Katherine of Aragon, the True Queen by Alison Weir

Author:Alison Weir
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2016-05-30T16:00:00+00:00

1522–1523

It was one of the proudest days of Katherine’s life when Henry had told her that Charles had asked for Mary’s hand in marriage. She looked at her five-year-old daughter playing gravely and quite competently on the virginals, and her heart swelled almost unbearably at the realization that this little one would not only be Queen of Spain but also Empress of half of Europe. It was a breathtaking destiny, one for which it was patently clear that Mary was admirably fitted. Already she had taken part most prettily in court pageants; even at four years old, she had received foreign envoys all by herself, and played for them. She loved to dance and could twirl as beautifully as any lady of honor. In every respect she was a princess to be proud of, and as far as Katherine was concerned, Charles could have chosen no better wife. Henry had been right. This was a far better match than any Mary might have made with Reginald Pole.

There was, of course, the age gap of sixteen years. It was a lot to ask a young man in his prime to wait for at least seven years until Mary was mature enough to be married, yet Katherine hoped—for the thought of parting with her child was unbearable—that the waiting time might be longer, as Mary was small for her age.

“I am more thrilled than I can say,” she told Henry.

“I thought you would be,” he replied, hugging her.

“I have always hoped for a Spanish marriage for Mary,” she told him. “I was not happy when she was betrothed to the Dauphin, but it was not my place to question your wisdom.”

“Wolsey has dealt with that,” Henry said. “The betrothal is broken.”

“That is such a relief!” She bent down and stroked her daughter’s silky red hair.

“The Emperor is the greatest match in Christendom,” Henry said proudly, scooping a delighted Mary up in his arms and kissing her. “Who’s going to be Empress?” he chuckled.

“Me!” cried the child.

And so the marriage treaty was signed, and the Imperial ambassadors were now at Greenwich to make arrangements for Charles to come to England later in the spring for the betrothal. Katherine went about with a smile on her face and a spring in her step, feeling benevolent toward all humanity, even to Wolsey, who had negotiated the new treaty.

She knew that Wolsey had an ulterior motive for favoring the Emperor. He had made no secret of the fact that he wanted to be Pope one day, and of course the Emperor had great influence in the Vatican. When Pope Leo died in December, the Cardinal’s hopes had leapt high.

But Wolsey had been overlooked. Charles had chosen to support the rival candidate, who happened to be his old tutor and his regent in Spain, and it was no surprise to many that the Emperor’s choice was duly elected. The smile had frozen on Wolsey’s face.

“I had so hoped that His Imperial Majesty would favor me,” he told Henry at supper, on the day news of the election had come speeding into London.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.