ld, but beneath the surface every one knew
that a tragedy lurked,[109] for unless a son was born to Anne her doom was
sealed. Henry had asserted his mastership in his own realm and had defied
Christendom. He had found that his subjects, however sulkily, had accepted
his action without open revolt; and that Charles, notwithstanding the
insult to his house, was still speaking softly through his ambassadors. If
a great princess like Katharine could thus be repudiated without disaster
to his realm, it would indeed be easy for him to cast away "that noughty
pake, Nan Bullen," if she failed to satisfy his desire for a son. But in
the meanwhile it was necessary for him to secure, so far as he could, the
succession of his new daughter, since Cranmer's decision had rendered
Mary, Princess of Wales, of whom her father had been so proud,
illegitimate. Accordingly, immediately after the child Elizabeth was
christened, heralds proclaimed in the King's name that Princess Mary was
thenceforward to lose her title and pre-eminence, the badge upon her
servants' coats being replaced by the arms of the King, and the baby Lady
Elizabeth was to be recognised as the King's only legitimate heir and
Princess of Wales. In vain the imperial ambassador protested and talked to
Cromwell of possible war, in which England might be ruined, which Cromwell
admitted but reminded him that the Emperor would not benefit thereby; in
vain Katharine from her retirement at Buckden urged Chapuys and the
Emperor to patronise Reginald Pole as a possible threat to Henry; in vain
Princess Mary herself, in diplomatic language, told her father that he
might give her what title he liked, but that she herself would never admit
her illegitimacy or her mother's repudiation; in vain Bishop Fisher and
Chapuys counselled the invasion of England and the overturn of Henry:
Cromwell knew that there was no drawing back for him, and that the
struggle must go on now to the bitter end.

Anne with the birth of her daughter became more insolent and exacting than
ever. Nothing would satisfy her but the open degradation of Katharine and
her daughter, and Henry in this respect seems to have had no spark of
generous or gentlemanly feeling. Irritated by what he considered the
disobedience of his wife and child, and doubtless also by their constant
recourse for support and advice to the Emperor's ambassador against him,
he dismissed Mary's household and ordered her to go to Hatfield and serve