"A Rose Without Thorns"
Based on "The Tudors
Author's note: This is a serious AU story in which many things happen that did not happen in the show or history. Here are the main ones:
Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn were married for a very short amount of time before Henry married Katherine of Aragon
Both Henry and Anne were born in 1501
Arthur died in 1514 instead of 1502 and Henry divorces Anne – for reasons to be revealed later – and marries Katherine soon after.
Anne gave birth to Henry's child right before she and Henry got divorced
The other things that are different I'm sure you will be able to pick out. I hope that you enjoy the story!
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England, 1532
Princess Mary Tudor, daughter of King Henry Tudor VIII and Queen Katherine of Aragon, sighed as she strolled through the gardens of Ludlow Castle. She spent a lot time in the garden thinking, thinking about her parents, thinking about her father's mistress, Anne Boleyn.
Everyone knew that Henry was going to marry Anne again. Everyone at court was talking about it. Mary could even see it in her father's eyes when he looked at Anne. And, Anne looked at him the same way.
The fact that Henry had already been married to Anne, and that the marriage ended within a year, shocked Mary to no end. How could he be re-falling in love with a woman he had already been married to and divorced from?
She thought of her sister. Sophia. The daughter that Henry had had with Anne when they were still married. Sophia was older than her by a mere year and, although her mother was Anne Boleyn, Mary had always been close to her.
Even after Henry and Anne got divorced, Henry kept Sophia at court. Even when Anne went to France to serve in the French court, Henry kept Sophia near him. Of course, Sophia would visit Anne at least once a year, and Henry would always go with her.
Mary was actually surprised that Katherine never worried about Henry's relationship with his daughter. She was always kind and loving towards Sophia, almost as if she was Sophia's mother. Mary didn't mind, of course, because her parents showed her the same affection that they showed Sophia.
Mary was proud to say that she was best friends with Sophia. They grew up together, playing for hours with their toys, reading together, taking walks together. And, although Sophia was also interested in and could do many things that boys did, Mary always remained close to her.
Mary was surprised when Sophia had voiced her disgust at her parents' behavior. Sophia didn't even think it was right to hear the rumors that Henry wanted to re-marry Anne. It even surprised Mary that Sophia would fight her parents about the issue.
And then, three years earlier, Sophia was sent to Scotland to live with their aunt, Margaret.
Mary knew why and she hated Henry for doing it. Sophia was her closest friend and, now that Henry had disowned both her and her sister, Mary had no one. She wasn't allowed to see her mother, she wasn't allowed to live at court, and now she couldn't even see her best friend. She had lost all contact with the people that she loved.
Mary constantly prayed that Sophia would come up with a plan to get them both back into favor with their father. She constantly prayed that Sophia would, eventually come back to England.
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Lady Anne Boleyn thought of her daughter often.
Sophia had been the light of her life for so many years. To think that she had to be sent away pained Anne to no end. She had begged Henry to make Sophia stay, but Henry told her that Sophia wanted to leave that he was going to let her. He didn't want his daughter to be unhappy. He had promised Anne that, if Sophia ever did come back, she would be more than welcome at court.
But, as the years passed, Anne started to believe that Sophia would never come back. And now, as she planned her secret marriage to Henry, she wanted her daughter by her side more than ever.
Her brother, George, had named his niece "The Rebel Princess" shortly after Sophia went to Scotland. And, while this title fit Sophia perfectly, Anne wanted nothing more than to have her rebel back with her.
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King Henry Tudor VIII wanted nothing more than to be reconciled with his oldest daughter. She meant more to him than anything else in the world. The day he sent her to Scotland, he cried for hours. He knew that he had to send her away. Sophia had told him many times that she wanted to go away, that she was unhappy living at home. And, like any good father, Henry gave her what she wanted. But it still pained him to do so.
It pained him to send Mary away from court as well. But, Mary had stayed in England. Sophia had not. Sophia was all the way in Scotland, probably having the time of her life with Margaret. He wished that both of his daughters would just give in to accepting the fact that Henry was re-marrying Anne. It would just make things so much easier and it would make him the happiest man in the world.
If only…
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Thomas Boleyn almost hated his granddaughter.
There was a point, not too long ago, that Sophia had made everything in his life sparkle. She would make him smile when he came home from court and she was visiting Hever, she would make him smile when he would see her dancing at one of Henry's many parties. She would always make him smile.
But, then she decided to get in the way of his plans.
He had tried many times to get Sophia to see "reason", to see that her parents' getting re-married was a good thing. And, though she was only in her early teens at the time, Sophia wouldn't listen. She had even insulted him, saying "Who is it good for? Them or you? I am already the oldest, legitimate daughter of the King, Grandfather, isn't that enough?"
But, he had been sad when she decided to leave court.
After all, she was his granddaughter.
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Charles Brandon and his wife, Princess Mary Rose Tudor, had secretly kept in touch with their niece ever since she left for Scotland. They had learned that, over the years, Sophia had learned many things that she definitely wouldn't have learned at the Tudor Court. Margaret, feeling sorry for her niece, had let Sophia have a lot of freedom.
Charles had often smiled when he thought of the things that Sophia had learned to do in Scotland. Margaret had often had Sophia and her son, James, play together and spend time together doing various different activities. The cousins had become very close and were constantly spending time together. So, Sophia had learned to do many things that other girls of her age and status never even thought of doing.
Mary, or Rose so people wouldn't confuse her with her niece, had always supported Katherine when it came to Henry's impending divorce from her. So, when she found out that Sophia – Anne Boleyn's daughter – was even fighting for Katherine, Rose became very proud. Rose had never liked Anne Boleyn, even when she and Henry were first married, but she had always loved Sophia.
Charles and Rose had thought about going to visit Sophia and Margaret in Scotland, but they never did. They were afraid of what might happen to them if Henry found out that they were going to visit his daughter. So, they stuck to writing to her, and praying that she would come back one day.
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George Boleyn missed his niece.
Though he knew that she stood in the way of the family gaining as much power as possible, he still liked it when she was around. She was always fun to be with, even during the years she fought against him before she went to Scotland.
Sophia was smart. She never fought with her family when Henry was throwing a party. During a party, Sophia acted like nothing was wrong between the members of her family, laughing with them and even dancing with them. Though everyone at court knew of the feud that was building between the princess and her family, Sophia still acted like everything was perfect. She wanted the courtiers to forget the drama that was the Royal Family for the short amounts of time that they could.
George had always been close to his niece, ever since she could learn to walk and talk. Even though he had named her "The Rebel Princess" – which many other people now called her. He even heard that Sophia was calling herself that all the way in Scotland – he always admired her for standing up for what she believed in.
Though he knew that it would probably ruin everything that he and his father were planning, George hoped that he could see his niece again.
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Queen Katherine of Aragon had been heartbroken when she had learned of Sophia leaving for Scotland. She had treated Sophia as if Sophia was her own daughter. She had tried to write to her, but Henry always intercepted the letters and refused to send them. So, Katherine would get her information on how Sophia was doing secretly through Charles and Rose. And, she was very proud of her stepdaughter.
Now that she was could not see her actual daughter, Mary, Katherine prayed day in and day out that Sophia would make a comeback. Not only did she desperately want to see her stepdaughter again, but she knew that Sophia wouldn't listen to Henry or Anne. She knew that Sophia would do whatever she wanted. And, she knew that Sophia would make it so that Katherine would see Mary again.
Sophia would help her. She knew she would.
I hope you like the beginning of this. I thought it was a creative idea when I came up with it! ;)
I'm warning everyone right now that this story is still under major work. I'm not sure when the next chapter will be up because I want to make sure that the characters are as "in character" as possible. But, there may be some OOC moments, depending on what's going on. I am also trying to make sure that everything makes sense as I write. So, please be patient with me.
I will still be posting chapters for my Cordelia story, since I have the first book in that series completed. I have stumbled onto Writer's Block for Cordelia's sequel, which is when I came up with Sophia. Also, some of the dialogue in the upcoming Sophia chapters may be taken from Cordelia's dialogue.
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