by Jane Caro
FRANCOIS DE LORRAINE, DUKE OF GUISE (1519–1563)
A powerful French nobleman and politician, he was the brother of Mary of Guise and so uncle to her only daughter, Mary, Queen of Scots.
CHARLES DE LORRAINE, CARDINAL OF LORRAINE (1524–1574)
Powerful and controversial as a churchman, he was the brother of Mary of Guise and so uncle to Mary, Queen of Scots. Between them, he and his older brother the Duke of Guise were powerful allies for their niece.
GABRIEL, COMTE DE MONTGOMERY (1530–1574)
The captain of Henry II’s Scots Guards, he mortally wounded the king in a jousting accident.
CATHERINE DE MEDICI, QUEEN OF FRANCE (1519–1589)
One of the most powerful women of the period, Catherine de Medici only achieved real power once her husband Henry II died. While he was alive, he relegated her to constant childrearing (she had ten children). After his death, she became the power behind the throne for three of her sons.
JEAN DE SIMIER, BARON DE SAINT MARC (unknown)
The Duke of Anjou’s great friend and master of his wardrobe, he was sent to England to woo Elizabeth I on his master’s behalf.
FRANCOIS, DUKE OF ANJOU AND ALENCON (1555–1584)
The youngest son of Henry II and Catherine de Medici, he was the last of Elizabeth I’s serious suitors, and was briefly the leader of the Netherlands. His early death meant that the Huguenot Henry of Navarre became heir to the throne of France.
GASPARD II DE COLIGNY (1519–1572)
The leader of the French Huguenots, it was his attempted assassination that triggered the St Bartholomew’s Day massacre, in which he was also murdered.
DIANE DE POITIERS (1499–1566)
Beloved mistress and confidant of Henry II, Diane de Poitiers wielded great influence while her lover was alive. She ended her life in the exquisite Chateau de Chenonceau.
HENRY III, KING OF FRANCE (1551–1589)
The fourth son of Henry II and Catherine de Medici, he was not expected to inherit the throne and was briefly King of Poland, a position he renounced when he inherited the throne of France. He died leaving no heir and so precipitated the wars of succession and the end of the House of Valois.
CHARLES IX OF FRANCE (1550–1574)
The third son of Henry II and Catherine de Medici, he was king during the St Bartholomew’s Day massacre which followed the wedding of his sister Margaret of Valois to the Huguenot Henry of Navarre. He died with no heir and was succeeded by his brother Henry III.
COURT OF SCOTLAND
MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS (1542–1587)
She came to the throne of France aged only six days on the death of her father James V. Brought up in France as the fiancée to the Dauphin, she was briefly queen consort of France as the wife of Francois II. Her second husband, her cousin Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, died under suspicious circumstances, precipitating her fall from power. Her third husband, the Earl of Bothwell, was widely believed to be her second husband’s assassin. She spent the last twenty years of her life as the prisoner of Elizabeth I and was executed in 1587. She was the mother of James VI of Scotland who, on succeeding Elizabeth I, became James I of England, uniting the two countries.
JAMES HEPBURN, 4th EARL OF BOTHWELL (1534–1578)
Widely regarded as an ambitious scoundrel, he had three wives, the last being Mary, Queen of Scots. He is believed to have orchestrated the murder of her second husband, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. He fled Scotland when Mary lost her throne and he died, insane, in a dungeon in Denmark.
MARY OF GUISE, QUEEN OF SCOTLAND (1515–1560)
The French second wife of James V, she was the mother of Mary, Queen of Scots. She was a formidable political strategist and served as regent of Scotland in her daughter’s name from 1554 until 1560.
SIR WILLIAM MAITLAND OF LETHINGTON (1525–1573)
An astute politician and diplomat, he was Mary, Queen of Scots’ ambassador to Elizabeth I’s court. He was involved in the murder of David Rizzio, but managed to regain Mary’s favour. He married one of her most faithful attendants, Mary Fleming.
SIR JAMES MELVILLE OF HALHILL (1535–1617)
A diplomat and memoirist, he was sent by Mary, Queen of Scots to reconcile her cousin, Elizabeth I, to her marriage to another cousin, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley.
HENRY STUART, LORD DARNLEY (1545–1567)
Grandson of Margaret Tudor, Henry VIII’s elder sister, he was first cousin to both Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots. He was Mary’s second husband and king consort until his murder. He was the father of Mary’s only son, James VI of Scotland and James I of England.
DAVID RIZZIO (1533–1566)
Italian courtier and musician, he was Mary, Queen of Scots’ secretary. He was so intimate with Mary that her husband, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, became jealous and joined a Protestant conspiracy to murder Rizzio. He died at the pregnant queen’s feet.
JAMES VI OF SCOTLAND and I OF ENGLAND (1566–1625)
The only son of Mary, Queen of Scots, he came to the throne of Scotland aged thirteen months after his mother had been forced to abdicate. In 1603 he also inherited the English throne after Elizabeth I’s death, uniting the thrones of Scotland and England and beginning the Stuart dynasty.
JAMES STUART, 1st EARL OF MORAY (1531–1570)
The illegitimate son of James V and half brother to Mary, Queen of Scots, he became Regent of Scotland on the accession of the infant James VI.
PATRICK GRAY, 6th LORD GRAY, MASTER OF GRAY (unknown–1612)
A favourite of James VI, he played a double game with the young king, working secretly to keep Mary, Queen of Scots in gaol. James sent him to Elizabeth I to plead for Mary’s life.
OTHERS
PHILIP II OF SPAIN (1527–1598)
One time brother-in-law to Elizabeth I via his marriage to Mary Tudor, he was one of the most powerful monarchs of his time. At first her suitor, he eventually became her most feared adversary.
CHARLES II, ARCHDUKE OF AUSTRIA (1540–1590)
Erstwhile suitor of both Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots, he eventually married Maria Anna of Bavaria and had fifteen children.
ROBERTO DI RIDOLFI (1531–1612)
An Italian banker living in London, he was the chief architect of the plot to marry Mary, Queen of Scots to the Duke of Norfolk and place her on the English throne. He escaped retribution by fleeing to Paris.
SAINT EDMUND CAMPION (1540–1581)
An English Jesuit priest who was executed for high treason. He was canonised in 1970 as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.
JOHN BALLARD (unknown–1586)
English Jesuit priest executed for his part in the Babington plot to assassinate Elizabeth I.
CHRISTINE DE PIZAN (1364–1430)
An Italian French author, her most famous works were The book of the city of the ladies and The treasure of the city of the ladies.
Author’s Note
Like its predecessor Just a Girl, Just a Queen is a novel, not a biography. This gives me special privileges. I can invent conversations, thoughts and feelings to give life to my characters and (hopefully) make them feel as vivid as they did in their real lives. As an avid fan of this period of history and of Elizabeth Tudor herself, what I have not done, however, is invent any characters, major events or incidences.
There has been no need to do so. Elizabeth Tudor – as a neglected princess in Just a Girl and a powerful queen in Just a Queen – lived an exciting life in very turbulent times. What happens within these pages actually happened; how those involved reacted to these events, however, I have imagined. Occasionally, where appropriate, I have even used their own words, although I have simplified the language to make their meaning more accessible to the modern reader.
The driving force behind these two books has been my own curiosity about how it must
have felt to be Elizabeth Tudor. In Just a Girl, I explored Elizabeth’s early life, from birth to coronation, a time when she lived in real fear for her safety. In Just a Queen, Elizabeth is still in danger but is now much better protected due to her status as monarch. This second volume is really an exploration of what it must have been like for a woman – an unmarried woman – to wield power in such a patriarchal society.
It is also, of course, an exploration of the fatal rivalry between Elizabeth I and her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots. But, as it is Elizabeth who tells us her story, Mary is always seen through her eyes. I leave it to another novelist to bring this equally fascinating female figure to life.
As a novelist I owe a particular debt to the historians and biographers on whose brilliant books I have relied to research my story. I owe a special debt to Alison Plowden’s biography Elizabeth I (Sutton Publishing Ltd, 2004) and Peter Ackroyd’s Tudors: the history of England volume II (Pan Macmillan, 2012). Their attention to detail, lively writing and different perspectives meant their books were the ones I turned to over and over. However, all the books mentioned in the bibliography have had an influence on this novel. If reading Just a Queen has awakened a further interest in Elizabeth Tudor and Mary Stuart, the books listed in the bibliography would be a great place for you to start learning more.
Bibliography
Ackroyd, Peter, 2012, Tudors: the history of England volume II, Pan Macmillan, London.
Borman, Tracy, 2009, Elizabeth’s women: the hidden story of the Virgin Queen, Vintage, London.
De Lisle, Leanda, 2014, Tudor: the family story, Vintage, London.
Dunn, Jane, 2003, Elizabeth and Mary: cousins, rivals, queens, Flamingo, London.
Gristwood, Sarah, 2007, Elizabeth and Leicester, Bantam Books, London.
Hutchison, Robert, 2009, House of treason: the rise and fall of a Tudor dynasty, Phoenix, London.
Jenkins, Elizabeth, 2000, Elizabeth the great, Phoenix, London.
Johnson, Paul, 1974, Elizabeth I: a study in power and intellect, Weidenfeld & Nicholson, London.
Lovell, Mary S, 2005, Bess of Hardwick: first lady of Chatsworth, Abacus, Great Britain.
Martyn, Trea, 2008, Elizabeth in the garden, Faber & Faber, London.
Plowden, Alison, 2004, Elizabeth I, Sutton Publishing Ltd, Great Britain.
Porter, Linda, 2013, Crown of thistles: the fatal inheritance of Mary Queen of Scots, Pan Books, London.
Shapiro, James, 2005, 1599: a year in the life of William Shakespeare, Faber & Faber, London.
Tillyard, EMW, 1943, The Elizabethan world picture, Chatto & Windus, London.
Weir, Alison, 2009, Elizabeth the queen, Vintage Books, London.
Acknowledgements
When I first had the idea of writing a trilogy of novels about the life of Elizabeth Tudor told in her voice, a friend called it a big, hairy, audacious goal. There is no doubt he was right, given that I had never written a novel before I embarked on this adventure.
No one was more astonished than I was, therefore, when Kristina Schulz from UQP accepted the first instalment, Just a Girl, about Elizabeth’s early life and published it in 2011.
I was even more delighted when UQP commissioned the second instalment Just a Queen. Moreover, they waited patiently while I took the time I needed to research and write the story of how Elizabeth Tudor eventually did what she had always said she would not do – execute an anointed queen. I owe all the people at UQP an enormous debt: Kristina Schulz and Madonna Duffy for taking a punt on me twice, and Michele Perry and Kristy Bushnell who took over supervision of my writing journey while Kristina was on maternity leave (welcome Thomas). Meredene Hill has been a constantly warm, encouraging and efficient presence as my first novel’s publicist. I have literally lost count of the number of promotional gigs she organised for me to promote Just a Girl. It is largely due to her efforts that the book has been reprinted.
Thank you also to Georgia Blain, a novelist I admire, for her sympathetic and imaginative reading of the manuscript and her generous endorsement. The judgement of your peers always means a great deal.
For a second time, I owe a major debt to my superb editor Mark Macleod, who cheerfully took on both of these novels and wrangled them into much better shape than I could ever have managed on my own. And, of course, I owe everything to my husband Ralph and daughters Polly and Charlotte who are unfailing in their love, support, humour and encouragement.
I am also very grateful to everyone who read Just a Girl. It is entirely due to you that this second instalment exists at all. It will also be up to you if I get to write the third book and so fully achieve my original big, hairy, audacious goal.
Fingers crossed.
First published 2015 by University of Queensland Press
PO Box 6042, St Lucia, Queensland 4067 Australia
www.uqp.com.au
[email protected]
© Jane Caro 2015
This book is copyright. Except for private study, research,
criticism or reviews, as permitted under the Copyright Act,
no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior
written permission. Enquiries should be made to the publisher.
Cover design by Jo Hunt
Cover photograph © Viona Ielegems / Trevillion Images
Author photograph by David Hahn
Typeset in 11/16 pt ITC Galliard by Post Pre-press Group, Brisbane
Printed in Australia by McPherson’s Printing Group, Melbourne
Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
National Library of Australia
http://catalogue.nla.gov.au
Caro, Jane, author.
Just a queen / Jane Caro.
ISBN 978 0 7022 5362 1 (pbk)
ISBN 978 0 7022 5509 0 (pdf)
ISBN 978 0 7022 5510 6 (epub)
ISBN 978 0 7022 5511 3 (kindle)
Elizabeth I, Queen of England, 1533–1603 – Fiction.
Mary, Queen of Scots, 1542–1587 – Fiction.
Queens – Great Britain – Biography – Fiction.
Great Britain – History – Elizabeth, 1558–1603 – Fiction.
A823.4
University of Queensland Press uses papers that are natural, renewable and recyclable products made from wood grown in sustainable forests. The logging and manufacturing processes conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin.