- [last lines]
- On Screen Text: Henry VIII died on January 28, 1547.
- On Screen Text: His sole legitimate son became King Edward VI at the age of nine,
- On Screen Text: Only to die of illness six years later.
- On Screen Text: An attempt was made to prevent the King's eldest daughter, Princess Mary, from becoming Queen because of her Catholic beliefs.
- On Screen Text: She was crowned in 1553. Her reign was short and turbulent. She burned many Protestant martyrs, and became known as "Bloody Mary".
- On Screen Text: Her half-sister, Elizabeth, succeeded her in 1558. Known to history as the Virgin Queen, Elizabeth ruled England for forty-four years.
- On Screen Text: Her reign was called "The Golden Age".
- On Screen Text: In Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, the Tudor Dynasty produced the two most famous monarchs in English history.
- King Henry VIII: [Voiceover prologue] When we compare the present life of man on Earth with that time of which we have no knowledge, it seems to me like a swift flight of a single sparrow through a banquet hall on a winter's day. After a few moments of comfort, he vanishes from sight into the wintry world from which he came. Even so, man appears on Earth for a little while, but of what went before this life or what will follow, we know nothing.
- King Henry VIII: [Opening lines] In these last days I've been thinking a great deal about loss. What loss, your grace, is to man most irrecoverable?
- Charles Brandon: His virtue.
- King Henry VIII: No, for by his actions, he may redeem his virtue.
- Charles Brandon: Then, his honor.
- King Henry VIII: No, for again he may find the means to recover it, even as a man recovers some fortune he has lost.
- Charles Brandon: Then I can't say, Your Majesty.
- King Henry VIII: Time, your grace. Of all losses, time is the most irrecuperable for it can never be redeemed.
- Charles Brandon: But as to religion, I never read the Gospels and never shall. I'm sure they enlighten you, but I prefer them to remain mysterious. As to the promise of a better world, I can only say that England was merry before, and, all things considered, and with all things as they used to be in times past.
- Edward Seymour: Your Grace, if I do not have your support, may I ask if you will act against me?
- Charles Brandon: I'm not sure if this is any answer, my Lord Hertford, but I've always been drawn to a phrase used by the French peasants: "Praise the God of all, drink the wine, and let the world be the world."
- King Henry VIII: I'll tell you, my Lord Hertford, as long as Charles Brandon served me, h-he never betrayed a friend nor took unfair advantage of an enemy. Hmmm... which is more than I can say for anyone else at my court... I never thought he would die.
- Charles Brandon: [Feverish and in bed] Has the dawn come yet?
- Brigitte Rousselot: Not yet, not yet.
- Charles Brandon: [Breathing heavily] I hate the night. It makes me think of perpetual night.
- Charles Brandon: [Answering a question from Edward Seymour about whether he would take sides in, or hold back from, brewing political strife] There's an old French saying: Praise the God of all; drink the wine; and let the world be the world.