In the meantime, Richmond was often at court. As a duke he was not only entitled to food and lodgings at the king’s expense, but a generous provision of candles, coal and other necessaries for the comforts of life. Yet while official business, or his father’s pleasure, could find him at the royal palaces of Greenwich or Hampton Court, it was neither customary nor practical for both him and his household to be permanently resident at court. The grant made to Richmond in 1525 had included a suitable London residence. Coldharbour Mansion on the banks of the Thames had formerly belonged to his great-grandmother, Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond. Unfortunately, after her death in 1509, the king had granted the property to George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, which allowed Talbot to enjoy the property rent free, for the term of his life; he did not die until July 1538.
On his return from the north, Richmond had spent some time at Wolsey’s manor of The More in Hertfordshire. This was a pleasant enough property, which had been substantially extended and improved by the Cardinal as befitted one of his principal residences. It could boast a great chamber and a privy chamber, as well as a 300-foot gallery. Wolsey had even modernised the plumbing. After his fall, the property returned to the king’s hands. Henry could simply have continued the arrangement on a more permanent basis. Instead, it seems he already had something more suitable in mind for his son.
Richmond was installed at Windsor Castle, which seems to have been his main residence while he completed his education. As part of a programme of general improvements to the castle a ‘new lodging called the prince’s lodging’ was subsequently built for his use on the western side of the north front. As at Sheriff Hutton he was joined in his studies by other youths, including Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, although it seems unlikely that their time was spent exclusively in the carefree round of sports, courtly love, dancing and tennis, later described in Surrey’s poetry. Richmond still had a role to play in the wider world and he had to be well equipped to shoulder whatever duties his father chose to bestow.
Although there was a traditional belief that Richmond and Surrey went together to study at Cardinal College, Oxford, this has long since been disproved. The idea that Richmond studied under Richard Croke at King’s College, Cambridge is also mistaken. The disorder of Richmond’s schoolroom at Sheriff Hutton with its bawds and fools has sometimes been taken as an account of Richmond’s activities at university. However, there is no indication that Richmond attended either university and his increased profile at court is evidence to the contrary.
Indeed, in April 1530 the pomp and ceremony of the court came to him. On 23 April, the king held a chapter of the Order of the Garter at Windsor Castle to mark St George’s Day. While he was in Yorkshire, Richmond had been excused from participating in the business of the Order by the king’s letters. Now he was expected to play his part. With Norfolk, Suffolk and other knights of the Order, he donned his robes to attend mass in the king’s private chapel. After the formalities, Henry spent some time with his son. Richmond obviously impressed his sporting father with his skill with a bow, since Henry paid 20s out of his privy purse to his fletcher to purchase some new arrows for the duke.
Since he also paid out 40s in reward to Richmond’s nurse, the king was clearly satisfied that his son was fit and well and being well cared for. The £20 annuity which was awarded in May 1530 in reward for her services probably marked Anne Partridge’s retirement as Richmond’s nurse. At eleven years old Richmond was perhaps judged not quite old enough to entirely dispense with a woman’s care. In 1538 a widow, named Joan Brigman, would receive an annuity of five marks out of the manor of Cheshunt, ‘in consideration of her services to Henry, Duke of Richmond, in his childhood.’
The king clearly enjoyed a warm and loving relationship with his only son. Even amid the foreign ambassador’s fascination for every detail of his affair with Anne Boleyn, this did not go entirely unnoticed. In 1530 the French ambassador was roused to comment that the king was very fond of his son. The following year the Venetian ambassador was of much the same opinion, going on to describe Richmond as ‘a youth of great promise so much does he resemble his father’. Richmond visited Henry at Hampton Court and in May 1531 the king was again with his son at Windsor. This time Henry paid out 20s to buy the young duke a lute. The amounts were not lavish. Anne Boleyn and Mary both did significantly better in financial terms, but neither of them had Richmond’s independent income. Also the gifts reflect a genuine interest in the child’s activities. Even when they were not together the king continued to think of his son. A gold collar, enamelled with white roses, was blithely recorded as being ‘sent from the King’s highness for a token’.
Perhaps not surprisingly, relations between Anne Boleyn and the young duke do not appear to have been quite as warm. On his return from Yorkshire she presented Richmond with the gift of a bay horse and a saddle made of spruce leather, decorated with black velvet. If it was intended as a ploy to secure the boy’s goodwill, the horse was rather ill chosen. Described as ‘very ill to ride, and of worse condition’, Richmond did not risk his neck by keeping it, but passed it on to Gerald Fitzgerald, the Earl of Kildare.
Anne’s relationship with Mary would seesaw between genuine attempts at reconciliation, in an attempt to negate her influence, and episodes of anger, frustration and fear at the danger she represented. With less reason for personal bitterness her relationship with Richmond was probably more formally correct. However, Henry’s willingness to suspect in 1536 that Anne had conspired to poison Richmond hardly points at an affectionate relationship. They were no doubt a thorn in each other’s sides. If she was a shadow on his favoured position as the king’s only son, then he was a constant reminder to her of what Henry expected.
In general Richmond seems to have been healthier than many of his contemporaries. None of the surviving correspondence from his time at Sheriff Hutton mentions him contracting any illness at all. His enjoyment of hunting certainly indicates that he was usually fit and healthy. Richmond was also keen to follow in his father’s footsteps at the tilt. Surrey’s poetry later recalled the mock tournaments they had staged at Windsor. When Richmond fell ill in January 1532, the event was not widely reported and the cause of his sickness is not known. Henry sent one of his own physicians to attend upon the duke, but since the doctor’s fee was only 40s the illness was probably neither too serious nor very prolonged. Nothing more is heard of this particular illness. Subsequent reports of his good health indicate that he recovered well and there is no reason to suspect any lasting effects. He was evidently quite fit by June 1532, since it was soon being reported that he was to be included in the king’s train for his father’s proposed meeting with Francis I.
Arrangements for this summit occupied much of the summer of 1532. It was agreed that Francis I would entertain the King of England at Boulogne, in return Henry VIII would receive the King of France at Calais. Despite strenuous efforts to keep the plans under wraps, by the end of July the Imperial ambassador reported that the six or eight ships being equipped under the guise of use against Scotland were in fact intended to carry the king to France.
Richmond’s inclusion in a party that ultimately comprised almost every available nobleman in England, was not in itself particularly significant. However, rumours were soon circulating of a plan which would see Richmond being sent to reside at the French court, while Francis I’s second son, Henri, duc d’Orléans, would come to England. Chapuys was quick to point out that this was ‘an unequal exchange’ but the proposal, this time involving Richmond, Orléans and Surrey, was also picked up by the Venetian, Carlo Capello. From the outset it seems that Richmond’s role in the proceedings was to be more than to provide a suitably noble escort to the king and his lady.
The issue of the English and French king’s respective entourages was a delicate matter, not least because Henry intended to parade Anne Boleyn as if she were indeed Queen of England. Despite the fact that Henry was legally no closer to securing the annulment of his m
arriage to Katherine of Aragon, he had effectively separated from her on 14 July 1531 by the simple expedient of leaving her behind at Windsor. For some time now the English court had been accustomed to seeing Anne dressed and treated ‘more like a Queen than a simple maid’. Despite this, Anne was not only not the queen, but born merely the daughter of a knight, every peeress and princess in England and abroad felt that they outranked her.
The king’s wish that the ladies of the French court would acknowledge Anne Boleyn was politely rebuffed. Francis I’s suggestion that his own mistress should accompany him was not exactly what Henry had had in mind. The question of Anne’s own train threatened to be equally problematic. A number of the English ladies, not least Henry’s own sister, Mary, Duchess of Suffolk, refused to accompany her. In the end the issue was diplomatically avoided when it was decided that ladies would not take part in the actual summit. However, since Henry VIII was determined that Anne would accompany him to Calais, the problem of her status remained.
It was at least in part to address this issue that, on 1 September 1532, Anne Boleyn was created Marchioness of Pembroke, making her a peeress in her own right.13 The carefully orchestrated ceremony was held at Windsor, with Anne’s cousin, the future Duchess of Richmond, thirteen-year-old Mary Howard, playing a prominent role. Although Mary’s mother Elizabeth, Duchess of Norfolk, was pointedly absent, Mary carried Anne’s mantle of crimson velvet, furred with ermines, and passed the gold coronet to the king. Anne’s elevation to the peerage endowed the queen-in-waiting with rank, wealth and a degree of future security. Henry also bestowed on her land worth £1,000 per annum and even illegitimate issue could succeed to the lands and dignity she now held.
This compares more than favourably with the fortunes of Henry’s other known mistresses, not least because she received her reward before she had bestowed her favours. However, it was obviously only an interim step. Richmond’s titles included two dukedoms, an earldom and revenues in excess of £4,000 per annum. In comparison, as a marquess with an income of £1,000, any male issue produced by Anne Boleyn would have felt rather hard done by.
The royal party set sail for France on 11 October 1532. The Duke of Richmond was allowed a train of forty attendants. Over the next ten days Anne lived ‘like a Queen . . . and the King accompanies her to mass and everywhere, as if she was such’. On 21 October, reality intruded on this idyll when Henry and a small retinue left to meet the King of France. The Venetian ambassador, writing from England, assumed that Richmond accompanied his father. In fact, it seems to have been agreed that the children, like the ladies, would play no actual part in the summit. Henry VIII was introduced to Francis I’s three sons at Boulogne, but they did not accompany their father to Calais.
In the meantime, Richmond was not exactly left cooling his heels among those ladies who had accompanied the new Marchioness of Pembroke.14 Much of the English nobility, including Richmond’s stepfather, Edward Fiennes, Lord Clinton, also remained behind at Calais. Richmond may have been slightly put out that the Earl of Surrey was included in the king’s party. However, not only was Surrey two years older than him, but since his wedding to Frances de Vere, the daughter of John, Earl of Oxford, in April 1532, he also had the added dignity of being a married man. Although Surrey did not live with his wife until 1535, this was evidently sufficient to class him among the adults.
The king’s departure ensured that Richmond (rather than Anne) was the highest ranking noble at Calais. Perhaps this as much as any impatience at his exclusion explains why he was at the forefront of the welcoming committee when Henry VIII and Francis I returned to Calais. As they approached the town, Richmond hastened to meet them:
without the town about the distance of two miles, the duke of Richmond, the King’s base son, with a great company of noble men which had not been at Boulogne met them, and saluting the French King, embraced him in a most honourable and courteous manner.15
Francis I entered Calais to a 3,000 gun salute. In the lavish accounts of the feasting, music, dancing, and wrestling that Henry organised for the entertainment of the French king, Richmond features only briefly when the King of England hosted a special chapter of the Order of the Garter and Richmond was placed next to Francis. However, the duke was about to embark on what was, in effect, his first diplomatic mission.
The events at Calais were not solely about entertainment and extravagance. Even as the two kings attempted to outdo each other in spectacle, display and outfits encrusted with jewels, their respective ministers attended to the business of the summit. By 29 October, when Francis finally took his leave in a lavish exchange of gifts, it had been agreed that Richmond should go to the French court. It is fair to say that the news was not very important to the French who laconically reported:
The King of England yesterday gave unto the King his bastard son, who is a young child of fifteen or sixteen years, and the same day he made him a present of six horses.16
It is hard to know which gift the Frenchman held in more esteem. Slightly more accurately, the Venetian ambassador relayed that Henry VIII ‘gave as servant to the most Christian King [Francis] his natural son’. He, at least, knew that Richmond was only thirteen years old.
Despite the earlier rumours about an exchange with Francis I’s second son, Henri, duc d’Orléans remained firmly in France. The only envoy the King of France sent to the English court was a gentleman of his privy chamber. It was hardly a reciprocal arrangement. Admittedly, the French king had struggled to be reunited with his children, who had been held hostage in Spain to ensure their father’s good faith in respect of the Treaty of Madrid, and he was perhaps naturally reluctant to give one up now.
By 10 November 1532, when Richmond had expected to have taken his final leave of his father, he was still trying to make provision for those of his servants who would not be accompanying him. It had evidently been decided that those who remained in England would be lodged in various religious houses that would provide them with ‘meat and drink for themselves, horse meat for their geldings and chambers for their lodgings’ apparently at the monasteries’ own expense. The prior of Tutbury monastery, in Staffordshire, was informed that he was expected to accommodate Robert Amyas, the clerk of Richmond’s jewel house, together with his personal servant and their two horses. The prior was not given much choice in the matter. Richmond signed his letter ‘trusting you will show yourself conformable . . . like as all other religious fathers doth, as the King’s trust and mine expectation is you will be’.
Since the decision to send Richmond into France had been under consideration for the last five months, such last minute urgency suggests a change of plans. If Richmond’s absence had been envisaged as a matter of weeks, then nothing like this would have been necessary. Apparently Richmond’s séjour in France was now to be considerably longer than had been originally planned.
It is often assumed that Richmond went to France primarily for the sake of his education: perhaps to attend the university, but largely so that he could acquire the manners and polish of the French court. Somewhat incongruously, given the English people’s fairly xenophobic dislike of the French nation, one of Anne Boleyn’s most admired attributes was the grace and style which she had acquired as a child on the continent so that ‘no one would ever have taken her to be English by her manners, but a native born Frenchwoman’. The French language had been part of Richmond’s studies since Palsgrave’s appointment in 1525, and while the court of Henry VIII would have provided some opportunity to practise his skills, this was obviously a perfect opportunity to increase his fluency. When the two courts were discussing a mutual exchange, perhaps the educational benefits were a factor in the arrangement; however, by 12 November 1532, contemporary observers were speculating that the true motive behind Richmond’s journey was rather more political.
It was reported that Henry and Francis had agreed that Richmond should go to France ‘for the greater security of the matters treated between them’ at the summit. Events certain
ly seem to bear out the idea that something discussed during the nine-day meeting had affected both the purpose and duration of Richmond’s trip. With the benefit of hindsight, the proposed marriage between Henri, duc d’Orléans and the pope’s niece, Catherine de Medici, which was due to be celebrated the following year, seems the most likely explanation. On such a happy occasion Francis I would be well placed to persuade Clement VII to grant Henry VIII his long desired annulment. In return, Henry could offer not only his profound gratitude, but also a possible alliance against Charles V.
As the king’s only son Richmond was a powerful, physical surety for Henry’s good faith, although the child, the spitting image of his father, may also have been chosen for another reason. Richmond was living proof that Henry’s marriage to Katherine had been an offence to God. Here also was the underlying promise that his union with Anne would prove fruitful. Richmond’s presence was conclusive proof of the validity of the king’s position.
If Richmond was merely a token of Henry’s good intentions, or simply a physical demonstration of the present alliance between the two kings, then Francis I was curiously unwilling to accept him. The gentleman of his privy chamber that Francis I sent over to England was entrusted to ensure that Henry made good his promise of ‘the present and gift’ which the king of England had apparently promised to the French princes. This sounds suspiciously like a bribe, something that would not be necessary if the arrangement was to their mutual benefit. If Richmond’s visit to the French court was primarily to serve Henry’s own interests, then his generosity was perhaps instrumental in securing Francis I’s agreement.
Nevertheless, Richmond was received by the French king with every outward sign of cordiality and affection. Accompanied by the Earl of Surrey and perhaps as many as sixty attendants, he finally left Calais in the second week of November. As he made his way through the countryside to rendezvous with the French court, it was happily reported back to England that Richmond was being ‘very well welcomed and in all places have had presents of wine with other gentle offerings’. Although Surrey fell ill, Richmond suffered no ill effects from his first trip abroad, finding the food and climate ‘very natural unto him’. By 5 December 1532, the Venetian ambassadors in France reported that Richmond had arrived and ‘resides at the court, living at very great expense and very honourably’. Richard Tate, the duke’s almoner, wrote to inform Henry that Francis had greeted Richmond with a warm embrace and ‘made him great cheer’ even saying that he now considered himself to have four sons.
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