The Chevalier

by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

  ‘His dear friend,' she said. 'I was his dear friend.’

  And it was largely because of her undefined, ambiguous presence in his life that he was able to resist the temptations that surrounded him. In truth, she always believed that he was not ever aware of them as temptations: physical intimacy with strange women was something he had set so firmly beyond him at an early age that he was, at twenty-eight, incapable of seeing women in that light.

  At the end of February they at last reached Turin, where they were able to rest for a few days at the palace of the Duke of Savoy, a relative of the Queen's, before travelling south to Modena, the Queen's birthplace. There they stayed at the Palace of the Duke Rinaldo, the King's uncle, and found letters awaiting the King from Queen Mary Beatrice.

  ‘They were such sad letters,' Aliena said. ‘An exile's letters, longing for news of home. She wanted to know what were the King's first impressions of Modena, did he like it, did he think it beautiful. And questions about all her relatives, how were they, had he seen them. She begged him to go and see the summer palace, because she had such happy memories of it, forgetting that the weather in March was far too cold and windy. We did not go. James would not leave the palace.'

  ‘She wanted to be a nun, you know,' Annunciata remembered. 'They argued and argued with her to make her marry the Duke of York, as he was then. And how disappointed she must have been when she first saw him. She came to love him later, but he must have seemed to her an old, cold man. She was only fifteen, and very beautiful.'

  ‘Yes,' said Aliena. 'I saw her portrait, in the palace of Modena, taken just before she married. The King has a great look of her, about the eyes.’

  It was at Modena that the trouble began. Duke Rinaldo had three daughters, all well-brought-up, pleasant girls.

  ‘They were quite good-looking, though not out of the ordinary, but the King - well, I suppose one must forgive him. He had been under great strain, after that terrible journey, and after being rejected from every country in Europe he had come to the house of his relatives, where the duke received him with such kindness. His heart was already softened. And then, he missed his mother so, and the girls all had a great look of her about them. Especially the eldest - especially Benedetta.’

  Within a week the King had written off an ecstatic letter to his mother at Chailly to say that he had proposed marriage to Princess Benedetta, and the Queen wrote back that she could not be more happy.

  ‘They were two children, two unworldly, simple children,' Aliena said, and Annunciata heard a bitterness under the sadness that she could not comment on. 'They wanted each other, and each thought they could use Benedetta as a substitute. It was pitiful.’

  In bed with Aliena the first night, he had talked nonstop about the beautiful princess and her imagined virtues, and all the wonderful things that were going to happen when they were married. Aliena had tried to bring him down to earth, to make him see what he was doing, but he was blinded by the perfection of the plan of marrying his cousin, who looked like his mother. As to the intimate side of marriage, he did not give it a thought. Aliena decided that he had not associated physical proximity with the romantic love he was experiencing, and that if she pointed it out to him, he would be shocked and angry. As it was, he told her gently but firmly that he did not think they ought to sleep together now that he was as good as engaged to marry Benedetta, and after that night he did not visit her bed any more.

  Aliena found an ally in Duke Rinaldo, who was utterly dismayed at the turn of events. He sought out Aliena, having quickly understood her relationship with the King, and confided in her, hoping that, as his mistress, she could change his mind for him, as mistresses the world over were expected to do.

  ‘It is an impossible match,' he said. 'I have to dispose of my daughters advantageously, and the King, though I respect and love him, has nothing but an empty title to offer. And an empty title, moreover, that would win me nothing but hostility. Modena and England have been friendly for a very long time. We are a small country, we cannot afford to make enemies.’

  Aliena understood all this, and asked why the duke did not simply refuse. He looked miserable.

  ‘I hardly like to. The poor young man has had so many misfortunes - and he is, after all, my sister's son, and King of England, even though he is in exile. And I cannot bear to make him more unhappy. If he really loves her - though I cannot imagine how he can, when he hardly knows her -'

  ‘His Majesty has had a very strict upbringing,' Aliena said, 'and his contact with women has always been on a very formal basis.'

  ‘Except with you?' Rinaldo said hesitantly.

  ‘It is very different with me. The King does not understand women. He does not understand me as a woman, only as a friend - something between a sister and a brother, though I cannot expect you to understand that.'

  ‘I think I do understand,' Rinaldo said. 'But cannot you influence his mind? Make him see that the thing is impossible?'

  ‘If I were his mistress in the normal sense, I could,' Aliena said. 'As it is, I can only suggest that you separate him from the princess, and hope that time and absence loosen the grip of her charms on his mind. If he is from her, perhaps some other infatuation may replace her.’

  So the duke told the King that he would consider the proposal of marriage, and suggested that the Jacobite Court might like to visit the Palazzo Davia at Pesaro. They stayed in Pesaro for a month, and the King was very miserable there, saying that it was a dirty town, and the wine was undrinkable. He waited daily for good news from Modena which never came, complained of the boredom, of the weather, of ill health, and of Pesaro. One good thing to come out of it was that after a few days in the Palazzo Davia he came once again to Aliena's bed.

  ‘I thought that we must not cohabit now you are almost betrothed,' she could not help saying tartly when he first came to her, but she could not refuse him. Loving him had become as much a habit as serving him.

  ‘I am not betrothed yet, and it begins to seem I never shall be,' he replied. 'But I'll go away if you want me to.' ‘I don't want you to,' she said.

  After a month at Pesaro the King wrote to the Queen asking her to persuade her friend the Cardinal Gualterio to invite the King to stay with him in his palace in Rome, which the cardinal duly did, and at the end of May the dwindling Court arrived in Rome. The King's spirits rose: it was the height of the Season in Rome, when all the plays and operas and festivals were going on, and the main buildings were lit up at night with so many torches it was almost as bright as day. The cardinal had had his palazzo redecorated to receive the King, and had arranged for an audience with the Pope as soon as the King was rested.

  ‘He liked the Pope,' Aliena said sadly. 'He said he found him easy and kindly. He asked the Pope to help bring about the match between himself and Princess Benedetta, and the Pope promised to do all he could.’

  The cardinal was tireless in shewing the King round all the sights of Rome, but Aliena was able to introduce him to something just as exciting as the famous churches: the opera. She had not been two days in Rome before she received a visitor, a circumstance which greatly impressed the King. It was, of course, her brother Maurice, who had come with his father-in-law to witness the performance of two new operas, and on hearing of the arrival of the King had come at once to see if Aliena was still with him.

  ‘But now, of course, Signore Scarlatti is his proper father-in-law once again,' Aliena said, 'not just his former father-in-law. Oh, he forgot to mention that to you did he?' she said, seeing her mother's bemused expression. ‘Well, he seems to have a predilection for Scarlatti's children. He has married the youngest daughter, Nicoletta - she's twenty-one, barely older than his daughter by his first wife, which Nicoletta seemed to find very strange. Maurice took her to Venice last Festival to introduce her to Alessandra, who is still living with Diane di Francescini, by the way. Nicoletta hardly ever stopped talking about Venice, and her step-daughter who is also her niece.'

  ‘You saw
a lot of Maurice while you were in Rome?' Annunciata wanted to know. 'Did he see the King?' ‘Oh yes, he came to pay his respects to the King straight away, but I don't think the King would have taken much notice, except that Maurice happened to be at the Papal palace at the same time as he was, also having an audience with His Holiness. When the King discovered that Maurice has been asked to write a special sung Mass for the Holy Father, he began to take a great interest, and we went to the first performance of Maurice's opera. After that, we all saw a great deal of each other.' She looked suddenly wistful, an unexpectedly young expression for her mature face. 'It was rather pleasant, all of us together,' she said. ‘The King seemed really to like Maurice - he treated him almost exactly in the way he treats - treated me.’

  It was while they were in Rome, and the King seemed happier than at any time since they left Avignon, and was behaving in such a comfortably intimate way towards Maurice, that Aliena decided she could no longer conceal from the King that she was pregnant. The child had been conceived on that long, bitter journey through the Alps in February. She had suspected that it was on the way when they were at Pesaro, but had not wanted to discuss it with the King when he was so dour and gloomy. Now she was beginning to grow large, and any man other than the King would have suspected long ago. But he was happy now, and must surely, she reasoned, have begun to forget about Princess Benedetta. So one night, when they were in bed together, she told him.

  His reaction shocked her, in that he seemed utterly amazed that she was with child, and while it did not cross his mind to suppose that she had bedded with anyone else, it took her a great deal of talking to persuade him that she was not mistaken, and that it was his actions that had caused her condition. When at last he believed her, she waited in vain for pleasure, joy, or even reassurance. The King seemed wholly dismayed, and it was for Aliena to say, 'Well, my lord King, what will you do?'

  ‘What do you want me to do?' the King asked. 'What is there for me to do?'

  ‘You are the father of the child that is growing within me,' she said, and seeing this did not make any impact on him, she said, 'if it is a boy, it may one day be King of England.’

  That shocked him out of his daze. He stared at her. 'You want me to marry you?’

  She sat up and gazed down at him, her long hair framing her face and touching his cheek. 'Jamie, why not? I love you - you love me. We are comfortable together.'

  ‘But I am as good as betrothed to Benedetta,' he said. She kept patience.

  ‘You are not as good as betrothed. Rinaldo does not want the match, he is only pretending to consider it because he does not want to hurt your feelings. He does not think it a good match.'

  ‘But I am King of England!'

  ‘Yes, my darling, but only in name. He does not believe you will ever get your kingdom back, and meanwhile he dares not cross the Elector or the Emperor of Austria by allying himself with you. He will never give you Benedetta, believe me.’

  He was silent for a moment, and then said, stiffly, 'Even if what you say is true, I could not marry you. I am King of England, after all, even if, as you so harshly put it, it is only in name.'

  ‘But, Jamie, I am as good as Benedetta. I am well-born, well-educated, I have royal blood in my veins. I am, or at least will be, a woman of means. There is a large inheritance for me in England, which will come to me when my mother dies. I am your lover, and I am with child. Do you want our child to be a bastard?' The King only stared at her in distress and embarrassment. She went on, less surely, ‘Who knows you better than me? Whom do you know and trust as well as me? If we live the rest of our lives here in Italy, in exile, we can still be happy together as ordinary people.'

  ‘But I am not an ordinary person,' he said - not proudly, but gently, as if explaining something to a child. 'I am the King, and I cannot marry a commoner. How could I make you Queen of England? Aliena, you know how fond I am of you, but after all, you are - well, my mistress. How could I marry you? Everyone knows about our relationship. And if they did not before, they soon will know, when they see you are with child.'

  ‘There are plenty of precedents for kings to get their wives pregnant first. If it were always done, it might save a great deal of unhappiness. What about your uncle King Charles? If he had followed that simple precaution - and suppose you marry a barren princess? What good will her royal blood and stainless reputation do you or England?’

  She knew it was no good. He had shut off from her. He sat up and reached for his nightshirt, and in the kindness of his voice came the deadliest of blows.

  ‘Aliena, it is impossible. I owe it to my mother, and my father's blessed memory, to marry in accordance with their wishes. They would not wish me to marry an obscure woman with whom I have already had carnal knowledge. Do not be afraid, I shall not desert you,' he added. 'Our child shall be taken care of. Why, I have had the example before me all my life of my lord of Berwick. It was often said that my father had almost as great a pleasure in him as in me - and so I hope it will be for us.’

  He dressed quickly, when he was dressed he kissed her forehead and went away, all without meeting her eyes. She lay a long time, dry-eyed, wishing she could weep, hearing his words over and over again. She did not sleep until dawn, and then only fitfully, for an hour or two. She did not know what to do, or where to turn.

  At the beginning of July, the Pope told King James that he had had a palace prepared as a permanent home for the exiles at Urbino, a remote medieval town in the hills overlooking the Adriatic sea, and indicated that the King should go there at once, as his presence in Rome was an embarrassment. The King was not unhappy at the thought of a permanent home, after so much pointless wandering, but to Aliena is spelled the end of hope. The King was being pushed into the background, sent away where he could do no harm and would not be on hand to remind people of his lost kingdom and of what they ought to be doing to help him. No one now believed that he would ever regain his throne, and that was why they were being so kind, and so firm, and sending him to such a remote place. In the time since she had told him that she was pregnant, he had avoided being alone with her, had treated her when they met with a distant kindliness, and she could see that she was being pushed away in just the same way as James himself. The difference was, she knew it, and he didn't.

  She packed her own belongings as the Court packed theirs, keeping them separate. Maurice was on the point of returning to Naples, for the Rome Season was almost over, and the heat was growing to unpleasantness, and so she confided in him, and borrowed money from him, and one or two necessities from Nicoletta, who, guessing her predicament, had been kindness itself and begged her to make her home with them. 'There are so many of us all together at Naples, that another one, or two, won't matter,' Nicoletta said. But Aliena thanked her, and refused. She had suddenly been overtaken by a deep longing to go ‘home', to England, which she had left as an infant and had never seen since. She had her maid Nan with her, and her laundress, a French girl from Avignon called Marie, and Nicoletta gave her one of her own footmen, for she said a pregnant woman could not travel so far without a manservant; and on the day before the exiled Court left for Urbino, she took ship for Marseilles.

  From Marseilles she went by road to Avignon, where she sought help of the Papal Vice-Legate, who arranged her safe passage through France to La Rochelle. From there she took another ship to Cherbourg, where she was able to take passage on a privateer to Folkestone. Everyone was very kind to her on the journey, perhaps because of her condition, perhaps because she was so evidently a lady.

  ‘And what did the King say to you, when you said goodbye?' Annunciata asked at last, when the rest of the story was told. Aliena looked a little ashamed.

  ‘I did not tell him I was going,' she said. 'I could not bear to. I thought if I did he might beg me to stay, and I would not have been able to refuse him. So I left quietly, and gave a letter to a servant I could trust, to give to him.’

  After a silence, Annunciata asked diffidently,
'I wonder, do you not think that if you had gone to Urbino . . .? After all, in an isolated place like that, with no news from Modena, and you beside him, growing larger with child, and more beautiful day by day - he must surely have married you in the end?’

  Aliena looked into the distance sadly. 'Yes, perhaps. I think you are right. I thought of it myself, of course, but there was my pride, too. I could not endure him to take me in lieu of anything better. No doubt that is a fault in me, and I shall suffer for it, but it is the way I am. I have the blood of kings in me, and I would not be rejected for an Italian duke's daughter, though her title be princess, and mine no more than mistress.’

  Annunciata looked at her with compassion and sympathy. 'I do understand,' she said. In her youth, she had had that kind of pride. 'What had we better tell the servants?' she asked. 'I assume that you will be staying here, at Shawes, for good now that you are home? It will be yours one day, and your child's after you. All my estate is mine to leave, and Karellie and Maurice will not want it. Maurice cares nothing for material wealth, and since Karellie has followed Berwick's example and taken French citizenship, he will not be able to come back to England.'

  ‘But what about his daughter? He may want an estate for her,' Aliena said with a glint of amusement.

  ‘His daughter?' Annunciata asked in astonishment. 'Karellie's daughter? He surely cannot have married, without telling me?'

  ‘No, he is not married. Well, I assume it is his daughter - the child of Diane di Francescini, born last December. A perfectly lovely little girl, so Maurice said - he saw her when he took Nicoletta to Venice. But Maurice thinks all babies perfect, especially girl-babies.’

  Annunciata was staring at her, her mind furiously at work. 'During their escape?' she said. 'Possible, I suppose - even likely, since they were travelling as man and wife. But she said she would never marry him.'