Possibly the most popular song of the last one thousand years, the actual composer remains unknown. It was first published as a broadside registered at the London Stationer’s
Company in 1580: on 3rd September, Richard Jones was licensed to print "A New Northern Dittye of ye Lady Greene Sleeves." But it had been popular and sung at least 50 years
before this.
There apparently is a "persistent rumor" (according to Wikipedia), however, that King Henry VIII penned the lyrics, written to his lover and future queen consort Anne Boleyn. Then again, if true, he may have written it a bit later in memory of Anne, whom he had tried for treason. She was convicted by a jury of her peers, which included her former fiancé, Henry Percy, and her uncle Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk. She was publicly beheaded May 19, 1536. Whatever suspicions Henry had concerning Anne, it is likely he left her fate to the jurors and to God, perhaps hoping for the best. But there were political reasons for the jurors to find Anne guilty on several counts. Given the depth of emotion expressed in the lyrics of the song, in the seemingly unlikely event he was the lyricist, it appears her execution must have pained him terribly.
This track came from my 1991 CD by Loreena McKennitt entitled The Visit. If you don't buy any other Loreena McKennitt CD, I recommend this one. In the liner notes she indicates that she thought "Greensleeves" would have been an excellent song for Tom Waits to have recorded. Her treatment is done somewhat in a style she thought Waits might have used.
The film used is The Other Boleyn Girl (2008) directed by Justin Chadwick and starring Natalie Portman as Anne and Scarlett Johansson as her sister, Mary. The editing for this video focuses almost exclusively on Henry's romance and marriage to Anne and her death.