Chapter 29

Affairs of State

I said nothing to Anne about the King having bowed to Mary as we left Hatfield, feeling that it would only upset her further.

To my relief, though Anne usually pressed for every detail of any visit that anyone at all ever made to her precious little daughter, this particular time, she was too caught up in the preparations for the Admiral of France's state visit. The Admiral was paying us a visit in order to further discuss the possibility of a betrothal between Princess Elizabeth and one of the Princes of France, and not surprisingly, Anne was determined that it should be a success.

However, the state visit – and the preparation for it - was one of Anne's few pleasures during the latter part of 1534, for King Henry, in the manner so common among sportsmen who have achieved their desire, was tiring of my sister. He didn't even try to hide his affairs any more.

Of course, this hurt Anne, even more so than it had Katherine, because she was so used to being the only woman in King Henry's heart. Every time she realised that King Henry's eye had alighted upon another woman, she railed against him, and it was always me who had to calm her down.

The worst of these fits of pique occurred after the State Banquet thrown in honour of the Admiral, when King Henry left the table, ostensibly to find the Admiral's secretary, but in reality to find his newest sweetheart and take her out on to the floor to dance. In public, Anne attempted to laugh the incident off, but it shook, and that night, as I was brushing her hair, she burst into tears.

"I can't take this, Eleanor. Henry used to love me, love me with a passion. What's going wrong?"

"Nothing's going wrong, Anne." I assured her. "King Henry's just a hunting man, that's all. He's chasing those girls because he enjoys the thrill of the chase. That's why he chased you, remember? If you hold her head high and ignore his dalliances, like the Princess Dowager used to do, then nothing will ever come of them. The King will come back to you. He'll have to. You're still beautiful, Anne, as beautiful as you were all those years ago, when you first came home to Hever at the age of 16. You're still young enough to produce a son. Besides, Katherine's still alive. If, God Forbid, King Henry did set you aside, he'd have to go back to her. He'd never do that. Never in a month of Sundays. Not after all the trouble he went through to get you. And certainly not if it's a choice between Mary and Elizabeth as his heiress. Anyone with half an eye can see that Elizabeth's the healthier of the two."

"There's Henry Fitzroy, though." Anne reminded me hollowly. I scoffed.

"Pah! He's a bastard got off a nobody!"

"King Henry made him a Duke, though, sister. A Duke twice over, and Earl of Nottingham besides."

"When he was married to a barren woman." I retorted. "He'll champion Elizabeth's rights over young Henry's, never fear. Didn't he pass an Act of Parliament saying that Elizabeth was the one true heiress to the throne?"

"Well…yes, but…"

"Well, then he's honour bound to champion her rights to the throne."

A short silence followed my words, during which I wondered wildly if I had been trying to convince Anne with my reassurance, or whether, subconsciously, I had been trying to convince myself. At last Anne got up, murmuring "The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away."

Her words, though they were perfectly familiar, since they came from the Bible, seemed to have a strange ring to them, as though they suddenly had a double meaning, and they rang in my ears long after Anne had retired to bed.

I tried to pass them off as a chance comment that meant nothing, but somehow, I couldn't. They'd been too grave for that.


Then came the news from France. King Francis, despite his long association with my sister, had decided not to allow his son's betrothal to Elizabeth to go ahead. Instead, he was suggesting a match between his eldest son, the Dauphin and Anne's stepdaughter, the Lady Mary.

Anne was furious! She'd been counting on King Francis, at the very least, recognising herself and Elizabeth as the true Queen and Princess of England.

King Henry was angry too. Not so much at the insult to my sister, but more at the way he'd been played for a fool by the French. In retaliation, he sent the Admiral of France packing and started to crack down hard on those of his subjects who had not yet signed the Oath.

One of these was Sir Thomas More. Though he had always opposed the divorce, even resigning his post of Chancellor when it became clear that the annulment of Katherine's divorce to the King was imminent, his old friendship with His Majesty had kept him safe thus far. It kept him safe no longer. Father was dispatched to Chelsea to administer the Oath and, when More held true to his principles and Father returned without having succeeded in his task, King Henry ran out of patience.

"By God, More will defy me no longer!" he roared. With a word, he sent Father, the Duke of Suffolk and a contingent of soldiers galloping back to Chelsea to arrest More and bring him back to London to reside in that most dreaded of places, the Tower.

I would have thought that Anne would be delighted at this open championing of Elizabeth's rights, but she was growing more paranoid by the day.

One night just before Christmas, it was my turn to sleep in Anne's bedchamber and she woke sweating with fear. I hurried to her side as she croaked my name "Eleanor."

"Sister? What is it? What's wrong?"

"I had the dream again." she cried.

Without a second thought, I flew to the door and sent a page running for George. He was the only one who had even a hope of calming Anne when she was like this.

Luckily, George came at once. He sized up the situation almost before he was properly through the door.

"She was drowning in a cage and the Lady Mary was watching her die?" he guessed and I nodded. George sighed and was about to try to move forward to try to soothe our sister, when suddenly, Anne turned to us.

"I've had a thought! I know what the dream means now! It means I can never conceive a healthy son while the Princess Dowager and her daughter are living. They need to die before I can succeed in that. I need to persuade the King to kill them!"

George and I exchanged glances. Anne's eyes were burning dangerously bright and her words almost sounded like the ramblings of a madwoman. Simultaneously, we crept closer, but Anne paid us no heed. She was musing aloud to herself.

"But why involve Henry at all? He'll never agree. There's talk of war with France. With Scotland. When Henry goes away to battle. I'll be Regent. I can simply order their deaths!"

At last, George could restrain himself no longer.

"Anne! Anna-Maria! Stop this! This is madness! It's treason!"

"No it's not! Nothing's treason for the Queen of England!" Anne clutched at him, laughing wildly. Her laughter was the final straw. It was high and hysterical; not at all like Anne's pretty bell-like laugh of old. George acted instantly. He pulled Anne into his arms and hugged her as she trembled. He hugged her tight, warming her with his warmth, reassuring her with his proximity, soothing her with his touch, his voice, his kisses.

Leaning down, he kissed her on the forehead and on her raven black hair countless times, until she was calm enough to fall asleep again.

When she was, I went to the door and shut it, realising only now that any one of Anne's ladies could have spied on the whole scene – including George kissing her.

"You fool, Eleanor! You fool! Anne's dignity should have been the first thing on your mind, indeed, the only thing on your mind!" I scolded myself. "What if someone saw that? It wouldn't look good for the Boleyns."

I told George of my worries, but he laughed them off with his usual easy grace.

"Who'd want to spy on Anne? She's the Queen. If they were caught, it would spell Treason."

"Jane, your wife, for one." I retorted, tense and exhausted – too exhausted for diplomacy.

"I can deal with Jane." George chuckled. "I'm a man, remember. And her husband. If I order her to keep silent or to go down to our estate at Grimstone or Rochford, then she'll have to do as I say."

"And if it's one of the other ladies? What will we do then? You haven't got the same amount of authority over all of them, you know."

"Oh, Nora." George came across to me and pressed a quick feather of a kiss to my temple. "Stop worrying. Most of Anne's ladies were handpicked by Uncle himself for their loyalty to the Howards, and those that weren't are nobodies. None of them stands to gain anything by betraying Anne."

"There's a Seymour among them. And as for the others, they're handpicked for their loyalty to the Howards, not the Boleyns. As long as Anne's clearly the only Queen that King Henry will accept, they'll be loyal, but what if she doesn't stay the only woman he will accept as his Queen? What will happen then? Will they stay loyal? I doubt it."

"Eleanor Margaret Brandon nee Boleyn. You can't go on worrying like this." George cut me off firmly. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Right now, all you need to do is sit here and be ready to serve your Queen when she wakes. Understand? Now, I must go. Goodnight, little sister. And try not to think too much."

George bent over me and embraced me briefly, before bowing to Anne's sleeping form on the bed and leaving.

"Try not to think too much." I snorted softly, hoping I wouldn't wake Anne. She needed to sleep.

It was as if George had told me to stop breathing. Even assuming I managed to stop panicking about the chances of Anne's behaviour that night having been noticed, Anne's behaviour itself gave me plenty to contemplate. Would she really order Katherine and Mary's deaths if the King left her as Regent? I longed to believe she wouldn't, but the look in her eyes had been so strange; one might even say it had been crazed.

Who knew what Anne might do, if she truly believed it was the only way to keep her throne? To conceive a son and stay in His Majesty's good graces? To keep herself safe?

I stared down at Anne, wishing with all my heart that I knew what was going through her mind as she slept. Was she plotting the Lady Mary's death? Or was she already regretting her words, spoken as they were out of fear? Fear, rage and desperation? I didn't know, but all of a sudden, I knew I couldn't take the chance. If I stood idly by, and Mary Tudor died because of it, I would never forgive myself. I couldn't take the risk.


"Cock-a-doodle-do!" Before the final note of the stable cockerel's morning greeting had died away, I was up, out of my seat by Anne's bedside and running through the palace corridors to the bedchamber I shared with my husband. I had to get to him before he went to hear Mass with the King.

As it happened, Henry was barely dressed when I rushed into our apartments. He smiled when he saw me. "Good morning, Eleanor."

I shook my head slightly. "I'm not sure it is. Not for the Princess Mary."

At my words, Henry sprang to the door of our bedchamber and slammed it.

"Watch out! She's the Lady Mary now. You of all people should know that!"

"I do know, it's just – I was just so shocked…" I quickly told my husband every detail of what had gone on in Anne's rooms the night before. He listened attentively, and as I spoke, his face grew more and more solemn. He interrupted me long before I got to the end.

"That's it. I've had enough. You're leaving Court."

"But -"

"It's no longer safe. Can't you understand, Eleanor? Your sister's gone mad. I won't have you here, particularly not in your current condition."

"But Henry, I'm not sure you understand. If my sister has gone mad, which I'm still not sure about, by the way, then surely I'm the only one who can help her? I know what she used to be like, you see. She used to be the sweetest older sister that God ever put on this Earth. I'm sure that girl; that Anne Boleyn, is still in there somewhere. I've just got to find her."

Henry regarded me steadily for a moment or two, trying to measure the strength of my determination. At last he sighed. "All right. All right. Here's what I suggest we do. I'm going to write to my cousin Mary, warning her to be on her guard, whilst you ask Anne's permission to withdraw from Court. Say you want to see the children over Christmas. Live with them at Tattershall over the winter, and then come back once the roads are better again. Say February, maybe March?"

"The baby's due in April." I pointed out. "I've travelled heavily pregnant once. I'm not doing it again."

"True…"Henry mused "Very well, you'll just have to stay at Tattershall until the baby's born. Have the child there and then come back to Court after your churching, in time for the summer progress. Do that, and I won't ask you to leave again. Does that sound fair?"

The honest answer was no. It didn't sound fair at all. Henry was asking me to leave my beloved older sister, my Queen, for an entire six months, and that was only if the baby came on time. I didn't want to do it. But I had to admit that he was right; that the tense atmosphere of the Court was no place for a pregnant woman. Besides which, he looked so resolute that I knew I was lucky that he was even allowing me to come back to Court at all. It was the best deal I was going to get. Slowly, reluctantly, I nodded. It had the desired effect. Relief washed over Henry's face and he came round to me and laid his hands on my shoulders.

"Thank you, my love. I really do think it's best for you. You know I wouldn't ask this of you if I didn't think it was important."

Still slightly angry with him, I stayed stiff in Henry's arms, though I only pulled away when something came into my mind. I went across to my jewel casket and rummaged around. I extracted a garnet brooch and held it up to the light. Yes, it was as I thought. The stone was exactly the same colour as a pomegranate. A pomegranate. Katherine of Aragon's emblem. Turning back around, I thrust it into Henry's hand. "Here. Send that to the Lady Mary when you write to her. She'll understand why."

Then I turned and ran out of the room.


"Anne?" I went forward and dropped to one knee beside my sister, ignoring the uncomfortable position it put me in as she looked up from her sewing.

"Yes, Eleanor?"

"I've come to ask your permission to leave Court for a while. I know it's an awkward time, what with it being right before Christmas, but I haven't seen my children for months and I think you'll agree that Christmas is a time for family. Besides which, I happen to be -"

"With child." Anne finished. I stared up at her in shock.

"How did you know?"

Anne laughed – the first time I'd heard her laugh properly for ages. "I'm not a fool, Eleanor. Nor am I woodwild. You've loosened your gowns lately. There had to be a reason. Nor can I ignore the fact that you seem to have developed rather a strong craving for salmon. Madge was complaining about it only the other day – you know how much she likes it. No, dear sister, the question is not how I know, but rather, when is the child due?"

"April." I admitted. "I'd have told you sooner, but with the way you treated Mary…"

"You thought I'd be angry." Anne sighed. She looked around and raised her hand to order her ladies to withdraw a few paces, allowing us at least the illusion of privacy before continuing. "No, Eleanor, no. You're a married woman; a woman married to a man worthy of being brother-in-law to royalty. A man of royal blood, if it comes to that. There's a world of difference between Mary's William and your Henry. Besides which, you also happen to be my baby sister. I could never be angry at news which makes you happy. Never!"

Beckoning me forward, Anne reached up and embraced me, wrapping me in her arms for one brief moment. Then she released me, exhaling slowly.

"I'll miss you. With the roads bound to be bad this winter, it'll be months before I see you again. With Mary gone, I'll be the only Boleyn girl at Court, and that will be a strange feeling. It's not one I'm used to any more. But if you feel you must go, then by all means, go. I would never keep you from your children, not against your will. Godspeed and God Bless, sister."

"God Bless you too, Anne. I'll be back at Court as soon as I can." I answered, carefully hiding my disappointment as I kissed her on both cheeks. I had half been hoping that she would deny me permission to leave her side; that I wouldn't have to leave Court, or not for six months at least, but there was nothing I could do now. I would just have to accede to my husband's request and ride for Tattershall.

I stepped back and swept my sister a low curtsy, which I repeated twice more as I backed out of the room. Nodding to the guards to shut the door behind me, I quickly murmured an explanation into Madge's ear and then went to my own apartments.

An hour later, I had packed a small bag for the journey and arranged for the rest of my things to be brought on later.

Without another moment's hesitation, I set out for Tattershall.