Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light episode 2 introduces us to Lady Margaret Douglas, niece of King Henry VIII. In the episode, Thomas Cromwell needs to investigate claims that she is seeing Thomas Howard the Younger, only to learn that the two are married.
Caution: This post contains some SPOILERS for Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light
During the episode, Margaret is quick to point out that nothing can be done to break her and Thomas apart. They are married in all sense of the law, and she notes that her friends, Mary Fitzroy, was a witness to that. Well, Mary is not on board with this idea, as she can see what will happen to Margaret should Henry learn of all this.
What was the problem with Margaret marrying Thomas in Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light?
This marriage would have created a lot of problems for King Henry VIII. The first issue is that women of her stature would have been used as political pawns. Henry had every right to agree to or forbid a marriage, as he needed to use Margaret as a way to form alliances in Europe. It was the same with Lady Mary.
For Thomas Cromwell and others who had worked on bringing down Anne Boleyn, there was another issue. Thomas Howard was part of the same family as Anne Boleyn. The elder Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, was the one plotting behind the scenes to get his family in powerful positions. It started with Mary Boleyn becoming a mistress to Henry, then it went onto Anne to become a wife, and later the young Katherine Howard would become Queen of England for a short period of time.
Yes, this relationship happened in real life
Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light brings a lot of real history to the forefront of the story. This is one of those storylines. Margaret Douglas and Thomas Howard were in love. In fact, historians believe that this was a genuine relationship, and the two ended up paying a price for that. They were both imprisoned in the Tower of London.
Thomas Howard didn’t fare too well while he was imprisoned. He got an illness and would eventually die from that, which wasn’t all that unusual for the time period.
Margaret was lucky. She eventually realized that the best thing to do would be to renounce her claims of a relationship. Eventually, she was allowed to marry under the orders of King Henry VIII, and she would go on to become the grandmother of James VI of Scotland/I of England — interestingly enough, Margaret’s brother, James V of Scotland, was the grandfather of James VI on his mother’s side.
Margaret did struggle with the Protestant world, though. She prospered under Mary I, but would struggle with Elizabeth I, especially after arranging a marriage between her son Henry Stuart and the Scottish Queen, Mary.
Sadly for Margaret, she died rather poor and cut off from those who she helped to rise up in power. She was even written out of the line of succession to the Scottish throne and inheritance by her father, which caused problems. We won’t see all that come to pass in Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light, but I would love to see a Margaret Douglas story created.
Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light airs on Sundays at 9/8c on PBS.
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