I’ve never been able to track down a copy of Henry VIII and His Six Wives (1972), the feature film that sort-of adapted the BBC miniseries The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1970). The costumes always looked good-ish, but I just assumed it was a shortened version of the BBC miniseries and called it good. Well, I recently found it available for streaming online (on a less than reputable site, so all I can say is do a Google video search for the title) and color me shocked at how frickin’ stunning the costumes are!
First, the two productions do need to be compared, as the same actor stars as Henry VIII (Keith Michell) and the same costume designer worked on both films (John Bloomfield — who also designed the original Poldark, some Doctor Who, Conan the Barbarian, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, To Kill a King, Being Julia, and A Good Woman).
Read all of this review of Henry VIII and His Six Wives (1972) here!
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Jane Seymour was a far more positive character than is usually realized. She was an exacting mistress to her ladies and dared to bring up controversial topics with Henry, though she knew when and how to back down she was also capable of standing her ground and presenting an argument that would appeal to Henry. Chapuys called her a woman of great charm, which is hard to believe looking at her portrait, but she certainly knew how to make herself agreeable to diplomats.
There wasn’t actually anything wrong with Anne of Cleve’s looks but she lacked charm, wit and sex appeal. She was however sensible and pleasant and Henry became quite fond of her once he no longer had to try to get it up for her. Anne too seems to have found ‘Brother Henry’ far more congenial than husband Henry.
Naive doesn’t seem quite the right word for poor little Kat Howard but though she was sexually sophisticated she certainly had no clue how to manage the politics of the court.
Katherine Parr was much more than a nurse to Henry. She befriended his children and tried to create a family circle for them, she favored evangelical religion and she acted as Henry’s regent when he went to war in France very successfully. She also wrote some astonishingly convincing love letters to her husband while he was away.