In London, 1536, Henry VIII, Richard Burton, sits with the weight of a life-altering decision, weighing whether to sign the warrant for the execution of his second wife, Anne Boleyn, in a moment where power, pride, and a king’s fate hang in the balance.
Nine years earlier, in 1527, Henry reveals his growing dissatisfaction with his wife, Catherine of Aragon, Irene Papas. He is pursuing a discreet affair with Mary Boleyn, Valerie Gearon, a daughter of one of his courtiers, Sir Thomas Boleyn, but he cannot ignore the striking presence of Mary’s younger sister, Anne Boleyn, Geneviève Bujold. Anne has just returned from France, engaged to the son of the Earl of Northumberland, and she proves quick to see the king’s interest as an opportunity to shape her own future. When Henry asks Cardinal Wolsey, Anthony Quayle, to break the engagement, Anne’s fury erupts—she resents the intrusion yet instinctively grasps the leverage his desire gives her.
Henry makes a clumsy attempt to win Anne over, but she bluntly tells him how she truly feels about him. Undeterred, she returns to court, and though she resists his seduction at first, she becomes intoxicated by the power his affection could confer. With a keen eye for influence, she begins to undermine Wolsey, who initially sees her as a passing fascination rather than a serious threat to his own authority.
Desperate for a son and for a new path forward, Henry proposes a drastic idea: marrying Anne in Catherine’s place. Anne, initially stunned, finds herself drawn into the dangerous dance of courtly ambition. Wolsey pleads for restraint, warning of the political peril in divorcing Catherine, but the king’s resolve does not waver.
When Wolsey fails to persuade the pope, Anne taunts him with his failure, and the cardinal’s fortunes quickly turn. Wolsey is dismissed, and his magnificent London palace is given to Anne as a symbol of her growing power. The moment is a turning point for both of them: they sleep together, and upon learning that Anne is pregnant, they are secretly married. Anne receives a coronation, yet public mockery follows, and the mood at court grows increasingly strained.
Months later, Anne bears a daughter, Princess Elizabeth, a fact that does not bring the longed-for relief to Henry, who had hoped for a son. Discontent rumbles as Henry’s attention drifts toward Lady Jane Seymour, one of Anne’s ladies, and Anne, sensing the shift, banishes Jane from court.
A fierce dispute over Sir Thomas More’s opposition to Anne’s queenship follows, and Anne’s demand that More be removed intensifies the breach between them. More is executed, but Anne’s later pregnancy ends in a stillborn boy, a blow that deepens Henry’s desperation for a favorable outcome. When Cromwell, [unmentioned actor in the cast], is tasked with finding a way to rid the realm of Anne, the tension in her household escalates into fear. A servant is tortured into confessing to adultery with the queen, and four other courtiers are arrested on similar charges. Anne is taken to the Tower and placed under arrest, and she discovers that her brother faces the same accusations.
At the trial, Anne fights back, cross-questioning Mark Smeaton, the tortured servant who finally confesses that the charges are lies. Henry appears in her chambers that night, offering her freedom if she will agree to annul their marriage and make their daughter illegitimate. Anne refuses, declaring she would rather die than betray their daughter, who she insists will rule after Henry. He slaps her, warning that disobedience will be met with death.
In the present, Henry resolves to execute Anne. A few days later, she is led to the scaffold and beheaded by a French swordsman, while Henry rides off to marry Jane Seymour, Lesley Paterson. The story closes with Elizabeth, the child of Anne and Henry, wandering the garden as cannons fire in the distance, marking the end of an era and the beginnings of another.
