It’s typical for the first episode of a series to have a lot of exposition, and the pilot episode of the series The Tudors is no exception! There’s a lot of stage and tone setting in this first episode. I’m going to recap the episode, and then explain some of the context and real-life history behind what happens.
The episode starts out at Ducal Palace, which is in Urbino, Italy. A man arrives, and is escorted inside. The man notices that there are representatives of France at Ducal Palace as well. He asks why they’re there, and is brushed off with a non-answer. We quickly see why, as the men from France kill the man. It’s evident that this is the reason the man was summoned there – it was a set-up so that he could be killed!
We then go to Whitehall Palace in London, and Henry VIII has called a council meeting. It turns out that the man who was killed in Italy was an English ambassador, and Henry’s *pissed* at the French for this. Like, declare war on France levels of pissed off!
During this council meeting, the Duke of Buckingham speaks up and says that he mentioned a year ago that Henry should keep an eye on the French … it’s clear by the look on Henry’s face he doesn’t appreciate this ‘I told you so’ from Buckingham. The Duke of Norfolk is asked what he thinks, and he diplomatically agrees that yes, the French are a problem and that England should go to war with them. Henry then asks his chief advisor Cardinal Thomas Wolsey what he thinks, and Wolsey agrees with Henry that England should go to war with France. Henry is satisfied ‘Good … then it is settled! We are to war with France!’ Meeting ended!
As the meeting clears out, Wolsey is asked if he really thinks England should go to war with France. Wolsey answers with a curt ‘I think we should try to do what the King wants us to do’.
The scene then switches to Henry in bed with a woman. As they lay in each other’s arms, Henry asks her how her husband is. She tells him that he’s extremely jealous, and is threatening to cause a scandal, and send her to a nunnery.
We then go to Hampton Court in Surrey. Wolsey is in his office, going over paperwork when he’s visited by the French Ambassador, and a French Bishop. Wolsey makes it clear to the both of them that he’s trying to avoid war. The Ambassador doesn’t seem to mind the idea of war, but the Bishop agrees with Wolsey and thinks war should be avoided.
We then see Henry playing indoor tennis as a crowd watches. As they’re playing, Charles Brandon, who’s Henry’s doubles partner tells Henry that he sees a girl in the crowd that’s he interested in. They realize that the girl they’re talking about is Lord Buckingham’s daughter. Henry laughs and then bets Charles 100 crowns that she won’t sleep with him.
We then see Henry having dinner with a woman that we soon realize is his wife, Catherine of Aragon. They’re being served by the woman that we saw Henry in bed with earlier. Henry and Catherine discuss their daughter Mary, and Catherine asks Henry why he hasn’t answered her nephew’s letter. Catherine’s nephew is the king of Spain, and wants to form an alliance recognizing France as their mutual enemy. She also mentions that Wolsey is heavily biased for France, and Henry gets angry at her. He roughly tells Catherine that she is his wife, not his Minister or Chancellor. Catherine then asks Henry if he’ll come to her room that night. He avoids answering her, and just tells her to eat her dinner.
The next scene is Henry getting ready for bed. He slices open a pomegranate and eats some of it, then heads to Catherine’s room. But Catherine’s not there – Henry’s told by one of the ladies in Catherine’s room that Catherine’s at prayer. Henry goes back to his room, but as he leaves, we see one of Henry’s men whispering to the woman. We then see the lady enter Henry’s bedroom, and the two sleep together.
The next scene is a jousting tournament, and Charles Brandon is up. He asks Lady Buckingham, the woman he’d made a bet with Henry over, for her favours, which she gives. Lord Buckingham sees this, and doesn’t like it. Charles wins the joust.
We then switch to Cardinal Wolsey who is talking with the French ambassador and Bishop again. Wolsey has a plan for peace with France, and says everyone will be happy with it. He says he wants something in return from the Bishop, but before we can find out what that is, we switch back to the jousting.
The Duke of Buckingham is up. Henry decides that he’s going to go against Buckingham. Queen Catherine is there watching the jousting, and gives Henry her favours. Henry knocks Buckingham off of his horse.
Henry then visits Thomas More at his house. Henry greets the family, and the two men go for a walk so they can talk. Henry asks Thomas why he hasn’t been at court, and why he didn’t say much at council about the upcoming war. Thomas says he doesn’t enjoy court, and adds that he is a humanist, so doesn’t like war. He calls Henry Harry, and tells him that he shouldn’t spend large amounts of money on war, instead he should spend that money on the welfare of his people. Henry swears to Thomas that he intends to be a just ruler, but says that Henry V isn’t remembered for endowing universities or building alms houses for the destitute, but is remembered because he won the battle of Agincourt. He says that victory made him famous … immortal.
We then see Lord Buckingham at dinner with Norfolk. Buckingham is upset about losing the joust to Henry, but says he’s also upset because he feels like he has a better claim to the throne than Henry. He then walks in on Charles Brandon sleeping with his daughter. Buckingham is absolutely furious.
We’re then back in Wolsey’s office, where the woman who was sleeping with Henry after the council meeting is let in. She’s introduced as Lady Blount. She informs Wolsey that she’s pregnant, and that Henry is the father. Wolsey swears her to secrecy, and tells her that once she starts showing that she’ll be moved to a private place. Lady Blount thanks him.
The next scene is Wolsey arriving at court. He asks where the King is, and is told he’s out hunting. ‘Good. It keeps him in good humor. Send word when he returns’. The famous court composer and performer Thomas Tallis arrives to start working at court, but he’s very quiet and understated.
We then see Henry, Wolsey, and Thomas More in discussion. Henry asks Wolsey if they’re ready for war. Wolsey says they are, but trys to discourage Henry from war with France, saying that wars are expensive and often unpopular. Thomas More tells Henry he should hear Wolsey out. Wolsey tells Henry that he’s been working really hard with diplomats from around the world to come up with a treaty. He tells Henry this treaty would mean universal and perpetual peace. One of the conditions of this treaty is that Henry’s daughter Mary would be betrothed to the King of France’s son (the Dauphin of France). Wolsey says there will be a large summit where the treaty will be signed. Henry likes this idea, and Thomas More likes it too.
As Henry is finishing up his conversation with Wolsey and Thomas More, Lord Buckingham comes in. He’s really angry about Charles Brandon sleeping with his daughter, and wants Henry to punish him for it. Henry refuses to punish Charles Brandon for sleeping with Lady Buckingham, and Buckingham stomps out. Thomas More warns Henry: ‘Be careful of Buckingham, Harry. He may be stupid, but he’s richer than you are, and he can call upon a private army. Not even your father crossed him.’
We then see Wolsey talking with the Bishop of France, they’re both happy that the signing of the treaty means there won’t be a war. Wolsey asks him ‘What about the other matter we discussed?’ The Bishop asks him what other matter, and Wolsey gets aggressive and tells him he demands his reward.
The next scene is Charles Brandon and Lady Buckingham together again.
We then switch to Thomas More’s home, where he says goodnight to his wife and children and goes to pray. It’s evident that Thomas More is very devout.
We then switch to a scene with Henry. He’s dictating a letter to the king of France, saying how happy he is about the treaty they’re about to sign, and states that he won’t shave his beard until they see each other as a gesture of his goodwill.
Then we switch to Wolsey. He meets with the Bishop of France again, and we finally find out what Wolsey wanted: the Bishop tells Wolsey that the Pope is very ill, and that in the event of the Pope’s death he has arranged for all of the French Cardinals to vote for Wolsey as his successor. He says that between those votes and all the votes of the British Cardinals, Wolsey would be the next Pope.
We then switch to Catherine. She’s in her room with her lady-in-waiting Lady Blount. Catherine starts crying and tells Lady Blount about the problems her and Henry have had conceiving children since they’ve been married.
Then we see Henry in confession. He’s talking about his marriage to Catherine, and how they haven’t been able to have a son. He wonders out loud if this is because he Catherine had been married to his brother Arthur before his death.
We then see Lord Buckingham talking to Thomas Boleyn. Buckingham mentions that he and Boleyn come from old, prestigious families, but that Henry choses to surround himself with commoners, which Buckingham doesn’t approve of. He also mentions that Henry’s father got the crown by force, not by right. Boleyn stops him in his tracks, saying ‘No one wants to return to the evil days of civil war. What is done is done. The King is the King.’ Buckingham agrees, but then brings up Wolsey, who’s a man of the cloth, but has a mistress and two children. Boleyn states that he doesn’t like Wolsey. The two men leave it at that, but agree that they will talk again soon.
The next scene is Henry and Boleyn playing chess. Boleyn just got back from court in France, and Henry is asking him questions about the King of France. ‘Is he tall? Are his calves strong like mine? Is he handsome?’ Henry then asks about King Francis’ court. Thomas says the French court has a bad reputation, and that King Francis doesn’t do anything to dispel that. Henry tells Boleyn that he’s to go back to Paris, that he’s being entrusted with handling everything to do with the upcoming summit.
We get a sighting of a young Princess Mary, and she is adorable! Catherine is super mad that Henry has agreed to have Mary married off to the Dauphin of France without even discussing it with her first. Henry doesn’t care how Catherine feels about this though – he says that Mary is his to do with as he sees fit. He thinks it’s a great marriage. Catherine says she sees Wolsey’s hand in this.
We then get our first glimpse of Anne Boleyn as Thomas Boleyn arrives in Paris and tells his daughters Mary and Anne about the summit – both girls are very excited.
Wolsey and Henry are about to eat. Buckingham holds a bowl with water in it and Henry dips his hands in it to wash them. Wolsey goes to dip his hands in the water, and Buckingham not only moves the bowl away from Wolsey, but purposely pours some of the water out onto his shoes. Buckingham leaves and finds Boleyn and the Duke of Norfolk. Buckingham tells them ‘it’s time’. Things happen pretty fast at the end of this episode – what follows is almost a montage:
Wolsey tells Henry about the summit – a LOT of work has gone into it.
Meanwhile, Buckingham is making plans to raise an army.
Wolsey tells Henry that Lady Blount is pregnant.
Buckingham pantomimes assassinating Henry on his servant.
That’s the end of the first episode, but we’re very well set-up for what’s to come!
I think this episode does a really good job of setting the stage for the rest of the story. It also does a good job of setting the tone of the show, making a lot of the character’s motivations clear.
There are some things in the episode that I wanted to discuss.
The Tudors is a very fun show, but what happens on the show isn’t always how things really went in history. A lot of times this is so that they can tell a more dramatic, eventful story. Other times, it’s to tell the story in a more concise way.
One example of Hollywood making something up for the sake of a story is the way this show starts: with the assassination of an English ambassador by the French in Italy. In the show, this man who was killed is referred to as Henry’s uncle. In reality, there was no uncle, and this event didn’t happen. I think the writers made this up to get the story started with an easy-to-understand reason for Henry to be angry with France and want to go to war with them.
This show is also pretty loosey-goosey with the timeline. It starts out in the midst of Henry VIII’s reign. Events in the show don’t line up the way they really happened. For example: Lady Blount on the show (the ladies-maid of Catherine of Aragon who gets pregnant by Henry) was a real person. She would give birth to Henry’s child on June 15, 1519. Henry and Catherine of Aragon would get married in 1509, and their daughter Mary was born in 1516. And the summit that Wolsey puts together happens in 1520. So you can see that the writers of the show took events that happened years apart and put them closer together in time.
A lot of people were introduced this episode, all of them important to the story they’re trying to tell. But two people that I think are very important to this story aren’t really given a proper introduction, they’re just in the episode. They’re Henry’s BFF Charles Brandon, and (at this point in the story) Henry’s secretary and personal advisor Thomas More. Keep an eye on those two, we’ll be hearing much more from and about them in future episodes!
I also wanted to say that I think they did a good job setting Henry’s character up: this episode shows him to be head-strong, capricious, and vain. Everyone around Henry kind of tip-toes around trying to make sure he doesn’t get upset.
However, this show makes it seem as though he was sleeping with women left-and-right. To be clear, yes, Henry did have affairs. However, historians seem to agree that Henry was … pretty low-key about that? My understanding is that the real Henry didn’t just sleep with women indiscriminately like the Henry of The Tudors, but would usually have one mistress at a time and stick with her. Please don’t misunderstand me: I’m not trying to stick up for Henry VIII by saying that. I’m just trying to put him into context: for a King of that time, he was downright chaste. All of that just to say that yes Henry was gross in the way he treated women, but he also wasn’t the ladies' man that this show makes him out to be. When I imagine Henry, I can’t help but picture him tipping his fedora as he says ‘m'lady’. I get that it wouldn’t be very Hollywood to depict Henry this way, but I can’t help it.
The next episode of The Tudors is called ‘Simply Henry’. We’ll see the summit with France that they talked about in this episode! It’s something that really happened, it’s known as The Field of Cloth of Gold, and it was something! (I’ll be getting into it next time!) Also: more young Princess Mary … Anne Boleyn shows up at Henry’s court … and so much more!
Let’s talk about The Tudors!
Here are some questions to get us started on our conversation about The Tudors!
What did you think of the first episode of The Tudors?
Does the show depicting an alternate version of history at times affect your enjoyment or understanding of the show?
What do you think of the dynamics between Henry VIII and his courtiers?
How does this episode set up the plotlines for the series?
Are there any hints or foreshadowing for what’s coming up?
How many squares of the BINGO card did you fill??!
All pictures are courtesy of IMDB, except the Tudor Rose, which is courtesy of tudornation.com
I'm excited to hear what you all think of the first episode of the show!
Also ... looking at my BINGO card, I see quite a few squares that could be filled already! 👀👀👀