The Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk also lined up against Wolsey, it seems that the Cardinal’s failure to achieve an annulment further provoked powerful enemies, who threatened Wolsey’s ability to maintain favour with the king. Throughout his time as chief Minister Wolsey had angered many important figures and noblemen, they resented his lavish lifestyle and thought his attitude to his own importance was insulting towards the king, Henry VIII had a very good relationship with the nobles, his closest friends were nobles and he enjoyed playing sports with them, suggesting that when Wolsey’s relationship with the nobility became strained, the king would not want to risk his own relationship with them over it, and therefore threatening the power of Wolsey, who relied on keeping the king’s favour by doing as he wished, to subsequently remain Cardinal and have as much influence over the King as he previously had.
Wolsey was always aware that his survival depended on keeping the kings favour, in 1515-27 he had successfully limited the influence that others could have over the King, including his own wife Catherine of Aragon, and even she resented this. But his main rival was Anne Boleyn, who was partly the reason for the King to wish for an annulment to his marriage, this along with the fact that Anne’s political allies were the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk, suggests that if Wolsey had not failed to achieve an annulment then he would not have been the guilty party for every setback, showing that Wolsey’s failure to achieve annulment was greatly important to his fall in power.
On the other hand, both Wolsey and Anne fought to get their ‘own men’ into the privy chamber hoping to monopolise influence over the king, when Henry favoured Anne’s candidate for the position of Abbess of Wilton, Wolsey claimed to be unaware of the King’s wishes, which was not a suitable excuse for a man who was meant to be the King’s Chief Minister, suggesting that even before the annulment Wolsey’s relationship with the King was being strained, the nexus of power was changing, and Wolsey was increasingly under the spotlight, he was not impressing the King, and without the Henry’s favour, he would not have as much influence nor position. Furthermore, from 1925, Wolsey began to lose access to the King in terms of influence and communication, the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk even before his failure to achieve annulment, in Wolsey’s absence Henry confronted them on issues, and began to avoid consulting Wolsey himself on policy altogether, subsequently showing that the increasingly important role was clearly becoming more threatening Wolsey’s ability to maintain the favour of the King.
Similarly, Wolsey’s time away from the King, organising foreign affairs seems to have dampened his relationship with Henry, just when his closeness to the King was necessary Wolsey had been forced to search for a new treaty with France in 1527, he was away from court and away from the King, therefore unable to influence him, nor stop others from attempting to influence him. To add to this, the cardinal’s unpopularity was growing rapidly, many people did not want a treaty with France, and later in 1529 when England became isolated after a treaty was signed between the French and the pope, it left many pointing the finger at Wolsey, subsequently straining his relationship with the King, and causing more dislike, reducing his power and the King’s willingness to delegate tasks to him, after all why would the king delegate responsibility to the Cardinal if he was not going to achieve the overall aim, Wolsey had successfully managed to put England in an extremely weak position, angering the King, and therefore causing a weak sense of trust. The cardinal was forced to accept sole responsibility for the failure of the Amicable Grant and the benevolent tax designed to raise money for Charles V, even without a failure in achieving annulment, Wolsey’s relationship with Henry VIII had weakened, and without a strong relationship with the king, he would find himself in a very weak position.
Overall, although Wolsey’s failure to get annulment was quite important in causing his fall in power, it was not the most important issue, the Cardinal needed the trust and favour of the King to achieve anything, and without it, the King would not delegate power to Wolsey as he would first need to prove that he could achieve the King’s demands. Failure to achieve annulment was not the first time Wolsey had failed in achieving the King’s desires, the Cardinal had successfully managed to isolate England, and lose valuable monies, which subsequently weakened his relationship with Henry and lead him to be less inclined to confide in or ask Wolsey to do anything, furthermore, Wolsey became less and less popular with both society and the nobles, who Henry also needed to please, as a consequence, the King would be less likely to be as close to Wolsey in fear of society and the nobles disliking him, this may also be a reason why Henry VIII decided to distance himself from the Cardinal and delegate less power to him.