Think history is boring? Many people think so. But not Tracy Borman. The chief historian at Historic Royal Palaces is a self-confessed Tudor nut and in her new show Tudors On Tour she’ll be delving into the scandal and the drama surrounding one of the most famous dynasties in England.
The tour will open at Buxton Opera House Thursday 1st October and, as the publicity for the show claims, Tracy will reveal the Tudors “in all their glory, filth, glamour and gore”.
Tracy is excited to be returning to Buxton where she has spoken a few times at the literary festival. She’s keen to bring to life this fascinating period of history.
“It’s not just me standing on stage and giving a lecture – I’ll say that from the outset. I’ll be taking the audience through a journey looking at all the Tudor monarchs, the most famous events and some of the lesser-known characters in the Tudor period. There’ll be film footage, music, props.
“I’m going to be moving about a lot but not dancing or singing or anything like that! It’s going to be very interactive, a lot of fun.”
What’s so fascinating about the Tudors?
“You couldn’t make it up when it comes to the sheer drama of the period: you have a king who marries six times, the Virgin Queen, it’s the age of Shakespeare, Sir Walter Raleigh and overseas exploration. It all seemed to happen in this 118-year period.
“I’ve been obsessed with it since my schooldays. It’s all thanks to my A-level history teacher who taught me about the Tudors and just lit up that world for me. I just think as a period for sheer drama it’s really hard to beat. So hopefully I’m going to be conveying a lot of that in the theatre show.”
Tracy Joanne Borman was born on 1 January 1972 in Scothern, Lincolnshire. She studied and taught history at the University of Hull where she was awarded a PhD in 1997.
I met her 25 years ago when I was filming a documentary about the Shakespeare authorship controversy. At the time Tracy was head of exhibitions and events at the Public Record Office in Kew. That’s the government’s official archive which contains more than 18 million historical and public records. The Office has half a dozen Shakespeare’s signatures. Tracy explained why they all look different.
She then became head of events at English Heritage, managing the organisation’s 413 sites and overseeing everything from literary events to large-scale re-enactments.
She joined her latest employer, Historic Royal Palaces, in 2008. “I’m currently in what is probably my favourite job of all time, chief historian. I spend my time researching the history of the palaces, the people who lived in them and talking about it through podcasts or filming or giving lectures.
“It’s an absolute joy and my office is at Hampton Court” – Henry VIII’s former home – “so given that I’m a Tudor nut, that’s pretty special.”
But it’s very rare that she gets to meet members of the Royal Family.
“Even though we’re Historic Royal Palaces we look after mostly the palaces that aren’t still lived in. There are a couple of exceptions including Kensington Palace but we look after the public sides – the visitor attractions.”
During the Tudors on Tour show, Tracy will be talking about her new novel, The House of Boleyn. It reimagines the dramatic changes in the Boleyn family’s destiny after Henry VIII relentlessly pursues Anne to become his next queen.
“Of course the Boleyns are one of the most famous families from the Tudor period. I don’t know if we can compare them to the Kardashians today. They’re the family that everyone is obsessed with, who people perhaps like to emulate a little bit. They’re the sources of a lot of gossip,” proclaims Tracy.
“I want to do some myth-busting in this show, particularly about the relationship between Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII which is always seen as this great romantic courtship. I don’t think it was anything of the sort.
“We don’t know what Anne actually thought of Henry. We have all his love letters to her but none of her replies, so I’ll be digging into that and bringing some of the lesser-known Boleyns out of the shadows as well.”
Tracy points out Anne is one of the most famous women in history but we don’t actually know much about her.
“We know more about what she did than what she thought, what she felt, particularly towards her husband.
“There are so many myths surrounding Anne Boleyn such as she had a sixth finger on one hand, she was really a witch, she was an adulteress. The truth is I think very different – there’s nothing to back up these rumours and scandals. It’s more to do with the fact people hated that Henry had set aside his loyal first wife Catherine of Aragon and married this harlot. I’m going to get joy giving the audience a truer picture of this famous and hitherto scandalous queen.”
Tracy was drawn to Anne Boleyn because she held her own in a male-dominated world.
“Women were second-class citizens. They were considered inferior in every respect: physically, mentally, spiritually. And yet Anne broke the mould. I think her father had a lot to do with that. He encouraged her education, he sent her abroad to broaden her horizons and by the time she came to Henry VIII’s court she was quite a powerhouse.
“She was a very clever woman, she was very cultured, she had quite radical ideas about religion. There was so much more to Anne Boleyn than just her relationship with Henry VIII. She’s certainly the source of endless fascination for me and she has by far the biggest following of the six wives. There are legions of fans of Anne Boleyn across the world.”
The House Of Boleyn is largely set at Hever Castle, the seat of the Boleyn family. Tracy explains the castle plays a prominent role in the plot of the book.
“This enabled me to show the Boleyns as they really were. I wanted to show them when they’d come back from court either to celebrate or lick their wounds, depending on what was happening; the conversations that would have gone on there; the relationships between this very tight-knit family.
“I loved bringing some of the lesser-known Boleyn characters out of the shadows such as Anne’s formidable grandmother Lady Margaret Butler – this Irish noblewoman who gave the Boleyns their aristocratic blood. She was a dominant force at Hever but she’s disappeared from history.
“I had a lot of fun inhabiting the world of Hever and actually spent a lot of time at Hever researching the book, which is no hardship.”
Some people might not want to pick up The House Of Boleyn because they know how the story ends. Tracy skilfully tells the story so that you want to continue reading to find out what happens after the death of Anne.
“While I do stay close to the main history, there are definitely quite a few sub-plots and surprises along the way in my novel because what I do is create a world below stairs as well as above. So hopefully readers will become very invested in the lives of the servants at Hever – not just the family upstairs. I describe the book as Downton Abbey meets the Boleyns.
“I hope to give a fresh slant on a familiar story by reimagining Anne Boleyn and her relationship with Henry, not painting it just as this ill-fated love story because I don’t think love actually played that big a part in it. So hopefully there’ll be enough surprises to keep people interested.”
A prolific writer, Tracy has written 12 non-fiction books and four novels. She enjoys writing both genres.
“I feel very lucky to be able to switch between the two. Non-fiction is my bread and butter. That’s where I started and as a historian that’s what comes naturally.
“When I’m researching my non-fiction books it can be frustrating sometimes when the sources just aren’t there to explain what happened at a particular time.
“As a novelist you’re able to fill those gaps with your imagination. I really enjoy the freedom of fiction.”
In 2018 Tracy branched out into broadcasting. She presents Inside The Tower Of London for Channel 5 alongside Jason Watkins. He won a BAFTA TV award for best actor for his lead role in the two-part drama The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies.
“We’re just filming series ten at the moment,” says Tracy. “It’s amazing. It’s one of the highest-ranking shows on Channel 5.
“It’s been an absolute joy to work on because it gets me away from my desk, exploring the tower. I think it appeals to people because it follows the day-to-day life of the yeoman warders and the community at the tower as well as the history.
“I think it’s safe to say we’re not going to run out of material any time soon. It was built almost a thousand years ago so there are lots of stories and characters. It’s always nice to bring new ones to light.”
Back to the show Tudors On Tour. Tracy likes to start with a Tudor story relating to the place where she is appearing. She will talk about Mary Queen of Scots’ visit to Buxton where she was held for almost 20 years before her execution.
“It wasn’t hard to find a good Tudor story for Buxton. There are a few I could have chosen but Mary Queen of Scots is such a famous figure from that period.”
Tracy’s tour is quite busy. It lasts for five weeks, sometimes with shows six nights a week.
After that she’ll continue writing her next non-fiction book which is a bit of a departure: “It’s a prequel to the Tudors, so I’m enjoying myself in a different period.”
There’ll be another tour to promote the book and there are more TV programmes in the pipeline. “Those Tudors continue to keep me busy, so there’s lots of fun stuff to look forward to.”
What does Tracy’s husband Tom make of all this? He knows what to expect – the couple got married in the Tower of London.
“He’s very tolerant. He doesn’t work in history. He’s a political risk analyst so he’s all about the future and I’m all about the past. Our worlds do occasionally collide. I think I’m slowly converting him to the Tudors.”
Tudors On Tour sounds a fascinating evening’s entertainment. Tracy who was appointed an OBE in the 2024 Birthday Honours for services to heritage believes it will appeal to anyone who’s interested in history as well as GCSE and A-level students because the Tudors are big on the curriculum.
The Tudors are big box office. And there’s no one better than Tracy Borman to throw light on why no other royal dynasty captures the imagination quite like the Tudors.
