On one side of him, Anne Boleyn pleaded and cried, threatening to withhold her favor forever, which drove mad a man accustomed to having everything he desired. On the other side were Henry’s son and Bess—a ready-made family, taunting his heart and his conscience with a choice of lust or love. “It is true, sire, if you were to marry the Lady Tailbois, it would give legitimacy to the Duke of Richmond and ease him, with no difficulty should you choose, into the line of succession,” Thomas Cromwell cautiously advised. “And Mistress Anne is still most unpopular with the people.” Since the disgrace and death of Cardinal Wolsey, and the death of another confidant, the Earl of Essex before that, and with Brandon and Mary living away from court much of the time, Henry now relied almost exclusively upon Cromwell to help him navigate the turbulent waters of divorce, annulment, and excommunication—not only with Rome, but with his conscience.
