Perhaps Wolsey thought it was a matter with which he need not concern himself overmuch. The King was younger than he was, and it was plausible to think that he would be dead long before such a contingency arose.
And so he passed on his ceremonious way to France.
The Court and Blackfriars
TIME WAS PASSING. Wolsey was making progress in France but he was no nearer to bringing about the freedom of the Pope.
Henry wrote impatiently. I saw the letter. It accused the Cardinal of not giving his full attention to the matter uppermost in the King's mind.
Wolsey replied that he was straining every effort. François was sympathetic and Wolsey believed that he would welcome a union with the Princess Renée.
My father came to see me. He now regarded me in a very different light. He looked at me with some wonder and called me “dear daughter.”
I was skeptical of his sudden affection for me. Of course I was carrying on the tradition of the Boleyn family, which had forced a few roots into society through the women of the house. I was about to follow the tradition—but in a much more spectacular fashion than any of my predecessors.
I wanted to laugh at him.
“My dear daughter,” he said, “you look in good health.”
“You too, my lord,” I replied coolly.
“This is a most exciting project we have on our hands. The King has told me of his feelings for you.”
“So I have found favor in your sight, my lord?”
“My dear child. I always knew that you, of all my brood, were the one with special talents.”
“Mary had some excellent talents,” I reminded him.
“Ah, your sister Mary… she was always a fool. Well, she reaped her folly. There she is… living humbly with Carey. He will never make a name for himself.”
“Except as the husband of the King's one-time mistress.”
He laughed, rather sycophantically, which amused me.
“It is you we have to think of.”
“I can think for myself.”
“I am sure you can. But the King is most put out. He thinks Wolsey is dilatory about this Secret Matter.”
“He has a big task before him.”
“I don't trust Wolsey. At this moment he is trying to make an agreement with the King of France for the Princess Renée. If he knew the King's true mind, I cannot imagine what he would do.”
“Surely he would do as the King commanded him.”
“He is a wily creature. I would not trust him. And the King has a special feeling for him. He has been talking to me. He is very uneasy about his relationship with Mary.”
“That is over.”
“But the King has qualms. He is wondering whether his intimacy with Mary might be an obstacle to his marriage with you… due to the fact that you are her sister.”
“You mean… the closeness of the relationship?”
“It is natural that His Grace should want everything to be indisputable. He wants to get a dispensation on account of Mary. He has talked of it with George and me. Wolsey has plans for setting up a papal government in Avignon over which he, Wolsey, would have full powers. This is to last just during the Pope's captivity. He could then give sanction to the divorce, but before he could do this he would have to have the agreement of the Pope. He did not think it would be an insuperable task to smuggle a man into the Castle of St. Angelo to get the Pope's agreement to this scheme. The King does not think it a good idea. It is all too slow. He wants to send an ambassador, and he has chosen Dr. Knight. He is going out ostensibly to meet Wolsey and assist him, but in fact he has a secret document with him with which he will ask for a dispensation on account of the King's relationship with Mary.”
Everything seemed to go against us. We discovered later that Wolsey's spies had searched Knight's bags before he joined him, and therefore the King's true intentions were revealed to him. This naturally made his position in France untenable. The King had betrayed him to such an extent that he was negotiating with the King of France for a marriage with the Princess Renée when all the time he was determined to marry me.
Wolsey had no alternative but to return home.
I daresay he was a very worried man. For the first time he did not have the King's confidence. The King was working against him, keeping him in the dark, which put Wolsey in an impossible position.
We were at Richmond Palace when he arrived back.
I was with Henry and a few of our special friends—my father, George, Francis Bryan, Weston, Surrey and several others.
One of the Cardinal's servants came into the palace and was brought at once to the King.
“The Cardinal is on his way, Your Grace,” said the man. “He comes straight from France and would know where Your Grace will receive him.”
I knew that Wolsey wanted to see the King alone. I was very suspicious of Wolsey. I could never forget that he had called me a foolish girl unworthy to mate with Northumberland, and because of that I always felt that I wanted to show him my power.
I said boldly: “Where should the Cardinal see the King but where the King is?”
There was silence throughout the company. I had been over-bold. But I was sure of myself.
Henry nodded and did not answer.
So Wolsey came to him there… where we all were, and the look of amazement on his face when he saw how he was received was pitiful indeed.
He seemed to change in that moment. He looked like an old, tired man who had failed in his mission.
I think Henry was aware of his dismay and despair, and he had a true affection for Wolsey.
He said gently: “Well, Thomas?”
Wolsey bowed. Then he looked straight at me. I wondered whether he read the triumph in my eyes.
They were difficult months to live through. There was frustration at every turn. Wolsey's position was growing more and more uncertain. Henry told me that, when he had confessed to him his true intentions, Wolsey had pleaded with him to abandon me and consider Renée of France.
“I told him that in no circumstances would I.”
“He has always hated me,” I said.
“No, sweetheart. He is a good servant. He is afraid that if it is known that I wish to marry you no one will believe the question of divorce has arisen because of my doubts about the legality of my marriage with Katharine. They will say it is because of my desire for you.”
I felt exasperation rising in me. That was the reason… but he would not accept it. He wanted his actions to be seen as selfless, a desire to right a wrong. But at least between ourselves surely he could admit the truth? But he could not do that. Sometimes I thought it was impossible to reason with such a man.
When I look back, I see how foolish I was. I should never have allowed my desire to take revenge on Wolsey overcome my common sense. I should have taken more care in my attitude to those about me. I should have remembered Queen Katharine's gentleness, her dignity, her religious life, the fact that she had never wittingly done harm to anyone, which had made her many friends. They closed in around her now that she was in trouble.
One who greatly resented me was the King's sister, Mary, whom I had accompanied to France when I was a little girl. She was at the Court often with her husband, the Duke of Suffolk. Because of the King's Secret Matter, doubts were being raised all around; and there had been some hints that due to Suffolk's previous marriage to Margaret Mortymer, the widow whose defunct husband had been Suffolk's grandfather's brother, his marriage to the King's sister might not be valid. This may have given Mary a special sympathy with Katharine. However, the two were great friends and Mary showed her resentment that one who had been her maid of honor should now aspire to be Queen of England.