Tudors 4x01

The fourth and final season of The Tudors began this week. Jane Seymour died after giving King Henry VIII his much desired male heir. So he soon found himself another wife, Anne of Cleves, but thought her disagreeable, and so took up a mistress, Catherine Howard (first cousin of the king’s second wife Anne Boleyn). As soon as his never-consummated marriage with Anne is annulled he marries this young lass. (Remember that she wasn’t even 20 years old, while Henry was nearing 50!) This lovely temptress laid herself abed on petals of red roses, like a sweet crumpet with strawberry jam, whispering if his majesty wouldn’t come to bed. This childish queen frolics mindlessly around the palace, giggling and cackling, while the king develops a crazy giggle. With such a delicious piece of plump, buttery pastry dancing around court soon others crave to taste a little crumb – particularly that young royal servant Thomas Culpeper (honestly, that’s a real name), who goes about raping and killing to quench his thirst, as he puts it. Then there’s Catherine’s past about which she is very secretive (i.e., her affairs at the licentious Lambeth House, “puffing and blowing in the dark”) – the only real education she seemed to have received. Meanwhile, war with France is once more looming on the horizon. A nice start of the concluding part of King Henry’s reign, though not particularly gripping.