The year is 1510.

In a quiet corner of the English countryside,

a little girl with dark hair and piercing dark eyes

sits admiring the view of Hever Castle.

As a nobleman's daughter, this precocious little girl will grow up to expect a comfortable life.

She might even dream of falling in love and moving to a castle just as beautiful as hever.

Perhaps she shares these dreams with her sister Mary before they fall asleep each night.

But the life of this little dark-haired girl But the life of this little dark-haired girl and that of her entire family will take a very different path. Anne Boleyn's life was a story of

ambition. She started her career as an unknown at the glamorous French court and ended it

as the most famous queen consort in British history. But where did Anne get her determination?

The answer lies back before the Tudors even took the crown, at Heva Castle, the seat of her

tenacious Berlin relatives. Here, faction trailblazers laid the foundations of the family's

path to power. When Anne and her family stepped into the exclusive rooms of Henry the 8th palaces,

decades of Berlin ambition were realised.

But, as we all know, that is not the end of the story.

I'm Tracy Borman, chief historian here at Historic Royal Palaces.

In this two-part series, we'll discover how a family of Norfolk merchants ended up in

Henry the Eighth's inner circle, who were the key Berlin players, which members of the faction

survived and thrived in the corridors of power. And when it all came crashing down,

who was left in the remains? Welcome to the rise and fall of the Billins. We're beginning

our story with the Berlin's rise to power from their family seat at Hever Castle.

Well, this is particularly exciting for me because I've spent an awful lot of time at Heva in the past few years, both physically and mentally.

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