by G Lawrence
I acquiesced, and took Henry and his few servants to my father’s study. Poor Bess stood at my side looking as though she wished she were anywhere but there. Although it was summer outside, the fire was burning brightly and the wine was already decanted into a jug for us. Henry stood before the fire with one great arm over the stone fireplace. He indicated that I sit on one of the chairs before him. There was such an air of expectation about him that I could not help but feel excited… Were my family’s plans coming to fruition?
“Anne, when I first came to this throne I was young, I was romantic. The last charge that my father laid upon me was to take a wife, one worthy to be a queen as my own mother was, and to produce the heirs that this country needs in order to be saved from ruin. My father was a careful man in all that he did. You know that my elder brother, Arthur, was to succeed to the throne and for a long time that seemed as though it should happen. But when Arthur died, my father was left only one son, me. He knew that he had to preserve me for the good of his country and from the age of ten I was protected like I was a girl-child, kept always close to my father, cosseted, prevented from taking part in the sports and martial acts at which, now, I excel.”
He smiled at me with pride and I could not help but smile back at the boyish look on his face. He took my smile as agreement and continued. “When my father died he charged me to marry the bride that my brother had left widowed on his death; Katherine, the Princess of Aragon and Castile. We had been engaged before, whilst my father lived… but my father had refused to allow the marriage to come about as he feared I was too young, much as Arthur had been, and that early marriage might exhaust the strength of my body. There were objections raised against the match, too, because Katherine had been my brother’s wife, although she swore they had never lain together. My father hesitated on both counts. He was always careful with me, you see? Careful to the last to ensure that he could hand his throne to a son, an adult son, whom he knew could lead and protect the country he loved so.”
Henry breathed in and sighed a little. “You must understand, Anne,” he said. “When I was young and first come to the throne, I was overtaken with my new freedom and my new power. I threw off the shackles of my father’s constant protection with relief. I looked on Katherine, then, with the eyes of a youthful boy who knew nothing of love really but what is writ in books of romance. I saw Katherine as a great princess fallen low. I felt as though I were a knight of old who, in promising to marry her, had rescued a maiden from a terrible life of destitution and despair. Although she had been a wife to my brother for many months before he died, Katherine swore to me that she was a maid, untouched by the hand of my brother or of any other man. A dispensation was required in order to allow us to marry due to our consanguinity. The Pope decreed that since Katherine swore she was a virgin, then the normal laws of canon and scripture that would prevent our marriage were not applicable and we could marry as intended. But still, he issued the dispensation, wording that a union between Katherine and my brother had ‘perhaps’ taken place, as it seemed that there was confusion on this point in the court of Spain where her royal mother and father reigned.”
He breathed in again and shook his head. “When I told you that my father protected me from all things, Anne,” he said softly, “it was true in more ways than one. When I first came to Katherine’s bed, I was a boy. I would not have known then whether she was a virgin in truth or not, for my father kept me all but locked up in his palaces. I was… untried, as a man, when I came to her bed as her husband.”
He looked at me with a little fear in his eyes, he was, after all, admitting quite something to me; it was certainly not something that he should wish repeated.
“That is more for your honour than against it,” I said quietly. “None who see you now, or saw you then, would think you were anything less than a great man.”
He smiled at me and touched my shoulder. “None looks to my comfort as well as you…” He turned his head and glanced wryly at me. “And none my discomfort!” I smiled at him, laughing a tiny bark of a laugh at his words. “But I still have more to tell you,” he continued, pouring wine for me and then for himself from the leathern jug at the table. I relished the stiff jolt it gave my senses as I drank. Henry continued.
“Over the years we have been married, Katherine has borne me children, but some did not survive more than a few days; most were born already dead. There were so many disappointments, so much grief. I had a son once, Anne, a handsome little boy who slipped from life after barely two months. Only Mary, only a daughter, was left to survive the years of disenchantment and sorrow that our wedding bed produced. I asked myself time and time again over the years, after every new and fresh sorrow, my conscience troubling me so; why would God punish a couple such as Katherine and me? I am pious, I attend the Church and I give much to it in riches and lands as well as prayer and thought. The Pope himself named me ‘Defender of the Faith’! Katherine, too, was surely above reproach on that score… Her duties to the Church are legion. So why, why after all this time should God only give me a sole daughter as my heir?”
He looked grieved. “Do you know the history of the Empress Matilda?” he asked, and I nodded. “When once before a woman was heir to the throne she plunged the country into civil and bloody war… Only when the succession was restored once more unto a man, her son, did peace return. I cannot leave my country to such ruin. I cannot! A woman cannot hold this country together. A woman has not the strength to make war, to lead men into battle, to treaty for peace… to do the things that a king must do. I must have a son to follow me.”
I sat there, amazed, that Henry was confiding such intimate, personal thoughts to me. Although I had known that he had confided such thoughts and doubts to his friends, it was quite something else to hear them straight from his mouth. I felt as though, truly, we had crossed over some barrier together. I was his confidante. He was trusting me with his most private fears and concerns. My heart was fluttering within me. I could not help but hope that what I desired more than anything, was be about to be said.
He sighed again and drank from his goblet. “For years I have wondered in earnest why God, in all his mercy and righteousness, should punish so virtuous a country as England. Why He should choose to punish myself and Katherine? The question of the succession, of my painful lack of sons, of God’s purpose in all of this, has consumed me, vexing my conscience sorely. When I come to think on the problem rationally, disregarding the respect that I bear still for Katherine as my wife, the only thing that I can muster is that God disapproves of something that we have done. God is withholding a male heir from me to show me my own fault in His eyes! God is showing me His displeasure for some sin, committed either by Katherine or myself. Until this sin is atoned for, I will have no male heir granted to me!” He reached up and ran a hand through his hair. “At first, Anne, I looked to my own sins, such as they were. I had taken life in battle, and I will admit to you that there had been times when I had strayed from the marriage bed and into the arms of others.”
He looked at me as though this might be news to me, but I nodded to him, keeping my face impassive. My sister had been his mistress, and he had been petitioning me to become the same for over a year now. It was not as though I were unaware of his dalliances outside of marriage! Henry flushed slightly. “But for all my own sins, whether the killing of men in battle, or the natural straying of a man from the bed of his wife after so many years, for all these sins I had confessed and my sins had been forgiven… So if I was absolved of the sins I had committed, then the fault could not be mine for this failure of our marriage. Other men have committed worse than I, in any case, and still have sons to follow them. The fault then, had to lie elsewhere.”
He paused. “I have ever been interested in theology and I took to studying the Bible with renewed attention, looking for an answer to my worries. After much searching, I found the answer. In the book of Leviticus, God has told us that should a man take his brother’s wid
ow to wife, then they shall be cursed… they shall bear no living heirs. For in God’s eyes, such is an unclean union.”
I suddenly became painfully aware of the servants around us. Henry, who was used to being so surrounded, shook his head at me, ignoring the others. “These are my men,” he said. His servants kept their faces stoic and unreadable, although I wondered at what they thought in their secret hearts. Bess was staring at the floor as though it were about to say something of the utmost importance.
“The answer is, Anna,” he continued. “That there was a mistake in the Pope’s judgement on the matter of my marriage to Katherine. I cannot say whether I was deceived by Katherine in her vow that she was not touched by my brother when she was his wife, but I believe the sanction of the Pope in this matter was wrong. He was at fault to allow our marriage because she was my brother’s wife in the eyes of God, making her my sister. If Katherine lied to me, and she was not a virgin when I came to her bed, then the sin is doubly made. I have suffered for the ill-judgement of the Pope and possibly for the lies of a woman I would not have thought capable of such sin. Katherine can give me no heir, for the displeasure of God is upon our marriage. Both of our souls are at risk for this sin, and we cannot be released of it until we are separated and the sin is confessed and forgiven. The answer to this problem is to annul the marriage between Katherine and me as no true marriage, and for me to take a true wife. Then I shall know the blessing of God, and the blessing of male heirs that shall save this country from destruction. “
I looked at him with wonder in my eyes. Not at what he was saying he would do with Katherine; many kings had left their wives and married another under the blessing of the Church. No, my own wonder was the dawning realisation of what this may mean to me. Even though I had thought on it, even though my family had plotted for it… It still seemed incredible to hear the King himself speak of it. This could really become my destiny? It was too much to be believed even as I heard it.
“Wolsey knows my mind well on this matter,” said Henry, “and is in agreement with me. He thinks that I should make a match with a princess of France.” There was a teasing light in his eyes. “What think you of that?”
“France is a fine country, Your Majesty,” I said smoothly, not rising to his mischief, “and it breeds fine women.”
“It does indeed,” he smiled good-naturedly at me. “Come, Anne, can you not guess my meaning? Do you seek at every turn to plague and confound me? I had not known you a week before I saw the proud mark of a Queen on you.”
Although I had been expecting it, I was unprepared for his question and sat with an open mouth looking at him. He laughed.
“You are astounded?” he chuckled, well pleased at my wide-eyed expression. “Anne, I have never loved anyone as I love you. I had never known what it was to love before I met you. Would God in all His wisdom send me such a woman; a woman of both allure and virtue at this time when I had realised God’s truth, unless He had a plan for us? You were sent to me, here, and now, as a sign…. You were brought to me by God Himself, to provide an answer to the questions that have so vexed my soul and rent my conscience. You were brought to me to show me the way, the true way! And your refusal of me as a lover, your insistence on maintaining your honour… all these things were brought about by God, do you not see that? We are meant for each other, you and I! We are destined for one another.”
He sat down before me, his eyes grave now, as they travelled over my face. He put his hands about mine and leaned forward. “Say, my lady, that you will become my true wife, the Queen of this country and the mother of my sons. Say that you will be mine, and I will raise you from noble seat to the throne of England. Say that you will become my wife, under the eyes of God and the law of this country. We will have a great life together, Anne, you will be gloried and raised up, honoured and respected by all the world. And we will have children… Our princes, Anne! Can you not see them now? With our spirits conjoined, they will be the greatest kings that ever walked this earth! This is what we are called to do! Say yes, Anne, and become the greatest Queen that this country has ever known!”
He kissed me then, his hands on my face and in my hair and his arms seeking to ensnare me with great force and passion. I struggled free and stood, “Wait, Your Majesty… Henry…” I breathed in and looked down on him with a mind that was racing with all he had said.
He stood and looked at me with a suddenly worried expression. “I have turned your head around with all this talk…” he mused. I nodded.
“I am not worthy of such a position as that which you offer to me,” I murmured, my heart pounding in my chest like a drum.
He snorted at me. “Not worthy?” he laughed. “Anne, think you that I missed your virtue, your goodness, in all your refusals of my offers to become my mistress? No, that was the position unworthy of you; the position of Queen was what you were born for and by God’s Blood!” he swore, his face flushing with passion and excitement. “It is the one that you shall have!”
“What of Katherine?” I asked, my head swimming, my heart racing and my blood rushing through my body.
He gestured impatiently. “I have already told her that I am concerned about the validity of our marriage and that my men are set to investigate it. She will accept the truth of this when it is put before her by me and other learned men. Katherine will concede readily once the situation is made clear to her. She is a virtuous woman and once put right in this, she will go quietly to seek the forgiveness of God. You and I will be married in a matter of months, as soon as the proclamation of the Pope is heard in this matter, and soon we shall have our sons… Many of them! And they will father the dynasties that shall rule this country, and others, for the greater good of the world, for all time! Come, Anna, say that you are mine. Say that you will be my wife… my Queen, and we shall live as we were intended, as the rulers of this land and as the rulers of each other’s hearts. Say that you love me and that you are mine. None shall ever surpass you. You will be the Queen of this realm and you will have my never-ending love. Say that you will have me as your husband and that you will bear me the sons of England. Say it.”
I was shaking; it was a brilliant proposal. I could have everything I ever wanted. I could have Henry and have him as husband. I could be Queen and have the country at my feet. I could live in honour and still take all I wanted of this world with the blessing of God. I looked at him with shining eyes, but warded him off when he sought to kiss me again. I took a jewelled ring from my thumb, one that I had worn since I was young, and gave it to him. The little gem flashed in the dim light from the window panes as he pushed it onto his finger. He took a ring from his finger and pushed it onto my thumb, for my slim, long fingers were all too small to fit his ring upon.
“I am betrothed,” I whispered with my head reeling.
“I am the most happy man in this world!” He reached around my waist, pulling me to him in a great kiss. His body encompassed mine and I felt the stiff heat of his manhood through his clothing. I pushed him away and whispered to him. “Not until our wedding night, Henry.”
Although he was clearly disappointed, thinking perhaps that the promise of marriage might be enough to undo me to succumb to him, he nodded with a prudish look on his face. “Our heirs will be legitimate, without question,” he said and stroked my face. “Besides,” he said, leading me from the chamber towards the great hall where a feast had been put on in his honour, “it will not be long before we are married, and you are mine in truth.”
I laughed and squeezed his hands. I had never felt so excited. I was dazzled by the offer he had made to me. Even when my family had put the idea forward, I had thought of it perhaps more of a lovely dream, than something that could become reality. But here it was… the promise of the King of England… Henry’s heart, granted to me, and to me alone. He loved me; he wanted me to be his Queen! It must become so, I thought. I could not have such a wonderful dream handed to me, for it not to come true.
That night
was a roar of dancing and feasting. Henry and I sat next to each other and he fed me dainties from his plate with great gentleness and respect.
When he left the next morning, riding for court in a flurry of excitement to see what could be done on “our matter”, as he called it, I wandered alone into the gardens.
For a moment, I stood still, and looked about me. The early morning’s sun was shining on the petals of the roses and glimmering from their leaves. There was a scent still of the cool of the night on the air. Light rain was falling, stroking my heated skin. A little breeze bobbed merrily through the trees, making them sigh and whisper, like the sound of far-off waves.
There was no one around. I turned and I ran through the paths as I had done when I was a child, playing with my brother and sister, or with my mother. I ran, letting the wind flow through my unbound hair, and, feeling the light rain upon my heated skin, I ran and I ran, laughing, as my feet flew over the wet earth. I stopped at the edge of the marshland forests, set my arms back, and let out a strange and wild cry, of happiness, of elation. It echoed through the trees, bouncing from limb and branch. My cry seemed to resonate through the earth below me and the skies above, as though I had become a part of the wonders of the Almighty.
As I stood there, flushed and panting, a fierce cry came from above me; in the skies I saw a falcon sailing over me, as free as my heart felt at that moment. It let out another shriek, as though answering my call and I threw my head back and laughed. I felt as though I was being sent a sign, perhaps from God.