by Caro, Jane;
Kat moved away from the door and came closer to me. She spoke quietly and without fluster. ‘Are you sure? Your father will not be pleased.’
‘No doubt he will have it painted over when he sees it, but at least he will have to see it.’
‘You are headstrong. I hope it does not get you into real trouble.’
But Kat did not forbid me and I wore my mother’s initial around my neck that day. The artist showed me the finished portrait before he left Hatfield. I was pleased to see he had painted the medallion faithfully.
I calculated roughly how long it would take for the artist to paint my sister and return to London. Then I calculated how long it might take Master Holbein’s studio to complete the painting and then for my father to see it. My calculations were, at best, a very rough guess for I had no idea how long a painter takes over finishing a painting, particularly one commissioned by the king.
After three months I began to anticipate the storm that was surely about to break over my head. Every night, before I went to sleep, I imagined my father’s reaction when he realised that I was in his official Tudor family portrait wearing a necklace that had not only belonged to the wife he had killed, but bore her famous initial.
I waited, and I waited, and I waited. Every time a messenger came from my father’s court – although this was not a frequent occurrence – my heart beat faster and the blood buzzed in my ears, but to no avail. I heard nothing. Half a year passed and finally it was Christmas. As usual, we gathered at my father’s court for the celebrations. As we packed to leave, particularly as I watched Blanche pack the red velvet and gold dress I had worn in the portrait, I expected that I would soon be admonished by my father, but even Christmas passed uneventfully enough. My father was distant to me, but no more than usual. However, eagle-eyed though I was, I saw no sign of the portrait.
‘Your Grace, has the painting I sat for earlier this year been completed yet? I long to see it.’ I was sitting with Queen Catherine, holding a skein of wool for her so that it would not get tangled.
‘What painting is that? Oh, the one your father has commissioned of his family. I do not know. I do not think it has been completed for I am sure your father would have shown it to me if it had been.’
‘I am sorry you are not in it, Your Grace.’ I spoke very low so that no one but the queen could hear me. She looked up and gave a quick, wry smile.
‘That is kind of you, Elizabeth, but no need to be sorry. I understand that it is a dynastic portrait and so Queen Jane as the mother of his son, the future King Edward, is the wife who must appear. I do not take my omission personally.’
I longed to tell her that another wife and mother of one of his children would also be appearing in the portrait. However, despite her kindness and obvious partiality for me (oh, how that warmed my poor starved child’s heart) I did not dare.
In fact it was not until the following Christmas that I saw the completed picture. It sat upon an easel in an ante-room near my father’s apartments. I saw it as we went in to greet him formally, but I did not dare to stop and examine it more closely. I had a necklace around my neck, I could see that, but which necklace it was I could not tell at such a distance. Later that day I slipped quietly into the ante-room for a closer look.
The necklace was as it was painted at Hatfield. Nothing about it had been changed. For a moment, I was delighted! My silent rebellion had survived. My mother’s necklace was in the portrait. Her ghost hovered over that picture. Her memory, much as my father wished it erased forever, would remain.
Then my euphoria subsided. Why had it not been painted over? Why had I not been admonished for my audacity? My father had become short-sighted with age and had to wear spectacles for close work. He did not like people to see him wear his eye-glasses, and whipped them off whenever anyone entered the room, but I knew he would have worn them to examine this important portrait closely. Surely, he would have seen what I was wearing about my neck and recognised it? Surely, he would have understood the message of resentment I was sending him?
Then a terrible explanation occurred to me. He had pored over the portrait wearing his spectacles, but he had only looked closely at one part. He had only bothered to examine the central group. He had examined minutely his own image, that of his son, my brother Edward, and Edward’s mother, Queen Jane. To the rest of the picture, including the portraits of Mary and me, he had given little more than a cursory glance. To him, his daughters mattered not at all. To him, I would always be just a girl.
My breathing is laboured now and I am drifting in and out of consciousness. When I open my eyes I see very little. Just the glow of the candles through the gloom and some shadowy figures around the walls.
I should be praying to my God. I should be preparing my soul for eternal life, but all I can think of is the life I have lived, here, on this small island. I have done all I can. I hope that it has been enough. I hope my successor finds that my kingdom is in good order. I hope that in the future when people think of me, if they think of me, they remember me with respect.
I think I am ready to die. I certainly have not the will, the enthusiasm or the energy to live. I am prepared to meet my maker. I will take one last sweet breath and then shall breathe no more. I am impatient to meet my maker and I suddenly know exactly who she is.
Mama.
In order of appearance:
ANNE BOLEYN (1507–1536)
Second wife of Henry VIII. Mother of Elizabeth I. Executed for treason and adultery 1536. Queen of England 1533–1536.
KATHARINE OF ARAGON (1485–1536)
Youngest daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. Betrothed to Prince Arthur of England. First wife of Henry VIII, divorced in 1533. Mother of Mary I. Queen of England 1509–1533.
ELIZABETH I (1533–1603)
Youngest daughter and second child of Henry VIII. Queen of England 1558–1603.
HENRY VIII (1491–1547)
Younger son of the first Tudor monarch Henry VII (1485–1509) and Elizabeth of York, eldest daughter of the last Plantagenet King Edward V. Father of Mary I, Elizabeth I, Edward VI. King of England 1509–1547.
WILLIAM KINGSTON (1476–1540)
Lord Constable of the Tower of London for the majority of reign of Henry VIII. Also MP for Gloucestershire.
MARY KINGSTON (nee SCROPE) (?–1548)
Third wife of William Kingston, who was her second husband. Attendant to the first four of Henry VIII’s wives. Attended Anne Boleyn in the Tower and on the scaffold.
JEAN ROMBAUD (unknown)
Official executioner of St Omer in the 1530s. Believed to be the French swordsman who executed Anne Boleyn.
ROBERT CECIL (1563–1612)
Younger son of William Cecil by his second wife, Mildred Cooke. Secretary of state to both Elizabeth I and James I.
PHILADELPHIA CAREY (1552–1627)
Granddaughter of Elizabeth I’s aunt Mary Boleyn. Maid of honour to Elizabeth I 1558–1603. Married Thomas Scrope, 1st Baron of Bolton. Also served Queen Anne, wife of James I.
THOMAS CRANMER (1489–1556)
Archbishop of Canterbury under Henry VIII and Edward VI. Executed for heresy by Mary I.
THOMAS CROMWELL (1485–1540)
Chief minister and principal secretary for Henry VIII 1532–1540. Executed for treason.
BLANCHE PARRY (1507–1590)
Attendant to Princess Elizabeth from 1533, cousin to William Cecil and (possibly) John Dee. Chief gentlewoman of the privy chamber 1565–1590. Like her mistress, she never married.
MARY BOLEYN (1499–1543)
Older sister of Anne Boleyn. One-time mistress of Henry VIII. Married to William Carey (1520) then William Stafford (1534). Mother of Catherine Carey and Henry Carey.
KATHERINE (KAT) ASHLEY (nee CHAMPERNOWNE) (1502–1565)
Governess to Princess Elizabeth from 1537.
Married Sir John Ashley, Elizabeth’s senior gentleman attendant and cousin to Anne Boleyn. On Queen Elizabeth’s accession became chief gentlewoman of the privy chamber until her death.
CATHERINE PARR (1512–1548)
Sixth wife of Henry VIII, who was her third husband. Married Thomas Seymour, Baron Sudeley, Lord High Admiral of England, after the king’s death in 1547. Queen of England 1543–1547.
MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS (1542–1587)
Granddaughter of Henry VIII’s older sister, Margaret Tudor. Married King Francis II of France in 1558, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley in 1556 (by whom she had one son, James Stuart, James VI of Scotland, who followed Elizabeth I to the throne of England as James I in 1603), and James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell in 1567. Executed for treason by Elizabeth I in 1587.
HENRY CAREY, 1st BARON HUNSDON (1526–1596)
Son of Mary Boleyn, cousin to Elizabeth I, brother to Catherine Carey. Created 1st Baron Hunsdon 1559, MP for Buckingham and courtier.
ROBIN DUDLEY, 1st EARL OF LEICESTER (1532–1588)
Playmates as children, he was Elizabeth’s great friend and favourite, becoming her master of horse on her accession. Many consider he was her one true love; there were rumours they would marry when his first wife died in mysterious circumstances. They never did; he later married Lady Essex. Elizabeth made him Earl of Leicester and he was the most richly rewarded of her courtiers throughout her reign.
EDWARD VI (1537–1553)
Youngest child and only legitimate son of Henry VIII. Inherited the throne aged nine, died aged sixteen. King of England 1547–1553.
GUILDFORD DUDLEY (1535–1554)
Younger brother of Robin Dudley, second-youngest son of John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland. He was the teenage husband to Lady Jane Grey. Executed for treason by Mary I in 1554.
LADY JANE GREY (1537–1554)
Granddaughter of Henry VIII’s younger sister Mary Rose Tudor. Married Guildford Dudley, son of John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, in 1553. Queen of England 10 July 1553–19 July 1553. Executed for treason in 1554.
MARY I (1516–1558)
Eldest daughter of Henry VIII. Married Prince Philip of Spain 1554. Queen of England 1553–1558.
PHILIP II OF SPAIN (1527–1598)
King of Spain, his second wife was Mary I of England. Called Philip the Prudent, he nevertheless launched the ill-fated Armada against England in 1588 and was humiliatingly defeated by Elizabeth I’s navy.
WILLIAM CECIL, 1st BARON OF BURLEIGH (1520–1598)
Member of parliament and political advisor, he was first a servant of Edward VI, then Mary I, finally transferring his allegiance to Elizabeth before she inherited the throne. He then served as her chief councillor until his death. She made him 1st Baron of Burleigh in recognition of his great service and looked on him as a father figure.
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE (1540–1596)
Adventurer, sea captain, slave trader and buccaneer, as vice admiral of the English navy he helped defeat the Spanish Armada in 1588. He was the second person to circumnavigate the world, from 1577 to 1580. Knighted by Elizabeth in 1581.
SIR JOHN HAWKINS (1532–1595)
Admiral Sir John Hawkins was the chief treasurer and comptroller of the Royal Navy during the reign of Elizabeth I and was also a slave-trader, navigator and buccaneer. He served as vice admiral in the battle against the Spanish Armada.
CHARLES HOWARD, 1st EARL OF NOTTINGHAM, 2nd BARON OF EFFINGHAM (1536–1624)
Lord High Admiral under both Elizabeth I and James I. He led the navy against the Spanish Armada. He was a cousin to Anne Boleyn (her mother Elizabeth was half-sister to his father). In 1596 Elizabeth made him 1st Earl of Nottingham and Lord Lieutenant-General of England.
ALEXANDER FARNESE, DUKE OF PARMA (1545–1592)
Formidable Spanish military commander who conquered the Netherlands and Flanders. Commanded the troops who were meant to invade England after being transported across the Channel in the Spanish Armada.
RICHARD III (1452–1485) King of England 1483–1485. Last Plantaganet king, defeated by Henry Tudor (later Henry VII) at Bosworth Field.
HENRY NORRIS (1525–1601)
Trusted courtier of Elizabeth I, son of the Henry Norris executed for adultery with Anne Boleyn. Ambassador to France, Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire and Oxfordshire.
DR JOHN DEE (1527–1608)
Mathematician, astrologer, magician, tutor. Astrologer to both Mary I and Elizabeth I.
JOHN DUDLEY, 2nd EARL OF WARWICK (1527–1554)
Second son and eventual heir of John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland. Complicit in the plot to put Lady Jane Grey on the throne instead of Mary I, he was sentenced to death but reprieved. Died shortly after he was released from the Tower.
AMBROSE DUDLEY, 3rd EARL OF WARWICK (1528–1590) Also imprisoned with his brothers in the Tower for complicity in the plot to put Lady Jane Grey on the throne, he was reprieved and went on to enjoy high favour as a courtier and general under Elizabeth I. Made Baron Lisle and 3rd Earl of Warwick in 1564.
HENRY DUDLEY (?–1544)
Eldest son of John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland. Killed during the siege of Boulogne in the reign of Henry VIII.
KATHERINE HOWARD (1521–1542)
Fifth wife of Henry VIII. Niece of the Duke of Norfolk, cousin to Anne Boleyn. Executed for treason and adultery in 1542. Queen of England 1540–1542.
LETTICE KNOLLYS (1543–1634)
Third child of Catherine Carey and Francis Knollys, she was the granddaughter of Mary Boleyn. Her first husband was Walter Devereux, Earl of Essex. Her second husband was Robin Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and her third Sir Christopher Blount. Mother of Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex.
ROBERT DEVEREUX, 2nd EARL OF ESSEX (1565–1601)
Son of Robin Dudley’s second wife, Lettice Knollys, grandson of Catherine Carey and great-grandson of Mary Boleyn. A courtier and general who was a favourite of Elizabeth I but was eventually executed for treason.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (1564–1616)
Poet, playwright and actor, he had a successful career in the theatre as a member and part owner of playing company The Chamberlain’s Men, later known as The King’s Men. Wrote many famous poems and plays, including Twelfth Night.
SIR HENRY LEE (1533–1611)
Elizabeth I’s queen’s champion and master of armouries. He also served under her brother, Edward VI, and sister, Mary I.
JOHN DOWLAND (1563–1626)
English Renaissance composer, lute player and singer.
ANTONIO, PRIOR OF CRATO (1531–1595)
Claimant to the Portuguese throne who sought refuge in France and then England. He tried but failed to claim his throne. He died in Paris, in poverty.
MILDRED CECIL (nee COOKE) (1526–1589)
Second wife of William Cecil, Lord Burgleigh, she was a highly educated woman and translator who was in charge of educating her son Robert Cecil, later secretary of state under Elizabeth I and Robert Devereux, the Earl of Essex.
SIR FRANCIS WALSINGHAM (1532–1590)
Principal secretary to Elizabeth I from 1573 until his death, he was popularly remembered as her spymaster.
ANTHONY BACON (1558–1601)
Brother to Francis Bacon, son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, nephew of Mildred Cecil, he was a spy for Elizabeth I.
FRANCIS BACON (1561–1626)
Younger brother to Anthony Bacon, son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, nephew of Mildred Cecil, he was a statesman, scientist, juror and orator. First person to be designated Queen’s Counsel (QC). Made Viscount of St Albans by James I.
DR RODERIGO LOPEZ (1517–1594)
Physician-in-Chief to Elizabeth I from 1581. A Portuguese Christian convert from Judaism, he is thought to be the inspiration for Shylock in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice. Executed for treason for conspiring to p
oison the queen.
SIR WILLIAM KNOLLYS (1544–1632)
Son of Francis Knollys and Catherine Carey, grandson of Mary Boleyn. A courtier, soldier and MP, he served both Elizabeth I and James I.
FRANCES DEVEREUX (1567–1633)
Daughter of Sir Francis Walsingham, her first husband was Sir Philip Sydney. On his death she married Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, by whom she had five children. After his execution she married the 4th Earl of Clanricarde and moved to Ireland.
SIR PHILIP SIDNEY (1554–1586)
A poet, intellectual and soldier, he was the son of Elizabeth’s great friend and attendant Mary Sidney and nephew of her favourite Robin Dudley. First husband of Frances Walsingham. He was killed fighting the Spanish in the ill-fated expedition to help the Protestant Dutch.
CATHERINE CAREY (1524–1569)
First cousin to Elizabeth I, she was the daughter of Anne Boleyn’s sister, Mary, and her husband, Sir William Carey, although rumours persisted that her father was Henry VIII, which would have made her Elizabeth’s half-sister. She was made chief lady of the bedchamber on Elizabeth’s accession. She married Sir Francis Knollys.
JOHN WHITGIFT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY (1530–1604)
Archbishop of Canterbury from 1583 until his death.
CHARLES BLOUNT, 8th BARON MOUNTJOY (1563–1606)
Lord Deputy of Ireland under Elizabeth I, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland under James I.
HUGH O’NEILL, EARL OF TYRONE (1550–1616)
Called Hugh, The Great O’Neill, he led the Irish rebellion against Elizabeth I during the Nine Years’ War.
CHRISTOPHER ST LAWRENCE, 10th BARON HOWTH (1568–1619)
Anglo-Irish statesman and soldier who fought under the Earl of Essex and Baron Mountjoy.
THOMAS EGERTON, 1st VISCOUNT BRACKLEY (1540–1617)
Lord Chancellor and Lord Keeper under Elizabeth I, friend of the Earl of Essex but required to keep him under house arrest at York House when the earl fell from favour.
FRANCES DEVEREUX, DUCHESS OF SOMERSET (1599–1674)
Youngest child of Robert Devereux, granddaughter of Sir Francis Walsingham. Lived through the reigns of Elizabeth I, James I, Charles I, Oliver Cromwell and Charles II. Second wife of William Seymour, Duke of Somerset.