Bloody Tales of the Tower

Suzannah Lipscomb and Joe Crowley examine the evidence and report on the intrigues that led to three royal deaths, detailing the sometimes salacious accusations levelled at Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard and Lady Arabella Seymour. Henry VIII's chief minister Thomas Cromwell informed the monarch of gossip about Anne and court musician Mark Smeaton, but allegations at her public trial included adultery with five men, incest with her brother George and treason. Rumours of relationships with distant cousin Francis Dereham and Thomas Culpeper led to Catherine Howard's execution, while Lady Arabella, a serious threat to the ruling Stuart dynasty, is thought to have committed suicide against a backdrop of a cross-dressing noblewoman and two escapes from the Tower