The Men Who Would Be King by Josephine Ross

Author:Josephine Ross
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780062190895
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2012-06-16T22:00:00+00:00

6

“The Weal of the Kingdom”

While there was “but one mistress and no master” in England, there would be no heirs born to the queen. Admirable as her desire to remain a virgin might be, it was not royal chastity that would make England secure from wars of the succession, coups d’état, and the treacheries that thrived on an uncertain inheritance to the throne. For as long as Elizabeth could remember, the stability of the realm had been threatened by the weak state of the succession; the desperate lack of male heirs that had driven Henry VIII through six marriages had caused even the faded old maid Mary to marry in haste, and now that the last of his line, Elizabeth, had succeeded to the throne the situation was graver than ever. If she were to die young and unmarried, the resultant confusion over the rival claims of Mary, Queen of Scots; the sisters of Lady Jane Grey; and others still more distant would undoubtedly “divide and ruin the country.” For the sake of her people, for the weal of the kingdom that she was pledged to protect, it seemed that Elizabeth must marry with all speed, and bear children.

A state of crisis came perilously close in the autumn of 1562, when, after three years as queen, she still considered herself “as free from any engagement to marry as the day she was born.” At Hampton Court, early in October, Elizabeth began to feel ill, and decided that she would take a bath. It was thought that she caught a chill “by leaving her bath for the air,” then her illness was found to be smallpox, and the ensuing fever was very nearly fatal. Her condition grew steadily worse, until she lost consciousness. “She was all but gone,” it was reported. While the queen was lying close to death her council was hurriedly meeting, trying to reach a decision about the succession. No one spoke for Mary, Queen of Scots, who already regarded herself as Queen of England and Elizabeth as a bastard usurper; the lovely Scottish queen was the senior great-granddaughter of Henry VII, but she was an alien and a papist, and had been passed over in Henry VIII’s will in favor of the Suffolk line—Lady Jane Grey and her sisters, Catherine and Mary Grey. Some believed that King Henry’s will should be obeyed and Lady Catherine named heiress, while others supported the Earl of Huntingdon, who was descended from Edward III. Opinions were dangerously divided. As de Quadra reported: “There was great excitement that day in the palace, and if her improvement had not come soon some hidden thoughts would have become manifest.” But before discussion could erupt into aggression, the queen’s condition began to improve, and as she regained consciousness her flickering thoughts focused on her kingdom. The first words she managed to speak astounded her anxious hearers. She asked that Lord Robert Dudley should be made protector of the realm, with a title and an income of £20,000.

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