may we come in?
look at you! younger than me. more beautiful than me. married before me. i am eclipsed. i am just the `other boleyn girl.'
who is that? he was staring at me in church?
betrothed is not married, brother george. a lot can happen before you reach the altar.
you asked to see me father?
yes. but father took me aside. it seems he has ambitions for me, too.
it's known the king has a wandering eye. imagine. if he were to like me?
but as the king's mistress the least i'd get after he finished with me would be an earl. and if i fell pregnant? and gave him what his wife has failed to? a beat) quite apart from the money, it'd be a duke at least.
i could be a happy duchess.
are you nervous?
you'll tell me everything in the morning?
no details spared?
there he is!
you think he will like me?
your majesty.
here is the library.
and through here, the observatory.
falcon, your grace.
i have no idea. ask my father. a beat) perhaps because falcons are vaguely associative with field sports - field sports with aristocracy - and in the absence of a genuine coat of arms.  . a man with ambition will do the strangest things.
oh, his majesty has nothing to fear from me. unless he fears an excess of compliments.
me, my lord? clears throat) i know little of such matters, but i've not heard mention of our armies. undefeated, i believe, in a generation.
or our navy? the finest in the world.
the universities in spain and the philosophers in germany may be strong, but are they really the equal of oxford and thomas more?
i doubt there is a country that is fairer in government, or better protected by nature from her enemies, whose people are happier or more prosperous.
good morning, your grace.
on my own your grace.
they have invented a new saddle which allows ladies to ride on their own.
why? the same way you hold onto yours, your grace.
hah!
hah!
what?!?
what for? you think i want the king? or to be used and abused by him? no! you're welcome to him. i have my own plans, which don't involve becoming a rag that will one day be discarded.
no.
no one.
but you cannot undo what has been done before god. and consummated too.
i have lain with my husband. there is nothing improper about it.
ou told them, didn't you? a beat) how could you?
really? for my good? i'll try to remind myself of that. while i'm in exile. and you're here, in the king's bed, and unchallenged for our father's affection. a beat) that it was for my good. not yours.
i was just giving my thoughts on the new french king.
that for someone with such great wealth, and power. he has surprisingly little authority as a man.
and is so consumed by one particular rivalry he can barely think.
a neighbouring king, who's name one is forbidden to mention at court. whose reputation haunts him in his thoughts and dreams.
whose armies and navy thwart his every endeavour. whose physical and intellectual endowments are known far and wide.
in order to restore his confidence, this french king spends a fortune on anything that glitters, on building of castles with large towers.
but these symbols of wealth and virility fail to convince. talk among the ladies at court in france suggests.
that in this department too, the king has his shortcomings.
open it.
i said `open it.'
now close it again. and send it back.
your grace?
yes.
on the contrary, my lord. they pleased me greatly.
ecause my sister lies in bed with your child. if you wish to please me, sir, then send her the gifts you send me.
beg you, my lord, do not do this. what has changed so?
but mary is still the mother of your child. and even if she weren't.
how could i forget that you chose her above me when we first met? you liked her better.
either way, i could never betray my own sister.
perhaps. but since it can never come to anything.
your grace, this is not the time.
but how could i ever trust you?
when i have seen how you have betrayed first your wife. and now my sister.
then don't acknowledge the child.
what my sister has given you, i could, too.
very well.
or what. uncle?
mary should go back to her husband.
she has been inconvenienced long enough by this family.
i understand you're angry - but be assured. i did nothing, except remind him of you.
well, hasn't it?
never. i'll make sure he understands i'm a greater thing by far. that he can never have me until he makes me a far greater offer.
that's not what i mean.
and don't you ever mention his name to me again. i'll never forget how you betrayed me.
i did, sister. every day for three years.
as what?
but it's not true. you are loyal to the queen above all others.
but she sits on a throne beside you. accompanies you to every state function.
still, she is your wife. and ever present. and i feel her eyes on me. and those of her spies.
and look at us. forever reduced to meeting in secret like this. speaking in whispers. a beat) hardly conducive to passion?
i'd like to. but i'm afraid i find the insult too much to bear.
because as long as we remain unmarried, any child i gave you would forever be daubed `bastard' and i a `whore'.
katherine of aragon is alive. that woman is not worthy of the title `queen'.
i really do not know why we waste time talking of convents when you could annul the marriage.
that woman married two brothers and therefore sinned against god.
they were married six months.
and katherine is a shrewd woman who knew that her position as queen would never be safe until she bedded your brother. talk to your advisers. they will tell you as much.
but that's wonderful.
why do you look sad?
es. but any court made up of your bishops will surely find in your favour. and declare the marriage invalid.
hen you, my sweet lord, will be free to remarry. then i can give myself to you fully. kissing him lower, lower) and give you everything you.  . desire.
then what troubles you?
why? you have justice on your side.
who?
i must go to the king.
mary?
uch beautiful hair.
thank you for coming.
i hate how this matter has come between us. i wanted to come to see you after your daughter was born, and again when your husband died, but.
i'm frightened, mary. what have i done?
and?
i am forever in your debt.
hen let it be exactly that. a new start between us. here at court.
what? that damp old ruin? with no food? or warmth? a beat) why don't you let your family look after you? your children would have the best of everything here. they would grow up safe and secure.
yes, it is. stay with me, please? i need my sister by me side.
the crowds have no vote. a beat) and the bishops that do are in wolsey's pocket.
you failed to give england an heir.
what upsets the king upsets me.
wolsey promised the king his verdict. instead he has humiliated him.
yes. but without the pope's blessing, the result will seem hollow. a frustrated gesture) if only the king would take matters into his own hands.
but the alternative is leaving this country without an heir. failing in his duty as a king. and risking civil war.
go, on.
i thought i had made myself clear. until we are married, there is no questi.
stop, you are hurting me!
how was he with you? as a lover?
no reason.
did you hear? on the way to the church? they were calling me a witch.
but what if it doesn't? what if they hate me forever?
how much the king loves me?
what? no! i need you here more than ever. besides, as the queen's sister, you can't live alone out there like some gypsy. we need to make you a proper match.
what about the duke of suffolk?
all the ladies at court are mad for him. or lord fardingly. indicates an old courtier, in his 60's) marry him and you'd own half scotland.
god, i look hideous.
little nips and stabs.
but if it isn't? the king will take that as evidence of god's displeasure. and will turn further against me. he's already become so cold.
they say you can tell by the shape of the stomach. mary, what do you say? boy or girl?
what's the matter with her?
you've been like this for days.
mooning. you're not in love, are you?
and?
a girl?
who is it?
yesterday it was the wife of the french ambassador. the day before with the countess of salisbury. how could he do that to me? so soon?
now i know how it must have been for you.
you can't ignore me like this. i am your wife! why don't you just admit it!
liar! i can smell the whore on you! get away from me! you disgust me!
i struck him today. what am i doing? i am destroying this all on my own.
i can't sleep at night! and without sleep i cannot think!
nd it's getting more and more difficult to arouse him. some nights he cannot do it. at all. i have to resort to ever more disgusting. then he hates himself in the morning. hates me even more for what i made him do.
it's slipping away, mary. i can feel it.
i'm fine, thank you. just a bad dream.
but fetch my brother and sister, will you?
i lost it. almost without pain. and so fast it was over in a moment.
ou have to get rid of it. bury it. get rid of it somehow. no one must know.
it's not the first. miscarriage.
they will take it as proof that i cannot bear children. that i am cursed by god. and should be dispensed with.
he king would never lie with me now, and risk damaging the `child' he believes i'm carrying.  a beat) besides, he is barely capable anymore. and i couldn't go through that again.
no, if i am to survive. i have to take matters into my own hands.
i need a baby, mary. rolling eyes) must i spell it out?
of course.
obviously, it would have to be someone close. very close.
don't you see? this affects all of us. if i go down, so do all of you. the only way to save ourselves. is to do this.  and pray it's a boy.
mary, sit down.
george is staying. he understands this involves the whole family.
george, is staying!
mary! come back!
it is a sad day for england when the nobles do not rise for their queen.
charged is different to convicted, uncle. or is it not? in this court?
not guilty, my lord.
my noble lords. the love i have for my brother is the love any sister would have for someone with whom she has grown up in the same house, nursed when sick, played games as children, shared life's celebrations.
that is the love i have for him. not what you suggest.
how has it come to this?
they're letting the crowds in.
the king saw you?
we all made a mess of that, didn't we? we all underestimated little mary.
i don't think he ever stopped loving you.
it is. he never loved me in the same way. and deep down you know it.
you should have been queen. you even gave him a son. but instead all this has happened because.  because i couldn't bear to be the other boleyn girl.
and now look?
hold me.
you'll look after elizabeth?
he couldn't ask for a better moth.
i. i come here to die. a loyal subject.
i. i do not blame the king. never was there a more just or goodly lord.
i beg god's forgiveness and his mercy.