In the excellent Wolf Hall, the French (might be wrong, could have been Spanish) ambassador is tricked into attending church, where Anne Bolyn was, and trapped into bowing to her before he could leave. Henry VIII sees this as a victory as she has now been recognized as legitimate.
Why was this enough to consider her legitimate? Wouldn't a gentleman have bowed before any lady of the court? And why would this recognition by an ambassador (not his king) have been enough to be a "victory"? Just TV?
Minor point: the character in question is Eustace Chapuys, the ambassador from the Holy Roman Emperor. It probably has no bearing on the answer, but who knows.