1531
"You have to admire, the way in which she conducts herself like a soldier, conserving her resources while praying away her pain and praying for her enemies' deaths." One of her ladies said.
The Lady Mary came out of the nunnery like a new person. Her rebirth did not went unnoticed by her father who greeted his daughter like he greeted a new host. Today was the day of her mother's churching. The period where the church told women it was acceptable to be part of the secular world (once again) after the uncleanliness of birth had been washed away by the holy waters of the church's basin. A basin filled with gold. Or at least that is how it seemed. To Mary it was just a basin. She was there with her mother when she took communion and afterwards dipped her two middle fingers in it and made the sign of the cross. Mary followed her. The Cardinal Wolsey's daughter, Mary's new companion along with her other ladies, watched this with interest. Never doubt what the church teaches, Mary told her new lady. Nevermind that it is stupid, it is the law. That was what the lady Mary was all about. Law. Order and of course, revenge.
Mary did not forgive and she didn't forget. People whispered that out of all the King's children, she was the one who took more after his mother's maternal relations, the Woodvilles. There was witchcraft in her eyes -they said. The way she looks, the way she speaks. She doesn't carry herself like a woman, but like a man. And she behaves as one with little regard for the rules.
Her mother tried to curb her behavior and remind her that although a descendant of her grandparents, the infamous kings of Spain, she was her father's daughter and as such things were expected of her "This is not Spain Mary, women can't just shout and do as they please. If your grandmother, my mother acted this way, do you think she would have lived one day? Of course not."
"What about the Princess of Wales, lady mother?" She asked back. "She does what she likes."
"She is a princess, a royal through marriage and the mother of future kings, she is allowed certain liberties."
"I don't like to."
"Nobody is telling you to. But that is just the way things are."
That is just the way things are. Everyone kept repeating that to her ears, it sickened her. Why did things have to be this way? Why couldn't they change? She missed the days when she was a child. Carefree, careless.
In the ensuing days after her mother's churching and looking after her new brother and sister; the king, her father, makes preparations for his daughter-in-law's churching. He wants it to be a spectacle to rival any seen before. It is a boy, the astrologers have said, and like all superstitious folk, they believe it. Mary resisted the urge to scoff. She could stand the queen's mother believing in such cock and bull, but her father and most of all, Anne? A woman she admired and she recently became friends with again because she was the only with common sense and was not afraid to tell her brother when he was wrong?
She asked her one day "How can you believe such things?" And she said peacefully "Not everything is about alchemy and mathematics Mary, some things are better left to faith." Yes, said Mary. Revenge, leave that to faith, not the future gender of your offspring. These people sounded like charlatans. They said she was a boy when she was in her lady mother's belly. They also said Bella was a boy and then they said that John was a girl.
Anne smiled at the little girl and touched her cheek. To her, she always seemed a little girl. She was so young, beautiful and she had enticed the new Duke of Bavaria and Count Palatine who had come to court her. It was a shame to everyone that Mary repeatedly told him she was not interested. "Some day Mary you will understand." And she said nothing more.
Mary took her brooch from her dress. She hated diamonds. She used to love them when John was around. Lizzie hated them so she asked her tailor to put as much diamonds as he could on the boarders of her neckline to make her jealous. It was so fun to tease Lizzie More. She was so easy to tease, and it gave her a respite from the boredom of court-life. When they found Lizzie, she had a diamond ring, the only thing with diamonds that she liked. It was a gift John gave her for her birthday. Her father scowled at it and warned his daughter not to get too comfortable with her new wealth. He wanted her to remember what he taught her -humility and charity. Mary wondered about Thomas More often. He was rarely seen at court since it happened. He did not look more gaunt, on the contrary, he looked as if he was untouched by age, but his eyes were different. He was not the laughing philosopher people knew him as. He was distant, far away into God knows where. Her father asked about their grandchildren daily when he was here. Mary overheard them once. Thomas sighed, a long and heavy sigh and passed his hand through his hair after he took his black hat. "They're fine" He said then he looked away. "Very fine." And that was it.
Lost in thoughts, she did not hear the heavy footsteps of the dashing figure approaching. A figure she thought she had convinced him to go from where he came from. "Lady Mary."
"My lord Duke, fancy seeing you here."
"You don't sound surprised."
"I am not surprised at what you do Your Grace, you have tried very hard to get me alone and now that you have achieved it, it should be proof enough that you and I can never be. I am happy being in the solitary state that I am. I am not going anywhere." Least of all you.
The Duke laughed, a merry laugh. "My lady you have me very confused with one of the other royals you and your lord father have met. I am a man of honor as he, and I come to bring you a new proposal. You and I may live here in England for a while, at least until my uncle passes away -God be willing it is from many years from now and then we can move to Bavaria. It is a beautiful country my lady, you would love it. We have mountains like you have never seen, our palaces are famous."
"So I have heard. But tell me Your Grace, supposing I were to say yes, when would we get married?"
"Any day you wish. Now if that is what you like."
Mary smiled a sarcastic smile. She took a step closer. "Allow me to disappoint you once more Your Grace, but I will remain here and nothing, no comet, no omen, no magic, and no marriage offer is going to take me away." She turned her back and walked away.
"I am sorry to hear that lady Mary but I am afraid you don't have any choice on the matter."
Mary spun violently. "What did you say?" Philip laughed. She gathered her skirts, slightly lifting them up, and walked to him. "Are you threatening me Your Grace? If you really are Your Grace because now that I remember you are not a Duke yet. That is why you want to remain here, right? I heard many stories from the Imperial ambassador, Eustace Chapuys. How you lost -what was it?- twenty thousand crowns in one year. You never manage your states and you are a poor administrator of your finances. Your brother Otto always has to manage you out. God only knows why Duke Albert agreed to make you his heir. And stop laughing!"
"Aye, my lady. I have no mind for finances but you have."
"So the leopard finally reveals his spot."
"That is a fine compliment I have been called worse. Though I would have preferred lion, lions are much braver and I have laid siege to the Turks' territories and been very successful."
"Do not change the subject Your Grace, my lord." She said pointedly, saying both his titles with mock. "I know why you want to marry me. You are a fierce warrior, feared and loved throughout Germany but you can't save a few coins. You love to gamble, you love to drink and most of all you love to fornicate."
Philip raised his eyebrows. He heard what a virago she was, but she surprised him for spitting such words with venom. He shook these fears from his head, he was determined to win her hand. "If you put it that way … yes. But I can change."
"That is what every royal says. Men like you don't change."
"Do not judge too harshly, you never know. The right woman always changes the most sinful of hearts."
"I am not that woman." Mary said firmly. "If I told you what I was you would consider me a monster." Her voice softened. "My brother died more than three years ago and since then I have desired nothing but revenge. You don't want a wife like that."
"Forgive my bluntness my lady, but who are you to tell me what rules my mind and heart?" Philip asked, suddenly serious. "Everything you said about me is true, but you missed the most important part. I am loyal to a fault. I used to be reckless and famed across Germany as a man who bedded woman after woman. I stopped after the last one miscarried my child. I haven't slept with any woman since. That is the truth. You are a good judge of character, you can look into my eyes and see that I am telling the truth."
"Do you take me for a fool?"
"No, it is why I am asking you to look into my eyes."
Mary twisted her mouth. Philip was pushing his luck. Nonetheless she gazed into them, and saw nothing. No deceit, no lies, nothing.
"See?"
Mary said nothing. Philip boldly took a step forward. "May I be allowed to kiss you."
Mary tilted her head. Who did he think he was? She smiled then, remembering the way he spoke about her to Princess Anne when she was hidden behind the curtain, and she nodded, saying a small "Yes."
Short, sweet. That was how Mary described it. She replayed the kiss in her mind. She touched her lips and pinched herself mentally to make sure she wasn't dreaming. Philip, as she got to call him now, blinked at her when they crossed paths. Always accidentally of course. One night Philip visited her after she retired her maids. They talked endlessly of everything they had seen, Mary's sad and happy experiences and his own sad and happy experiences. She was anxious to ask him about the wars, the battles he fought. The reason for his fame. But she decided against it. Just as he said she could read him really well, he could also read her very well and he saw a sadness in her eyes, a longing. The same longing he had.
Something in those battles, the men he lost or the men he fought, had triggered this new attitude in him. She asked his servants if it was true. He claimed by the holy virgin which he still worshipped that it was. "All of it my lady. His Grace has not gotten a good night's sleep without coming out of bed, drenched in cold sweat, muttering to himself the names of the men he fought and lost."
She sensed it was more than that.
In due time, she thought. For now, all that mattered was the present.
Henry was pleased with his councilors. He had signed the peace of everlasting peace with the German duchies. Eleanor was not there, as was to be expected. Her brother, the Emperor had tried to subjugate most of these territories and once again failed. They were too much ingrained in Protestant doctrine.
"The King knows better though." Thomas Cromwell told Cranmer, the man who had succeeded Warham as Archbishop of Canterbury. "The German duchies, most of them follow the old ways but they don't recognize the pope. Some of them prefer the Emperor, I have heard it from Barnes."
"That is ludicrous. How can they obey one man who follows Rome but then claim they deny Rome themselves?" Cranmer was pragmatic but some things he chose not to understand.
Cromwell said, "Do not be too judgmental Tom. They will bend the knee to Luther, Calvin and any other Reformer as long as it helps them break free from the yoke of Rome and the Emperor. The soon-to-be Duke is no different, except he and his relatives, the Wittelsbachs and the Julies-Cleves-Berg prefer to live with the soles of their boots grounded on the earth instead of chasing dreams."
"That doesn't help a lot. The Emperor wants everything and he will not stand for it."
"He will when more duchies slip from his fingers. Anyhow, the King's daughter marrying a man of the new faith benefits our cause. He will have trouble converting her but she will come to see things his way."
Cranmer was not so sure. The lady Mary was a very stubborn girl. At first he began to suspect he got that from her mother, but now seeing the king discussing matters over the upcoming birth of his grandson and impending churching of his daughter in law, with his eldest son; he realized she got it from her father.
"Whatever you say my lord secretary."
Thomas chuckled. "Do not call me that. I am not a lord."
"No? You are the person everyone flocks to." Cranmer said with a smirk that Thomas returned, feeling flattered.
Katherine was happy to be with Anne. It was a difficult birth. "Push my lady, Push."
Anne screamed. She pushed and pushed. After five long hours, the child finally came.
"A boy." Anne smiled. "Give me my baby. Let me see him." Anne said then when they cleaned her and still didn't finish cleaning her son, she turned to Katherine. "Tell them."
"Her Highness would like to see her child."
The midwife lowered her head to hide her expression. Katherine could still see it. She was one of Nor's chief midwives. The one who had delivered all her children. Naturally she felt a strong hatred towards Katherine.
She handed the babe into Katherine's arms and she handed it to Anne. "He's beautiful." Anne breathed. "Hello baby, I am your mama."
Katherine smiled. Every birth she assisted was difficult, including her own. The twins she had did not (and would never) replace the child she lot. Her firstborn.
"Katherine, are you okay?"
"Yes, I was just reminiscing of old days. It is nothing. The Queen and your lord husband will be here soon."
"No wait, stay here with me." It was not a command, it was a plea. Katherine shook her head. Nor and she had fallen out, and seeing her here would make her livid. "I have to go." She told her grand-niece-in-law. "Take care of that baby. Have you and Harry chosen any names?"
"We didn't think we would be this fortunate being blessed with another boy. What do you think his name should be? I was thinking Thomas after I saw him or Geroge after my father and brother, he certainly takes after us Boleyns, but his eyes are a perfect mixture of dark grey and my own dark brown."
"Why not opt for two names?" Katherine suggested, then said "I know" in a soft voice. "Owen Tudor after the King's great-grandfather."
"Owen Tudor" Anne said it very slowly, her voice barely heard except for Katherine and Nan Seville, her chief lady in waiting, and her sister, Mary Carey. "Owen. I like it." She nodded and looked down at her child who gazed up as she said the name again. "Owen Tudor, our little Duke of Gloucester."
Henry, Harry and Nor came. The Queen ignored her aunt and went straight to see the child. "He is beautiful." She said with great pride. "Isn't he Henry?" She asked, snapping him from the conversation he was having with Katherine. He thanked her for all her good services and briefly inquired on their own children.
Henry nodded at Nor, a perfect smile on his face that his disguised his anger at her for having interupted a pleasant moment between him and his love, Kat.
"Our son, our third little boy. He is heavier than his siblings. He will be a mighty warrior." Harry said, his tone also ringing with pride, but it was the type of pride that was shared by both him and his wife, mixed with true happiness at having been blessed for a third time with another son.
Anne told him about Katherine's suggestion.
"I like it, he shall be Owen Tudor, Warrior Prince and protector of Harry X." He said with a big smile on his face. Everyone laughed.
"He will be strong man like his father." Henry said slapping his son's back. There was genuine pride now. He always loved all of his children, but Harry. There was always something about Harry that made him long for the days when he was young, when he was bolder. He thought that because he was a Prince he could have it all, until his father burst his bubble. "You have done well Princess Anne." He said, congratulating his daughter in law.
"Thank you, Your Majesty, but I could not have gotten through this without the love and support from friends and family." She looked straight at Katherine then shifted her eyes at her husband. He smiled kindly at her. "I do not know where I would be without you."
"And I without you, Anne." He said, very serious now. He sat next to her on the bed and Anne carefully placed the babe on his arms. "You are very fortunate my son to be so loved. You will be a great warrior, I know. Because you will fight with your heart."
Henry was overwhelmed with the scene. He, Nor, and Katherine retired the rest of their servants and ladies, and walked out of the chambers.
Nor saw the look on Henry's face and asked what was wrong. "Nothing Nor. It is just … seeing them there, happy, so in love. Reminds me of the time we three used to be so in love and trusted each other."
Katherine and Nor looked down.
"What happened to us?"
Nothing Henry, nothing happened to us. Nor thought, but said instead. "We got older, we became greedy. You became greedy, I became desperate and Katherine …" She turned to her lady aunt.
Katherine steeled herself for the worst, straightening her back, and showing a mild smile. Even in the face of adversity, she would keep a placid face. She was a queen born. Even if that title was taken from her, she would behave as one to the day of her death.
"Katherine loved you."
"That's right Katherine. I know. You loved Henry, ever since he inherited the title of your first husband. I never questioned you. We are royalty, our love may be different from the common people, but no less passionate. I thought I could make him love me, see me as a woman and not as an obligation our parents put to him. But I was wrong."
"Eleanor," Henry started.
"No Henry I must say it. You two love each other and I can never find fault in that. If that is your destiny then so be it."
There was a glimmer of hope in both their eyes, but then Eleanor crashed it.
"But no love comes without a price. True love, pure and sophisticated, it is the stuff of fairy tales. Wonderful to the eyes, like a soft melody you can dance all day but eventually you grow tired. If you two were to marry it would tear the country apart. I know you Henry, you love Kat but would you really give up everything, your love, your throne just for her sake?" Her eyes became narrowed slits, she felt satisfaction at Katherine's pain. Her lady mother was right. There was more pain to be found in truth.
"I hope you two live happily for the rest of your lives, but know this. If you relinquish your position for your son's and for her, so you two can be together. I will not be responsible for the foul mouths and jeers that the nobles throw at you. Sure you might have the commons' support, they love Katherine, they always have. You are their star, their Madonna." She said. When her lady aunt was pregnant with Isabella, a foreign painter came to England. He asked to paint the Princess Dowager. Nor asked him why. He claimed he saw a vision of the holy mother, and she was in Katherine's likeness.
"Are you threatening me Nor?" Henry asked in a delicate voice. His eyes however, showed his true feelings.
"No Henry. I am only warning you." She said and began to turn but Henry stopped her, grabbing her arm.
"Harry, love please." Katherine said but Henry did not listen.
"Nobody threatens me. You are the mother of my children, but do not think that gives you permission to threaten me or Kat."
Nor said nothing, Henry waited for her but she remained silent. He let her go. Before she was on her way again, Katherine asked. "What happened to us Nor?" Echoing Henry's earlier question, excepts her was filled with desperation. Tears sprung from her cheeks.
You are a good actress milady. But no better than she was. Years at the English court had turned her heart black. "You happened Katherine, My mother happened. We all happened."
"Can we not be the way we were? Remember how happy we were, how we assisted each other, how we sew banners for the soldiers before the battle at Flodden."
"I miss those days too aunt but we cannot go back. We have our roles in life as you once said, you are the true queen of my lord husband's heart, and that is a problem. One I am willing to overlook for peace's sake but I cannot look the past the sight of seeing you two together, dancing, laughing, holding hands like you were man and wife, and have everyone whisper Queen Eleanor is a shadow Queen, the true Queen is the Princess Dowager."She remembered the jeers, the whispers. For every night Henry spent with her, she spent ten with Katherine. Her mother's plan of making her baby sister feel so ashamed of her behavior that she blamed herself for her son's death, failed.
"It hurts me, it is beneath my dignity as a Queen's daughter and an Emperor's sister."
"Don't be so dramatic Eleanor. You are still my Queen and you know I would never do something like that."
"No? When you threatened me to leave me for her when I opposed the match of my cousin Mary and the Duke of Bavaria."
"I spoke out of anger." Henry said, growing more tired with this conversation. Why did God forsake him with these women? Life would be so much easier if he was cold like his father. The man never seemed to love anyone except his older sister, Margaret and of course his mother -if bishop Fisher were to be believed. (Personally, he didn't. He had never been close to either of them, when he was with his mother, he treasured those moments but his father was never there. So he never saw any display of affection between the two. It was duty. Nothing more).
But Katherine awoke something he never felt before. He wanted her to be his first but his father reminded him. Duty. Duty son. That is all that matters. To this day he wished he didn't feel so it wasn't painful having to see Nor cry or nag him every time he went to visit Katherine. Or to see Kat sad when he left her chambers.
He came to a resolve. "If it is respect you want, I will give it to you but you will have to earn it. Speak out of turn or come into the privy council again without my permission and the deal is off."
Easy. Short. Simple. Nor said "No."
Henry's face turned purple. "What do you mean no?!"
"I mean no Henry. I will not accept the deal. If you want to treat me with respect, that is your choice. You are the King, you can do as you please."
"Then why all this melodrama?" Henry demanded. Was this another one of her tricks? Henry wished he could have the power to strike her without the weight of his conscience berating him afterwards.
Eleanor grinned. "Because I wanted to see just how far you two would go and because I wanted you to know how much you have hurt me."
"No more than you have hurt me Eleanor when you speak ill about my family, all my family."
There was such defiance in Eleanor's mocking grin that drove him to the point of madness. Finally Katherine, the Princess Dowager and voice of reason, put her hand on his shoulder. "Henry, let her be. She wants love just as you and I. If you want me to fade my dear niece, I will but allow me to remain at court so I can be with my children and let me keep my charities."
"Of course aunt, what type of woman I would be if I didn't let you?"
Four weeks passed since Anne's churching. Three since Owen Tudor, Duke of Gloucester and Earl of Lancaster's ennoblement. It was the time for another celebration.
The King welcomed his new son-in-law and Mary. Technically they were not married yet, but betrothed was as good as being married. Mary smiled at her father then at the Queen. She didn't look all too happy with this marriage, but she smiled at her anyway because appearances were everything, she had learned at the nunnery. Appearances and a good smile to destroy your enemies.
Before the wedding, Juana sends another one of her spies to scout the future Duchess.
She is beautiful, wise but willful. She will make a good Duchess.
That was not what she wanted to hear. Anything? A scandal? Anything?!
Non my lady. Replies her informant, writing in his native tongue.
Damn her. No girl can be that pure in a court like her father's. She kept all her ladies under a tighter leash than her sister. Nothing went past her. Katherine on the other hand, always so pure, so gracious, she didn't care what the others did as long as he reputation remained in tact. Juana unleased an unregal fit of laughter. Reputation. Her sister had thrown that down the river Thames when she opened her leg for her daughter's husband.
God and all the angels in heaven damn her. If it weren't for their blood, she would have killed her. Then she thought -Why haven't I? She is my sister, but not my subject. And she did betray her.
A plan began to form in her mind.
It was wrong to act too hasty. Eleanor was too naïve back then. She was not naïve now. If something were to happen to Catalina or her youngest daughter, the king's beloved pearl, Nor would react immediately.
She thought about the English French-bred whore Anne Boleyn. The girl had proven herself useful. She could not be disposed of. Three Princes sounded enough but they never were. Her mother had many miscarriages and her father had lost nearly all of his male bastards. Who knew what the future would bring? With the English being so dirty and the sweating sickness visiting England every two summers ...
The girl would live. For now. Should she raise her finger, when she became Queen, against the might of Spain and the Holy Roman Empire, she would be dealt with. For now Juana had more important matters at hand. She sent one of her servants to her spy's servant. Everything is now in motion, move the first piece. Let me take care of the rest. She wrote.