It made a degree of sense there, though. Kinda, sorta. I think it had the claim that England was going with their ancient rights and that the King always had authority over the church. Ignoring when King John made himself a vassal of the Pope. Thinking back to Henry II, his kids, and the French though... Yah, that was the end of the Angevin Empire, wasn't it? Helped a,long by French bullying. There is an idea (though it might be from a timeline I read). What if England claimed it was an empire? Because of Henry saying he was King of France and England and had the Irish and Scots as vassals. Then he could technically become Protestant and take the authority the Spanish and French had in their domains over appointing bishops and deciding whether or not they could leave the country. Come to think of it though, England and France never gave up their claims to each other, did they? Though more focus was put upon being Duke of Normandy after that one successful invasion.I read a really weird ATL where - as it turns out - Elizabeth takes a third option when she became Queen (ITTL Mary married Philip II of Spain, of all people!) and decides to placate both hardline Protestants and lukewarm reformers by retaining church hierarchy even with a clean break with Rome and some doctrinal differences.
Guess even in ATLs England can't get TOO Protestant.![]()