Cromwell himself had no doubts about the answer, as was starkly revealed in a private argument with Cranmer, who took the opposite view.4 The two men’s disagreement nicely demonstrates their different priorities. Cranmer was solicitous for Henry’s personal happiness, as a royal chaplain should be. He said he did not wish to see the King ‘marry without [outside] the realm’. The Archbishop ‘thought it most expedient the King to marry where that he had his fantasy and love, for that would be most comfort for his Grace’. Cromwell snapped back furiously, ‘There was none meet for him within this
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