Fans of the hit BBC historical drama Wolf Hall can now view a portrait of its anti-hero Thomas Cromwell at a Kent castle.

The 16th-century painting of King Henry VIII’s infamous minister has been hung on public view for the first time in Hever Castle near Edenbridge, where portraits of many more characters from the series based on the book by Dame Hilary Mantel can also be seen.

Hever Castle was the childhood home of Anne Boleyn, Henry’s second wife and mother to Queen Elizabeth l.

Cromwell had been the mastermind behind Anne’s meteoric rise to the throne of England but he also played a significant role in her brutal downfall three years later.

The newly unveiled 16th-century painting is a smaller, head and shoulders version of the famous portrait of Thomas Cromwell (c.1532) by the celebrated court artist Hans Holbein the Younger, the original of which hangs in the Frick Collection in New York.

An intriguing character in history, and central to Mantel’s Wolf Hall story, Cromwell oversaw Henry VIII’s dramatic decision to break with the church in Rome to fulfil the annulment of the King’s marriage to Queen Catherine, which enabled Anne Boleyn to become Queen of England.

Hever Castle’s assistant curator, Dr Owen Emmerson, worked as an historical consultant on the BBC adaptation.

He said: “When I first saw this painting listed at auction back in 2020, I thought twice about suggesting the purchase, for fear of what Anne Boleyn would have thought of us hanging a portrait of the man who orchestrated her downfall in her home.

“However, I remembered that before Anne’s downfall, she had threatened Cromwell with his life, telling him that she wanted his head off his shoulders, and I then reasoned that, since the portrait only shows his head, we were, in a way, fulfilling her wishes.

“It is true to say that Cromwell didn’t only break the Boleyns’ fortunes; he very much made them, and was integral to their story too.”

The important portrait will join a celebrated collection of 16th-century portraiture in Hever’s Long Gallery, which tells the story of the Tudor Dynasty, Henry VIII’s Great Matter, and the Reformation.

The castle’s Long Gallery was an extension to the original house commissioned by another of Henry’s wives - Anne of Cleves - when she took possession of the Boleyn family home some time after Anne’s death.

The portrait of Cromwell once hung at Kimbolton Castle, where Queen Catherine of Aragon had been banished and eventually died in January 1536.

The painting remained in the collection of the Dukes of Manchester for many centuries, being purchased by Hever Castle in 2020.

The portrait has since undergone a period of cleaning and conservation.

Cromwell was of humble origins, born in Putney to a fuller and brewery owner.

He rose to prominence in the service of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, Henry VIII’s chief advisor, but survived his master’s downfall to be appointed Master of the King’s Jewel House in 1532, Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1533 and finally the King’s principal secretary and chief minister in 1534.

When he eventually fell out of favour with Henry, he too was executed - beheaded at Tower Hill in London on July 28, 1540.