In 'Spencer,' Princess Diana is haunted by Anne Boleyn, whom Henry VIII beheaded for adultery and treason

• Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII's second wife, features heavily in "Spencer."
• Boleyn was beheaded in 1536 for crimes of high treason and adultery.

"Spencer," the new movie from Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larraín about a Christmas Princess Diana spent at Sandringham House, one of Queen Elizabeth II's private residences in Norfolk, England, in the early nineties, begins with a disclaimer.

"A fable from a true tragedy," the message reads.

Larraín - who is best known for his surrealist-tinged biopics - makes it clear from the start that this story is inspired but not wholly faithful to events from Diana's life. And at several points throughout the film, it is clear that Larraín, and screenwriter Steven Knight, have taken some creative liberties. There is, for example, the garish scene where Kristen Stewart's Diana chows down on a bowl of soup and a pearl necklace.

But most controversially, the film depicts an odd kinship between Princess Diana and Anne Boleyn - the second wife of Henry VIII who has been dead for nearly 500 years.

Who is Anne Boleyn?

At the film's start, a book about Boleyn's life and death is left on Diana's bed before she arrives at Sandringham. Diana - knowledgeable about all the palace's underhanded techniques - suspects the Queen mother's new hawkish henchman placed it there as a warning.

See, Anne Boleyn, like Diana, was one of the most influential figures of her time. She was a leading figure in the English Reformation - the period during which the Church of England broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church. And she gave birth to Elizabeth I.

But Boleyn was also beheaded in 1536 for crimes of high treason and adultery. She had been suspected of having sexual relations with five other men, including her brother George.

Historians, however, have long concluded that the allegations were false and created by Henry VIII who had decided to marry Jane Seymour - one of Boleyn's courtiers - after she had failed to give birth to a male heir.

"Spencer" deals in clever ambiguities, but it is made clear at the film's end that the book about Boleyn was, indeed, a warning from the Queen's mother's henchman. At the time, the marriage between Diana - who was suffering from bulimia and spurts of paranoia - and Prince Charles, was irretrievably fractured. And the royal family had deemed Diana's increasing popularity a "problem."

Larraín and Knight have been tight-lipped about what is fact and fiction in "Spencer." But during a recent interview with Esquire magazine, Knight said he created the fictional link between Princess Diana and Anne Boleyn for dramatic effect.

"I'd read that the Spencers are related to the Boleyns and thought there was a parallel in someone who enters the royal household believing they can control the situation," he said. "Diana was young when she went in so she probably thought she could handle it. I like the idea that Diana feels like she's haunting the house already, like she's a ghost passing through."