Cromwell’s gambit — the marriage of Henry VIII to Anne of Cleves — takes centre stage in this week’s Wolf Hall. Will this calculated union solidify Cromwell’s position, or will it be the misstep that topples him? Given Henry’s track record, the smart money’s probably on the latter. Let’s face it, the man goes through wives like Spinal Tap goes through drummers.
The fifth installment focuses on the delicate dance of diplomacy and deception surrounding Anne’s arrival. Cromwell, ever the pragmatist, views the marriage as a key strategic alliance, a move to bolster England’s Protestant standing and further distance the nation from Rome. But arranging a marriage for a king as capricious as Henry is a high-wire act, and the potential consequences of failure are considerable.
Beyond the political machinations, the episode also offers a glimpse into the human cost of such power plays. Anne of Cleves, a pawn in this grand game, enters a court rife with intrigue and uncertainty. Her fate, and Cromwell’s, hangs precariously in the balance, dependent on the whims of a notoriously fickle monarch.
With Mark Rylance’s consistently superb portrayal of the ever-calculating Cromwell, Damian Lewis as the volatile Henry VIII, and Timothy Spall as the scheming Duke of Norfolk, the performances promise to be as sharp as the dialogue. Director Peter Kosminsky, working from a script by Peter Straughan, brings this pivotal chapter of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall novels to life with no small measure of historical weight and visual richness.
Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light airs Sundays at 9/8c on BBC One.
