The Reluctant Queen

by Виктория Холт

  This was a revelation which must have sent a shock through the country. My father was unprepared for it; but he made a quick decision. He must return to England.

  With my mother and Isabel I went to Warwick Castle while my father with his followers rode to London, accompanied by the Duke of Clarence.

  We were bewildered. We did not know what was happening. Isabel was most distressed: she complained that she had been torn from her husband so soon after they were married and she could not understand why this had been necessary.

  None of us knew what it meant, but we did hear that the people had given our father and the Duke of Clarence a warm welcome. They believed that they had returned to England because there was trouble in the north, and between the Earl of Warwick and the king, the trouble would soon be dealt with. It was quite clear that they had no notion at this stage that there was such deep-rooted trouble between Edward and my father.

  However, we were concerned with settling in and it was not very long after we returned when Isabel announced that she was pregnant.

  She was delighted though somewhat apprehensive.

  "George wants a son." she said.

  "I am sure we shall have lots. Why look! We have not been married long and already one is on the way." My mother was delighted and there was little talk of anything else but the coming baby.

  Isabel settled down to enjoy the fuss which I think helped to compensate her for the loss of George.

  Sometimes during those days I wondered what was happening and whether the king had made friends with my father and Clarence and whether they had put down the rising in the north. Occasionally there were visitors and they would bring a little news. We allowed ourselves to believe that the relationship between the king and our family had returned to normal. True, the king could not have liked to hear of Clarence's marriage, since he had forbidden it: but it was done and the king was not one to hold grudges; he must be the most easy-going man in the kingdom, so therefore it was reasonable to suppose that all was now well. After all, that was what we wanted to believe.

  Meanwhile Isabel had passed out of the first stages of pregnancy and her condition was becoming obvious. My mother was constantly supervising the ladies and we were all making clothes for the baby. We heard how Isabel and I had come into the world and what a blessing we had been; and the greatest joy a woman could have was to bear a child.

  It was all very cosy and comforting and Isabel, being at the centre of it, revelled in it.

  Then certain items of news filtered through to us and they caused a shiver of alarm. Robin of Redesdale was proving to be no insignificant leader. He was surrounded by determined men and it was startling to learn that all the leaders of the expedition were connected with the House of Neville. There was my father's nephew, Sir Henry Fitzhugh, his cousin Henry Neville and Robin himself, Sir John Conyers, who had married one of the Neville girls. Their main grievance was that the king had estranged the great lords of the land for the sake of the low-born, insignificant Woodvilles who had sought to rule to the country's detriment.

  Isabel had lapsed into contentment and did not want to consider anything that might disrupt it. She was sure the king would accept her marriage. Considering the fortune she was bringing to her husband, how could the king complain about the daughter of Warwick not being a worthy match for his brother when he himself had married most unwisely a woman of no standing and fortune?

  Each day she looked for Clarence's return. She wanted to talk to him about the baby.

  So the weeks passed and after a while we were lulled into a sense of security: and then one day a company of men came riding to the castle. They had been with the army and they were Warwick men, for the badges of the Ragged Staff were prominently displayed.

  It transpired that they were on the way to join my father's armyand it was during supper when we sat at the big table with our mother that Isabel and I heard what was happening. It was a terrible shock, for we realised that our father was at war against the king.

  "It was at the Battle of Edgecot that the Earl of Pembroke was captured, my lady." said the captain.

  "My lord Warwick was not present, but we met the victors at Northampton later. It was on the earl's orders that he lost his head."

  "Who lost his head?" asked my mother faintly.

  "The Earl of Pembroke, my lady, and the Earl of Devon was killed."

  My mother was aghast. She knew that my father hated those men. They were his enemies and blatant adherents of the Woodvilles; they were of that clique which had surrounded the king and lured him away from the influence of Warwick. There were greater shocks to come.

  "So that was the end of Pembroke and his brother," went on the captain.

  "But the real prize was Lord Rivers and his son, Sir John Woodville, and they were taken in Wales and beheaded at Kenilworth."

  The queen's father and her brother!" cried my mother in dismay.

  "And on the earl's orders!"

  "It is the Woodvilles this war is all about, my lady. What a prize that was!" I had rarely seen my mother so distressed, although she made an effort to hide it from the guests.

  I kept thinking about her and when she had retired for the night I went along to her chamber. She was on her knees in prayer and I stood for a moment in silence watching her.

  She was aware of me but she did not turn round immediately. Then she said: "Anne, my daughter, what are you doing here?"

  "Oh, my lady mother, you are very unhappy. I wanted to be with you."

  She stood up and I ran to her. She put her arms about me and held me close.

  "I am afraid, Anne. What does this mean!" I said slowly: "It means that my father is at war with the king." They were killed on his orders. The queen is a hard woman. She loves her family. Everything she has done has been to promote them. She would destroy those who stand in her way ... but to her own she gives everything. And they have killed her father... her brother "I think, my lady, that she will want revenge."

  "What will become of us? My dearest daughter, what will become of everything?"

  "My father is very strong, my lady. He will overcome all our enemies.

  "You are right, my child. Stay with me. Let us pray together."

  Events were taking a dramatic turn and I was no longer outside them looking on.

  The change came one day when I was in one of the turrets and saw in the distance a large party of riders. They were, of course, coming to the castle. I ran down calling to my mother.

  She was already aware of the arrival.

  "Your father has come," she said.

  We were in the courtyard when my father rode up and there was someone riding with him, a tall regal figure. I stared. I could not be mistaken. No one else was as tall and commanding in appearance. It could only be the king, He had dismounted, my father with him. My mother was about to kneel but the king put his hand on her shoulder and kissed her cheek.

  "My lord ..." began my mother.

  The king has come to visit us for a while," said my father.

  The king smiled and said what a pleasure it was to see the beautiful countess and her charming daughter.

  "I do not see my dear sister-in-law."

  "She is resting, my lord. Her condition."

  The king raised his eyebrows and said: "What good news! My brother is indeed a fortunate man."

  Preparations for the arrivals were already in progress. The servants always went into action at the first appearance of visitors.

  My father led the king into the hall. That something strange was going on was apparent. There was about my father a certain triumphant air. And where were the Icing's attendants? But the king was smiling and affable, as though there was nothing unusual in arriving thus. There was one chamber in the castle which was kept for royal visitors and here the king was installed. Through the castle there was that excitement which a royal visit always generated; but this was something different. Why had we not been warned?

  It was some days be
fore I realised that the king was my father's prisoner.

  It was all so bewildering. We were in the dark, groping through it for understanding, and it was not until much later that I learned from Richard what had really happened. Richard spoke of it even then with great resentment.

  The king had been marching northwards to quell the rebellion when news of the defeat at Edgecot reached him; and when the army knew what had happened they deserted in large numbers, with the result that the king found himself alone apart from a few friends Richard among them. They were at Olney when George Neville arrived.

  "He did not come as an archbishop," said Richard when he told me of this, "but in armour. I was with my brother and I feared what this meant, for I knew that my brother was conspiring with your father and had done so ever since he married your sister Isabel. I had a feeling that George meant Edward no good, for he had always been jealous of him and resentful because Edward was more gifted, and the elder. George Neville was very respectful to the king and asked him if he would join him and his brother in Coventry for the Earl of Warwick was anxious about the king's safety.

  "My brother said: "Why is the earl so concerned for my safety when a short time ago he was righting against me?"

  "Never against you, my lord," said George Neville, "but against those who seek to destroy the realm." I was so angry that I called out to my brother not to listen to the man. But you know how forgiving Edward is. If he has a fault, it is being too ready forgive his enemies and to believe the best of them. Edward put his hand on my arm and said lovingly to me: "We are in their hands, brother. Just for this while." And then he turned to the archbishop and said, "I see I am your prisoner. What do you ask of me?"

  "That you come with me to my brother," answered the archbishop. And so we went to the Earl of Warwick."

  I told Richard how sad I had been when I had heard a garbled version of this. It was heart-breaking for me to think the friendship between our two families was over.

  "I was with him," went on Richard, "at the meeting with Warwick. I think your father was more embarrassed than my brother. The earl impressed on Edward that he wished him no harm and talked of his holding him for his own protection. That was not true. The earl had never forgiven him for marrying the queen. There were many of us who thought that was a mistake. But my brother is impulsive in his affections. He gives love without thought of gain. I suppose the marriage was good for him if not for others. It was her rapacious family which caused all the trouble. Oh, Anne, what mistakes have been made! It is true that your father helped to put Edward on the throne, but Edward is a king who will govern; he will not be led. And your father is a man who wants to rule through the king he has set up. It was doomed to fail."

  How right he was!

  The king was the most agreeable guest and none would have believed he was with us against his will. The servants vied with each other to receive his attention. I never saw a man so lacking in arrogance and self-importance and yet who could convey such a kingly air.

  My father was in a state of elation at this point. He believed he had won the battle. He had shown the king that he could not reign without him. But after a while the euphoria began to fade. Edward might be pleasure-loving, seeking the easy way of life by refusing to look at unpleasant facts, but that exuberant personality, those kingly smiles, were what charmed the people. They did not want to lose their genial king. This was Edward's strength. It was nearly ten years since my father had set him on the throne and during that time he had made the people love him. They wanted Edward, and there was unrest throughout the kingdom.

  It was known that the king was somewhere in the north, a captive of the Earl of Warwick, which was a signal to some to defy the law. Rioting broke out. This was a situation which could not be allowed to continue and my father realised that the king must be moved to a stronger fortress.

  It was a sad day when Edward left Warwick Castle for Middleham. How we missed him! There were doleful faces in the castle. Apprehension returned. Our father had left with the king and there was further trouble. Rumour reached us that my father's supporters, assuming that the war was over since the king was the earl's prisoner, had returned to their homes, so his army was disbanded.

  "Where is the king?" the people were asking.

  "Who is ruling the country?"

  As the violence increased and many were defying the law, my father thought that the people should be shown that Edward was still the king, and he allowed him to make a ceremonial visit to York where he was given a tumultuous welcome.

  Richard told me that when he heard this, with Lord Hastings, a trusted friend, he gathered together an army and marched to York; but before they reached that town they heard that the king had taken matters into his own hands and announced his intention of going to London.

  My father then realised that he had gone wrong somewhere, and if he attempted to stop the king there would be many to rise against him.

  The welcome Edward received in his capital city was enough to convince my father that he had failed. He had won in the field but his victory had been turned to defeat.

  He must have realised then that he was never going to gain control over Edward and there was one project left to him.

  That was to set Clarence up in his place.

  Isabel was now heavily pregnant. In a little more than a month her baby would be due. It was a bright April day. My mother was making the last arrangements for the birth.

  "Children have a habit of arriving before the appointed time." she remarked to me.

  "I am so glad that Isabel is with me. I am not completely ignorant of these matters, you know."

  "I have realised that, my lady," I said.

  "And I rejoice, too. I suppose everything is all right?"

  "What do you, mean?"

  "Isabel seems a little listless."

  "My dear, she is tired. Can you imagine what it is like carrying a baby around with you?"

  "But Isabel seems rather frail."

  I saw the look of fear cross my mother's face, and I wished I had not said that. I knew she worried a great deal about our health. She herself was a strong woman; she should have had big healthy sons instead of two rather delicate girls. Indeed, it was because I had fancied she was a little worried about Isabel now that had made me so. But I must not talk of my fears to my mother, so I talked of them to one of Isabel's maids.

  I had liked Ankarette Twynyho from the moment she had joined the household. She was a young widow who had lived in Somerset before joining us. As she had recently lost her husband she was glad to move away from her village the scene of her tragedy.

  She had been, briefly, in the queen's service and I think she found life at Warwick Castle preferable to serving under the imperious Elizabeth Woodville.

  She was entertaining and used to tell us anecdotes about the queen which amused us and we came to learn a little about that strange cold woman who, when she had married the king, had set in motion those events which had been so disastrous to us all.

  Ankarette reassured me now.

  She said: "The duchess is not a robust lady, but she will be all right.

  Everything is prepared and she will have the utmost care. I can see that the countess is a lady who knows something of these matters, and with everyone in attendance, all will be well."

  "You comfort me, Ankarette." I said.

  That's what I am here for, my dear," she said. I liked her Somerset accent and her easy manner with us all; and I could assure myself that, with my mother, Ankarette and all the others in attendance, Isabel would be safe.

  Isabel took comfort from her too. It was Ankarette who would slip a pillow behind her back when she was looking uncomfortable and who came up with the drink Isabel was just about to ask for.

  We were sitting in Isabel's chamber, for often she liked to lie down, and when she did she wanted us with her, and we were talking idly when we heard the commotion below.

  I went to the window and what I saw made
me gasp with amazement.

  I turned and said: "It is my father, and with him the Duke of Clarence."

  "Did you say ... George?" asked Isabel, rising. And there they were just a small company of men. I went to the door and I heard my mother say: "Something is wrong."

  I started down the stairs. Isabel was following me. My father was already in the hall. He embraced my mother, then me. Isabel ran into her husband's arms.

  There is not a moment to lose." my father said.

  "You must prepare to leave. We should be on our way to the coast in an hour."

  "It's impossible." cried my mother.

  "Isabel..."

  My father was silent but only for a second. He looked at Isabel. Then he said: "It must be. Come quickly. Bring only what is necessary. We must get to the coast without delay."

  We had always been brought up to obey my father's commands instantly and without question; and my mother had set us an example in this. But this was different. There was Isabel to consider. Isabel and George were clinging to each other, speaking words of love, and my father was impatient.

  "Listen to me," he said.

  "I cannot explain now except to say that my enemies are pursuing me. If I am captured it will be the end ... the end of everything. It is imperative that we leave without delay. Everyone ... the whole family."

  "We cannot move Isabel and I shall not go without her." said my mother stubbornly.

  "You will go!" insisted my father.

  "And Isabel will go with us. You are wasting time. Believe me, I would not do this now if it were not necessary.

  "Is it... the king?" began my mother.

  "Anne, I am telling you. For God's sake, do not hinder me. It is necessary that we get away ... all of us. We must get to the coast with all speed. Do not argue. Isabel must come with us. Do you understand?"

  "Yes." said my mother.

  "I understand. But the baby is almost due."

  My father sighed.

  "I know that well. It will not be easy for her, but it must be. My enemies are marching to take me. It will be my head and the end of the family as we know it. So please do as I say. Get ready. We leave in an hour."