by David Field
‘We will, as they are wont to say, cross that bridge when we come to it, Thomas. Now, no more of this gloom. Come back inside with me and let us partake of some more wine.’
Three days later, King Edward attended his last Council meeting, held at Greenwich for his convenience, but he was obliged to leave towards the end, when a fit of coughing left him bent double over the table, with a residue of pinkish froth the only reminder that he had been there. He was carried back to his bedchamber, where he lay for several days, complaining of a swelling in his legs and an inability to breathe. Among those who were allowed to attend upon him was Archbishop Cranmer, and during his first audience Edward grabbed his wrist with a bony but insistent hand.
‘Have we really pursued the true faith, my Lord Archbishop, or am I destined for Hell?’
‘The faith we have promoted has been God’s gift to the nation, Your Majesty,’ Cranmer assured him, ‘and by its promotion you have assured your seat in Heaven. But not yet, you will see — this temporary affliction will soon be past and you will once again be able to show yourself to your adoring subjects who gather daily under your window for sight of you.’
‘You have preserved my will? The one I made some time past?’
‘Of course, Your Majesty. It is being held in Chancery, as you commanded.’
‘And is ought else required to make it law?’
‘It requires to be converted into letters patent, which must be signed by Council, the bishops and the judges of the Kings Bench.’
‘See to it, my Lord Archbishop, and have Jane Grey attend me once it has been prepared for patenting.’
Three days later, Jane sat tearfully by Edward’s bed, holding his hand as his eyes opened and he smiled. ‘Dearest Jane, I have made arrangements for you to be Queen.’
‘I do not wish to be Queen, Edward — I simply wish for you to be well again, so that we can continue our conversations.’
‘Continue to promote the true faith,’ Edward urged her, ignoring her protestation. ‘And pray for my soul, in case we were both wrong.’
Edward laboured on for another week, his only attendants being physicians and Cranmer. Council was summoned in order to sign the letters patent and there was soon not a worthy left in London who was not aware of the true nature of the declared succession. Word was carried to the Ladies Elizabeth and Mary that their brother was dying and Elizabeth managed a short visit, during the whole of which Edward lay coldly rasping in his unconsciousness and she was led gently from his deathbed in floods of genuine tears.
Mary’s reaction was characteristically different. When advised, by the same messenger, of both Edward’s impending death and his gift of the crown to Jane Grey, her steward looked at her enquiringly.
‘Shall I prepare the household for travel to London, my Lady?’
Mary’s face set in a stern and determined glare as she looked out through her chamber window at the gardens in full bloom. ‘Prepare for travel, certainly. But we go not to London. Rather, we head to the north and east, to Norfolk, where there are those who would support me in their thousands. This upstart daughter of Grey’s shall find that the crown of England sits unsteadily on her head.’
XXIV
King Edward breathed his last on 6th July, but those huddled around his deathbed, who included Dudley, needed time to discuss their next move, given their knowledge of the contents of Edward’s will. They suppressed news of his death for four days and did not even tell Jane until the third day, by which time Dudley was cursing his lack of foresight in not securing Mary’s person ahead of the royal demise. Word came to him that she had retreated to Framlingham Castle in Suffolk, formerly a stronghold of the Howard family until Thomas Howard had been consigned to the Tower by the now deceased Edward and the castle had been gifted to Mary. But she was among friends in East Anglia, the scene of more than one rebellion against Protestantism and the power base of the ‘old’ Norfolk family.
Within days they were flooding to her cause, many of them wielding weapons retrieved from attics, some of them waving nothing more than rusting farm implements, but all of them convinced that God was on Mary’s side. Within two weeks of her half brother’s death, Mary’s force was almost twenty thousand strong.
From the safety of the Norfolk family seat at Kenninghall, Mary fired off a despatch to the Council, demanding that she be proclaimed as Queen. Dudley had anticipated this and the day before her demand arrived he had Jane escorted to the safety of the royal apartments in the Tower, along with her husband of only a few weeks, Guildford. This was traditionally the residence of every incoming monarch ahead of their actual coronation and in order to leave no-one in any doubt about what was happening Dudley ordered that heralds be sent out into the London streets to proclaim Jane as Queen of England.
A stunned populace, who had expected the joyful return to London of Mary and her more familiar and comfortable Catholicism, could only gather on street corners and mutter their unease, while Jane, still protesting that she had no wish to be Queen, was advised that she must make plans for her coronation and begin selecting her household.
She found Grace sitting disconsolately on the lawn of Tower Green, her bare feet tucked demurely under her long smock, watching the birds as they cocked their heads sideways to listen for the movement of worms after the recent shower.
‘There you are,’ Jane announced as she stood looking down at Grace. ‘I’ve been looking everywhere for you, since I have a favour to ask.’
‘I’ll hazard a guess that it’s not a request to join you in rolling across the lawn here, in case you dirty your queenly robes,’ Grace muttered.
Jane’s heart fell to her highly decorated leather pattens. ‘Dearest Grace,’ Jane replied coaxingly as she squatted down to place her arm over Grace’s shoulder, ‘I didn’t ask to be Queen, I don’t want to be Queen, and I refuse to be Queen if it means that I’ll be losing my best friend.’
Grace looked up at her with tear-streaked cheeks. ‘I’m not out of sorts because you’re Queen — I just want to know where Allan’s got to. I haven’t seen him since the weddings — has Sir John sent him off to fight a war somewhere?’
‘I have no idea,’ Jane replied, ‘and Guildford’s been looking for him since yesterday, in order to ask if he’d be prepared to be our Chamberlain. But the way you ignored him at the tourneys after the weddings, who could blame him for running away from you? He was seen in the stables afterwards, crying his eyes out while saddling a horse. It was well after dark, so perhaps he set off for that place he comes from in Nottinghamshire.’
‘What was the favour you came out here to ask?’ Grace asked.
Jane chose her words with the utmost care. ‘Do you remember one time when we were walking together in Bradgate and you asked if you would still be my best friend if I became Queen of England? Remember — we both thought it was just a jest?’
‘Of course I remember.’
‘Well, you are still my best friend, but I want you to become my Senior Lady.’
‘And what does one of those do? Run around after you, bowing and scraping?’
‘Please, Grace, don’t be so grumpy with me, else I’ll cry, I just know I will. I may be Queen of England and married and all that, but I still need you by my side the whole time. Life somehow loses its flavour when you’re not around — I learned that when we were held captive in Windsor.’
‘I’ll be your “Senior Lady”, as you call it, if you’ll do something for me,’ Grace told her hopefully as she stared hard at the White Tower, shimmering after the recent rain.
‘Anything,’ Jane replied eagerly. ‘What is it you want?’
‘Nothing for myself. But for Allan — a knighthood and an estate. It need only be a small one. Then perhaps — if he ever comes back — we can — can...’ Her shoulders shook.
Jane hitched up her gown and threw herself down onto the tightly scythed grass in order to fold Grace into her arms. ‘Darling Grace — please don’t worry! He’ll come bac
k, you’ll see. And when he does, we’ll make him the Earl of somewhere or other, and give him a castle with a moat and servants and a deer park, and whatever else he wants. Just don’t cry like that — it breaks my heart to hear it. If you stop, we can roll across the grass together, just like we used to do.’
Grace began to giggle and her tears had been reduced to the occasional hiccup by the time that John Dudley appeared behind them with serious news.
‘Mary has ordered Council to proclaim her Queen, ahead of her march down here with a force of many thousands. I’ve dispatched ships to the Norfolk coast, to prevent her escaping across to France or Spain, but Council have ordered me north with an army, to prevent her reaching London. Where the Hell is Allan?’
‘We don’t know,’ Jane told him. ‘We think he rode off on the evening of the weddings, but no-one’s seen him since. I hope you’re not going to take Guildford instead?’
‘Of course not, but if Allan shows himself in the next day or so, tell him to follow us north to Cambridge.’
They watched Dudley’s retreating back as he headed for the stables and Grace was puzzled.
‘What made you think that Sir John could order your husband to ride with him? Isn’t he the King now?’
Jane shook her head with a smile. ‘He’d like to be, but until I can ask the advice of Council — my Council now, I suppose — I’m not sure how these things work. I’m told that I can make him a Duke, but not King. I don’t think he believes me and he’s not very happy about it.’
Guildford Dudley was not the only one who was not happy. The day after Dudley had been ordered by Council to ride north to oppose Mary’s force, it met to formally consider the document that she had sent, in which she demanded her ‘right and title to the throne of England bequeathed to me by my royal father’, adding that anyone who opposed her lawful accession would be deemed a traitor and dealt with accordingly.
It was a nervous Council that met to consider Mary’s demand. In the absence of Dudley they were meeting without their usual leader, in order to consider the gravest matter that had ever been put before them and one that had long-term implications for the nation. It also directly concerned their own necks if they were wrong.
‘What’s the latest news from Dudley?’ the Earl of Pembroke enquired nervously, acutely conscious of the fact that his son was now married to Jane’s sister and that his neck would be early on the block should Mary’s forces prevail.
‘Last heard of in Cambridge,’ the Earl of Arundel told them. ‘He’s outnumbered seven to one, according to the latest despatch and Mary’s army’s all over East Anglia.’
‘Is it possible that we got it wrong?’ asked a terrified Marquess of Northampton.
There was a loud and nervous response, with everyone talking at once, until Pembroke raised a hand for silence and good order.
‘We simply implemented the late King’s dying wishes, did we not? The letters patent came through for our signature weeks ago.’
‘But they haven’t yet gone through Parliament,’ Northampton replied, ‘and as I understand these things, that means that they’re not yet law.’
‘Whether they’re law or not,’ the Earl of Arundel pointed out, ‘Mary has the stronger force and the London mob didn’t exactly jump up and down with joy when we told them that Grey’s daughter was Queen.’
‘If Mary takes London, what will happen to us?’ Northampton asked quaveringly.
Arundel replied with a dismissive snort. ‘From what I’ve heard of the Lady Mary and her temper, we’ll all be taken to Tower Hill and hung, drawn and quartered.’
‘Let’s take a vote,’ Pembroke suggested.
‘What’s the motion?’ someone down the end of the table enquired.
‘Take a guess,’ was Pembroke’s sarcastic reply. ‘We have time yet to display our loyalty to the claimant with the greater force and preserve our necks. Hands up all those who want their guts cut out in front of the mob.’
Two hands were raised tentatively, only to be lowered again when the vast majority of Council glared angrily down at them.
‘Carried unanimously,’ Pembroke announced. ‘Now, how do we convey our loyal greetings to Queen Mary?’
XXV
It was Grace’s third day as Senior Lady-in-Waiting to Queen Jane and she was beginning to settle into the position and could so fully occupy her time supervising Jane’s hair and laying out her gowns that Allan’s memory intruded less than it had done at first. But there was now a huge disorder beyond the Tower walls, from the general direction of Thames Street; voices were being raised in joyful shouts and it sounded as if the tradesmen had adopted their traditional habit of banging their tools noisily in a sign of rejoicing.
The dining chamber door opened and a foot soldier in the knee-length red, yellow and black surcoat that denoted him as a member of the Tower’s resident force of Gentlemen Yeomen Wardens stood hesitantly in the doorway.
Jane looked up languidly, then stared and whispered: ‘Grace — isn’t that ... you know?’
Grace looked round for long enough to give a gleeful yell and leap from her chair towards the doorway. The man-at-arms moved his halberd to one side to avoid her being seriously injured as she hurled herself at him and began an assault on all parts of his face with eager lips.
‘Allan!’ she screamed. ‘Where have you been? I’m so sorry about how I behaved at the weddings and I’ve missed you so much! I love you, Allan Bestwick, and Jane’s going to give you your title and an estate, so we can get married whenever you wish. Do please tell me I haven’t ruined everything — please!’
Guildford looked up from the table and frowned. ‘And when you’ve done that and put Jane’s Senior Lady out of her misery, pray explain why you’re dressed like that, and why you’re not in Cambridge with my father.’
‘A long story for later,’ Allan replied. ‘And with deep regret and the greatest of reluctance I have to advise you all that there’ll be plenty of time for explanations. Can you hear the mob in the streets?’
‘Yes,’ Jane replied, ‘we were wondering what the noise was all about. Do you know?’
‘Unfortunately, I do,’ Allan replied with a stern face, ‘and it’s why I’m here. I have to escort you to new accommodation. I have several more men outside.’
‘For our own safety?’ Jane asked. ‘Has the mob risen in rebellion?’
‘In a manner of speaking,’ Allan replied solemnly. ‘They’re actually celebrating.’
‘Celebrating what, exactly?’ Guildford asked.
It fell silent for a moment until Allan gave them the bad news. ‘The accession of Queen Mary. Council have proclaimed her Queen.’
‘But I’m the Queen,’ Jane insisted,
Allan shook his head. ‘Not any longer. Your father-in-law is a prisoner, having being obliged by Council to formally surrender to Mary’s forces. Norfolk was released from the Beauchamp Tower a few moments ago, and I have orders to convey Guildford to the same cell.’
‘Why Guildford and not me?’ Jane demanded.
‘Because you’re deemed to be royalty, and he isn’t,’ Allan replied. ‘I’ve to convey you down the path to the Lieutenant’s quarters, along with Grace.’
‘So Guildford and I are to be separated?’ Jane asked, horror-stricken. ‘We’ve been married for barely two months. Have pity!’
‘It’s Mary’s pity you should be seeking,’ Allan replied sadly. ‘She has ordered your arrests and secure imprisonment, on charges of treason for usurping her throne.’
‘And me?’ Grace asked in a small voice.
‘That will depend,’ Allan told her as he held her tightly to him. ‘This must be our last embrace before I carry out my orders. As an act of mercy, you may finish your dinner, and I will await you all outside.’
‘I do this with the greatest of reluctance and with a heavy heart, my Lady,’ Sir Edward Warner, Lieutenant of the Tower, told Jane as she and Grace were shown into the secure chamber in which they seemed destine
d to await Queen Mary’s pleasure, or otherwise. ‘In truth,’ he added, ‘I fear that I shall not be your gaoler for long, since I was appointed by your father-in-law, and he is attainted by order of the new Queen.’
‘What does “attainted” mean?’ Jane asked.
Warner’s face went pale as he explained, ‘A finding of treason without the benefit of any trial,’ he murmured softly.
‘And then?’ Jane asked fearfully.
‘Normally an execution, my Lady.’
‘No!’ Jane screamed as she threw herself down on the bolster in the corner that had been provided as a bed.
Grace’s hand was shaking as she reached down to comfort her.
Warner tried desperately to think of something to cheer them up. ‘I’m advised by Captain Bestwick that he’s a friend of the family and so I’ve placed him in immediate charge of your supervision. He’ll bring you your meals and you’ll be well provided for. Only the highest-born prisoners are allowed to reside in these apartments.’
‘And how many Queens have you accommodated here?’
‘Several,’ Warner replied.
Grace looked him hard in the face as she asked, ‘Queen Anne and Queen Catherine, both married to the late King Henry?’
‘Indeed, Mistress.’
‘And how long were they detained here?’ Jane demanded.
Warner could only reply truthfully. ‘Until their executions, my Lady.’
Mary waited until she had Dudley’s formal surrender, then began her triumphant progress towards London. An early halt was made at Hunsdon, where she ordered that her entire wardrobe be loaded onto wagons for transport south and that Lady Elizabeth be summoned to join her from Hatfield.
