Courtier in the Royal House of Stuart

by Leslie Hatton

Of course I knew all this but could see she was enjoying passing on the gossip.

  ‘Her husband is Roger Palmer, the 1st Earl of Castlemaine, but he left her the minute he found out about the child… they are now officially separated. Do you think she’s pretty?’

  ‘Compared to you my love… I would say she looks like the rump of a horse.’

  ‘Good answer Toby now let’s dance.’

  The music did not last nearly as long as I would have liked, and when it did stop everyone clapped and moved off the floor. I escorted Anne back to her table, wondering just how her father would react.

  Anne had told me many times that her mother was working on him, and that one day she was sure he would accept me. But that was not the impression I got when I took her back to his table.

  ‘Thank you my Lord,’ I said.

  He didn’t speak, just nodded. But the look in his eyes was frosty, and not the eyes of someone who was likely to concede anything to anybody, let alone to the son of a whore.

  Anne’s mother smiled and said, ‘Thank you Toby, we will meet you in the garden by the bowling green in an hour.’

  ‘Thank you my Lady,’ I said as I returned to my seat beside Thomas. We didn’t dance again, and after half an hour I left the Hall and walked slowly to the bowling green… I needed some fresh air and somewhere to sit quietly and think.

  The day had been exceptionally warm for the time of year with mostly clear blue skies, spoiled only by the odd grey cloud hovering on the horizon.

  I saw them coming and stood to greet them. Mrs Huxley looking magnificent in a long purple gown cut from the finest satin, her shiny blonde hair tied back with a small satin ribbon, the same colour as her dress, and to complete her ensemble she wore a jewelled tiara with matching diamond necklace.

  ‘You are looking very smart Toby,’ she said as Anne took hold of my hand.

  ‘Thank you my Lady, and may I say how beautiful you are looking… it is plain to see where Anne gets her looks from.’

  ‘That’s very kind of you to say so Toby. Now I will leave you two alone, I won’t spy on you but if you want me I will be sat at the end of this row of trees. You have one hour and then our carriage will be here to take us back to Hammersmith.’

  She turned to walk away and I called, ‘I do love Anne my Lady.’

  Turning her head to look at me she replied, ‘I know you do Toby.’ And then she walked slowly away, and I was able to slip my arm around Anne’s waist and kiss her properly.

  We talked for a while… Anne about her new life in the family home in Lewes, and how she was helping in her father’s office. I told her about my job working for the Duke of York.

  ‘You can touch me if you want Toby,’ she said putting my hand on her lap.

  ‘Stop teasing me, it’s difficult enough for me without you encouraging me to go further… what if your mother saw us, what will she think of me then?’

  ‘I doubt she would mind, she has always liked you, and she was young like us a long time ago.’

  ‘Nevertheless we must keep control of our feelings, there will be time enough for lovemaking when we are married. Now tell me about your father, I was worried that he would have had strong words for me, but he said nothing, he just glared at me.’

  ‘He wasn’t glaring, he always looks like that,’ she said giggling.

  ‘Be serious, is he mellowing in his old age?’

  ‘I told you. My mother is working on him, and she always gets her way in the end, so we will just have to be patient. She says he is a stubborn man and he hates the thought of losing face. It would be hard for him to give in now after rejecting you for so long.’

  ‘What about finding you a husband?’

  ‘He still lives in hope that a handsome young prince will come along and sweep me off my feet, but he has stopped searching for one, and he doesn’t seem to mind me receiving your letters anymore, it’s just that he has not yet said I can marry whom I choose, we must wait and be enduring.’

  ‘Where were your brothers today? I expected them to be here.’

  ‘Business. They are expecting a shipment of wine from France any day.’

  ‘Pity… I would have liked to meet them.’

  We filled the rest of our hour with trivia interspersed with sexual innuendo, laughing and giggling like a couple of lovesick children.

  It was still warm, but angry clouds were beginning to gather in the sky. ‘I think our hour is up,’ I said, ‘let’s find your mother, I don’t want to get on the wrong side of her.’

  ‘There’s no chance of that Toby. I’ve told you… she’s on our side.’

  ***

  When Thomas first told me of the approaching coronation I have to confess that I was not looking forward to it at all… especially when he also said I would have to buy a whole new wardrobe. But as I lay there in my bed that night, I had to admit to myself that it was indeed the most lavish and magnificent party I could ever have imagined, and a most wonderful, unforgettable day.

  But strange that for the two days the weather had been so brilliant, yet as the king’s carriage left Westminster Hall at the end of the day, an almighty thunderstorm began with lightning illuminating the night sky.

  ***

  Discord in parliament was at its worst for two years, and the king did not help by appearing to be uninterested in anything governmental or legislative, relying wholly on his most trusted minister Sir Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, to take the responsibility for affairs that were not really his to take.

  King Charles hated the very thought of governmental business and was interested only in the pleasures of life. Dancing, sport, his dogs, the theatre and, of course, women.

  There was a time when I thought Lucy Walter was the love of his life, and I naively thought that he would have married her one day. That was before he met Catherine Pegge, a pleasant enough young woman with a good family background. Catherine was not someone you would call beautiful or even pretty, though she did have big breasts and was available, which I think was probably what attracted Charles to her in the first place.

  He fathered two children with Catherine while still living in The Hague, first a boy he named Charles and then a girl. But Catherine was not the only one… there were many other young women claiming to have succumbed to the king’s charms saying they were pregnant. I knew nothing about them so they may have been just rumours.

  And now it seems, he has tired of Catherine and moved on to his new courtesan, Lady Barbara Castlemaine. With her he has already fathered a baby girl… the child being baptised Anne Lennard, and now it is rumoured that she is pregnant again.

  However, Lady Castlemaine is different to his other conquests, this lady is truly beautiful. She is tall and voluptuous with long shiny black hair, her eyes are deep with lids a mysterious violet, and her skin is as smooth as silk, her mouth small and her smile perplexing and enigmatic. She is indeed the kind of woman that a man could fantasise over. But to me despite her beauty, she is no better than one of Veronica’s whores.

  Parliament, speaking as one, condemned the king’s behaviour, calling him shameful and contemptible, they then unanimously agreed to pursue formal negotiations with Portugal for the marriage of Charles to Catherine of Braganza, a twenty-two-year-old Portuguese princess.

  The marriage negotiations had originally been started during the reign of King Charles the first, and were immediately renewed in the hope that a stable relationship would help to persuade Charles into taking his responsibilities as king seriously.

  Knowing him as I did, I personally thought it unlikely that a wife would change him at all, and I could never see him being satisfied with just one woman. Politics bored him, he had always preferred to leave the business of running his kingdom to others, and a marriage would only make yet another woman available to help satisfy his insatiable appetite for pleasures of the flesh
.

  Despite strong Spanish opposition, a marriage contract was signed in June by Catherine’s father, John, 8th Duke of Braganza, King John IV of Portugal.

  ***

  I wrote regularly to Anne, not waiting for a reply before sending off another; but it was now almost a year since I had seen her in person, and any hope we had of an early marriage now seemed just a fantasy. I was even beginning to think that we were deluded in thinking that her father would ever change his mind about me, and that perhaps we should accept the fact that a marriage between us may never happen.

  I was happy at my work, even more so now that I was being escorted by a couple of friends from the King’s Guards.

  I had just completed two weeks working in Portsmouth and had moved to the New Forest to collect data for my report on the cutting and transporting of timber when I received a dispatch from London.

  The communication was written and marked urgent by James, Duke of York’s secretary. It was sent to inform me that Catherine of Braganza was on her way to England, and was expected to arrive at Portsmouth on the 14th of May. The dispatch also said that whatever project I was working on at the time should be put on hold, and that I should make my way down to Portsmouth along with my two escorts immediately to join a welcoming party led by the Duke of York himself. The purpose being to escort the Princess to Westminster Palace in London.

  ***

  I was stood on the quayside with James, watching the small flotilla of Portuguese ships glide slowly into Portsmouth Harbour.

  ‘I want you to take special care of Princess Catherine, Toby,’ said James. ‘You speak many languages so it should not be a problem for you.’

  ‘I don’t speak Portuguese.’

  ‘She probably speaks English and is certain to know Spanish… you speak Spanish don’t you?’

  ‘Not a lot but I will do my best.’

  I need not have worried. As soon as the Portuguese party stepped ashore… and while her dignitaries were talking with James, Catherine came straight to me, and speaking quietly in broken English said, ‘I am Catherine, is he King Charles?’ she asked pointing at James.

  I took her gloved hand and kissed it. ‘No my Lady,’ I whispered, ‘he is the King’s brother James, Duke of York. King Charles is not expected here for a few days yet.’

  She put a hand across her mouth and giggled.

  ‘Such a silly mistake to make my Lord,’ she whispered. ‘I am glad I asked you first before making a complete fool of myself.’

  My first impression of Catherine was that she was a sweet and charming young woman who was perhaps a little shy… but not it appears with me. Perhaps because we were roughly the same age.

  ‘An easy mistake to make my Lady, but I am not a Lord, just a humble squire ordered here as part of your escort.’

  Her mouth opened and her eyes widened in surprise at her second mistake, she then smiled.

  ‘Will you be riding back to London in my coach squire?’

  ‘As a squire I do as I am ordered my Lady, but I imagine you will be married by then, and riding back to London with your new husband. However, if you were to request my company for the journey to your accommodations here in Portsmouth, I would feel privileged and honoured to join you.’

  ‘Then that is what I shall do, I will insist that you ride with me. What is your name squire?’

  ‘My name is Toby, my Lady.’

  The quayside was filling up with luggage and people, some Portuguese soldiers but also a dozen or so of Catherine’s ladies-in-waiting.

  I joined Catherine in her coach sitting opposite her by one of the doors. Sharing our coach were two of her ladies-in-waiting and her chaperones. One, a stern looking woman in her forties, the other a man of about the same age. My own horse happily trotting behind between my two guards.

  The journey to the Royal Hunting Lodge on the edge of the New Forest where she was to stay until the arrival of King Charles took two hours, and during the journey I found Catherine to be a most charming and pleasant companion. Her ladies were a little silly and giggly, her chaperones boring and silent, but they didn’t matter to us. We just ignored them, and shared a most pleasant and congenial two hours together.

  Just as we arrived at the lodge she surprised me by saying, ‘I am pleased to have met you Toby. You are my first friend here in England and I hope we can remain so.’

  ‘And I hope so too Catherine.’

  Strange that I find myself in a position where I am subservient to the king and his brother, but good friends to their wives, Catherine and Anne.

  On hearing that the marriage of her son to Princess Catherine of Portugal had finally been confirmed, Dowager Queen Henrietta Maria decided to make England her permanent home, bringing with her a large number of her Parisian household. She settled down in the heart of London at Somerset House. Parliament granting her £30,000 a year in compensation for the loss of her personal estates during the civil war, and Charles adding annuity from his own resources.

  ***

  Charles arrived in Portsmouth six days later on the 20th May. The following day the couple were married in two ceremonies: a Catholic ceremony in secret, followed by an Anglican service in a local chapel. My new friend Catherine was now officially Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland.

  With the royal marriage came a generous dowry of two million Portuguese Crowns, which I was told is about £300,000. Also new trading rights in Tangier and a number of islands off the coast of India.

  In return, Portugal gained military and naval support from England, and religious freedom, which I deduced was because Portugal was a strong Catholic country.

  What did seem abundantly clear to me was that we got the best of the deal. But my main concern at the time was for Queen Catherine. I prayed that our new queen would enjoy her life here in England, but knowing King Charles as I did… I had my doubts.

  However, it was Tangier and the trading rights there that were of particular interest to me.

  I wondered if it would affect me in anyway, or if I would get to visit the place, what the docks would be like or if there would be a castle to explore. I couldn’t wait to find out more.

  ***

  It was a cold and windy day on Saturday 30th May when King Charles delivered Queen Catherine to her new home at Hampton Court Palace.

  Dark angry clouds were racing across the early evening sky as we arrived there, but the weather did not dampen the mood of the thousands of cheering people lining the streets to the palace, many of whom had been waiting all day. The procession included a Portuguese delegation and many members of the Portuguese Court, also a legion of Portuguese Guards.

  Catherine brought with her a large entourage, including a host of ladies-in-waiting, all who spoke perfect English. They were joined in the parade by an ensemble of bagpipes, jugglers, troubadours and clowns.

  The King’s mother, Dowager Queen Henrietta, with her youngest daughter Maria returned to London from Paris to be at Charles’s wedding, and was waiting to welcome her new daughter-in-law into the Royal Stuart family.

  The moment she met Catherine, she was enchanted by her sweet, friendly nature and charm… later describing the new Queen of England as, ‘The best creature in the world for whom I have so much affection.’ And there seemed little doubt that Charles was fond of his wife, always seemingly attentive and caring.

  Perhaps I am a cynic, but I thought a lot of that was just a façade, an act to appease his mother and the Noble Lords. Catherine was sweet and charming but that was never going to be enough to stop him from pursuing his old licentious ways of the past, and all too soon Catherine realised that her husband’s whole life centred on hunting, racing, sports, theatre and fornication. However, the most painful and humiliating thing the new queen was soon to discover about her husband was that he took his sexual pleasures wherever and whenever he could, and that at th
e moment it was with Lady Castlemaine, with whom just three days before their wedding… and unbeknown to us all, gave birth to her second child. King Charles’s fifth bastard child.

  Lady Castlemaine and her husband, Lord Roger Palmer, were already estranged, but on receiving the news of her latest child, he cut all ties with his wife completely… including financial.

  Parliament thought a marriage would be the king’s saviour, and that he would settle down and hopefully take his responsibilities as the monarch seriously, but I always thought that was most unlikely. Womanising was in his blood… his brother was almost as bad, it became almost like a competition between siblings. The one thing in James’s favour though was that at least he took his job as Lord High Admiral of the Navy seriously.

  Death of a Traitor

  1662/3

  On the 23rd of August, King Charles brought his queen to London from Hampton Court Palace by river. They glided down the Thames propelled by twenty oarsmen in the Royal Barge under an elaborately decorated canopy. The summer weather was pleasant with plenty of sunshine occasionally punctuated by broken clouds.

  The arrival of Queen Catherine into the city of London had been well publicised, and as was expected the river banks were lined with thousands of cheering people waving British or Portuguese flags.

  From Richmond to Whitehall the crowds were standing three or four deep, and as they stepped off the barge at Westminster, they were welcomed by a twenty gun salute.

  Life in England was slowly returning to some sort of normality for most, but not unfortunately for all. Catherine found the first few months as Queen of England difficult, it was especially hard for her to accept that her husband’s sexual activities in the past had left an ever increasing trail of royal bastards. However, she had many new friends the most important being Anne, Duchess of York, but I too was privileged to be numbered among her friends.

  There is no doubt in my mind that Charles was very fond of Catherine, and she of him, but I don’t really believe he knew the true meaning of the word love, not in the way normal people do.