Henry VIII banished his first wife, Katherine of Aragon, and executed his second, Anne Boleyn. His third, Jane Seymour, died in childbirth. But in 1540, when he divorced his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, Henry VIII presented her with a settlement: if she remained in England, she would be granted the title of “the King’s Sister”, receive an annual income and be given several important properties. Among them were Richmond Palace, Hever Castle – and Broughton Hall, a manor house in Oxfordshire.
The house, built in the 16th century, had once belonged to Thomas Cromwell, the advisor who had encouraged the ill-fated marriage, and who was executed that year. In the 17th and 18th centuries, significant alterations were made to the building, with further extensions added around 1800 and during the 20th century.
