me,
as our Lord Almighty knows.
So, I am to wear my finest gown
to meet the great Prince of Spain,
by command of the Queen herself.
God preserve Your Majesty.
And that loving heart
which brings me once more to your sight.
The King ordered it.
—The King had you brought from imprisonment.
—I thank God for it.
—You still do not confess your offence.
—I am innocent.
Then you maintain
that you have been wrongfully punished?
—I must not say so.
—To me, you mean?
—You will say so to others, I believe.
—No, madam.
You will tell the King I am a tyrant.
You will speak ill of me to my husband.
Madam, I swear I will not.
I tell you plainly, madam...
that though I can prove no fault in you,
I will not have you near me.
My husband wishes to see you.
After that, I will banish you.
Not only from this court, but from this land.
The Queen's Majesty, my dear wife, is unwell.
She cannot bear a child.
—I pray God that is not true.
-Oh, the lady is barren.
I am returning to Spain. My father is dying.
I shall be King in my own right
before you see me again.
I believe you to be much wronged.
I am your friend
and will speak for you to the Queen.
I have never, in all my life, done anything
to imperil the person of the Queen...
Princess, what's past is dead.
We must now make other shifts.
It is my joy to find you both beautiful
and full of wit,
wise in statecraft and true in religion.
You have all the virtues, lady.
And you have a loving prince for a friend.
—I will banish her from the kingdom.
—I do not wish it!
I'll marry her to some petty prince
far from this realm.
—And I do not wish that.
—You found her pleasing?
—I found her innocent.
—Ha! As innocent as her mother.
You'll treat her gently, as her rank demands.
She is the illegitimate child of a criminal.
Who was punished as a public strumpet.
She is no sister of mine. She shall not
inherit this realm. She has bewitched you.
—Tomorrow I return to Spain.
-Oh, God.
If you wish to see me again, treat her gently.
Do not desert me. I live only for your company.
And for your safe return.
Bring her with you to Greenwich tomorrow.
It will calm the violent feelings against you
and every Catholic
if she is seen to ride by your side.
Good night, madam.
I pray to God he returns
before I am too old to bear him a son.
Your Majesty, I will take my leave
and keep myself, as you ordered me,
from your sight.
Do so.
My husband would have you treated gently.
Take this. Wear it. Think of me.
You will know that I am dead
if this betrothal ring is brought to you...
for I never take it from my finger.
Madam, it is so hard to bear
the long months away from court.
The times are terrible and full of rumour.
Any villain may start a plot and use my name,
and I am helpless to defend myself.
You will never be accused unheard.
My husband thinks well of you.
Sweet sister, keep me with you,
acknowledge the succession.
I will die first.
(LABOURED BREATHING)
(BREATHING STOPS)
(HORSES APPROACHING)
This is the Lord's doing.
It is marvellous in our eyes.
You are the only right heir,
by blood and lawful succession to the crown.
I pledge myself to serve you
as my only Sovereign Lady and Queen.
You shall be my Chief Secretary
of the Privy Council.
This is my judgment of you...
that you will not be corrupted
by any manner of gift,
that you will be faithful to the state,
and that without respect for my private will,
you will give me the counsel that you think best.
There is much to do.
I pray Your Majesty is in good health.
I may not be a lion, but I am a lion's cub
and I have a lion's heart.