There is always some sort of drama going on in King Henry VIII’s court. In Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light, it’s all about the king’s niece, Lady Margaret Douglas.
Caution: This post contains SPOILERS for Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light
The episode opens in 1529, a year before the death of Cardinal Wolsey. His downfall is coming, and we get to see how quickly Wolsey and Cromwell befriended each other. However, it didn’t matter how much Cromwell liked Wolsey. Henry had his intentions for Wolsey clear in his mind, and it’s a death that Cromwell has had to live with all this time.
Others have also had to live with, including the illegitimate daughter of Wolsey, Dorothea. Cromwell wants to help her, but it’s clear that things were said before Wolsey’s death, and now people are turning against Cromwell. It’s lonely at the top.
Henry VIII wants to set up marriages for his daughter and niece in Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light
For the king, creating political alliances is important in Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light. We can look at this series with 21st century eyes and judge Henry for his words, or we can just accept the time period. I’m choosing to accept the time period. Men cared about how women looked and how young they were. They wanted children, and younger women were better for that. At the same time, political alliances were important for all.
King Henry has two women he can pawn off. The first is his daughter, Lady Mary Tudor, who he will not bring back to court yet. We learn that it will be after Jane Seymour’s coronation, which is sure to help keep those who want Mary back in the line of succession at bay for the time being. Once she’s at court, she can be used politically much more easily.
When Mary learns that she is to be married, she makes it clear that while she doesn’t want it, she promised to obey the king. That’s what she needs to do. There are a lot of thoughts going on in her mind right now, and she wants to be back at court rather than the house that she has been placed in, so she needs to do as the king suggests.
The other lady is Lady Margaret Douglas, Henry’s niece via his older sister Margaret. This is where problems arise. Margaret says that she has married the man she loves, Thomas Howard the Lesser. He’s a younger member of the Howard family line, which the Duke of Norfolk is in charge of. Cromwell makes it clear to Margaret what her secret marriage really means for her.
Margaret is sure that Henry wouldn’t have her imprisoned or executed for her actions. While that may have been the case for the Henry 20 years earlier — he didn’t execute his sister for marrying for love but there was exile for a time — this Henry is different. He’s growing colder and harder, and Cromwell can see that. Margaret’s friend is certainly the smartest of the two, making it clear that Margaret needs to say that nothing happened.
This is going to be a tricky thing.
Cromwell’s enemies start a ploy against him in the Wolf Hall sequel
After the visit with Mary, Cromwell returns home to find out that some of his letters had been stolen. There is one going around that says he was saving Lady Mary for himself and going to marry her. This would be treason, and it’s clear that his enemies are trying to lure him into a position of question with the king.
Cromwell is adamant that he wouldn’t consider that, and I don’t believe he would. He knows how to rise up, and he while he made a promise to Katherine to protect Mary, he wouldn’t do something as reckless as marry her or even speak or write about that.
As a way to protect himself, he goes to the monastery where Cardinal Wolsey’s illegitimate daughter, Dorothea, is. She took her vows at a very young age, and Cromwell shares that he could get her out of those vows to have a life somewhere outside of these walls. After all, there is a lot of fear over what the king will do to the monasteries, and we know what’s to come.
Cromwell shares that he will find Dorothea a good match, and he even offers up himself. They can marry, as Cromwell shares that he is a widower and would like more children. This is a man who doesn’t know how to woo women, clearly. It’s sometimes a wonder he got to where he is now, but that’s what is so endearing about Cromwell’s story.
Dorothea won’t take up Cromwell’s offer, though. She makes it clear that she hates the man, sharing that her father wrote to her when he was taken north under the king’s orders. In those letters, Wolsey told his daughter that he had written to the king, but that Cromwell had prevented those letters from getting to the king.
For years, Cromwell has felt guilt over the way Cromwell’s life ended. The man literally haunts Cromwell now, and he hates the fact that Wolsey believed that Cromwell had betrayed him at the very end. That’s the only explanation for Dorothea’s words — he trusts Dorothea that the letters to her came from Wolsey.
We’re starting to see the fall of Cromwell, as more and more people turn against him. He’s made too many enemies in the rise to the top, and the one enemy he should have gotten rid of — Nolfolk — is still there. We know how history ends, and it’s heartbreaking to see it all play out. I don’t like Cromwell, but that doesn’t mean I can fell something for him in this story.
Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light airs on Sundays at 9/8c on PBS.
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