The Wild Queen by Carolyn Meyer

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

Chapter 26

Adieu, France

I DID NOT STAY LONG at Fontainebleau but almost at once embarked upon a farewell tour of France. Everywhere I went I was warmly greeted with feasts and hunting parties and various entertainments, and I was made to feel so welcome that it was tempting to think that perhaps I might remain in France. According to my marriage contract, I was entitled to stay or go, as I wished.

I wavered: Should I take the easier path and stay in France, where I was admired, even loved, but had been stripped of any power? I understood that the opportunity to make the best use of the power that was my birthright lay in another direction: Scotland. My mother had sacrificed everything she had to preserve the Scottish throne for me; she believed it was her duty. Though I would leave France with deep regret, it was my duty to meet the challenge. I looked forward to it with growing excitement.

While I was moving from one château to another, from one Guise aunt or uncle to the next, I received visits from two Scotsmen from opposing parties. First came a Catholic bishop representing the Scottish Catholics. Then, days later, my brother James Stuart arrived.

James was now a sober and serious man of thirty. Lord Bothwell had warned me about him: “I am pained to tell you that James Stuart did all he could to depose your lady mother.” The Catholic bishop with whom I had just spoken called him “treacherous.” I was prepared to stand up to my brother in every way possible. I knew that he believed he should be king of the Scots and had been prevented from this only by the accident of his birth, that he was born a bastard to my father and not the royal prince he felt himself to be. James had no doubt that he was better qualified than I to rule Scotland. But I intended to win him over and persuade him to be my chief adviser, and therefore I welcomed him with more warmth than I truly felt.

For five days we conferred intensely. The main issue was that he was now a convert to Protestantism and a follower of John Knox, while I was Catholic and would forever remain so. I made it clear to James that I would not attempt to restore the Catholic faith as the official religion of Scotland but would continue to practice my faith in private.

At last we reached an accord.

“All men should live as they please,” I told him. “I believe that with all my heart.”

“And you may hear Mass as many times a day as pleases you at your private chapel in Holyrood Palace,” James assured me, and on this agreeable note, we parted.

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.