by G Lawrence
“Well he will just have to change the manner of his thinking, won’t he, Cecil? The way I see it, the Archduke would be gaining a great deal from such a marriage, and I see no reason he should not think that worth an investment.”
“I will… speak to Dannett on how to explain your reasoning to the Emperor,” Cecil said, frowning at the paper.
“Tell him to remind the Emperor that I am not only a queen, Cecil, but a prince. I am the only Prince of England. The Archduke will be my consort. I am the King, and he the Queen.”
“I will attempt to find words to express such ideas, Majesty.”
Chapter Seventy-Eight
Whitehall Palace
Autumn 1566
“Money is surely the greatest curse,” I muttered to myself. “For the more one has, the more one needs.” I had to summon Parliament into session that autumn, for lack of funds. I had no wish to call them. I knew that the Houses would only lecture me on the succession and I was so very tired of hearing about my own death! Could they not talk of some other matter for just a while before nailing me in my coffin?
Pamphlets had circulated recently, anonymously written, but clearly penned by those who supported Katherine Grey and her sister. There were supporters for Mary of Scots as well, but they were fewer, and many were reluctant to speak out lest they be accused of having Catholic sympathies. Marriage and the succession; two ghosts ever set on haunting my steps. I needed money, and so I had to call Parliament to session, but I knew, far ahead of time, this would bring divisive talk. True to my suspicions, Cecil informed me he had information that both Houses intended to petition me to marry and settle the succession. Hoping to lay this to rest before it came to debate, I sent word to Parliament, saying “by the word of a prince, I will marry,” but for the present “the perils to my own life are such that I cannot suffer to hear of it.” I sent them the findings of my doctor, Huick, who believed that to risk pregnancy was to risk my life.
Both Houses seemed not to care for the opinions of my doctors, however, and pressed ahead. The Commons refused to sanction any release of funds until the matter was discussed and settled. This angered me, for I had already said I would marry, when I was able to. The fact that I never intended to be able to did not curtail my wrath. My Parliament should take the word of their prince and be satisfied with it!
“If you were to simply marry, Majesty,” de Silva said as I raged. “Then all of this aggravation would be set aside.”
“Have you turned against me, too, de Silva?” I asked and then tossed my head. “In any case, I have decided to write to the Emperor this week and agree to the match with Charles of Austria.”
“I see,” he said with a grin. “And will this letter be a real one, Majesty, or one which disappears with the coming of the dawn?” I did not answer, but I did chuckle. De Silva knew me too well to believe me. I could only hope my men did not know me as well as him.
A gathering of representatives from the House of Lords came to press the issue. I had not wanted them near me, but Robin urged me to listen to them, at the very least.
“The Lords should not be supporting the Commons in this insubordinate behaviour!” I exclaimed to the lords when they had put forth their case. “The Commons would never have been so dissident in the time of my father. They take advantage of my natural generosity, my lords, and you are helping them to rise in a revolt of words against me!” Many voices broke out in protest, but I held up a firm hand. “You, as lords of England, may do as you will in your lives, my lords, within the sanctions of law, and I will therefore do the same. I am a lord, a prince, a queen and the monarch of this realm. I have given my word to embark upon the voyage of marriage when I am fit and able to, that should be enough for all the men of England, common and noble!”
The delegation of lords did not leave in a clement mood. Three days later, the Lords united formally with the Commons, apparently taking me at my word that they, as lords, could do as they wished. The nobles of the House of Lords returned to pressure me again, and I abused them for their defiance. “You would have me marry, when my doctors say that pregnancy would endanger my life?” I asked them. Many had the good sense to begin an intense study of their shoes as I spoke. “You value my life not at all, then, my lords? You cherish not your Queen?”
“We cherish our Queen, and wish to secure the future of England.” Norfolk was the only one who dared speak up.
“You are little better than a traitor, Your Grace.” His eyes widened with shock. “You and all who sit in there with you! For you plot now to end my life, by harrying me into a union which will steal my life… What is that if not high treason?”
Norfolk stared at me as though I were a stranger he had found under his bed, and his friend Pembroke leapt in to defend him. “Majesty, all your people want are assurances of a safe and stable future,” he started. I did not let him finish.
“And you!” I snarled, turning on Pembroke. “Are little more than a swaggering soldier to talk to me in such a manner!” I spun about and attacked Robin. “And you here, too, my lord!” I exclaimed. “If all others in the world abandoned me, I would have thought that you would never have done so! This petition, coming at such a time when I have been unwell, when all my doctors say that to risk marriage risks too my own death… and you would still force me to the wedding bed! Mean I so little to you, then, that you would risk my life for that of a babe? Is your Queen so unimportant to you that you care not for her own life?”
To be entirely fair to Robin, I do not think he had wanted to be a part of this party of protest. No doubt pressured to attend by the other lords, he had actually been standing at the edge of the crowd, therefore fulfilling any promise made to them, but had not been a part of badgering me to submit to the demands of my Parliament.
“I would die at your feet,” Robin swore, looking wounded.
“What has that to do with the matter?” I retorted, scowling at him. I lashed out at Northampton who looked ready to open his mouth. “And before you come, my lord, mincing words about marriage,” I spat. “You had better talk of the arguments which got you your scandalous divorce, my lord, aye, and a new wife into the bargain!” Glaring at all of them, I stalked from the chamber. “Bring de Silva to me,” I shouted to Mary Radcliffe as I strode out into the garden. “For if I wish for a friend in this country, it seems I must turn to a Spaniard rather than to the men of England!”
They all heard me, of course they did. I had meant for them to hear me. De Silva found me sitting by one of the ponds in the gardens, close to tears. “They would have me marry even if it meant I would die,” I said before he had even bowed. “Even Robin, even my greatest friend, to whom I have granted so much wealth and favour, would rather have an heir to the throne than be secure in the knowledge of my well-being. I have suffered much ruin to my reputation, for the honours I have granted him, my lord, and what I get in return is ingratitude!”
Seeing Robin there, surrounded by those who would pressure me to marry, tore old wounds. I thought this was a sign Robin was drifting from me again. It was not, actually, the case. But I did not know that then.
De Silva sat at my side and took my hand in his. “Robin Dudley loves you, Majesty, as well as any man who ever loved a woman and was desperate to have her as his own.”
“And to plant a child in my belly, a child who will murder me. Perhaps then they will have all they want, de Silva, for they will be rid of me and they will have a babe to mould into the King they really want.”
“They want another like you to follow your reign, Highness,” de Silva said. “They fear to be left uncertain about the future, and they know, Majesty, that like all other men and women, your time upon this earth is limited, just as theirs is. It is the uncertainty which gives them cause to fear. They love you well, and would have you as their Queen always.”
I wiped my eyes. “I do not think what you say is true, my friend,” I said. “But thank you for saying it, all the same. Sometimes a lie is prettie
r than the truth.”
“Sometimes it is easier for us to believe the worst of others, and ourselves, even when that is not the truth,” de Silva counselled. “Your men are loyal, and they love and admire you, Majesty. Look at the so recent troubles of Mary of Scots. Your men would never do such to you. They would die for you, if that was what was asked of them.”
I did think on that. I had not actually considered that my cousin’s men, so set on taking her power, had obviously not fallen under the spell she seemed to cast over so many. My men were truly more loyal than hers. Perhaps I had magic of my own, and could not see it. “I will see none of them when I return to the palace,” I said to de Silva. “I want you to make sure they have gone, my friend, and know not to come unless called.”
“Including the Earl of Leicester?”
“Most especially the Earl.”
*
I had Robin and Pembroke barred from the Presence Chamber and when the Commons refused to see to any other business until I had answered on their requests, I was enraged. “What do the devils want of me, de Silva?” I cried.
“Do not give in, Majesty,” he advised. “To do so would be an affront to your dignity. The House of Lords is one thing, the Commons quite another. It is not fit for the Commons to make demands of you. You have told them you are not hale enough to risk a child of your body, to this, they must accede.”
I allowed them to bring a delegation of thirty members of each House to me, and stood before them quivering with indignation. I did not allow the Speaker of either House to attend. They were going to listen to me. I went over all the old arguments against naming a successor, and impressed upon them the issue of my frail health, and then I continued, admonishing the Lords who had supported the Commons against me.
“Was I not born in this realm?” I cried. “Were not my parents? Is not my kingdom here? Whom have I oppressed? Whom have I enriched to others’ harm? How have I governed since my reign began? I will not be tried by envy itself. I need not use many words, for my deeds do try me. I have sent word that I will marry, and I will never break the word of a prince said in a public place, for my honour’s sake. And therefore I say again, I will marry as soon as I may do conveniently, without risk to my own health and life, and I hope too to have children, otherwise I would never marry.”
I gazed around me and saw many had dropped their gaze at the mention of my life being in peril. Clearly some Lords and members had been ushered here against their better judgement. There was much uncomfortable muttering, too, for supporting the Commons in outright defiance of me, their Queen, was not something to be taken lightly. If the Commons could defy their Queen, what was to stop the common man defying their noble masters?
“And on the matter of the succession, my lords, I will tell you that none of you have been the second person in the realm as I have, or tasted of the practices against my sister when she was alive. I would to God Queen Mary were alive again so that you could think yourselves fortunate to have me! There are some in the Commons now who, in my sister’s reign, tried to involve me in their conspiracies. Were it not for my honour, their knavery would be known.”
More eyes refused to meet mine. All of those who had conspired against me when I was a princess knew how fortunate they were I had not moved against them with vindictiveness. I was seeking to remind them that they owed much to me, and should be grateful for my willingness to forgive their past sins.
I narrowed my eyes at them. “I would never place my successor in that same fragile position, and never risk England to the plots and plans of men who would seek to replace me with another before my natural death, acting solely on the whims and feelings of their secret desires. The issue of the succession is one fraught with peril for my realm, and not for the uncertainty which you all so often speak of, but in naming one, in raising up one person, who could then be used against me and against England, as a figurehead, a banner, to call men to war against me and the peace of our beloved country. Therein lies the greatest peril and uncertainty for my realm and my beloved people. The succession is a matter for me to decide, not you. I find it monstrous that the feet should try to direct the head in this country! I shall be the one to resolve the succession, and I will do so in good time, and in a manner that will not imperil me or the people of England, who are my first and greatest care.
I turned a steely eye on the men about me, watching their faces fall, watching their downcast eyes. They had dared to attempt to treat me as though I were their subject, and they my masters. Such a thing would never have occurred in my father’s time, and I was not about to let them get away with it.
“As for my own part,” I went on. “I care not for death, for all men are mortal, and though I be a woman, yet I have as good a courage, answerable to my place, as ever my father had. I am your anointed Queen. I will never be by violence constrained to do anything. I thank God I am endued with such qualities that if I were ever turned out of the realm in my petticoat, I were able to live in any place in Christendom.”
They left me in silence. The Lords were admonished, but the Commons were not. Three days later and there were calls for a further petition. I sent Francis Knollys to the House, with a statement which declared I had already promised to marry at a time convenient and safe for me, and they were to therefore desist from their suit. It was not received with humility or grace. Protesting this was an infringement on their liberties, the Commons refused to talk on the subject of the money I required until I was more obliging in the matter of matrimony. The dispute about the succession was sliding dangerously into the realm of a war between the privileges of a sovereign and her Parliament; a battle I had no wish to fight. I sent word allowing them to talk about the succession and my marriage. The fools were so happy at this sign of appeasement that they straight away debated on the money I required and issued it!
Not that I wanted them to… but did they never learn?
I dissolved Parliament some time later, giving them some last words to chew upon. “Beware, however, how you prove your prince’s patience, as you have tested mine! Let this, my discipline, stand you in stead of sorer strokes, and let my comfort pluck up your dismayed spirits. A more loving prince towards you, you shall never have.”
I was overjoyed to have won, and to have the money I needed. Cecil was less pleased. “There is no answer on the succession, no answer on marriage, and all there is, is bewilderment, as ever, Majesty,” he said.
“It is not bewildering to me, Cecil,” I told him. “I am your Queen, here and now. The future is yet to be seen, and is always uncertain. Be content to live in the present and to know yourself fortunate to have a Queen who knows what is best for her people, and for her country.”
Chapter Seventy-Nine
Hampton Court
Autumn - Winter 1566
Although they had attempted reconciliation at the end of the summer, as autumn arrived, Mary and Darnley were back to knowing only misery in their marriage.
“Perhaps they are trapped together indoors more, Spirit,” I said as I put the missive from Randolph on the table. “The summer gave them time to be outdoors, to feel space about them. Being forced inside due to the weather, and in close confinement with each other, they were bound to discover anew all the irritating habits they hated in each other before. Who would marry, and know such a fate?”
“Majesty, many who are married are happy in the companionship of another and all the comforts it brings.”
“All you speak of are not royal, Cecil. I have come to think that royalty never breeds a happy marriage. There are too many factors set to bring all to ruin. I saw as much with my father. Although he would have said he only had two wives, Jane Seymour and Katherine Parr, the others he left in the wake of his destruction would likely agree with me, rather than you.”
“Randolph says Darnley has announced he will leave Mary and live abroad,” Cecil continued, ignoring me. He took up a ring of dried apple from the platter before him and chewed thoughtfully
on it.
“The lords will not let him leave, even if my cousin wished to face the mingled shame and relief of being released from his odious presence,” I replied. “Darnley will make mischief for Scotland abroad. They will want to keep an eye on him.”
“There are rumours that he physically pushed the Queen at a public assembly as they argued,” Cecil went on. “And that their battles in private have ended with him striking her.”
“For my cousin’s sake, I hope such is not true.” I could believe it of Darnley though. He was just the type of vindictive, petty, little creature to resort to hitting his wife if he thought it might help him master her. “He insults the sanctity of the throne, as well as her, if this is true.”
“As long as she refuses to crown him, he will continue to abuse her,” Cecil said. “And their fights are increasing with the passage of time.”
“My cousin is right not to set a crown on that boy’s head,” I replied. “She shows more wisdom now than she did in agreeing to marry him.”
Darnley, however, had no wisdom, none at all. Arriving at Holyrood, and demanding that Mary dismiss her councillors before he would deign to enter, he was dragged inside by Mary’s guards. Mary spent some time attempting to make him see that he was alienating everyone with his ill behaviour, but Darnley would not listen. With continued gossip that he meant to go to France and set up a court there, Mary’s Council wrote to Catherine de Medici, telling her Darnley was suffering from temporary insanity, and asking her to offer no French support to his wild plans.