Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn are the Ross and Rachel of history

THIS IS HISTORY — A DYNASTY TO DIE FOR

Sony Music

History, Society & Culture

4.8 • 2.5K Ratings

🗓️ 14 April 2026

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

To love is to risk heartbreak. And while for some, breakups result in renewal, maybe some therapy (or a few months’ spent wallowing), for the historical figures of this episode… a relationship’s end has broken many more things than hearts. In this episode, Dan and Elizabeth discover the lessons of history’s epic failed romances through three world-changing unions: Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn; Mark Antony and Cleopatra; and Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson. Each couple burned bright and fast, and with their downfall came the end to the worlds from which they came: Catholic England, the Roman Republic, and (in the case of Edward) a grand near-miss. So what can epic historical breakups teach us about our world today? And why are we compelled to come back to grand romantic epics? – As always, Dan’s royal favourites can chime in anytime on the royal court on Patreon at patreon.com/thisishistory. And don’t forget to listen to this season’s accompanying bonus episodes for this miniseries, where Dan and Producer Al are dissecting the biggest historical failures as submitted by the royal favourites. In this episode, they discuss the failures of royals over various centuries to deliver the one thing they need - heirs. – A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices –– Presented by Dan Jones and Elizabeth Day Producer - Alan Weedon Senior Producer - Dominic Tyerman Researcher - Phoebe Joyce Executive Producer - Simon Poole Executive Producer - Dan Jones Executive Producer for Daylight Productions - Elizabeth Day Production Manager - Jen Mistri Production coordinator - Eric Ryan Head of content - Chris Skinner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Dan, are you a heartbreaker?
0:03.9	I can't take that question seriously.
0:06.2	Thank you.
0:07.6	Well, you could try and think that I might be.
0:11.6	I don't know, more of a heartbrokener.
0:15.8	We're going to be talking about failed romances, right?
0:17.6	So I was thinking about worse dates.
0:20.5	Now, for me, it's a long time ago,
0:22.1	but I remember going on holiday with a girlfriend, kind of tail end of the relationship. Maybe going
0:30.3	on holiday isn't the thing that's going to fix it. We went to a Greek island. And about halfway
0:35.3	through the week on the Greek island, my girlfriend said, oh, there's this party in Athens.
0:39.8	Loads of fun people are going to be going.
0:41.0	And I was like, yeah, that sounds cool.
0:43.1	I'm going to go to the party in Athens.
0:46.6	Right.
0:47.5	Wow.
0:48.4	You can stay here.
0:49.6	So for the second half of the holiday, I was just on my own in a, let's call it what it is, a three-star hotel in a Greek island.
0:59.7	Did you fly back together?
1:01.8	I think we did.
1:03.5	Did you stay together after that?
1:05.1	Yeah, for a while.
	...

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