Fibs for a king

Lucy Worsley on why people loved making myths about Tudor icons Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn…

- TESS LAMACRAFT

Was Anne Boleyn really the scheming seductress she’s often portrayed as? And what lies did King Henry VIII cook up to suit his own needs? Most of us remember our history lessons at school learning facts, figures and fantastical stories about the Tudor period. But if you delve a little deeper the truth is far more complicated, as Lucy Worsley explains in BBC4’s Royal History’s Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley, which returns for a second series this week.

‘History is made up of a chorus of voices. Each one of them shouting out its own version of the story and very often it’s the loudest voices that get heard most clearly,’ says Lucy, 46, who, here, tells us more…

You begin with the Reformation, King Henry VIII and his relationship with Anne Boleyn. Tell us about that…