EVEN after nearly five centuries, the human desire to know the inside story is undiminished, providing the cast is fascinating enough.

So it is with the fate of Queen Anne Boleyn, the second Mrs Henry (VIII) Tudor.

It’s still got what we look for today: the political sex scandal involving the King’s wife plotting against her husband with four courtiers who were allegedly her lovers, beefed up with accusations of incest with her brother, George.

All a great basis for the likes of the Tudors TV series, which has not hesitated to spice up the story further.

But the speed of Anne’s fall was shocking. One day she was rowing with a courtier, Sir Henry Norris, and the next day, April 30, 1536, Henry decided during the May Day jousts to finish with her.

By May 12, the courtiers involved were tried and condemned and three days later Anne and George were similarly dealt with. Anne was charged with conspiring to bring about Henry’s death so that she could marry one of her lovers. There were allegations she had cast aspersions on Henry’s manhood, putting a question mark over the legitimacy of their daughter, the future Queen Elizabeth I.

One witness said Anne had her young lovers lined up each night and “her brother is by no means last in the queue.”

As with all these rumour roller-coasters, what is the truth? Was she guilty or were dark forces out to get her because she was in the way of other plans?

Alison Weir, a robust and very readable Tudor historian, takes up the challenge of unravelling the layers of myth and gossip-as-fact to try and bring some truth to bear in The Lady in the Tower.

There are a trio of contending explanations as to why Anne fell from grace.

Firstly, Henry already had Jane Seymour in his sights and was deeply unhappy Anne had not provided the desired son and heir. So Thomas Cromwell, his chief minister, was told to dispose of her.

Secondly, Anne was possibly architect of her own downfall by being sexually indiscreet, or, far more likely, indulging in lewd remarks beyond the acceptable limits of courtly banter.

However, Weir’s support goes for a third explanation, that Cromwell risked his career by quarrelling with Anne and so took the risk of a pre-emptive strike to remove her. He trumped up charges, fixed the trials and went for that old trick of evidence “so abominable” it couldn’t be heard in court.

Weir’s most startling claim is that the person who set these tragic events in motion was George’s wife, Jane.

She could have denounced her husband as he was homosexual and could have abused her. Weir also writes that Jane confessed to falsely accusing her husband George, when she, too, went to be executed after the fall of Catherine Howard, in 1542.

Following the coronation of her daughter, Elizabeth, as queen, Anne was venerated as a martyr and heroine of the English Reformation. She had, after all, colluded with Henry in the removal of his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, by having their marriage annulled and to declare his independence from Rome. Thus, Anne has been called "the most influential and important queen consort England has ever had.”

But how much she was committed to the Reformation or was motivated by personal ambition is still a matter for argument.

Once more we’re back to gossip and rumour which played such a big part at Henry’s court. Victory in the fight for the king’s ear meant power. But anyone who has worked in an office knows how far from the truth gossip and rumour can be.

After the horrors of this dysfunctional Royal Family, no wonder Anne’s daughter, Elizabeth, remained the Virgin Queen.

THE Lady in the Tower – The Fall of Anne Boleyn, by Alison Weir, Cape, £20

peter.elson