The Tudor Chest Podcast

Perhaps naively, or maybe through blissful ignorance, many take it for granted that English expansion into the Americas during the 16th century ensured that a great deal of English culture then influenced how the Americas developed, but what if this idea were flipped? When one digs deep, is there plenty of evidence to suggest that in fact, the Americas also changed England in return, from changes...

Hello, it’s Adam here from the Tudor Chest. This weeks episode is going to be a bit different, as this week, prepare to get to know me a bit better as I discuss my life, my love of history and of course, some of my opinions......

Easily one of the most fascinating and complex relationships in Tudor history is that between the daughters of King Henry VIII, Mary and Elizabeth. Bound by blood yet divided by religion, politics, and circumstance, the two half-sisters navigated rivalry, suspicion, and survival in a turbulent age. To discuss their relationship with me, I am pleased to welcome back historian Dr Peter Stiffell, who...

Today, I'm delighted to be joined by one of Britain's most acclaimed historians, indeed I would say she’s my biggest guest yet, Professor Kate Williams. A bestselling author, broadcaster, and expert on royal history, Kate has spent years bringing the lives of monarchs to vivid life for readers and audiences alike. Her latest book, Regina, A New History of Women and Power takes us on a fascinating...

She was a queen, a political player, and one of the most controversial women of the Wars of the Roses. Admired by some and mistrusted by others, Elizabeth Woodville became a central figure in a royal dynasty marked by ambition, intrigue, and conflict. Her story touches on questions of power, family, survival, and the enduring mystery surrounding the Princes in the Tower. To help me untangle the my...

From the chaos of the Norman Conquest to the power struggles of the Plantagenets, the princesses of medieval England lived lives shaped by politics, ambition, and survival. In this episode, I am pleased to welcome historian Sharon Bennett Connolly onto the podcast for the first time, as we explore the women born into royal households between 1066 and the reign of King John: daughters promised in m...

Anne Boleyn's final moments on the scaffold have been portrayed countless times, but do any of these depictions actually show the execution in an accurate light? Do any get it completely right, and which are way off the mark? Is the actress playing Anne wearing the clothing described in the contemporary sources, does the speech from the scaffold match what we know she said? Is the manner of death...

Tudor artefacts are sadly very rare, which is why new discoveries are always so exciting! Recently, a chair came to light which very likely belonged, or more accurately, was created for, Anne Boleyn. Historian Sandra Vasoli has been really involved in the discovery of this chair, working alongside Paul Fitzsimmons to piece together its story. Sandi joins me today to discuss what they have discover...

A sketch of a woman, erroneously identified as Amalia of Cleves, could, according to todays guests, actually be a contemporary sketch of Anne Boleyn, while another sketch, long believed to be Anne, may in fact be another Boleyn altogether. Historian Karen L Davies and Professor Hassan Ugail of Bradford University have co-authored a paper which applies technology to helping identify these sitters,...

Robert Cecil, the younger but highly prodigious son of William Cecil, chief advisor to Elizabeth I, was one of the most complex but intriguing figures of the late 16th and early 17th century. Bookish, awkward and at times rather cold, he was nonetheless a supremely skilled politician who would play a huge role in the succession from the world of the Tudors to the Stuarts. To discuss Robert Cecil w...

I think we’d all love for Anne Boleyn to have been given the chance to get her revenge on King Henry VIII, which is why I was really excited to read The Beheading Game, the delightfully bonkers new piece of historical fiction in which Anne Boleyn wakes up in that famous arrow chest, her head resting at her waist. What follows is a journey in which Anne manages to reattach her head, before going ou...

She is known around the world as the Other Boleyn Girl, but what do we really know about the sister of Anne Boleyn? Characterised as either a dull, less educated version of Anne or a whore who slept her way through much of the French court, in reality what we do know of Mary’s story paints an entirely different woman. To discuss her with me, I am pleased to welcome back historian Sylvia Barbara So...

For centuries, Anne Boleyn has been cast, in certain quarters, as a power hungry manipulator who schemed to become queen of England. The story, when one digs a bit deeper, is far more complex. In truth, Anne Boleyn was a queen who used her power and influence to shape the English reformation and transform Europe’s political and religious landscape. To discuss all of this with me, I am pleased to w...

Sir Thomas More is one of the most famous men of the 16th century. A figure of colossal significance at the court of King Henry VIII, a figure who stood up to the king, always remaining loyal but unable to accept the royal supremacy, a decision which would cost him his life. Today, I am pleased to welcome back onto the podcast historian Dr Joanne Paul for a discussion on Thomas More, following the...

A brand new exhibition, Capturing a Queen: The Image of Anne Boleyn, was unveiled at Hever Castle, the childhood home of Anne Boleyn opened a few weeks ago, and rather than presenting a single “definitive” portrait, it showcases dozens of competing images—some painted decades after Anne’s death—each shaped by politics, propaganda, and cultural memory. To discuss the exhibition with me today, I am...

It is undoubtedly the biggest royal mystery of all time - the whereabouts of the two missing princes in the tower, or to be more accurate, the missing king and prince in the tower. The two teenage boys who vanished during the reign of King Richard III, or did they? Well to discuss this story, I am beyond thrilled to welcome historian and broadcaster Matt Lewis onto the podcast for the very first t...

The Tudors were prolific builders, from grand palaces such as Hampton Court Palace and Greenwich to imposing castles, small townhouses and narrow cobbled streets with black and white timber structures jutting out at odd angles. Sadly, many of the great sites of Tudor England are now either greatly reduced or completely lost, but what happened in them is not. Today, I am pleased to welcome back ont...

One of the most fascinating but perpetually overlooked figures from the world of the Tudors is Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox. As the sole daughter of Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scotland, Margaret Douglas was a niece of King Henry VIII and first cousin to his three children. Her life was spent in the shadows of the Tudor world, and she found herself getting on the wrong side of her relatives o...

Mary, Queen of Scots is one of the most famous women in British history, known best for the dramatic nature of her execution at the hands of her cousin Queen Elizabeth I. What is less well known is the story behind Mary’s nearly twenty year imprisonment, during which time she was moved all over England, in increasingly worse conditions. To discuss this window of Mary’s life and all of the complexi...

She is known, thanks to Shakespeare as the “She Wolf” of France, an evil queen who bullied the men around her, personally authorised the execution of the duke of York and laughed as a paper crown was nailed to his head. I am speaking of Margaret of Anjou, the wife and queen of King Henry VI. The question is, was Margaret in any way like the infamous caricature Shakespeare created? Well to help ans...

Sir Thomas Wyatt was more than a courtier with a gift for words. He was a man whose life unfolded against the turbulent backdrop of Henry VIII’s reign — a world of shifting alliances, dangerous intrigue, and sudden reversals of fortune. Though best remembered today for introducing the sonnet into English literature, Wyatt was also a diplomat, a one time prisoner of the Tower of London, and a figur...

Queen Mary I is England’s first true queen regnant, and yet her reign is invariably considered a mere blip in the wider Tudor story, a short lived window in which an intolerant zealot went around burning people alive with undiluted pleasure. The truth is, of course, far more complex. Many misconceptions surround Queen Mary I, and so to unpack them I am pleased to welcome back Dr Peter Stiffell ont...

Given the brevity of her time as queen of England, we often overlook the fact that Anne of Cleves was indeed that, a queen, and thus her tenure came with all of the benefits, mores and facets of queenship just as much as it did for the many other queens of Henry VIII. We seldom explore what kind of queen she was, how did she spend her money, was she a good landlady, was she a good queen?! Well to...

The Tudors are perhaps our most famous royal dynasty, everyone knows that Henry VIII had six wives and that he had two of them made a head shorter, we all know Lizzie the first loved fashion and spent loads, or did she, was it in fact another queen for whom the term shopaholic would apply? Today, I am pleased to welcome back historian Elizabeth Goff onto the podcast for a discussion based around h...

In this, the first episode of the year I am pleased to be welcoming Craig Lightoller onto the podcast for the first time. Craig is a historical re-enactor and a playwright. He is here today to speak about his upcoming play, The Falcon’s Last Flight, in which Craig will play King Henry VIII. This play dares to ask the question, what would a conversation between Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn on the eve...