by David Field
Henry had been dead barely a week, with his body interred, in accordance with his wishes, next to his beloved Jane Seymour in St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle, when the Regency Council met for the first time in the Council Chamber at Whitehall Palace. With Norfolk in the Tower, tremblingly expecting to receive a date for his execution with every entry into his cell and Gardiner excluded from the list of those chosen by the late King Henry to see his nine-year-old orphaned son safely through to his majority, the Council began, at Edward Seymour’s insistence, by electing a leader. No-one was surprised when that leader turned out to be Edward Seymour himself, now calling himself the Duke of Somerset and ‘Lord Protector of the Realm’.
The coronation of the new King Edward VI took place at Westminster Abbey a month after his father’s death, at the hand of the Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer, who publicly urged the new King to continue with the Reformist policies of the Church of England begun by his father and to see ‘the tyranny of the Bishops of Rome banished from your subjects.’ Lady Mary sat sourly through the proceedings before making great show of taking up residence in Hunsdon, in Hertfordshire, an estate she had inherited in her father’s will and which she set about extending into something only slightly less than a royal palace. Lady Elizabeth remained for a day or two longer, then retreated back to her childhood home at Hatfield, now happily free of the cramping influence of her pious older sister.
Edward Seymour’s assumption of de facto power was complete once he persuaded King Edward to grant him letters patent that empowered him to appoint members of the Council in accordance with his own preference and consult with them only when it suited him.
Edward Seymour was now King in all but name.
VIII
‘What’s this?’ King Edward demanded petulantly as Thomas Seymour bowed into the presence, followed by two puffing and sweating servants carrying between them a large object covered by a cloth. The object was placed on the ground and the servants withdrew as Thomas triumphantly whisked the cloth away, to reveal a toy fort made from wood and hand-painted to look like a grand castle.
‘And what am I supposed to do with that?’ Edward asked grumpily. ‘I cannot eat it, I cannot spend it and it will not assist in my studies, so pray what is it for?’
‘There is more, Your Majesty,’ Thomas replied with an ingratiating smile. He reached inside the castle keep and withdrew two boxes, each of which contained a set of toy soldiers. ‘See, I have provided you with two armies. The red army is besieging the castle, which is being defended by the blue army, and you may arrange them in any way you wish. It has all been made, on my commission, by one of the finest toy makers in London.’
‘Uncle Thomas,’ Edward reminded him haughtily, ‘I am nine years old, I am the King of England and I have outgrown children’s toys. At least when my Uncle Edward visits me, it is to tell me that my real army has further subdued the heretical Scots. When you can advise me that you have captured the Pope and await my instruction to have him executed in full public view on Tower Hill, then you may return and amuse me. In the meantime, don’t — unless, of course, you wish to make me laugh with yet another of your pathetic excuses for not bringing back the Lady Jane.’
‘I have not spared any effort in that regard, Your Majesty, but her parents — your own cousins the Greys — will not let her return to Court unless I can accommodate her in a family home, with a wife and children of my own. As you are aware, I am as yet unmarried.’
‘But there must be others of your acquaintance with whom she may reside?’ Edward argued. ‘And here comes just such a likely prospect.’
The chamber doors had been opened by a liveried usher and the Dowager Queen Catherine stood hesitantly in the doorway as her arrival was announced. She caught sight of Thomas and blushed. ‘Forgive me, I was not advised that Sir Thomas was attending upon Your Royal Highness.’
‘He will be leaving shortly, if he knows what’s good for him,’ Edward pouted, ‘and I will then be glad of your more amusing company, my good mother. How fare you?’
‘In truth, dearest Edward, I am sorely vexed, by this man’s sister-in-law, no less.’
‘Anne Seymour?’ Thomas asked, intrigued.
Catherine’s face set in a sullen frown. ‘Since your brother Edward became Protector of England, she behaves as if she were its Queen. She has grown so haughty of late and it is all she can do to receive me when I attend upon her. Now she has taken this foolish notion into her head that the jewels I wore when Queen are no longer mine to wear, even though it was expressed in the will of my dear late husband that I should inherit them as my own. She claims that as wife of the Lord Protector, she is nearer to being England’s Queen than I am.’
‘I care not which of you wears the baubles,’ Edward replied languidly, ‘but if you desire my intervention in the matter, Mother dear, there is something you can do for me in return.’
‘I would gladly satisfy any wish of yours.’ Catherine smiled unctuously back at her stepson.
‘You have a house in London?’
‘Indeed I do, at Chelsea Manor, which was graciously bequeathed to me in the will of your late father.’
‘And what manner of household do you maintain?’
‘One suitable to my station. I have a steward, a chamberlain, a cook and various attendants and kitchen menials. I also play host to the Lady Elizabeth and her governess, Katherine Champernowne, on those occasions when your dear sister attends upon you here at Court.’
‘But the Lady Elizabeth is mainly at her house in Hatfield, is she not?’ Edward queried.
Catherine nodded. ‘Indeed that is so, but when in London she resides with me at Chelsea, along with her governess.’
‘So if you were to add one more lady of high birth to your household, there would be a governess there to guard her virtue also?’
‘Indeed, if the Lady Elizabeth were there. If not, I could always employ another governess, since your late father was more than generous in the annual allowance he bequeathed me.’
‘So, then, your paths are clearly defined for you both,’ Edward replied. ‘Thomas here will have the Lady Jane brought back to London, once he has assured her parents that there is a governess installed in your Chelsea house, where she will reside when attending Court. It shall be your task, dear Mother, either to secure the services of a governess for the Lady Jane, or to invite the Lady Elizabeth to be companion to Jane Grey, sharing this Mistress Champernowne as their governess. In return I will enquire of Uncle Edward regarding the ownership of your former jewels. We are agreed?’
When Catherine and Thomas agreed, Edward lost no time dismissing them and they found themselves outside in the hallway, where Thomas turned a beaming smile on Catherine, reached out for her hand and kissed it.
‘It seems we are destined to be involved in another joint enterprise, madam. I for one give thanks to God that we shall be able to collaborate on something so obviously close to the King’s heart. This time it will not be a masque for the royal entertainment, but — unless I misjudge the matter — the reuniting of two persons whose inner urgings draw them close together. It may be that we shall be easing the journey of the future Queen of England.’
‘What, Jane Grey?’ Catherine asked, taken slightly aback by Thomas’s forthrightness.
‘And why not? She is of royal bloodline, she is comely, she is Edward’s age and she pleases him. If we are of assistance in bringing them together, will they not be forever grateful, just as I was grateful to the Lady Mary for bringing us together some years ago now? As I previously alluded, it is a wonderful privilege to be the means by which two people may give effect to their inner urgings.’
‘You speak of you and I, my Lord?’ Catherine asked, slightly breathless and pink of countenance.
‘No, my dear lady, I can speak only for myself. But we have business in Chelsea, do we not? Both new business and — perhaps — business of an unfinished nature.’
‘The new business?’
‘To establish a household sufficient to satisfy the Greys of Bradgate that it is suitable for their precious daughter. You must first either acquire a governess for the young lady, or persuade the Lady Elizabeth to return with hers.’
‘And the unfinished business?’
‘Perhaps that were best discussed when we reach Chelsea. I take it that I am invited thither?’
Three hours later, Catherine lay back on the bolster in her bedchamber, totally exhausted but glowing with satisfaction. Thomas Seymour slipped from her side and gazed down lustily at her sweating nakedness.
‘Would you consent to regularising what we have just consummated?’ Thomas asked.
‘You wish to wed me?’ Catherine replied.
‘No, madam, I wish to bed you. And nightly, what is more. But if we are to establish a seemly household for the Lady Elizabeth and the guardian of her maidenhead, in order to attract the Lady Jane back to London and thereby fulfil King Edward’s wish, we must legalise our romps between the sheets. Unless, of course, it pleased you not?’
‘Believe me, Thomas, it pleased me. But I am but two months a widow and a former Queen, what is more. What would be the likely outcry, were we to marry so soon?’
‘Outcry from whom? Clearly, since you are a widow and I a bachelor, there was naught of adultery about it. And who would be likely to deny either of us our happiness?’
‘Your brother Edward, for one, under the influence of his sow of a wife, who likes me not, for reasons that I cannot fathom. The Lady Mary for another, since she has no experience of the torments of the flesh — or at least, it must be presumed not, since she shows no inclination towards marriage despite having passed her thirtieth year. And there is King Edward.’
‘What should he care?’
‘If we were to marry, his stepmother would become his aunt. He is not yet of a mature enough age to appreciate the need of men and women to be bound together under God’s holy ordinance. And we would need his consent.’
‘Surely, if by granting his consent he is making the perfect nest in which to rear the Lady Jane as his companion — and perhaps even his Queen in due course — then he would not withhold it? If we have the King’s consent, who can gainsay us?’
‘I will willingly become your wife, should Edward grant his permission.’
IX
‘Do you bring me news that the Lady Jane is back in London?’ King Edward demanded as he looked up from his Latin primer and waved his tutor out of the presence.
Thomas Seymour shook his head in feigned sadness. ‘Sadly, that has not yet proved possible, Your Majesty. The Lady Elizabeth is reluctant to move herself and her governess from Hatfield House until the household at Chelsea is larger.’
‘What does the size of it matter, if there be sufficient servants and a governess?’ Edward asked testily.
‘It concerns the presence or absence of a gentleman of the household, Majesty. While there are manservants enough to ensure the safety of the house against incursion, a lady living alone as the head of a household containing young girls is always at risk of being accused of running a ... well, that is to say...’
‘A whorehouse?’ Edward chortled. ‘You cannot be serious, Uncle? My mother was left sufficiently provided for not to require the wealth from such an arrangement and she herself is hardly likely to attract any man with his eyesight intact. So what would induce her to allow the place to be run as a brothel?’
‘It has been known, Your Majesty, as may be recalled from the unfortunate example of the establishment of the late Dowager Duchess of Norfolk. This was while you were still in swaddling, attended by your wet nurse, but it was in that household that the late Queen Catherine Howard fell from virtue with a variety of Courtiers, including several of her tutors and her Secretary Thomas Culpepper. It was not discovered until after she had become Queen and it led her to the Tower. The only blame that could be laid at the door of the Duchess herself was that, in the absence of any husband, she had grown lax in the supervision of her noble charges.’
‘So my mother requires a husband, say you?’
‘Yes, Majesty, that would be best.’
‘Best for whom, Uncle? For my father’s widow to remarry so soon would be an insult to my father’s memory, would it not and cast doubt on the depth of her love for him while he was alive? Could it not be claimed that any man she now married had gained her affections before my father died, thereby suggesting that she was not satisfied with my father?’
‘I am amazed by Your Majesty’s grasp of such subtleties in affairs of the heart,’ was all that a stunned Thomas could offer by way of reply.
‘Do not underestimate my subtle mind in other matters either, Uncle,’ Edward smirked. ‘There is a Council meeting this morning, which no doubt explains your presence in Whitehall. I am also here, thereby giving everyone in Council the impression that I intend to attend. But I do not, since these meetings bore me even more than my tutors. But in the belief that I will be there, men like yourself seek audience ahead of the meeting, hoping to draw my support for schemes they have in their hearts. What is it you seek, Uncle?’
‘I seek nothing,’ Thomas lied, ‘but I had thought it only appropriate to advise you, ahead of the meeting, that I intend to raise with other members of Council my concern at the latest intelligence, to the effect that my brother Edward foreswore a perfect opportunity to capture the Princess Mary of Scotland and bring her back to England.’
‘It may concern you, Uncle, but it does not concern me,’ Edward replied airily. ‘In fact, I rejoice in that knowledge. Why should I press for the forced imprisonment of a young girl whose only misfortune is to be born the daughter of a king, just as I was born the son of one? I am well placed to know how it feels to be raised and nurtured like a rose in a royal glasshouse, taught what to eat, to drink, to say — even to think! And for what purpose should she have been captured? To be brought down here like an animal trapped in the hunt, kept away from her own family and raised like a sacrificial lamb in order to marry an English prince whom she has never met, never will meet until she is of betrothal age and may well not like what she sees. As, indeed, I may not.’
Thomas was stunned into silence.
‘Well?’ Edward demanded.
‘I ... I had not thought of it in those terms, Your Majesty.’
‘That is because you are not me, with endless hours to think of such things. Now leave me with the boredom of my studies and do not come back until you are able to advise me that the Lady Jane has returned to London.’
‘And the marriage of the Lady Catherine?’
‘I have said all I intend to say for one morning on the subject of marriage,’ Edward pouted. ‘Now leave me.’
Knowing looks were being exchanged around the Council table, which slowly turned to smirks as Thomas Seymour persevered in his efforts to persuade his fellow members that his brother Edward had failed in his latest mission against the Scots.
‘He suppressed them again, did he not?’ Thomas Cranmer challenged him.
‘Yes, but why did he not then proceed into Edinburgh and on to the royal Palace to secure the person of the Princess Mary?’ Thomas Seymour demanded.
Everyone turned to John Dudley for an explanation, since it was well known that he had been part of the action.
‘I did urge him to do so,’ Dudley complained, ‘but he seemed more content to discharge the men and come home. His reason was, or so he said, that he had a nation to govern.’
‘He behaves more like a king every day,’ Thomas Seymour observed with a sour smile. ‘Can anyone doubt that?’
‘If he delights in the power he wields,’ Wriothesley countered, ‘then why is he not here with us today?’
‘Perhaps he perceives himself to be above even the King’s Council,’ Dudley suggested. ‘Perhaps even above the King himself.’
‘His wife certainly behaves as if she were Queen,’ Thomas Seymour threw in. ‘I learned only a short while ago that she has wit
hheld the jewels formerly worn by the Queen Dowager when she was Queen, claiming that she has the greater right to wear them, now that Edward is the Lord Protector. We should guard against such over-weaning arrogance, less it turn into a rebellion against the throne.’
‘Enough, my Lord Admiral,’ Wriothesley warned Seymour, ‘less over-weaning arrogance be deemed a family failing of the Seymours. Not to mention a rivalry between brothers that could split the nation in two. I have no cause to love your brother, but at present he is the one who keeps this nation intact, until King Edward be of age. We have more important matters to discuss and the morning advances.’
As the Council concluded their business and its members began to drift away, John Dudley sidled up to Thomas Seymour with a sympathetic smile.
‘It would seem that I am the only other member of Council who shares your concern regarding your brother’s growing arrogance, Thomas. Even on the battlefield, he behaves as if England and its army were his to command personally, as our late King Henry did in France.’
‘Why can no-one else see it?’ Thomas muttered.
Dudley placed a comforting hand on his arm. ‘For as long as we two can see it and warn the other Council members to be on guard against it, that should be sufficient. But has anyone warned King Edward that he has clasped a viper to his bosom?’
Thomas gave a hollow laugh. ‘King Edward concerns himself only with matters close to his own interests. Or indeed, his own heart. Like the Lady Jane.’
