For a Queen's Love: The Stories of the Royal Wives of Philip II

by Jean Plaidy

  “But I am interrupting,” she said. “I came to show you the pictures which have arrived from Paris.”

  “Everything that is charming would seem to come from Paris,” he said. “I pray you, let me see the pictures.”

  She showed him the one of her mother first. The plump, inscrutable face looked back at him.

  “And the other is my little sister. This is beautiful. Is she not charming? Do you like this picture, Philip?”

  “Very much.”

  “I wish you could see Margot.” She looked at him wistfully. “Oh, Philip, how I wish that I could see her.”

  She sat, rather timidly, it was true, upon his knee. The French were so demonstrative, but he understood. She was going to ask some favor. It was a little childish of her, but then he loved her childishness. And this was a habit they would have taught her in the French court.

  He looked at her quizzically yet indulgently, and she went on: “Carlos will have to have a wife. He grows old. Philip … would it not be wonderful if he could marry my sister Marguerite?”

  Now it was all quite clear. So Madame le Serpent had set his own wife to cajole him. Catherine had made one of her daughters Queen of Spain, and she wished to make sure that the Queen who followed should be a daughter of hers. Catherine clearly set great store by Spanish friendship; but the woman was not so clever as she rated herself. Did she think he was a besotted fool to be persuaded on matters of state policy even by the most charming of wives?

  He drew Isabella toward him and put his arm about her; and as he did so he looked at the plump, flat face of the woman in the picture.

  He was thinking: Yes, Madame, you sent me your daughter and I made her my wife. From now on she shall be my wife entirely and cease to be your obedient daughter. If she is to act the spy and agent, it is better that she should act so for her husband than for her mother.

  And he decided that he would mold her; he would make her completely his. He had won her friendship and affection with his gentleness; before long he would win her passionate devotion; then she would be free from her mother’s influence.

  At length he answered: “My dearest, we must not think of marriage for Carlos at this stage. He does not enjoy good health; and I do not intend to allow him to marry until his health has greatly improved. If and when such a time should come, I will choose a wife for him. Until then, let us not think of his marrying.” Seeing her disappointment, he smiled wryly. “Why,” he went on, “your little sister looks so gay. The Louvre is the place for her. Do not brood on the marriages of others; think only of ours, which we are discovering to be a good one, are we not?”

  “Yes, Philip, but …”

  “Isabella,” he interrupted, “your mother writes often to you, does she not?”

  “Why, yes, indeed.”

  “You never show me her letters.”

  “N … no. Was it your wish that I should?”

  He saw the panic in her eyes and marveled at the power of a woman who could arouse it at such great distance. “Only if you wished to show them to me,” he said.

  “I … I would, of course, do so if you wished it.”

  He took her hand and kissed it tenderly. “There are times when I think you are afraid of your mother. Are you, my dear?”

  “Afraid of her … but I love her. I love all my family.”

  “Perhaps it is possible to love and fear. I would not have you afraid. There is nothing to fear. Why should the Queen of Spain fear the Queen Mother of France? Tell me that.”

  “I do not know. But she is my mother and we always had to do what she wished.”

  “Or be beaten? Tell me, did she beat you often?”

  “There were times.”

  He laughed, and permitted himself to show a little of the tenderness that surged through him. He held her fast against him and said: “No one shall beat you anymore, my Isabella. There is no need to fear anyone, particularly those who are far away and cannot reach you. If they should ask you to do what you do not wish to do, then you must refuse. And if you should be afraid—why, here is the King of Spain to defend you.”

  He laughed, and his laughter was always pleasant to hear, because it was so rare; so she laughed with him.

  “Then you will promise me not to be afraid anymore; and if you are, you will tell me all about it?”

  “Yes,” she said with only the faintest trace of hesitancy. “I will.”

  “Then take your pictures, and when I have finished with these papers I will join you. Perhaps we will ride together. Or shall I show you my new pictures and tapestries? Anything that you wish.”

  “I should like to ride,” she said.

  She picked up her pictures and went from the room. She was a little relieved, for he was right. It was rather silly to be frightened of someone living hundreds of miles away, when the most powerful monarch in the world was your husband who had sworn to protect you.

  What Philip did not understand was—and how could she explain this?—that, while it was true she was afraid of her mother, she was also afraid of him.

  With the passing weeks Philip’s love intensified. He had never been so happy, in spite of the troubles in his dominions. He felt young again. He faced the extraordinary fact that he was in love, even as he had been in the days of his first marriage with the pretty little Maria Manoela.

  But how much better this could be. Maria Manoela, charming as she was, had been an uneducated girl compared with Isabella. Isabella was young, it was true; she was very gay—with her French attendants; she loved fine clothes and jewels, but that was because she was French.

  She would mature. He remembered how he had thought thus of Maria Manoela. One day he would be able to explain his feelings to Isabella. Had he not assured himself that this would be the case with Maria Manoela? And when he had told her, it had been too late; she was by that time deaf to his eloquent explanations. But what had happened in the case of Maria Manoela would not happen with Isabella. History did not repeat itself as neatly as that.

  No! He had loved his first wife and lost her; he had hated his second marriage; he had suffered enough. And now he had come to the third, why should he not enjoy perfect happiness? He would. In time she would return his passionate love, but he must wait for that day. He must be patient; he felt that if only he could override that absurd fear she had of him, all would be well. He knew that there were times when she forgot he was the King of Spain; she forgot the stories she had heard of him and was spontaneously happy. Well, it would come. He could feel confident in the future.

  In the meantime there was Carlos to disturb his peace. If only Carlos had never been born, or had died at birth, what a lot of trouble would have been avoided!

  One day when he and Isabella had been riding together and returned to the palace, Philip discovered that Carlos was about to cause him even more anxiety than he had so far.

  Isabella had retired to her room when the Prince’s tutor presented himself to Philip. The tutor was distraught.

  There had been a particularly painful scene that morning. The Prince had looked from his window and seen the King and Queen riding out with their attendants; he had then seemed to go quite mad, and, picking up a knife, had rushed at the nearest person—who happened to be this tutor.

  “Sire, but for Don Juan and Don Alexander, I doubt I should have been here now to tell this to your Majesty.”

  “Where is he now?” asked Philip.

  “He fell into a fit almost immediately, your Majesty. He lashed out with feet and fists; but afterward grew calm and, as is usual after such experiences, he lay quiet and still, speaking to no one.”

  “What caused the trouble?”

  “We have no idea, your Highness.”

  But the man had some idea. Philip saw it in his face. He was on the point of demanding an explanation, but thought better of it, and decided to see his son for himself.

  He went along to Carlos’s apartments and there dismissed everyone. Carlos, white and shaken after
the fit, stared sullenly at his father.

  “Why do you come here?” he snarled. “To taunt me?”

  “Carlos, I came to ask you what is the meaning of this outburst. I know you cannot control your actions when you are in such a state, but it is your own passion which brings on these unfortunate lapses.”

  “You know!” cried Carlos. “You know, do you not? I saw you. You know that she would have come to see me this morning. You knew it, and that is why you took her away from me. Was she not to have married me? She was mine … mine … and you took her. You took her from me. I had her picture and I learned to speak French for her. She was mine and you knew it, and you hated me. You wanted to hurt me as you always have. I love Isabella … and you have taken her from me.”

  Philip stared in horror at his son.

  Now he understood the horrible truth. Carlos was mad enough to fancy he was in love with Isabella.

  What horror could not grow out of such a situation, when a semi-maniac such as Carlos was involved? Who knew what tragedy lay ahead of them?

  Prompt action was needed as it never had been needed before.

  Philip turned and hurried from the room.

  Within an hour he had decided that Don Carlos was not being educated in accordance with his rank. He was to leave Toledo at once for Alcala del Henares, that he might have the benefit of the best teachers at the University there.

  Don Juan and Don Alexander should accompany him, and there should not be a day’s delay.

  Those were the King’s commands.

  THREE

  Philip was afraid, for Isabella was very ill, and he had a horror of childbirth.

  He must think of those days which had followed the death of his first wife, and he could not rid himself of the superstitious fear that in love he was doomed to frustration. First Maria Manoela had died. Was it now to be Isabella?

  Very little else seemed of any real importance to him now. His troops had suffered a great defeat at Tunis, and it seemed as if the Turks’ hold on the Mediterranean was becoming firmer. Here was a blow against the Faith itself. The Infidel was encroaching on Europe; and no Spaniard, remembering the tragic history of his country, could feel complacent. The Netherlands were clearly preparing to break into open revolt. Yet Philip could think of nothing but Isabella.

  In the first months of her pregnancy he had had a silver chair made for her so that she might not tire herself by walking. In it she had been carried everywhere. He had to face the truth; for all her vivacity, she was not strong and she seemed to droop and fade like a flower in the heat of the sun.

  Then had come the miscarriage. There was to be no child, and Isabella’s life was in danger.

  He went to her bedchamber and sat by her bed. Day and night he stayed there, hoping that she would open her eyes and smile at him.

  At times it seemed almost unbearably like that other occasion. But this was different. She was not going to die, and eventually she began to recover. She was very thin and her black hair seemed too heavy for her little head to carry; she wore it loose about her shoulders, for to have it piled on her head tired her so.

  His only pleasure at that time was in arranging for her convalescence. He himself decided how she should rest, what she should eat. The women about her marveled, for the King of Spain had become a more devoted nurse than any of them.

  The Queen was aware of this, and sometimes she would look at Philip with anxious puzzled eyes. One day she said to him: “It is a sad thing when a Queen cannot bear her husband sons.”

  “You are a child yourself,” answered Philip. “And I am not old. There are many years left to us, for which I daily thank God.”

  “What if I should never bear a child?”

  “My dear, you must not say such things. Of course you will. I know you will.”

  “It may be that I shall not.”

  “We will not think of such a thing.”

  “Is it not better to face facts, Philip?”

  “You have become solemn during your illness, Isabella.”

  “Nay. This thought has been with me often. The King of England put away his wives because they could not bear him sons.”

  “He cut off the head of one because he wanted another woman. Have no fear, Isabella. I am not the King of England.”

  “But you are the King of Spain; and the King of Spain needs sons even as did the King of England.”

  “I have one son.”

  “Carlos!”

  “Oh, I admit I should like to have others … yours and mine, my dear. That I should like more than anything. But it will happen yet. Shall we lose heart because of one failure?”

  “Philip, there is something you must know. You should have known before.”

  “Well, Isabella?”

  “The King of England could not get sons, and some say it was because his body was diseased. He suffered from La Malade Anglaise, some say.”

  “I have heard that.”

  “My grandfather suffered from that same disease. He died of it.”

  “What are you trying to tell me?”

  “Perhaps I am not the right wife for you.”

  Her eyes were blank; he could not read the thoughts behind them. Did some part of her long for escape? Words came to his lips—tender and pleading. But all he said was: “You are. Of course you are. You are my wife. Is that not enough?”

  She would not look at him. She said slowly: “But if I cannot give you sons … if I should be unable to give you sons …”

  “Have no fear. If God wishes us to have sons we shall have them. Everything that happens to us is due to the will of God.”

  “Philip, I am glad that you know of the rumors concerning my grandfather.”

  “I have always known of them.”

  She was thinking that her own brother Charles was wild, even as Carlos was wild, that François, the young King, suffered from many infirmities. It was God’s law that the children should suffer even unto the third and fourth generation for the sins of such fathers. If she was doomed to suffer for her grandfather’s excesses, she must accept God’s will as Philip would.

  She was comforted and relieved because he knew of these things. There he sat, at her bedside, and she was aware of the warmth of his feelings beneath that cold surface. During her illness she had been perpetually conscious of his devotion.

  He was a strange man, but he was good to her. She was more fond of him than she had ever been before; she put out her hand and he took it. She thought: If I were not afraid of him I could love him.

  She was grateful; he had helped her escape from the fear which had dominated her childhood. She was no longer afraid of her mother, because she was under the protection of the man who would dominate her life from now on, and whom she might one day love.

  There was bad news of Carlos. When was news of Carlos ever good?

  Messengers came to Philip, who was staying in the Valladolid Palace at that time. He had been enjoying a certain peaceful contentment. He felt that he would soon subdue the Netherlands, and had started work on that great monastery, the Escorial, which, when he had witnessed the desecration of St. Quentin, he had vowed to build. He intended to fill it with the art treasures which his father had taught him to love and revere, and when he was there he would live quietly as a monk. His father had repudiated his crown when he retired to the monastic life. But Philip intended to combine the two. He would spend half his time in fasting and in prayer that he might the better rule his country.

  Isabella’s health had improved considerably; her high-spirited temperament helped her. She was herself once more, and Philip felt that he had been foolish to have suffered so acutely. She was surely stronger than Maria Manoela had been. Soon there would be children born to them, and if he had a son—a healthy and intelligent boy—he would disinherit Carlos. He had discussed this possibility with Ruy, whose opinion it was that the disinheriting of Carlos—providing the Council agreed to it—could only be of advantage to Spain.

&nb
sp; Ruy was grave when he talked of Carlos. He was fully aware of the Prince’s feelings for the Queen, and that knowledge Philip knew, disturbed him deeply.

  Such were Philip’s thoughts when the news was brought to him.

  “There has been an accident, your Majesty,” said the messenger from Alcala. “The Prince lies nigh to death.”

  Ruy was with Philip at the time. Philip could not help but be aware of the sudden tension in his friend. Was it hope?

  Philip betrayed nothing of his feelings, and the messenger hurried on. “It was a few nights ago, your Highness. The night was very dark and the Prince, hurrying down a staircase in his establishment, slipped and fell from top to bottom. He received injuries to his head and spine … terrible injuries Highness.”

  “You came straight to me?” said Philip.

  “Yes, your Highness.

  “And it is some days since the accident,” said Ruy. “We know not what may have happened in the meantime.”

  “I shall leave at once for Alcala,” said Philip.

  Ruy rode beside him when they left. Philip knew that Ruy regarded the accident in the light of a blessing. Carlos was no good to Spain, no good to Philip; therefore, Ruy’s thoughts would run, it is well to be rid of him.

  Philip knew, even as Ruy did, that while Carlos lived he would give trouble to all, and in particular to his father. Ruy worshipped logic, but Philip worshipped duty. However painful that duty, Philip would follow it. Ruy would have delayed on the journey so that the best physicians, who were with the court, might not reach Carlos in good time; but Philip saw nothing but the need to save his son, whatever misery that might bring to himself or to Carlos.

  With all urgency, the court proceeded to Alcala.

  Now the whole of Spain was in mourning. The heir to the throne was dying, wailed the people. They forgot the stories they had heard of his conduct. Don Carlos was the hero now. There were lamentations. There were pilgrimages to the shrines of the saints. Many sought to win Philip’s favor by having themselves publicly scourged in the hope, they said, of calling the saints’ attention to their sorrow, but actually in the hope of calling the King’s attention to their loyalty to the crown.