 He made the fatal mistake of hesitating when the king asked him to look to a solution to end the marriage.Taking advantage of the king's marital discontent and Thomas Cromwell's hesitation over the divorce, Gardiner and the Norfolk together came up with a plan to bring down the Earl of Essex.Norfolk used his pretty young niece, Catherine Howard, at court, to distract the king; and while Henry VIII was distracted, he and Gardiner plotted their rival's demise.