Royal Bastards: Rise Of The Tudors - Episode 3 - Richard III Vs Henry Tudor (History Documentary)
Royal Bastards: Rise of the Tudors is a three-part history docudrama that transports us back to a tumultuous, violent time of civil wars, usurped kings, intrigues and plots. This is the story of the Wars of the Roses and the origins of the Tudor dynasty.
The final period of turbulent conflict and the story of the infamous King Richard III. In April of 1483, Edward IV dies unexpectedly and the future of England is once again thrown up in the air. Edward IV’s son and heir Edward V should be crowned king but the prince’s uncle, the dead king’s youngest brother Richard III, takes control and takes the throne. This episode details Richard III’s power grab, learning about those who joined forces to rebel against his reign. Margaret Beaufort comes into focus as a seasoned political operator, playing a leading role in the uprising against Richard III, ultimately securing a valuable marriage for her son Henry Tudor, and laying the foundations for his successful invasion and victory over Richard III at the battle of Bosworth.
The final period of turbulent conflict and the story of the infamous King Richard III. In April of 1483, Edward IV dies unexpectedly and the future of England is once again thrown up in the air. Edward IV’s son and heir Edward V should be crowned king but the prince’s uncle, the dead king’s youngest brother Richard III, takes control and takes the throne. This episode details Richard III’s power grab, learning about those who joined forces to rebel against his reign. Margaret Beaufort comes into focus as a seasoned political operator, playing a leading role in the uprising against Richard III, ultimately securing a valuable marriage for her son Henry Tudor, and laying the foundations for his successful invasion and victory over Richard III at the battle of Bosworth.
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TVTranscript
00:00Henry. Henry, wake up, boy.
00:16Word from your mother. What does it say?
00:21Run.
00:27Henry Tudor is the most wanted man in England.
00:34This 27-year-old Welsh exile is about to make a claim for the English throne.
00:44And it's all thanks to his mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort,
00:48who is rising from the Wars of the Roses to become one of the greatest political players
00:55of the 15th century.
01:26Well, it's been a bad decade for the Lancastrians.
01:43King Henry VI, murdered. Queen Margaret of Anjou, dead in exile.
01:48Their only son, the heir, killed in battle at 17.
01:52The Lancastrian line is all but gone.
01:56And those that remain must ally with the Yorkists to survive.
02:10Thomas.
02:14It was a nightmare.
02:18I was being chased.
02:20Chased by this huge bull.
02:23We're not afraid of dreams, are we?
02:35Margaret Beaufort is now 40.
02:37She's married to her third husband, the Yorkist lord, Thomas Stanley,
02:42one of England's richest, most powerful men.
02:49Her son, Henry Tudor, is in France,
02:53where for 12 years he's been in hiding from his Yorkist enemies.
02:57So she's used her position at court to work on the king.
03:03Margaret has this, a draft pardon,
03:06allowing her son Henry to return home a free man.
03:11Her problem, though, is that the king has just died without signing it.
03:19So Margaret needs the signature of the new king,
03:22Edward IV's eldest son and heir, Edward V.
03:29But at 12 years old, Edward is too young to rule on his own.
03:34So Margaret needs the approval of the man who will rule in the king's name.
03:39Long live King Edward V.
03:43Meet Richard, Duke of Gloucester.
03:49He's aggressive and courageous.
03:53And he's been leading men into battle for the Yorkist cause since he was 18.
03:59As the only surviving brother of Edward IV,
04:03Richard is the most senior adult male in the Yorkist line.
04:07So the late king appointed Richard,
04:11So the late king appointed Richard to act as Lord Protector
04:14and rule on behalf of the young heir until he comes of age.
04:21Richard loved his brother,
04:23and he's devoted to doing his duty as Lord Protector.
04:32Now, Richard claims he's 100% loyal to his brother and to the new king.
04:39But what he does next is terrifying.
04:44My lord, mercy. Mercy, my lord.
04:51He arrests the family of the new king's mother, the Woodvilles,
04:55and has them killed.
04:58Look, it's ugly, but this is perfectly legitimate.
05:02Richard has solid intelligence that the Queen's family,
05:06these Woodville men, were involved in a conspiracy to kill him
05:10and take the protectorship for themselves
05:13so that they would have control of the young king.
05:16I mean, Richard is just doing his duty.
05:21Doing his duty? Is that what he calls it?
05:25It looks more like a power grab.
05:27Richard is obviously using his role as protector
05:30to take out anyone with influence over the young king.
05:34He's making people nervous.
05:40I know he has the power, but these are the Woodvilles.
05:44It's the Queen's family.
05:46I'm telling you, it's a coup.
05:48If the Woodvilles were sharper, they would have done it first.
05:55Richard's emblem is the boar.
05:57It's going to be the death of us.
05:59I dreamt it.
06:00Don't worry, Miss Thomas.
06:02We're awake. Our eyes should be open.
06:04Richard needs allies now. He needs you.
06:10The pieces have changed, but the game is the same.
06:12I have a pardon for my son. I need the king's signature.
06:15And you need to prove to Richard you're a useful man.
06:22This isn't about protecting England or the new king.
06:25Richard clearly wants more than that.
06:29The momentum is with him.
06:35Whatever Richard is planning,
06:37Margaret wants to make sure she and Stanley are on the right side.
06:45And it's now that Richard calls Stanley
06:47to a meeting of the Privy Council,
06:49England's most powerful men and the king's top advisers.
06:59Try and be calm now. Two weeks is all that we...
07:11Thank you all for coming.
07:16I know these are strange and troubling times.
07:20The king's death was a tragedy and shock to us all.
07:25And I know I'm not well liked.
07:27Oh, my lord, I wouldn't...
07:28I hear the whispers.
07:29And I'm sure I wouldn't have been first choice
07:31for any of you as Lord Protector.
07:35But Lord Protector I am,
07:36and as such is my duty to ensure the welfare of the child.
07:42Is that not so?
07:44Of course, my lord.
07:46Edward is noble but young.
07:50And he has had bad predatory counsel.
07:52As you know, I was able to avert a coup by the queen's family.
08:00For now, at least.
08:03The boy is safe.
08:06But there is little a simple soldier like me
08:09can do against sorcery.
08:13My lord, what are you saying?
08:15The queen, my brother's wife,
08:19will contend with ending his life
08:21by foul magic to stand her attentions on me.
08:25My lord, if the queen...
08:26If.
08:27Do you doubt me, Stanley?
08:31Should we wait until I am already dead and the young king damned?
08:36My lord, no one here wishes you ill.
08:38Yeah, that is a lie.
08:40My lord, we are all loyal to the crown.
08:44And we are all loyal to the king.
08:47To the crown.
08:49To England.
08:50But not to me!
09:08OK.
09:09It's time to come clean.
09:11Richard has realised that the Yorkist line
09:14is safe in the hands of a child king.
09:18To do his duty,
09:19Richard is going to have to take the throne for himself.
09:25Richard watched his father, the Duke of York,
09:27die fighting for the crown.
09:29And he fought alongside his brother, Edward, to keep it.
09:33Richard is the last defender of the Yorkist line left.
09:37He's not about to lose it now.
09:44And so, Richard illegally executes
09:47one of England's most important noblemen,
09:50the late King's Chamberlain, William Hastings.
09:55Sending a clear message to anyone who would stand in his way.
10:02The King's Chamberlain, William Hastings,
10:05is the last defender of the Yorkist line.
10:08Sending a clear message to anyone who would stand in his way.
10:18This is gangster politics.
10:20Richard has illegally executed a privy councillor.
10:23Even by medieval standards, this is shocking.
10:26Richard has crossed a line.
10:28But if Margaret plays this right, it may offer an opportunity.
10:38Yeah.
10:40I told you.
10:42I dreamt this.
10:44This is our new king, is it?
10:46A fucking snake who kidnaps his own kin.
10:49Arrests.
10:51Executions without trial.
10:53I'm sorry for Hastings.
10:55But this strengthens our hand.
10:57What, are you mad?
10:58Richard's paranoid.
11:00That means his position's weak and he knows it.
11:03He needs you now more than ever.
11:07You're very confident.
11:09You didn't just watch a good man lose his head for nothing.
11:12And you weren't waiting in line to lose your own.
11:15If he could afford to kill you, your head would have rolled with Hastings.
11:19Instead, he knows you must make amends.
11:25And we'll ask a high price for it.
11:37By June 1483,
11:40Richard of Gloucester has declared himself King of England.
11:46All he needs now is for Parliament and the Church
11:49to agree that his rule is legal and ordained by God.
11:57Richard's problem is that England already has a king.
12:01Edward V, who was in the Tower of London with his younger brother.
12:06Children who are known to all as the Two Princes.
12:15And so, in an attempt to justify why he should be king
12:19and to try to win over the nobility in the public,
12:22Richard publishes an utterly shameless medieval press release
12:26called the Titulus Regis.
12:36This is political dynamite.
12:38Richard has done some research
12:40and it turns out that the young heir, Edward V,
12:44doesn't have any royal blood.
12:46So he can't be king.
12:48Why? Because he's a bastard.
12:51And so too was his father, Edward IV,
12:54the illegitimate result of his mother's adultery.
12:58Now, of course, this is all a lie,
13:00but everyone goes along with it
13:02because they're scared of losing their heads.
13:09And so Parliament and the Church
13:11approve Richard's claim to the throne
13:14and he begins to plan his coronation.
13:20And throughout, Margaret and her husband,
13:23Stanley, stay close to Richard,
13:25playing the loyal subjects.
13:29And now the moment arrives
13:31that Margaret has been waiting for.
13:33Stanley is summoned.
13:38Lady Stanley, welcome.
13:40Your Grace.
13:42My Lord Stanley,
13:44I wish to apologise for the wound you have sustained.
13:47There was never in any of my life
13:50I wish to apologise for the wound you have sustained.
13:53There was never in any intention on my part to see you harmed.
13:58Nobody wants more violence.
14:00I wish to continue the strong and steady reign
14:02of my late brother, for which I understand
14:04your counsel was instrumental.
14:06I was honoured to have served, Your Majesty.
14:09And so I hope you will be honoured again
14:11to serve me as my steward.
14:13I should like you by my side in all matters.
14:16I hope I might prove worthy of the place, Your Highness.
14:22Just as Margaret had thought,
14:24Richard needs Stanley as an ally.
14:26And with this leverage,
14:28Margaret is finally in a position
14:30to ask the biggest question of her life.
14:38Might I ask after one further matter, Your Grace?
14:42Of course.
14:44Your late brother, God rest his soul,
14:46had, before his death, drafted a pardon
14:48for my son, Henry.
14:50As the new king, the document falls to you to sign
14:52if you see fit.
14:54I'm sure he would serve you valiantly
14:56as he would have done your brother.
14:58Ah, yes. Henry Tudor.
15:02I shall look into the matter.
15:14This is the moment Margaret realises
15:17that for Richard, Henry Tudor
15:20is just another threat to his power
15:22who will need to be eliminated.
15:29There will be no royal pardon.
15:32Her son can never return home
15:34whilst Richard is on the throne.
15:38Just like that,
15:40everything Margaret has worked for is gone.
15:44And it's now
15:46that she makes a decision
15:48that will change the course of British history.
15:54Fuck politics.
15:56Margaret Beaufort is going to overthrow a king.
16:14On July 6th, 1483,
16:16Richard, Duke of Gloucester,
16:18is crowned King Richard III of England.
16:28And whilst Lord Stanley joins Richard
16:30on a tour of the country
16:32to drum up public support...
16:34Your Majesty.
16:36..behind Stanley's back,
16:38Margaret joins a plot
16:40to free the two princes
16:43and put Edward V on the throne.
16:49The plan is to set fires around London,
16:52creating chaos to distract Richard's troops.
16:55Then, in the confusion,
16:57armed men loyal to the two princes
16:59will storm the tower and release them.
17:03But the conspiracy has been exposed by Richard's spies.
17:07And as the plan gets underway,
17:09the conspirators are arrested and killed.
17:13MUSIC PLAYS
17:19But Margaret, at least for now, isn't suspected.
17:25But Richard knows that as long as the princes are around,
17:29then the plots to free them would keep coming.
17:32Iper Maiden was a brave and noble knight
17:36in love with the princess.
17:40But he was scorned.
17:42So Richard, who is himself the father to a young prince,
17:46decides to do something for which history will damn him.
17:50He showed his strength and courtesy.
17:54He fought monsters
17:56until no-one could deny his knightly power
18:00and all loved him,
18:02including the princess.
18:12MUSIC CONTINUES
18:19He gives the order for his two nephews to be killed.
18:28MUSIC CONTINUES
18:42MUSIC CONTINUES
18:50Richard has done the unthinkable.
18:57To the pious medieval mind, children are holy innocents
19:01and it's only tyrants like King Herod who kill them.
19:08For Margaret, it's especially repugnant
19:11because she's a mother
19:13and she'd watched the princes growing up at court.
19:16This feels personal.
19:22And with her part in the plot to free the princes yet to be discovered,
19:27Margaret realises that her child, Henry Tudor,
19:31now has the power to stop Richard.
19:37Stop fretting. No-one's accused me of playing any part in it.
19:40I know you, Margaret.
19:42I can see your handiwork even if Richard can't.
19:45You could have ruined us.
19:47Us? My lord?
19:49As if you'd fall on your sword to protect your scheming wife.
19:58The princes are dead, Margaret.
20:02Innocent children.
20:03He's a tyrant.
20:04And still you provoke him.
20:06No-one can deny his monstrosity now.
20:09And now the poor princes are dead.
20:11Who's closer to the throne than my Henry?
20:14He's given my son a claim.
20:19And if he can't be pardoned, he'll return with an army and be king himself.
20:24You're gonna get us both killed.
20:25No.
20:27After what he's done, more people will turn their backs on Richard now.
20:32He needs you now more than ever.
20:35As long as you remain by his side, we're untouchable.
20:39No.
20:48Margaret is all about the carefully calculated gamble.
20:51Whereas Stanley will never pick a side until he's sure he'll win.
20:55But even he can see that this has compromised Richard.
21:02For years, Margaret has dreamed of bringing Henry home.
21:05For the first time, Margaret realises that he could return as king.
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22:55By the autumn of 1483, England under the Yorkist King Richard III is in a state of political turmoil.
23:00And as noblemen begin to turn against Richard and flee England...
23:03By the autumn of 1483, England, under the Yorkist King Richard III, is in a state of
23:09political turmoil.
23:23And as noblemen begin to turn against Richard and flee England, the shattered remains of
23:30the House of Lancaster has finally found a reason to hope.
23:36His name is Henry Tudor.
23:38What do they want from me?
23:43A leader.
23:45To lead them where?
23:48I left England when I was fourteen.
23:51You're a Lancastrian.
23:53One of the last.
23:55That's what matters.
23:58Sorry lad, you were never destined to be a nobody.
24:01Your blood calls you out.
24:06Do you think they'll accept me as their king?
24:12We'll make sure they do.
24:18Nobles from both royal houses are defecting to pledge money and men to Henry Tudor.
24:26All of this is being organised by his mother.
24:29But what's interesting is that Henry hardly knows Margaret.
24:33They haven't seen each other for fourteen years.
24:37Henry knows that he is only alive because of his mother.
24:41And that she's the only one who can get him home.
24:45But even Henry would admit that his claim to the throne is absolutely rubbish.
24:50You need to have a royal connection through your father's line.
24:54Richard has that, but Henry doesn't.
24:57His dad, Edmund Tudor, was a minor Welsh noble.
25:01Henry's royal blood comes through his mother, Margaret.
25:06Henry also knows that there are about fifteen other candidates with a stronger claim to the English throne than his.
25:13Even the King of Portugal has a better chance.
25:24And so what Margaret needs to do now is strengthen Henry's claim.
25:29And the way to do that is win over the Yorkists.
25:33So Margaret plots a royal marriage.
25:43This is Queen Elizabeth, wife of the dead Edward IV, and mother to the murdered princes in the Tower.
25:51She and her surviving children are hiding in the sanctuary of Westminster Abbey where Richard can't get them.
25:58Officially, this doctor has come to treat the Queen for her grief.
26:03But really, he's come with a proposition from Margaret Beaufort.
26:07This is the deal that Margaret offers the Queen.
26:11Her eldest daughter's hand in marriage for revenge.
26:17You see, if Elizabeth of York were to marry Henry Tudor,
26:22then the York and Lancaster houses would unite to overthrow the man responsible for her son's deaths.
26:36And so now, Margaret is in business with a Queen.
26:40And whilst the Queen rallies thousands of Yorkist supporters loyal to her late husband,
26:45Margaret puts together a network of Lancastrian resistance.
26:50Spend it on strong, loyal men, but do it quietly.
27:00Learn this message by heart. Take it to Henry. Don't carry it on you.
27:06She recruits local sheriff officers. Think of them as medieval law enforcement.
27:12She makes alliances in London's mercantile community.
27:16Merchants with currency and ships who can raise money and transport messages to Henry and his growing army on the continent.
27:25Margaret has done what no man in her lifetime could.
27:29She has united Yorkists and Lancastrians behind a common cause,
27:33persuading them to come together to overthrow Richard.
27:37It's a political masterstroke.
27:43But if the rebellion is going to succeed, it's going to be a political one.
27:49And this is when Margaret reels in Richard's closest and most powerful political ally.
27:58The Duke of Buckingham. He's ambitious, narcissistic, and he's a man of his word.
28:04He's a man of his word.
28:06He's a man of his word.
28:08He's a man of his word.
28:10He's a man of his word.
28:12He's a man of his word.
28:14The Duke of Buckingham. He's ambitious, narcissistic, and he helped put Richard on the throne.
28:22Buckingham has thousands of armed men under his command.
28:27He also happens to have a better claim to the throne than Henry Tudor, a fact that Margaret intends to exploit.
28:40I know what you're up to.
28:41My lord, why have you come?
28:44Richard was Edward's greatest general, and his men are battle-hardened.
28:49You need me.
28:53Are you suggesting treason?
28:57England needs a new king.
29:00Fight. Fight. Fight.
29:07Buckingham thinks he should be king, and Margaret is very happy to let him think that she'll support his claim.
29:17And with Buckingham in her back pocket, Margaret plans a war.
29:22Henry and Jasper will land in England with a fleet of 15 ships and 5,000 men.
29:29While Queen Elizabeth will raise men in the south to join Buckingham's army travelling from Wales.
29:35These three armies will trap Richard's forces in a pincer move.
29:42It's a great plan, but Buckingham can't keep his mouth shut.
29:51Richard learns of Buckingham's betrayal, and he is livid.
29:55Why shouldn't he be? This is the man he trusted the most.
29:58The man who was supposed to protect him from treason.
30:04He writes a letter denouncing Buckingham as the most disloyal creature.
30:19Richard crushes the rebellion and executes Buckingham.
30:25Henry Tudor has to call off the invasion and turn his ships back to Brittany.
30:33But Richard has a suspicion that Buckingham was just the figurehead of the rebellion.
30:41Not its architect.
30:45So, to find out, Richard orders his spies to infiltrate the network of plotters.
30:51They follow messages and money all the way back to Margaret Beaufort.
31:12I know that you are good. I know that you see all.
31:21Is treason still a sin if the king is a tyrant?
31:30Make me worthy of my end and care for my son where I cannot.
31:37Let the bastards come.
31:50Wow. Margaret Beaufort. So she's the one behind the plot. A woman. Richard never saw this coming.
32:20So what's he going to do?
32:46Executing noble women isn't really the done thing.
32:49Until Henry VIII comes along. And he needs to keep Stanley on his side.
33:14Instead, he makes sure he hits Margaret where it hurts.
33:20Richard delivers Margaret to her husband and orders him to act as her jailer so that she can no longer pose any threat to the crown.
33:35You see, in medieval England, it doesn't really matter if you survive.
33:40What matters is what happens to your lands. And Richard strips Margaret of hers.
33:50Leaving her with nothing to pass to her son. Her line is extinguished.
33:56Richard issues a statement denouncing Margaret.
34:05He also claims that she supplied great sums of money to the uprising and liaised with her son in Brittany to instigate a war.
34:20In a single strike, everything that she has fought for is taken away.
34:28But she's alive.
34:50By the summer of 1485, Richard is almost completely isolated.
34:57Much of the English nobility has deserted him, and those that remain do so out of fear.
35:04Even worse, he's been struck with a double tragedy.
35:14His wife and ten-year-old son have died.
35:20With the loss of his only heir, the Yorkist line now hangs by a thread.
35:26But what's worse is that Richard knows that in the medieval mind, if a king has no children, it's a judgment from God that his rule is illegitimate.
35:39But people also believe that in battle, it's God who gives the victory.
35:45Richard knows that if he wins on the battlefield, he'll have divine favour from God himself.
35:55And it's now that Richard gets the news he's been expecting.
36:00Henry Tudor and his army have landed at Pembrokeshire.
36:04And it's now that Richard gets the news he's been expecting.
36:21Henry Tudor and his army have landed at Pembrokeshire.
36:33And it's here, in Margaret's Book of Hours, that she notes the moment that her son finally sets foot on Welsh soil.
36:42This is the culmination of her entire life's work.
36:46If this fails, Margaret knows that she and her son are dead.
36:52Henry Tudor marches through Wales to meet Richard's forces in the Midlands.
37:00He's never been into battle, let alone led an army.
37:04He's terrified.
37:06His army is a third the size of Richard's and is made up of a ragtag of mercenaries and criminals freed from French prisons.
37:14Now, Henry might be green, but he's smart.
37:18He understands that he needs to look and act like a king to be taken seriously as one.
37:25As his army marches through the Welsh mountains, he raises the Welsh dragon banner to remind people that he is not only a Welshman, but that he's connected to the Welsh people.
37:36And it works.
37:38Men begin flocking to him.
37:41When he first landed in Wales, he had just 4,000 men.
37:45By the time Henry reaches Bosworth, he has 25,000.
37:56Henry's army is a third the size of Richard's and is made up of a ragtag of mercenaries and criminals freed from French prisons.
38:07But it's still not enough to match Richard's 60,000 men.
38:12Beating Richard in battle will depend on Stanley's men joining Henry's force.
38:28By now, Richard trusts no one, and he has a plan to try and guarantee Stanley's loyalty to him.
38:37He takes Stanley's eldest son, Lord Strange, hostage and threatens to kill him if Stanley doesn't commit his men to Richard's army.
38:51The armies will meet in the north.
38:55The king has ordered me to come to him.
38:59What?
39:01But Henry needs you.
39:04Thomas.
39:06We're here. We've made it. This is it.
39:09This is our chance to kill the tyrant. Our only chance.
39:14He has my son.
39:17Would you have me kill my own boy so yours can become king?
39:20I'm not asking you to choose between your son and mine.
39:24You will either be lapdog to the tyrant or father to a king.
39:30That's your choice.
39:37And so, with Margaret's words still ringing in his ears, Stanley goes to war.
39:44And as the two armies face each other outside the Leicestershire town of Bosworth, Margaret knows this is do or die.
39:54And that's the truth that's rarely told about the war.
39:57Yes, it's Henry Tudor who faces Richard on the battlefield, but make no mistake, this is Margaret's war.
40:04All her schemes, gambles and plots have led to this day.
40:09The Wars of the Roses will end at Bosworth, and all Margaret can do is wait and pray for her son.
40:17But as battle rages, Henry's army are soon raised to battle against the tyrants' army,
40:22and the men of Bosworth are all but defeated.
40:25The war is not over.
40:27The war is not over.
40:29With the blood of the Roses, the blood of the warriors, the blood of the men of Bosworth,
40:35the blood of the men of Bosworth,
40:37the blood of the men of Bosworth,
40:38But as battle rages, Henry's army are soon scattered and in disarray, overwhelmed by
40:49Richard's men.
40:59And it's now that Stanley makes his decision, his thousands of men pouring into the fight
41:06to save Henry.
41:09Margaret understands how Stanley works.
41:11He will always put his own advancement first, even above his kids.
41:16As Stanley will later say, he has other heirs.
41:46History hasn't been kind to Richard.
41:48He's been called a tyrant, a usurper, and a child killer.
41:53And most of that is probably true.
41:56Five hundred years later, his brutalized remains would be dug up in a Leicester car park.
42:02Medieval England was a violent place, but it was bound by sophisticated rules.
42:08And in the end, Richard broke too many of them.
42:12Perhaps his biggest mistake was that he underestimated Margaret, because she was a woman.
42:42Margaret has outplayed everyone.
43:06From the heap of bodies that is the Walls of the Roses, Margaret Beaufort is the last
43:11man standing.
43:35You've grown so tall.
43:37You made sure of that.
43:41Henry VII is crowned, and the first Tudor monarch sits on the throne.
43:56Henry's gratitude and love for his mother is boundless, and he will go on to honor her
44:02throughout his reign.
44:03He gives her the status of a queen, consults her as a trusted political advisor, and allows
44:09her to preside over her own court of law.
44:13But most importantly, he grants her the thing that she's spent her life fighting for, her freedom.
44:28Margaret is made a femme sole, an independent woman, in control of her own property.
44:40She commissions the first-ever large-scale portrait of a woman depicted on her own to
44:43signify her hard-won status.
44:51She then takes a vow of chastity.
44:56The once-pregnant 13-year-old widow finally has control over her life and her body.