Doomed Queen Anne by Carolyn Meyer

Author:Carolyn Meyer [Meyer, Carolyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

THAT NIGHT King Henry stormed into my apartments and flung himself into his chair, one of the few chairs in the palace and kept there for his sole use.

"Outrage!" he shouted, and barked orders at Nell to fetch him two dozen oysters. When she had hurried away to do his bidding, King Henry sat with his head in his hands. He looked weary and overburdened. Then he managed a smile and beckoned.

"Come, sweetheart, and sit with me."

Obediently, I permitted him to draw me upon his knees, a liberty that I had recently begun to allow. "Has all not gone well, Your Majesty?" I asked.

"What cunning deceivers, those French!" he said. "The king's ambassadors met with me as they were preparing to leave, and, after all that I had done for

them, the lengths to which I had gone to entertain them, you cannot imagine what they said!"

"Tell me, my lord," I urged.

"They have refused to agree to a wedding! They say that perhaps in another three or four years, when Princess Mary has become a woman, she will be fit for marriage and childbearing. The insult!" The king pushed me from his lap and began to pace from one end of my chamber to the other. The space was too small to contain the king and his wrath. Even the prompt arrival of the oysters did little to soothe him.

"That is not all," announced King Henry. "I ordered Wolsey to convene a secret court with representatives from the pope in order to obtain an annulment of my marriage to Catherine, but the queen learned of my intent. Now she protests her undying love for me—for that she may be forgiven—but she refuses to admit that our marriage is not valid and never has been. She argues with me! She points out that if the marriage is invalid, then our daughter is made a bastard."

And what of Princess Renée? I ached to ask, but I dared not.

"'So be it,' I told her," King Henry continued, his face growing red. " 'Mary is a jewel, the pearl of the world, but she is still only a woman and unfit to ride, no matter whom she marries. I must have sons!' I was reasonable; Catherine was not. She will have none of it. I cannot understand her stubbornness. The queen is an intelligent woman! I respect her judgment in many things. But she has determined not to agree with me in this."

"But you are right, Your Majesty," I assured him, concealing my deep concerns, "and the queen is wrong. Her Majesty may argue all she pleases, but in the end the pope will surely accept your reasoning, and Queen Catherine will be forced to accept his judgment."

My calming words eventually restored the king to good temper, he called for more oysters, and so the evening ended peacefully. But worse news was soon to follow: Emperor Charles had ordered the sack of Rome, and Pope Clement had fled into exile. For the time being, the pope could do nothing for the king.

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