Wolf Hall Weekend returns in 2026 for a celebration of Tudor England seen through the eyes of Hilary Mantel, novelist and author of the Wolf Hall books. With an impressive line up of historians, a stage play based on the story and guided tours all set in evocative surroundings near the Tower of London, I caught up with the event's founder and organiser David Holland to find out more about it.
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| Ben Miles as Thomas Cromwell in The Mirror and the Light (David Holland) |
The Wolf Hall Weekend event sounds amazing! How did you first become involved in organising these events and what in particular initially drew you to the work of Hilary Mantel?
When Hilary Mantel died suddenly in 2022, I was halfway through The Mirror and The Light—her final, and perhaps finest, novel. Though I’d only glimpsed her once in a local gift shop in our shared town of Budleigh Salterton, her passing left me with a profound sense of loss. As tributes poured in, I felt a strong urge to help preserve her literary legacy in a meaningful way.
Remembering that Hilary had once acknowledged a nearby Tudor manor in Bring Up the Bodies—a place I knew well from my daughter’s wedding—I contacted the owner and proposed hosting a weekend in Hilary’s honour. With my background in publishing, I reached out to Nicholas Pearson, her longtime publisher, who enthusiastically agreed and introduced me to Hilary’s close friends, including actor Ben Miles and historian Sir Diarmaid MacCulloch. Their support quickly drew a remarkable group of experts who shared the same deep admiration for Hilary’s work.
Last year’s event was centred around the Wolf Hall Trilogy, can you tell us more about that and what it was like? Can you tell us any interesting discoveries or anecdotes?
It was an amazing experience. I chose the trilogy because in it Hilary brought her meticulous and original research of the life of Thomas Cromwell, together with her unique and brilliant literary skills into a monumental work of over 2000 pages, and won two Booker prizes as a result - the only person to do that for two books in the same series of novels. It was a capacity attendance and everyone there had a genuine respect for Hilary’s great achievement and also admiration for her - as a generous and caring person. It was a wonderful time to meet and share with each other our own anecdotes of either reading her books or having encountered Hilary at some point. Several people said that they had corresponded with Hilary and she always answered and encouraged them in their endeavours.
The speakers were all experts, historical and literary, and over two days we explored multiple aspects of her fictional view of one of the most tumultuous and brief periods of British history. Her choice to see the court and capricious nature of Henry VIII through the eyes of his chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, was a risky and ambitious idea - which she delivered with brilliance. We explored where she employed literary licence when she found gaps or ambiguity in the historical record, and how she created haunting characters that took on a new life in her novels as if they had been resurrected from the pages of historical evidence.
It’s really hard to choose between the many discovery moments from the weekend, but I’ll give it a shot. There was a panel that included Simon Haisell who runs Wolf Crawl (a slow read of Hilary’s trilogy on Substack), with Diarmaid MacCulloch, and Charlie Courtenay (Earl of Devon and relative of Gertrude and Henry Courtenay from Tudor times.) During the discussion about the so-called Exeter Conspiracy that targeted Gertrude and Henry as the instigators, Charlie surprised everyone by producing a fragment of Gertrude’s hair from his family archives! (see photo). You can tell from Diarmaid’s expression what a surprise that was, and it brought the history directly into the present. Then moments later we revealed that we had a descendant of Margaret Pole - another so-called conspirator against Henry VIII - (also called Margaret) in the room and when Margaret the younger introduced herself to everyone her likeness to the portraits of Margaret the elder were uncanny. It was a magical moment - one of many from the weekend.
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| Charlie Courtenay, Simon Haisell and Diarmaid MacCulloch (David Holland) |
What can visitors expect at 2026’s Wolf Hall Weekend near the Tower of London?
The theme for Wolf Hall Weekend 2026 is Magnificence—not just the splendour of royal courts, but the illusion and fragility of power. In The Mirror and the Light, Hilary Mantel shows us how easily grandeur becomes spectacle, and how quickly it turns on those who wear it. This theme runs through the entire weekend: from the venue by the Tower of London to the talks, exhibitions, and the play itself.
We’ve gathered an extraordinary range of contributors, each offering a distinct way into Mantel’s world. Tracy Borman will explore Anne Boleyn’s downfall and the Tower’s haunting presence in Hilary’s fiction - ground she knows intimately as Chief Historian of Historic Royal Palaces. Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch, whose biography of Cromwell is the gold standard, will look at the religious chaos that surrounded Cromwell’s final fall from grace. Actor Ben Miles - Cromwell on stage and Hilary’s trusted collaborator - returns to introduce the stage adaptation of The Mirror and the Light with co-star Aurora Dawson-Hunte.
Photographer George Miles brings The Wolf Hall Picture Book - a brooding visual response to the trilogy - while Lucie Bea Dutton’s powerful stitched interpretations of Hilary’s prose will be on display, offering a tactile way of experiencing the text. We’ll also hear from Dr. Lauren Mackay (The Wolf Hall Companion), Dr. Elizabeth Norton on queenship, Dr. Miranda Malins on Cromwell’s legacy, and Dr. Owen Emmerson on Mary Boleyn and the lesser-known figures Mantel resurrects. Literary voices include Dr. Lucy Arnold on haunting and grief in the prose, and Simon Haisell, whose Wolf Crawl has guided thousands through a global slow read of the trilogy. And Nicholas Pearson, Hilary’s longtime editor and publisher, will reflect on her process and creative brilliance.
Rounding out the weekend, from the staff at The Tower itself, are Eleri Lynn on fashion and political spectacle in Tudor court life, and Alfred Hawkins on the architecture of power.
On Sunday, we’re offering optional excursions: a curated walking tour of Tudor sites in the City, a Thames river cruise that traces Cromwell’s London, and the chance to revisit the Tower itself - with fresh eyes, after the insights of the weekend.
Whether you come for the history, the drama, the prose, or all three - this is a rare chance to experience Mantel’s world in its full, layered magnificence. (I should also mention that the ticket price includes catering - see https://wolfhallweekend.com/tickets.)
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| Aurora Dawson Hunte as Elizabeth Seymour (David Holland) |
The weekend is taking place near the Tower of London which obviously has huge significance for this period of Tudor history and many of the characters in Hilary Mantel’s novels. What historical connection with the Tower or scene stands out to you most, from the novels?
That’s a tough question to answer because there are so many. Such as the imprisonment of Sir Thomas More in the first novel and Cromwell's interrogation and complex relationship with him. Not to mention the imprisonment and execution of Anne Boleyn in the second book, and that of her so-called guilty participants in her act of ‘treason’, which was brilliantly interpreted by Hilary with fresh eyes. But for me the stand out connection with The Tower is the symbolic role it performs in The Mirror and The Light - and especially in Hilary and Ben’s play adaptation.
The play opens at the very end of the story in 1540 with Cromwell in his prison cell in The Tower - which is ironically the same one that Anne was kept in under the order of Cromwell himself. As the scenes of the play unfold - moving back and forth around the events from 1536 to 1540 - The Tower remains the symbol of power that looms over the lives of those who come close to Henry VIII and pay the ultimate price with their lives.
It was a year after I almost completed reading The Mirror of The Light before I found the courage to read the last chapter. Of course I knew the ending, but in a strange way I thought I could keep the ghost of Hilary’s Cromwell alive in my imagination by postponing his inevitable fateful conclusion. He was executed on Tower Hill - a small mound about 200 yards from the moat that surrounds The Tower and a small paved area with a bronze plaque marks the spot with his name and some of those he sent to die there before him.
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| Plaque at Tower of London (David Holland) |
How does the event celebrate not only the characters of Wolf Hall but Hilary Mantel's own legacy?
The event celebrates Hilary Mantel’s legacy by bringing together the very worlds she wove so powerfully in the Wolf Hall trilogy—through scholarship, performance, conversation, and creativity. We explore not just the historical figures she reimagined - Cromwell, Boleyn, Henry VIII - but also the extraordinary literary voice behind them.
With speakers ranging from her close collaborators to historians, actors, and academics, we honour the full scope of her achievement: her psychological insight, her lyrical prose, her fearless excavation of power and memory. Exhibitions of photography and stitched artwork inspired by her writing offer new ways to engage with her work, and the dramatic performance of The Mirror and the Light gives her words life once more. It’s a living tribute - a weekend where we can mix with like-minded admirers and together help Hilary’s legacy to resonate, inspire, and evolve.
Find out more about the weekend and book your tickets here at the Wolf Hall Weekend website. I'm going! Hopefully see you there!
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