Scourge of Henry VIII by Melanie Clegg

Author:Melanie Clegg
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2016-09-05T04:00:00+00:00

Marie seems to have had doubts about the cause of her sons’ deaths, probably inflamed by court gossip and James’s naturally suspicious nature, which had fixated on some anomaly in the post mortem appearance of Prince Robert. News of the princes’ deaths did not reach France until June, whereupon Marie’s mother immediately sent letters of condolence to both grieving parents. Her letter to James is calm but sad, informing him that she has learnt from Marie’s letter that ‘God has taken back to Himself the children He gave you. As you have borne it with resignation, I have hopes that He will soon give you others.’ She repeats this sentiment in her letter to her daughter, adding that as both she and James are still so young, there is every chance that they will have other children. She then addresses Marie’s concerns about poisoning, gently assuring her that no one could have wished the boys harm and that it was her belief that a superfluity of wet-nurses and over feeding had led to the death of Prince James, while his younger brother, like so many babies at the time, was evidently not intended by God to linger in this world.

Inspired by the calm and collected way that her husband appeared to be bearing their loss, Marie resolved to follow his lead and put a brave face on her troubles, reminding herself that there was no reason to suppose that she would not conceive again. It was undeniably difficult time for her though and, despite the optimism of her family that she would have more children, she must have found herself wondering if in fact God intended her to be a mother. True, her eldest son, François, was still alive and well but he was far away in France, being raised alongside her siblings by her parents, which wasn’t at all the same as having him close beside her and under her own care. For a warm-hearted, caring woman like Marie de Guise who had grown up expecting to be matriarch of a fine family like her mother and grandmother before her, this must have been a terrible disappointment and one that it would not be easy to overcome.

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