Then it
could be given out she had deserted him, upon which grounds he
might readily obtain a divorce. But the king, though he
permitted such a proposal to be made him, contemplated it with
horror, declaring "it was a wicked thing to make a poor lady
miserable only because she was his wife and had no children by
him, which was no fault of hers."
Ultimately these various schemes resolved themselves into a
proposition which Charles sanctioned. This was that the queen's
confessor should persuade her to leave the world, and embrace a
religious life. Whether this suggestion was ever made to her
majesty is unknown, for the Countess of Castlemaine, hearing of
these schemes, and foreseeing she would be the first sacrificed
to a new queen's jealousy, opposed them with such vigour that
they fell to the ground and were heard of no more. The fact was,
the king took no active part in these designs, not being anxious,
now the Duchess of Richmond had accepted his love, to unite
himself with another wife. Whilst her grace had been unmarried,
the idea had indeed occurred to him of seeking a divorce that he
might be free to lay his crown at the feet of the maid of honour.
And with such a view in mind he had consulted Dr. Sheldon,
Archbishop of Canterbury, as to whether the Church of England
"would allow of a divorce, when both parties were consenting, and
one of them lay under a natural incapacity of having children."
Before answering a question on which so much depended, the
archbishop requested time for consideration, which, with many
injunctions to secrecy, was allowed him.
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