Season synopsis
Contains spoilers for this season and earlier seasons.
After an English ambassador is murdered in Italy, Henry prepares to make war on France, but Cardinal Wolsey quietly pursues a wider peace. The English and French kings meet at the Field of Cloth of Gold, while Elizabeth Blount gives birth to Henry’s illegitimate son and sharpens the king’s concern for a male heir. Anne Boleyn returns from the French court and catches Henry’s eye. When he offers to make her his mistress, she refuses and presses for marriage, turning his desire into a fight over Catherine of Aragon’s place at court.
Henry’s alliances shift as he tries to win support from Emperor Charles V and France, while a food shortage and sweating sickness shake his confidence at home. Wolsey continues to negotiate for the king and becomes vulnerable to court rivals as his plans fail to deliver the political outcomes Henry wants. A papal envoy, Cardinal Campeggio, finally arrives to hear the king’s case. The hearing ends without the verdict Henry seeks; Catherine rejects the process and leaves court, and Wolsey’s influence collapses. Thomas More replaces him as chancellor, while Anne’s family gains posts and access around the king.
By the finale Wolsey has been sent to York, stripped of his authority and living without the court’s former comforts. He tries to restore his standing by aligning with Catherine, but the king’s new advisers uncover the plan. Arrested for treason, Wolsey is taken to prison. Alone in his cell, he prays before a crucifix, tests a knife on an apple and kills himself. Henry receives the news while practicing archery, conceals his grief in public and speaks privately with Cromwell. The season then closes on Henry and Anne becoming intimate in the woods.