The Mirror & the Light

Meg Douglas is King Henry’s niece. She becomes engaged in secret—without the king’s permission—to Tom Truth (Norfolk’s brother). She and Tom Truth also say they are married. Cromwell prosecutes the engagement as a seditious act because Meg Douglas is in line for the throne, and Tom Truth’s marriage to her could be interpreted as an attempt to put himself closer to the throne. Ultimately, Tom Truth dies of illness in prison, while Meg Douglas is sent to an abbey. Later, when Cromwell is arrested and charged with treason, his interrogators accuse him of treating Meg Douglas mercifully so that she would be in his debt and possibly provide him with an avenue, through marriage, that he could use to get to the throne.