The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight

Charles Laughton ~ The Private Life of Henry VIII., 1933 

The court of Henry VIII. As preparations are in train for the King's third wedding to the beautiful but foolish Jane Seymour, crowds gather for the execution of his second wife, Anne Boleyn. As the king's ladies-in-waiting make ready the royal bedchamber, they fall to gossiping, but are disturbed by the King, who takes an interest in the confident and independent Katherine Howard... ➔ BFI Screenonline

Circle of Hans Holbein ~ King Henry VIII, 1535-40 [Galleria Nazionale di Arte Antica, Rome]

I COME no more to make you laugh: things now

That bear a weighty and a serious brow,

Sad, high, and working, full of state and woe,

Such noble scenes as draw the eye to flow,

We now present. Those that can pity, here

May, if they think it well, let fall a tear;

The subject will deserve it. Such as give

Their money out of hope they may believe,

May here find truth too. Those that come to see

Only a show or two, and so agree

The play may pass, if they be still and willing,

I'll undertake may see away their shilling

Richly in two short hours. Only they

That come to hear a merry bawdy play,

A noise of targets, or to see a fellow

In a long motley coat guarded with yellow,

Will be deceiv'd; for, gentle hearers, know,

To rank our chosen truth with such a show

As fool and fight is, beside forfeiting

Our own brains, and the opinion that we bring

To make that only true we now intend,

Will leave us never an understanding friend.

Therefore, for goodness' sake, and as you are known

The first and happiest hearers of the town,

Be sad, as we would make ye; think ye see

The very persons of our noble story

As they were living; think you see them great,

And follow'd with the general throng and sweat

Of thousand friends; then, in a moment, see

How soon this mightiness meets misery;

And if you can be merry then, I'll say

A man may weep upon his wedding-day. 

  

William Shakespeare, ca. 1613