Intrigue

King Henry VIII of England discards one wife, Catharine of Aragon, who has failed to produce a male heir, in favor of the young and beautiful Anne Boleyn.

King Henry VIII (Richard Burton) of England discards one wife, Catharine of Aragon (Irene Papas), who has failed to produce a male heir, in favor of a young and beautiful woman, Anne Boleyn (Geneviève Bujold), whose one-thousand-day reign as Queen of England ends with the loss of her head on the block. Henry weds Anne and soon she gives him a child. The girl, Elizabeth (Amanda Jane Smythe), is a bitter disappointment to Henry, who desperately wants an heir. Anne promises Henry a son "next time", but Henry is doubtful. Shortly thereafter, rumors begin that the King's eye has already wandered. One Jane Seymour (Lesley Paterson) is at court for a moment. The Queen has her sent away, but, if Anne will bring Jane back to court, the King promises to sign the Act of Succession to insure that Elizabeth will be Queen.—alfiehitchie

King Henry VIII (Richard Burton) of England is contemplating what to do about his nearly one thousand day union to his second wife, Anne Boleyn (Geneviève Bujold). The marriage has been controversial in that he, a devoutly religious man, had to break ties with the Catholic church in Rome so that he could divorce his first wife, Catherine of Aragon (Irene Papas), whom he married for political reasons. As such, many of his subjects consider his marriage to Anne as being not valid, and Anne a whore. The marriage to Anne has also been tempestuous as Anne wanted to marry the young Lord Percy (Terence Wilton), with whom she was in love. But Anne eventually learned to love the power that being Queen of England would bring, a position which was fostered by her family, who could only see the benefit of such a union. The King's current contemplation of what to do stems from what he sees as Anne not fulfilling her end of the marriage in not producing a viable male heir to become the next King of England, she only bearing a daughter, Elizabeth (Amanda Jane Smythe), and a stillborn son. He sees Jane Seymour (Lesley Paterson), one of Anne's ladies-in-waiting, as being a potential Queen in her place. As much as Henry will do whatever in his power to get that desired male heir (his union to Catherine also produced only a daughter), Anne, who Henry professes to love, will do anything to ensure what she considers her and Elizabeth's rightful place within the monarchy.—Huggo

Based on the Broadway play by Maxwell Anderson, "Anne of the Thousand Days" is a sympathetic account of the rise and fall of the beautiful and ambitious Anne Boleyn who becomes the second wife of the tyrannical King Henry VIII. Engaged to another man, Anne attempts to avoid the king's attention and refuses to become his mistress, but her betrothal is broken-off by Henry's corrupt but brilliant chief minister. Vowing vengeance, Anne returns to the court, where Henry eventually proposes marriage and promises to divorce his aging Spanish wife. Anne accepts and soon becomes the most powerful and wealthiest woman in the country, rewarding her allies and punishing her enemies. After some years, she and Henry finally marry, but her world slowly begins to collapse when she fails to give birth to the son her husband so desperately wants and he openly flaunts his mistresses in her face. Anne's enemies move against her, concocting a sensational set of lies to destroy her and they triumph in a brutally unfair show-trial which ends Anne's thousand-day reign as queen of England.