A dramatic series about the reign and marriages of King Henry VIII.

King Henry VIII: You think you know a story, but you only know how it ends. To get to the heart of the story, you have to go back to the beginning.
Sir Thomas More: If the lion knows its own strength, no man could control it...
Thomas Wyatt: [talking to Thomas Tallis of Anne Boleyn] For what it's worth I did fuck her.
Thomas Wyatt: [about Anne Boleyn] If she gets her way, she will set our whole country in a roar...
[after having caught Charles having sex with his daughter, Anna]
Duke of Buckingham: What's this? Brandon!
Charles Brandon: It's what it looks like, Your Grace.
Duke of Buckingham: [livid] You violated my daughter!
Charles Brandon: No, no. She begged.
[pulls out sword threateningly and holds it to Charles' throat]
Duke of Buckingham: You've taken her honor!
Charles Brandon: [smiling amusingly] I swear to your grace, someone else was there before me.
Duke of Buckingham: [while holding his sword to Charles' throat] You son of a whore.
Charles Brandon: [smirking] Yes, that is true, Your Grace.
Duke of Buckingham: I should kill you for this!
[pause]
Duke of Buckingham: Get out!
Duke of Buckingham: I am a direct descendant of Edward II. This is MY crown!
Queen Katherine: [to Anne Boleyn] I know what you are trying to do, but do not think to take the King away from me. Let him play with you. Let him give you gifts. But he cannot give you his true heart... for *I* have that in my keeping.
Queen Katherine: He will tire of you, like all the others.
Anne Boleyn: And what if he does not?
Anne Boleyn: [Henry sticks his hand up her dress] Not like this.
King Henry VIII: How then?
Anne Boleyn: Seduce me. Write letters to me. And poems, I love poems. Ravish me with your words. Seduce me.
King Henry VIII: I have no heir. The Tudor Dynasty, all my father's work, finished, and it's MY fault!
Anne Boleyn: You can't have 3 people in a marriage!
King Henry VIII: [to Anne Boleyn] I love your neck.
Queen Katherine: Tell me, do you prefer your place in this life rather than in heaven?
Anne Boleyn: [about Henry] They say all his liaisons are soon over. He blows hot, he blows cold...
Thomas Boleyn: Perhaps you could imagine a way to keep his interests more... prolonged?
King Henry VIII: [to Wolsey] I want a divorce, and you will get one for me.
Cardinal Thomas Wolsey: The King commands that you surrender this whole matter into his hands. Otherwise, the court will condemn you.
Queen Katherine: I am surprised to receive such a request from such a wise and noble man as you. I am but a poor woman, lacking in both wit and understanding. How am I supposed to respond to such a request made to me out of the blue?
Cardinal Thomas Wolsey: You know perfectly well what the King desires and what he shall have.
Queen Katherine: All I know, Eminence, is that you, for your own purposes, have kindled this fire. All this time, all these years, I have wondered at your high pride and your vain glory. I have abhorred your voluptuous life and had no regard at all for your presumptuous power and your tyranny! I also know your malice against my nephew, the Emperor. You hate him like a scorpion. And why? Because he would not satisfy your ambition and make you Pope by force.
Cardinal Thomas Wolsey: Madam, you should never presume to know...
Queen Katherine: My only satisfaction is that in frustrating you, I hasten your fall from the King's good graces... an outcome I desire above all others.
Queen Katherine: You have not answered my nephew's letters.
King Henry VIII: Just because your nephew's the King of Spain. Does he think I have nothing better to do?
Queen Katherine: You know he advises you to sign a treaty with the Emperor, recognizing France as our mutual enemy. He also advises you not to heed everything Wolsey tells you, because Wolsey is so biased with the French.
King Henry VIII: Since when are you a diplomat?
Queen Katherine: I am my father's daughter.
King Henry VIII: [Grabbing Katherine tightly by her wrist] You are my WIFE. You are not my Minister, you are not my Chancellor, but my wife.
Anne of Cleves: If I cannot please the King, will he kill me?
Queen Katherine: [as Katherine is called upon to testify, she falls to her knees at Henry's feet] My Lord. Sir. I beseech you, for all the love that has been between us, let me have justice and right. Give me some pity and compassion, for I am a poor woman, and a stranger, born out of your dominion. I have no friend here, and little counsel. I flee to you as head of justice in this realm. I call to God and all the world to witness that I have been to you a true, humble, and obedient wife, ever comfortable to your will and pleasure. I have loved all those who you have loved, for your sake, whether or not I had cause, whether they be my friends or enemies. By me you have had many children, although it has pleased God to call them from this world. But when you had me at first, I take God as my judge! I was a true maid, without touch of man! And whether or not it be true, I put it to your conscience.
Cardinal Thomas Wolsey: Lady Anne, what are you doing here?
Anne Boleyn: I have an audience with His Majesty.
Cardinal Thomas Wolsey: [amused] What would a silly girl like you have to say to a king?
Queen Katherine: I am so glad to see you. It is often lonely here.
Charles V: Lonely?
Queen Katherine: Things are not well between us. His Majesty and I.
Charles V: But... I saw with my own eyes how attentive he is to you. He looks at you with such devotion, it seems. With such love.
Queen Katherine: I fear that is for your benefit. Henry is a good masquer. I think sometimes that he will ask me for a divorce.
Charles V: A divorce? No, that's impossible.
Queen Katherine: [Glances towards Henry as he crosses paths with Anne Boleyn once more] Is it?
King Henry VIII: Thomas Wyatt, were you in love with Anne Boleyn?
Thomas Wyatt: Of course I loved her. But... from a distance.
King Henry VIII: [after holding a council meeting] It is settled. We are to war with France. Now... I can go play.
[Several courtiers laugh]