But in fact, when Edward dies two years later, Harold does not hesitate to accept the witan's choosing of him as Edward's successor. Your letters and emissaries are ignored or answered with polite denials that he owes you anything: he is not your man in England, only in Normandy. "Tell William to be content with the power God has granted him," is advice Harold is reported to have offered you.
You have no excuse to invade England: her king is a good son of holy church, willing to cooperate with Rome in reforming the schismatic tendencies into which the English clergy have been slipping for many years. All that you have is the promise of a dead man as your sole justification to wage war on a Christian realm. Later in the year, after Harold defeats a mighty Norse invasion of his kingdom, his reputation is so high that you could not raise an army to attack him if your soul depended on it.
History remembers you as a powerful duke and competent warrior, but the epithet "the Conqueror" (which some of your more sychophantic courtiers have begun to attach to your name) does not outlive you.