But in October 1562 the queen nearly died of smallpox, and, faced with the real possibility of a contested succession and a civil war, even rival factions were likely to have countenanced the marriage.
From the party's perspective, such a step is essential even though more orthodox Maoists, of whom there are still a surprising number around, find Mr Jiang's admission of "exploiters" into the party ranks difficult to swallow.China's new leaders, of whatever faction, are likely to pursue Mr Jiang's efforts to woo private business.
For example, the budget still has to survive a second and third vote, and each faction is likely to demand concessions as the price of its continued support.
During the seven months that the shooting war lasted, he could be seen driving with his troops along Avenue U, in Brooklyn, scouting out the social clubs and bars where members of the enemy faction were likely to be found.
Democratic Party sources said such a faction was likely responsible for a recent surge in media leaks on alleged details of an ongoing FBI investigation of the Clinton Foundation.
The 2009 campaign promises to test another hypothesis: that New York has entered a period of post-ethnic politics in which factions are more likely to be glued together by core concerns and beliefs than by where their forefathers happened to come from.
But in a campaign likely to be dominated by a slow-burning nuclear crisis with Iran, the likelihood of a North Korean nuclear test, the kind of eruptions with China that have dominated headlines for the past two weeks and the end of the surge in Afghanistan come September, the internal struggles between the various factions within the Romney campaign are likely to become evident.
It is not clear yet how authorities will respond, partly because there are likely competing government factions at work.
Most Israelis are likely to be dismayed.The two Palestinian factions, bitter rivals for years, have made various desultory efforts to settle their differences.
