Just quickly before we get started, this episode will have adult content throughout, including slot shaming, regal levels of hypocrisy and an execution or two.

I mean, the story does involve Henry VIII after all.

And we'll probably swear a fair bit too.

Definitely.

From the bedrooms of powerful men, we're bringing you the secret histories of their mistresses, concubines and courtesans.

I'm Jamila Jamil. I'm an actor, a writer and a broadcaster.

And I'm Dr. Kate Lister, a historian with a ponchant for scandalous tales from centuries past.

This is mistresses, an audible original.

Music This is mistresses, an audible original. It's February 1520 and we're in a chapel on the banks of the River Thames, but it's not just any chapel.

This is the chapel royal at Greenwich Palace,

and it's only just been rebuilt. There's clearly a special event happening here. In fact, it's a wedding between a woman named Mary and a man called William. Mary is the daughter of one of King Henry VIII's favourite courtiers,

and William is a rising star in the king's household.

By the standards of the time, it is a very good match.

Gathered in the chapel are important people of the court,

but there is one particularly notable person in attendance that we would not necessarily

expect to see there, and it's King Henry VIII himself. Why is he there? It's true that it's a marriage

that he approves of, but it may also be true that secretly he has his eyes on the bride.

It won't be long before King Henry starts an affair with Mary,

one that remains shadowy and secretive to this very day.

But it's an affair that will lead to much drama,

a relationship that becomes tangled up in the downfall of Mary's infamous sister Anne Boleyn.

And it will contribute to Mary being called a very great whore,

...