Borman: 1536.

The Tower of London was the scene of one of the most shocking events in history -- the death of Anne Boleyn.

Woman: Queen Anne Boleyn was executed here for high treason on trumped-up charges.

[ Thunder rumbles ] Borman: Five miles away, her young daughter, Elizabeth, had no idea what was going on.

Henry VIII doesn't want to know her.

Her mother's name was mud, yet, incredibly, despite the worst start in life, Elizabeth would become one of the greatest queens the country has ever seen.

England now is a power to be reckoned with, thanks to Elizabeth.

The real relationship between Anne and Elizabeth has always been a mystery.

If you'd like to follow me... Watkins: This is rather scary.

Borman: I'm historian Tracy Borman.

I've spent my career uncovering the secrets of the Tudors.

Watkins: And I'm Jason Watkins.

For seven years, I've been the voice of Channel 5's "Inside the Tower of London," and I've always been fascinated by Elizabeth I. Together, we'll separate fact from fiction, interrogate the experts... Borman: And examine the evidence.

The big question is, why didn't Elizabeth give Anne a proper burial?

Watkins: Whether Elizabeth was embarrassed by her mother, or if she was the real inspiration behind her success?

♪♪ ♪♪ [ Laughter ] Borman: Every day, the Yeoman Warders welcome thousands of visitors inside the Tower of London.

Woman: Are we ready for stories of death and execution?

Crowd: Yes!

Woman: My kind of group.

Fabulous.

Borman: They want to hear the most notorious stories from English history.

Man: And he hacked and he hacked.

Borman: And there are few more shocking than the execution of Queen Anne Boleyn.

Man #2: The execution took one single blow.

[ Crowd gasps ] Borman: In 1536, Anne was beheaded at the Tower for failing to give Henry VIII a son.

When Anne Boleyn was executed by Henry VIII on trumped-up charges of treason and adultery, her daughter, Elizabeth, was just 2 years old.

For centuries, people have assumed that Elizabeth was too young to remember Anne.

But what was really going on?

Was Elizabeth truly ashamed of her late mother?

Or is the truth actually very different?

If we want to solve the mystery of Elizabeth's relationship with Anne Boleyn, we'll need to examine the very short time they actually spent together.

So I've asked Jason to meet me for closing time at the tower.

Watkins: One of the most extraordinary things about the Tower of London for me is that one of my ancestors was, in fact, the person who was Queen Elizabeth I's jailer when she was imprisoned here in the tower all those years ago.

So I'm fascinated to know about that and her relationship with her mother, Anne Boleyn.

Hello.

Hi.

Borman: Hello.

Watkins: Nice to see you.

Elizabeth was born on the 7th of September, 1533, and was Anne's only child.

Anne loved her very much.

We have records that tell us she couldn't bear to leave her side.

She even wanted to breastfeed her, which, for a royal, was unheard of at the time.

But the problem was Henry wanted a son, and when Anne failed to provide one, he ended their marriage after just three years.

♪♪ At the time of Anne's execution, her daughter, Elizabeth, well, she's 2 years and 8 months old.

Watkins: Gosh, yes, that's shocking, isn't it?

Borman: It's shocking.

And at the time that Anne was beheaded, nobody would have put money on her daughter, Elizabeth, becoming queen.

She's less than 3.

Henry VIII doesn't want to know her.

And he's had her declared a bastard.

♪♪ Now things have quietened down a bit, there's somewhere I'd like to show you.

Watkins: Seems like another beautiful day for an execution, isn't it?

To find out what influence Anne had on her young daughter, we need to start by looking at her final hours.

So Tracy is taking me to the actual spot where she was beheaded.

It's very distressing, you know, to think that a human being's life was taken here.

Borman: Yes.

Watkins: Was it a small, intimate execution?

Borman: Well, it was private.

There were still a thousand people here to witness her final moments.

But -- Watkins: A thousand?

Borman: Yes.

Watkins: That's quite a lot, isn't it?

Borman: Yeah.

Watkins: We want to look at Anne's actions in the moments before she died.

Borman: They could hold some important clues.

She mounted the scaffold.

Her composure never wavered, and she delivered this speech.

Listen, I've actually got a copy of it here.

Watkins: Oh, right.

Shall I read it, then?

Borman: Mm.

Watkins: "I come here to die.

But I pray, God save the King and send him long to reign over you, for a gentler nor a more merciful prince was there never.

And to me, he was ever good, a gentle and sovereign Lord."

Borman: Yeah.

Because we know that Anne is a feisty woman.

She has been deeply wronged here.

So why on Earth is she complimenting her former husband, the king?

Watkins: Yeah.

Borman: This is all for Elizabeth.

She's trying to protect her.

Watkins: That takes a real maturity, doesn't it?

Borman: Yeah.

Watkins: That if you're doing this for your own daughter... Borman: Yes.

Watkins: ...that you would be able to stand there and have the strength to say this.

But where was Anne's beloved daughter?

Where was Elizabeth?

Borman: So, Elizabeth was in Greenwich, where her mother had been when she was arrested.

Watkins: She's a child.

She's parentless.

So she's in danger, isn't she?

Borman: She's less than 3 years old.

She had been a princess, but now she's illegitimate.

She's in real danger.

Now she's an outcast with no idea what's going to happen to her.

Anne's last thought was to save her daughter.

But just three days after the execution, Henry ordered Elizabeth to be moved 30 miles away to rural Hertfordshire.

Within two months, he declared her illegitimate.

She was not yet 3, her mother was dead, and she was labeled a bastard by her own father.

I want to find out how these events affected Elizabeth, so I'm going back to some of the original sources.

Lady Margaret Bryan was a close relative of Anne's and had been put in charge of young Elizabeth.

She wrote to Thomas Cromwell, Henry's chief minister, just a few weeks after Anne's execution, and she says, "I beg you to be good to her," i.e., Elizabeth, "for she has neither gown, nor petticoat, nor sleeves, nor handkerchiefs, nor nightcaps."

And so the list goes on.

So, in other words, this little girl has been so forgotten that she hasn't even got any clothes to wear.

She's outgrown all of those that her late mother had sent her.

But it gets worse.

Margaret goes on to say that the whole household has fallen into disarray.

She's being allowed to stay up late, to eat with the servants, to eat too much meat, and even to drink too much wine.

This not yet 3-year-old.

So, clearly, it has all unraveled very, very quickly.

Watkins: But Elizabeth was still Henry's daughter and needed to be brought up as a royal.

So were there any signs of Anne's influence on her education?

Elizabeth was a bit of an unruly child, not surprisingly.

And, so, I'm going to see historian Nicola Tallis, who's going to tell me how she was whipped into shape for her appearance in court.

So, yeah, I'm looking forward to this.

I've got a few kids of my own.

♪♪ I'm just trying to think about her as a young, rather damaged child, because she would have been through such a horrendous, horrific time.

And yet there's a bit of continuity with Margaret Bryan.

Tallis: Yes.

So she's basically like a great aunt to Elizabeth, an extension of Elizabeth's mother, Anne Boleyn.

Watkins: Anne had received a good education, and it seems like the servants she appointed to look after her daughter passed this on to Elizabeth.

And we know from the records that Anne often wrote to Margaret about Elizabeth's upbringing.

Tallis: Being able to read and write was of the utmost importance, and even more so in this period for girls.

It's important that she should excel in her lessons.

Watkins: And her mother did.

Tallis: She certainly did.

So Elizabeth very much followed in her footsteps, and we see that she is very scholarly in the same way as Anne Boleyn.

Watkins: Elizabeth was especially gifted at languages, learning around eight, including French, Italian, Latin, Greek, and Welsh.

We know her mother also spoke multiple languages, and like Anne, her royal education wasn't just about studying.

She also had to learn how to behave at court.

Tallis: Well, I happen to have a book here which is basically a guide to teaching children good manners.

Watkins: Do I look like somebody who could do with being taught manners?

I think I probably could.

Tallis: You certainly do.

Watkins: Thank you.

That's kind of you.

And I can -- I can just see, Nicola, I can just see a stage there.

And I'm thinking maybe that can be useful in -- in our enacting of manners.

Is that right?

Tallis: I couldn't agree more.

Watkins: So you're Lady Margaret Bryan.

Tallis: Yes, I'm the teacher.

You are the pupil.

So, the first thing that is of the utmost importance is that you should keep your eyebrows straight, not furrowed, which implies cruelty.

So -- So don't do that, basically.

Tallis: No, definitely don't do that.

Watkins: Do I look immediately cruel?

Tallis: Yes.

Neither should you raise them too much, as it looks arrogant and proud.

So you need to keep them straight at all times.

That's it.

Watkins: I feel a bit bland.

Tallis: You do look a bit bland.

So once we've sorted out the eyebrows, we then move on to the nose.

Watkins: Okay.

Tallis: Okay.

So don't let your nostrils be full of snot like some grubby person.

Watkins: Does that say snot?

Tallis: It does.

Yeah, snot.

Now, be careful there, because if any mucus falls on the ground, once you've cleared your nose with both fingers, make sure you quickly tread it under foot.

Watkins: So you clear your nose with both fingers.

Tallis: Yeah.

Yeah.

Watkins: And they just snot it out.

And that's fine manners, is it?

Tallis: That's fine manners.

That's what's expected.

Watkins: This isn't a joke book, is it?

I can't believe that this is serious.

Tallis: It is serious.

Yeah.

This is the manners guide that would have been used by all upper class, noble children.

Watkins: Is there anything else?

Tallis: That silence suits a woman, and even more so, a child.

Watkins: Blimey.

So that's -- Yeah, she's been covered in both of those categories, isn't she?

Tallis: Yeah.

Watkins: So do I have conversation with the adults?

What I do?

Tallis: The child, while sitting with his elders, should smile a little at pleasant talk... [ Watkins laughs facetiously ] ...but not at all if the conversation is obscene.

Watkins: And I can't frown.

I just, like -- I just take it.

Tallis: That's it.

Exactly.

You mustn't frown.

Watkins: She learnt through this book how to play the game.

Tallis: Exactly that.

Yeah.

Watkins: Do you think?

Yeah?

Tallis: Yeah.

Most definitely.

There are rules.

And Elizabeth is expected to obey them.

Watkins: I wonder if learning how to hide her feelings at a young age helped Elizabeth to cope with such a dangerous world.

♪♪ Watkins: Tracy and I are investigating the real relationship between Anne Boleyn and her daughter, Elizabeth I. For centuries, people have claimed that Elizabeth didn't care about her mother.

But was the opposite actually true?

And did Anne somehow continue to influence her daughter from beyond the grave?

Woman: Queen Anne Boleyn is buried in a mass, unmarked traitor's grave inside the Chapel Royal of St.

Peter ad Vincula.

♪♪ Watkins: Elizabeth was only 2 years old when her mother, Anne, was executed and Henry VIII banished her from court.

Borman: Over the next few years, she rarely saw her father, though she did have a succession of stepmothers.

By the time Elizabeth was 8, Henry's fifth wife, Catherine Howard, was beheaded, just like Anne Boleyn before her.

Woman: Catherine Howard was actually executed right behind us here, where that memorial stands.

Borman: But Henry's sixth and final wife, Catherine Parr, helped bring father and daughter back together.

He kind of melts towards her.

He remembers his love for her.

He brings her back to court, and most importantly, he restores her to the succession.

In other words, Elizabeth once more is in line for the throne.

In the years after her execution, Anne Boleyn was viewed as a notorious traitor.

Henry VIII had tried to remove every trace of her, even going as far as scraping her name off the walls.

I want to know what Elizabeth must have felt.

Did she accept her father's version of events, that her mother was a traitor, or did she secretly admire her?

There's a vital clue hidden in a family portrait.

It shows Henry with his son, Edward, in the center, but his two daughters are there, as well, and Elizabeth is wearing something extraordinary.

I want to see if Jason can spot it.

Let's just look at Elizabeth, because of course, she's my favorite.

Watkins: Of course she is.

Borman: And she's 12 years old when this was painted, so approaching her teenage years.

Watkins: Yeah.

Borman: And there's something quite interesting about her, and it's actually a little clue.

Watkins: This is a test.

I can feel it's a test.

Borman: It is a test.

You have to peer quite closely to see it.

Watkins: Yeah.

I mean, I'm looking at her necklace, and I'm thinking, is that an "A" for "Anne" on her necklace?

Borman: You're very quick, Jason.

You've got it straightaway.

That is "A" for "Anne," Anne's pendant.

So this is an act of rebellion.

Watkins: Isn't it?

Borman: Because Elizabeth knows full well she's going to be in deep trouble if her father sees it.

He doesn't want any trace of Anne Boleyn.

He certainly wouldn't want his daughter parading her mother's necklace for this painting.

So it's very brave.

Watkins: So, Henry, unless he was blind, would have seen this, wouldn't he?

And he -- Borman: Well, they'd have been painted separately.

And it was right towards the end of Henry's reign.

So it's possible, actually, he didn't even see the finished version.

So, Elizabeth got away with it.

Watkins: Yeah.

Well done, Elizabeth.

Borman: It's the first piece of evidence we've found that Elizabeth kept her mother's memory alive over a decade after her death, and she took big risks to do it.

In 1553, six years after her father died, Elizabeth's life changed again when her half-sister, Mary, a Catholic, became queen.

But 20-year-old Elizabeth was raised a Protestant.

Mary soon began to suspect the princess of plotting against her.

She also had a much more personal reason to dislike Elizabeth.

Anne Boleyn had been quite cruel to Mary when she was alive, so it's perhaps not surprising that the sisters' relationship was often tempestuous.

And there's a source that tells us just how stressed Elizabeth was at this time.

In November 1553, she and her sister, Queen Mary, were on their way to chapel when there was a sudden cry of "treason," and Elizabeth immediately thought it was directed against her because she knew she was under suspicion and she had a complete meltdown.

She was gripped with stomach pains, she virtually collapsed, and she had to be calmed down by one of her attendants who stroked her stomach.

So it's clear to me that Elizabeth had had a kind of panic attack, and it's not surprising because she was right to be fearful.

Just a few months later, on the 18th of March, 1554, Mary ordered Elizabeth's arrest, and she was brought right here to the Tower.

Watkins: It must have been a horrible time for Elizabeth.

She was kept in the same rooms where her mother, Anne Boleyn, had been imprisoned 18 years earlier.

What is more, on the green, she would have seen the scaffold where her cousin, Lady Jane Grey, had been executed just a month earlier.

I want to find out what Elizabeth went through while she was imprisoned here.

So I'm retracing his steps with Yeoman Warder Mark Anderson.

Anderson: So, Jason, this is the exact path that Elizabeth would have taken when she was prisoner here.

Watkins: So, were all prisoners allowed to walk along here?

Anderson: Oh, no, no, no.

Watkins: So actually, she was rather, for want of a better word, free to walk up.

Anderson: She was free to walk along here.

And we're going to a place where someone has carved a very important piece of history.

Watkins: Right.

Well, I'll let you lead the way.

Anderson: Okay, sir.

Watkins: Elizabeth was free to walk along the wall between the Bell and Beauchamp Towers, but the memory of her mother was never far away.

Inside the Beauchamp Tower is a room which Elizabeth would probably have known about.

This is where some of the men who were accused of adultery with Anne Boleyn had been held.

Anderson: And this is a very interesting engraving that's been put here, carved into the wall by one of our prisoners, one of the five accused of being Anne's lovers.

Watkins: Anne Boleyn's.

Anderson: Anne Boleyn's lovers.

Watkins: Okay.

Anderson: As you can see, it's quite a detailed inscription with a falcon possibly on a tree.

Watkins: Yes.

So that -- Of course, that's Anne Boleyn's symbol, isn't it?

Anderson: It's also a symbol of death of her mother.

Watkins: It's very harsh, to put it that way, Mark, but it's absolutely true, isn't it?

I mean, that's terrifying.

Elizabeth must have been under incredible psychological strain.

As a princess, though, we know that she enjoyed better living conditions than other inmates.

In terms of being a prisoner, she had a slightly easier ride than others, perhaps.

Anderson: Well, she lived in great comfort with all her servants were here, and she dined with John Brydges, who was the lieutenant of the Tower at the time.

Watkins: Oh, because I'm related to John Brydges.

Anderson: Are you really?

Watkins: I am, yeah, yeah.

I'm a descendant of John Brydges.

Anderson: Are you really?

Watkins: Yeah.

And he was thoroughly a nice guy, obviously.

As the lieutenant of the Tower at the time, my ancestor, Sir John Brydges, was Princess Elizabeth's chief jailer.

I find it astonishing to think that he ate with the future Queen Elizabeth I. Yeah, so, Elizabeth, she did get to eat with the lieutenant of the Tower at that time, so I wonder what it was they actually ate.

I'm here to see Annie Gray, who's going to show me.

And it's good because I'm getting quite hungry.

Ah!

Hi, Annie.

Gray: Hello.

Watkins: How nice to meet you.

Gray: You, too.

Watkins: You've put on quite a spread here, I can see.

Gray: This is the kind of thing Princess Elizabeth would have been having when she was in the Tower in 1554.

Watkins: And I've just learnt that she had fine apartments.

Gray: It's more like, "All right, you're under house arrest at the Ritz."

Watkins: But I suppose Elizabeth would have been terrified that, you know, each of her meals would have been her last.

If you're sick to the stomach thinking that any moment could be your last, maybe you'll stare at it and think, "Well, I have to eat, but can I?"

Watkins: Yeah, that's a good point.

There are records that Mary Tudor allowed one or two of Elizabeth's own ladies-in-waiting to stay with her in the Tower.

One of them was Blanche Parry, who'd been a devoted servant of her since Anne Boleyn's time.

Giving food would have been something where they could provide comfort and show their affection for her and support her through this really terrible time.

Gray: And she would be desperately trying to keep up appearances, as well.

Sending back all of her food uneaten would be showing fear.

The one thing that I suspect she really didn't want to show.

Watkins: We're pretty sure that Elizabeth would have been given meat, but there are some more surprising dishes, like exotic salads.

Oh, there's a bit of a pickle there.

And desserts covered in what looks like gold.

I'm going to look straight at this and go, "Gold leaf."

What is this?

Gray: It's milk jelly.

Very delicately flavored with rose water.

So that's a very calming thing.

Supposed to be very good for your heart in the Tudor period.

And it's been gilded just to make sure that no one can forget that you're a princess.

Watkins: Oh, right.

Thank you.

Gray: It would be set with isinglass, which is actually from the gallbladder of a sturgeon.

Watkins: My appetite for this has just disappeared.

Gray: It's completely flavorless.

Watkins: Okay, right.

So I'm eating the gold as well?

Gray: Yep.

Watkins: Blimey.

Okay.

I'm going to do it.

Here we go.

Mm, mm.

I'm going to end up -- Mm.

This is really very, very nice.

And I can taste the rose water.

And it does feel very delicate.

And I do feel like I'm being spoilt.

Gray: Fit for a princess?

Watkins: Yeah.

It's like the contrast, isn't it, of getting fantastic food or being beheaded.

Gray: Yeah.

I imagine there were queasy feelings happening, especially when she's in the same apartments that her mother had been in.

Watkins: Exactly.

Gray: all of that would have been a very deliberate decision.

Watkins: A deliberate decision by those who were -- Gray: Mary.

Absolutely.

This is power play.

This is about, you know, really mucking with someone's head.

♪♪ Watkins: There seems to be this double-edged thing going on the way that the Tudors operate, terrifying you and then giving you a treat.

And you know, it's quite cruel in a way.

♪♪ Queen Mary continued her power games right up until Elizabeth's final moments at the tower.

Borman: Finally, on the 19th of May, 1554, the 18th anniversary of Anne Boleyn's execution, Elizabeth was led from the royal apartments, the same rooms where her mother had been imprisoned.

She was convinced she was going to die.

[ Bell tolling ] But instead of a walk to the scaffold, Elizabeth was released.

Her ordeal at the Tower was over.

♪♪ Watkins: In November 1558, Catholic Queen Mary I, eldest daughter of Henry VII, died without leaving an heir.

That meant 25-year-old Princess Elizabeth would become queen.

Woman: Queen Mary Tudor did not have any children, so the line of succession fell to the young Princess Elizabeth, and she was declared Queen Elizabeth I. Magnificent.

Watkins: The memory of her mother, Anne Boleyn, had never been far away during Elizabeth's childhood or her time as a prisoner in the Tower.

Now we want to find out how Elizabeth felt about her mother after she was crowned queen.

Borman: And I think the best place to start is by looking in detail at her coronation celebrations.

Back then, it was the custom for monarchs to spend a night before they were crowned at the Tower.

So that's where I'm meeting Jason.

It was essential for Elizabeth in particular to uphold that tradition, because this is just the very beginning of her reign.

Neither of her siblings had reigned for very long at all.

So, she had to start off on the right foot.

Elizabeth had followed royal tradition, but she made it clear she had no love for the Tower.

Both she and Anne had been prisoners here, and it was also where her mother had been executed.

When she arrives at the tower, she actually says, "Some princes have fallen to be prisoners in this place.

I have been raised from a prisoner to being prince of this land."

So that's a reference both to her own fate, but that of her mother.

Watkins: That's amazing, isn't it?

What an amazing quote.

So, as part of that triumph is then to process to the place of coronation.

Borman: Exactly.

And I have here the route that Elizabeth would have taken through the city.

And you can see starting at the Tower and then going all the way through the heart of the City of London.

Watkins: Gosh, yes.

And there, that's the very spot where we're standing, isn't it?

Borman: Yes.

It's possible to follow in her footsteps.

Watkins: Well, I think we should do that, don't you?

Borman: I'd love to.

Watkins: Come on then.

Borman: Crowds lined the streets to see Elizabeth processing through London to Westminster Abbey, where she would be crowned.

♪♪ We're now in the very heart of the City of London.

This is exactly where Elizabeth would have processed.

Watkins: So, she actually came along?

This is part of the route?

Borman: Yes.

It was a sight to behold.

She had really gone to town with her coronation.

All Elizabeth's life, her mother, Anne Boleyn's name had been mud.

But Elizabeth now put Anne's image right at the center of her coronation celebrations.

We know that she even used the same designers to create this spectacle.

Just around the corner there was probably the most extraordinary part of the whole procession -- a life-size model of her mother.

Now, this is a woman who hadn't been mentioned, talked about, you know, depicted since her execution more than 20 years earlier.

Watkins: She's been sidelined, hasn't she?

Yeah.

Borman: She's been completely airbrushed from history.

The celebrations came with a staggering price tag, the equivalent of around £7 million in today's money.

But what fascinates me is how similar Elizabeth's coronation was to Anne's 25 years earlier.

I have here an image of Elizabeth in her coronation finery.

Watkins: Oh, yes, look at that.

Borman: Obviously very spectacular.

She's wearing the same crown that her mother was crowned with.

Watkins: Is she?

Ah.

Borman: Clothes meant a great deal for both Anne and Elizabeth.

You know, it's all about what she says, what she wore, how she presents herself.

Eyewitness accounts make it clear the style of Elizabeth's clothes and the way she wore her hair were uncannily similar to what her mother wore at her coronation.

She's going to celebrate her mother, honor her mother, and everyone else sort of has to follow suit.

You don't argue with the new queen.

Watkins: Elizabeth had used her coronation to revive Anne's memory and reputation.

Yet, for centuries, people have believed she didn't love her mother for one key reason.

That's because of something that Elizabeth could have done, but didn't.

It remains one of the biggest mysteries of her reign and her relationship with her mother.

Man: That chapel is the final resting place of Queen Anne Boleyn.

Watkins: To solve the puzzle, we need to go back to the place where Anne Boleyn was buried, the Chapel of St.

Peter ad Vincula in the Tower of London.

Borman: Such a beautiful chapel, isn't it?

Watkins: It is.

Yeah.

But it's filled with the memories and presence of so many people, isn't it?

Borman: Mm.

It was described as the saddest spot on Earth.

It was here that the headless body of Anne Boleyn was brought on the 19th of May, 1536.

Here we are at the high altar, and you might see just over there, there is a memorial, and it is to Queen Anne Boleyn.

Watkins: So she was brought here by her ladies-in-waiting, who were friends really, basically, weren't they?

Borman: She was in an old arrow chest.

Watkins: Why wasn't she given a full and proper burial?

She was Queen of England.

Borman: And the first Queen of England to be executed.

But this was all very deliberate on Henry's part.

Watkins: So Henry didn't even give her a proper burial?

Borman: No, not at all.

He evidently didn't think she deserved one.

She was a traitor, an adulteress.

Anne's body lay in an unmarked grave beneath the chapel for three centuries.

It was only after her remains were uncovered in the 1800s that Queen Victoria ordered this plaque to be laid in the chapel floor.

During her daughter Elizabeth I's entire 44-year reign, no effort was made to rebury Anne or mark her grave.

For centuries, people have used the fact that Elizabeth didn't give her mother a royal burial in Westminster Abbey as evidence that she didn't really care about her, or that she was even ashamed of Anne Boleyn.

But is this really true?

Well, let's look at the evidence.

When Elizabeth came to the throne, her mother's execution was still a pretty recent memory, and there were many powerful nobles who opposed Anne and everything she stood for.

So Elizabeth perhaps feared that, if she had her mother reburied, then she'd be opening up old wounds.

She needed stability to succeed.

But she did, though, find other ways of honoring her late mother and expressing how she really felt about her.

[ Bell tolling ] Watkins: To find out what else Elizabeth did to restore her mother's name, I'm catching up with historian Nicola Tallis.

She has a fascinating document she wants me to see.

It's one of the first acts of parliament Elizabeth passed as queen.

Oh, right.

What am I looking at here?

Tallis: So, it's just this part here.

Watkins: "An Act whereby the Queen's Highness is restored in blood to the late Queen Anne, her Highness' Mother."

So she's restored the status of her mother.

When Anne was convicted and executed for treason, Elizabeth had been legally declared motherless.

This new law publicly restored Anne's position as Elizabeth's mother.

But it also contains an incredibly private and very moving detail.

Tallis: We've got a later print copy of the act here, but in the original, Elizabeth actually said, "Dearest mother."

Watkins: Ah.

Oh.

How wonderful.

Yes, making it absolutely personal.

This small detail reveals the love Elizabeth had for her mother, which she had hidden for so many years.

That would be a very moving tribute to her mother and a sign, an indication of her affection.

By publicly restoring the legal bond with her mother, Elizabeth had begun to rewrite her family history.

But she wanted to do more.

Borman: I've come to the British Library to see an extraordinary document which puts Anne Boleyn at the very heart of the royal family.

It's a unique family tree for Elizabeth's own personal use.

It's so precious and delicate, it's very unusual to be allowed to see it.

Thank you so much.

Woman: Here you are.

Borman: Can't wait to see this.

Such a rare manuscript.

Such a shivers-down-the-spine moment.

It's one of the most special manuscripts in the British Library, indeed anywhere.

This priceless artifact traces Elizabeth's ancestors all the way back to William the Conqueror.

You can see the staggering detail as if it was made yesterday.

The colors are so vibrant, and this really is the most special of all.

Because on the left here, in these two circles, the top circle, "The most excellent and victorious Prince Henry VIII."

I swear my heart stopped when I read the bottom circle for the first time because it says, "The most gracious princess, Lady Anne, first wife to King Henry VIII."

Catherine of Aragon has been airbrushed from history.

Her sister, Mary, doesn't come anywhere close.

It's all about Elizabeth.

But tellingly, it's about her mother, not just her father.

I think Anne would have been utterly triumphant if she'd seen this tree.

♪♪ Watkins: Tracy and I are investigating the secret bond between two of the most famous queens in English history, Elizabeth I and her tragic mother, Anne Boleyn.

Borman: I'm convinced that Elizabeth had secretly treasured her mother's memory from a young age.

We can see it in the portrait of her as a 12-year-old wearing her mother's necklace.

At her coronation, she wore the same crown as Anne and had a life-size model of her in the procession.

One of her first official acts as queen was to legally recognize Anne Boleyn.

Watkins: But now we want to know if there's any evidence that Anne inspired Elizabeth's reign as queen.

So we're meeting in Greenwich, home of the Queen's House gallery.

Borman: We're here to see what is probably the most famous painting of Queen Elizabeth I, the Armada Portrait.

It was commissioned when Elizabeth had been on the throne for 30 years.

This is quite a painting, Watkins: Oh, isn't it?

That is... That's amazing, isn't it?

Borman: It's Elizabeth at the very height of her powers.

And everything says that.

Her hand's resting on the globe.

It's impossible to exaggerate her triumph at this point.

She's defeated the Armada.

This is the greatest threat England has faced since 1066.

Watkins: And it's a woman -- a woman, as well.

Borman: England now is a power to be reckoned with, thanks to Elizabeth.

She's established her authority in a man's world.

Lots and lots of pearls.

Now, they symbolize virginity, purity.

I feel that here Elizabeth can finally stop apologizing for not marrying.

Watkins: Yeah.

Borman: She's the Virgin Queen.

She's going to be celebrated as that.

She's going to go down in history as that.

It was the right decision because now she reigns supreme.

Watkins: Is it saying, "I'd rather not.

I'd rather not marry a man"?

Because if you marry a man, you give away your power, don't you?

Borman: Yes.

Watkins: It's... And if you think about the court that she's come from, and those men that dominated the court, she's obviously looked back and thought, "I don't want that.

I want to be in control, I want power."

Borman: You're absolutely right.

And she said, "I will have but one mistress here and no master."

Watkins: I think Elizabeth probably learnt a valuable lesson from her mother.

Anne Boleyn had been destroyed by powerful men, and Elizabeth was determined not to let that happen to her.

Obviously, Elizabeth is only 2 years old when her mother dies, so she doesn't have much contact with her mother, Anne Boleyn.

But what she does have is Anne's reputation, isn't it?

Borman: I think that's absolutely right.

And Anne Boleyn, she was a trailblazer, and she provided this hugely inspiring role model, really, for her daughter.

But for Elizabeth then to take a stage further, because she's not going to be held back by marriage and childbirth.

She's going to be a queen in her own right.

She can realize all of her mother's ambitions.

And I feel, when I look at this painting, if only Anne had lived to see the day.

Watkins: Oh, my goodness, yes.

To have seen her daughter's achievements.

Borman: Elizabeth I died at Richmond Palace on the 24th of March, 1603.

On her hand was a ring set with diamonds and rubies.

This treasured object still survives today.

Inside is a portrait of Elizabeth opposite a woman who is believed to be Anne Boleyn.

If true, it's a tantalizing glimpse of how Elizabeth kept her mother close her whole life.

Watkins: Named Gloriana by her subjects, Elizabeth had reigned for 44 years and was laid to rest here in Westminster Abbey.

Oh, it just takes your breath away, doesn't it?

Borman: It really does.

And we're walking in the footsteps of monarchs who've been crowned here for a thousand years.

Elizabeth, Anne Boleyn, all the way up to King Charles III.

Watkins: Elizabeth's tomb is a far cry from the simple plaque which commemorates her mother in the Chapel of St.

Peter ad Vincula.

So, yeah.

Together: There she is.

Watkins: [ Chuckles ] It's very peaceful.

Incredible to think that her remains are... Borman: Right here.

Watkins: Yeah.

Borman: It makes her story real.

It just brings home, this is a real woman, an extraordinary woman.

There are many tombs here in Westminster Abbey, but this has to be one of the most elaborate.

And it celebrates this extraordinary queen who, with her mother, changed the course of English history.

There's one final clue as to how Elizabeth felt about her mother.

On her tomb, you can see the emblem of a falcon, the symbol forever associated with Anne Boleyn.

You see the falcon here, Anne's falcon emblem, just as that reminder that Elizabeth's story started with Anne, and it ended with her, too.

Watkins: And her achievements, both of their achievements.

Borman: Exactly.

It's intertwined.

You can't tell the story of Elizabeth without telling the story of Anne Boleyn.

Watkins: The way that Anne Boleyn captivated everybody.

The spirit, her shining intelligence.

She clearly handed that on to her daughter.

Borman: Yeah.

She's a rule breaker, just like her mother, Anne.

They blazed a trail, and when Elizabeth came to the throne, it was seen as a disaster to have a woman on the throne ruling the country.

By the end of her reign, England had fallen in love with queens.

Watkins: From the evidence we've seen, I believe that, throughout Elizabeth's life, far from erasing her mother, Anne was never far from her mind.

Borman: And even though Elizabeth was only 2 years old when Anne died, Anne's influence would shape Elizabeth's reign, making her one of the greatest queens England had ever seen.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪