I used to join him there. At first good manners prevented him from asking me to leave, and he tolerated me; after a while I think he was sometimes glad of my company, for there was one day when I was unable to go to him and the next time he mentioned the fact with something like reproach in his voice. Then I knew he was pleased to be with me.
It was from him that I learned something of what was going on in the country.
“Tell me about the Wars of the Roses…about mad Henry and fierce Margaret and how it all came about,” I said; and I settled back to listen.
“The trouble is between the Houses of York and Lancaster,” he explained. “It would never have arisen if Henry the Sixth had been a real king. Kings must be strong like my brother. Henry is mad. It is not surprising. His French grandfather was mad and had to be put away for long periods. And the worst thing was that he married Margaret of Anjou. She is haughty, domineering, and the people hate her. They do not like her two chief ministers—Suffolk and Somerset—either. And in fifty-three, when Henry and Margaret had a son, it looked as though the Lancastrians would be on the throne for a very long time. It was not good. A mad king, an arrogant foreigner for a queen—and a child heir. Your father was against them. He was for the House of York. After all, we are related. Our mother is your father’s aunt. She was one of twenty-three children…the youngest, you see. There is a family bond. It was natural that he should support the House of York. The Percys are for Lancaster and the Nevilles do not like the Percys. They both regard themselves as Lord of the North.”
“I am glad we are on your side, Richard,” I said. “I should not have liked to be with mad Henry and fierce Margaret.”
“It would have been the wrong side to be on, for we are the winners, and once the people realize what it is like to have Edward for a king they will want no other.”
“Sometimes the people cannot judge what is best for them, and sometimes they have to accept what king they are given.”
“That is true, but my brother and your father will see that they will accept the king they are given.”
“It is most exciting. I can see why you want to excel at all the things you have to do. They will be necessary if you have to go to war for your brother.”
He smiled. I had said exactly what was in his mind.
He grew animated talking about the battles. St. Albans, Blore Heath, Northampton. Wakefield made him both sad and angry. I ventured to put out a hand and touch his because I knew he was thinking of his father’s death and the ignoble treatment he had received.
“Wakefield has been avenged,” he said. “And then…St. Albans.”
“Tell me about St. Albans.”
“This was the second battle that had taken place at St. Albans. It was truly brilliant strategy on the part of your father. His army was beaten in the field. Margaret thought she was secure. But your father joined up with my brother and they decided that they would not accept defeat and would march to London and there proclaim my brother king.”
“But you said they had been beaten.”
“That was at St. Albans. But the Lancastrians were unpopular. It was not Henry whom they hated. He was a poor sad creature. It was his overbearing wife. And when the news of the defeat of St. Albans reached London the people were afraid of being in the hands of the Lancastrians. They knew what it would mean if the rough soldiers came to London. There would be trouble in the streets—houses would be ransacked, wives and daughters of the citizens misused. They were burying their valuables and were in a state of great anxiety. So your father decided to get to London first to save the city from the Lancastrian soldiers—many of whom were mercenaries intent on gaining spoils for their efforts. It was a clever idea. Your father with my brother marched on the capital. They persuaded the people that they came in peace to save them from inevitable pillage and to ask them if they would accept Edward of York as their king.”
“And they were welcomed,” I cried, having heard something of this from Isabel.
“It is true. The important citizens were called together and asked if they thought Henry and Margaret fit to rule them. At this there was an immediate response in the negative. And would they take Edward of York to be their king? They cried, Yea, yea, yea. Oh, how I wish I had been there!”
“Where were you?” I asked.
“I, with my mother and my brother George and sister Margaret, were all on a ship bound for the Low Countries. When my mother heard about the defeat at St. Albans she had thought she must get us out of the country. Of course, I was not old enough then to fight for my brother, but now I am older I shall soon be able to. As soon as we heard the news that my brother was the accepted king we returned home.”
I listened enthralled—proud that I was the daughter of the man who had made this glorious victory possible. My father and Richard’s brother stood together. No wonder Richard and I were friends.
He seemed to share that thought for he turned to me and smiled warmly.
“Of course,” he went on, “there had to be a lot of fighting after that. Margaret had really won the battle of St. Albans. It was just clever strategy that had won the day for us. There had to be the battle of Towton where we finally beat them and after that there was no doubt that my brother was truly king.”
“With my father helping him to rule.”
“They are kinsmen and allies.”
“As we are. Let us always remember that.”
“Yes,” he said. “Let us always remember.”
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 1989 by Jean Plaidy
Reading Group Guide copyright (c) 2007 by Three Rivers Press, a division of Random House, Inc.
Excerpt from The Reluctant Queen copyright © 1990 by Jean Plaidy.
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Three Rivers Press, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
www.crownpublishing.com
Three Rivers Press and the Tugboat design are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Crown Reads colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.
Originally published in hardcover in the United States by G.P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, in 1990.
This book contains an excerpt from the forthcoming reprint The Reluctant Queen by Jean Plaidy. This excerpt has been set for this edition only and may not reflect the final content of the forthcoming edition.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Plaidy, Jean, 1906–
The queen’s secret : a novel /Jean Plaidy.—1st pbk. ed.
p. cm.
1. Katherine, of Valois, Queen, consort of Henry V, King of England, 1401–1437—Fiction. 2. Tudor, Owen, ca. 1400–1461—Fiction. 3. Great Britain—History—Henry V, 1413–1422—Fiction. 4. Great Britain—History—Henry VI, 1422–1461—Fiction. 5. Queens—Great Britain—Fiction. I. Title.
PR6015.I3Q5 2007
823′.914—dc22 2006018050
eISBN: 978-0-307-49746-8
v3.0
Jean Plaidy - [Queens of England 07] Page 35
