The Queen of Last Hopes

by Susan Higginbotham

  At Rouen, I promptly fell ill. Whether my indisposition was caused by greensickness (for I had just turned fifteen), by the arrival of my monthly course (which for me was an unpredictable event and one that always caused me a great deal of pain), by some ailment picked up from one of the four sneezing York children, or by the sheer exhaustion of having been greeted and feted in every town I passed through in Normandy, I do not know. Still, I had thought myself much improved when I boarded the Cokke John, which was to take me to England. Then I discovered that my malady in Rouen was a mild one compared to that caused by the sea.

  William de la Pole (now Marquess of Suffolk, thanks to his role in arranging King Henry’s marriage to me) and his wife, Alice, had been put in charge of me during the voyage. It had been Suffolk who had taken over my care after I had left the last of my family behind at Paris, and it was Suffolk who held me in his arms in my cabin (when I was not vomiting) and comforted me when I begged him to put me out of my misery then and there. “Let me die!” I moaned over and over again in French, the English I had been learning having abandoned me for the time being. “Just take out your dagger and kill me now.”

  “Now, now,” Suffolk comforted me in his impeccable French, which he spoke with only the slightest English accent. “You’ll be in England before you know it, your grace. Think of something pleasant. Think of the hounds the king will be buying you. Think of the beautiful gown you will have for your coronation.”

  “That is right!” said Alice, who was not feeling very well herself, but was bearing it with far more fortitude than I was. “You will be the most beautiful queen England has ever seen.”

  I closed my eyes and pictured the pack of bloodhounds my groom had promised me, word having made it across the sea that I was fond of hunting, though one couldn’t have guessed it from my prostrate state now. Then I began to miss the dogs I’d left behind in France (for they were my father’s, not my own), and my eyes welled with tears just as another bout of nausea began to claim me. “I want to go home to Angers,” I whimpered. “I don’t want to be queen.”

  “Well, you are,” snapped Alice. I suspected that were it not for her husband’s presence, she would have lost her patience with me long ago. “Act like one, for goodness’s sake.”

  Suffolk (usually the most devoted of husbands) glared at his wife, and I myself mustered enough self-command to say, “I will not be addressed in that disrespectful manner.”

  “That’s it,” said the marchioness approvingly. “Pluck up some spirit, your grace.”

  For a short time, I did, even going so far as to walk around the cabin. Then the winds and waves grew rougher, and I sicker, though I no longer had anything in my stomach to bring up. I had no strength left, even to cry or complain. Instead, I simply curled up in a ball on my berth, heedless of the undignified picture I was presenting.

  Finally, someone lifted me, and I thought contentedly as I was borne along in a pair of strong arms that death had indeed taken me. Then a man’s beard and a cool breeze brushed my cheek, and I blinked to find myself in the open air, being carried by Suffolk. “See, your grace?” he said, smiling down at me. “We’ve dropped anchor, and that’s the English coast. We’ll be on dry land before you know it.”

  Though the day was a miserable one, a band of locals had gathered at Portchester, where we had landed, to give me a proper welcome as their queen. Still in Suffolk’s arms—for when he had tested my ability to stand before we disembarked, I had swayed too dangerously—I managed to wave my hand at them and part with a few smiles. But the marchioness was gazing at me oddly, this time without the impatience she’d shown earlier. “Will,” she said in a low voice, “I fear that the queen is coming out in a pox.”

  ***

  What if I had died of my illness? It might have saved a great deal of trouble and many lives, and I would have left behind nothing more than a romantic memory as a virgin queen who never lived to see her king or to wear the crown. People might have written mournful ballads about it, and I would have been dressed in my betrothal robes and laid in some beautiful tomb somewhere, my reputation as pure and unblemished as the marble of my effigy. But I turned out not to have the dreaded smallpox, but a much milder pox, and it was pronounced by my physician, Master Francisco, that all I needed was plenty of rest and quiet. So having been removed to Southampton by barge, a peaceful journey during which I half dozed while enjoying the serenades of seven musicians, I was taken to God’s House, an abbey where the principal business was to tend the sick. There I got the tranquility I sorely needed, as did my poor dear Suffolk, now able to attend to other affairs since he no longer had to serve as royal nursemaid.

  After a few days had passed, I had recovered sufficiently to sit up in bed. I was listening as one of my younger attendants, Katherine Peniston, read to me, when I heard the now-familiar knock of Suffolk at my door. “Do go on reading,” he said. When Katherine had finished, he cocked his head. “I am familiar with much French verse, your grace, but I have not heard that before.”

  “My father wrote it,” I said proudly.

  “Aye, I should have guessed. Your father is a man of numerous accomplishments.”

  “He sent some of his poems with me, for me to remember him by.”

  Suffolk very kindly did not point out that my father had sent precious little else with me of value. Having spent so much on my sister’s wedding, my father had had little left to give me for my journey to England. As I had passed through English-occupied France, where I’d had to give alms and make various offerings in connection with my royal status, I’d found myself borrowing money from Suffolk, and I had finally salvaged my pride by pawning some plate to his wife. My wardrobe was also rather sparse; though I had had grand dresses for my betrothal ceremony and for my sister’s marriage, my supply of everyday gowns was more limited. I’d had to wear the same gown twice in a row to banquets in Rouen, and I had seen the Duchess of York (resplendent herself in crimson velvet that practically dripped with pearls) raise her eyebrows when I’d appeared in it yet a third time.

  I scowled, remembering the half amused look she’d given her husband. Papa might not have a real crown, but he could write verse and paint, and he had even designed his own tomb. The people of Anjou called him their good king. They probably knew him as well or better than I did, as I had spent much of my childhood in my grandmother’s care while my parents struggled for Sicily, but I did miss him and my mother, and the pleasant cadence of French voices around me.

  I surreptitiously dabbed at my eye, a gesture which Suffolk caught. “Your grace, I know you felt it very deeply when you parted from your parents.” I nodded shamefacedly; I’d bawled like a great baby. “My wife and I can be but poor substitutes, but I hope that we can help you make a home here, and I can assure you that the king will be a gracious and kind husband to you.”

  “Thank you,” I said, touched. To keep from becoming too maudlin, I said, “You have a son, do you not, my lord? I was surprised not to see him as part of your entourage.”

  Suffolk smiled. “I do indeed have a son, but John was not up for the task of accompanying us to France. He is not yet three years of age, you see.” I must have looked surprised, for Suffolk was just a few years short of fifty, an age at which many men were grandfathers. His wife, Alice, had reached her forties herself. “The Lord did not bless us with a living child until late in life, and he is likely to be our only one, so he is very precious to us. I have missed him.” He coughed. “He is not my only child, though, as I have a natural daughter, a young lady just a year or so older than your grace, who was conceived before my marriage. Jane was born in Normandy, but as her mother is dead, I brought my daughter to England last year after I arranged your marriage. She is in my wife’s household, and I hope soon to find a suitable husband for her.”

  I nodded in a worldly manner, having several bastard brothers and sisters myself. My father’s pursuits were not entirely artistic in nature. “I shall be glad to meet her one day.”


  “She will be honored. But in the meantime, your grace, there is a squire who has been waiting very patiently outside the door. He bears a letter from the king.”

  “I have been so eager to hear from him! Why did you not say so earlier?”

  “My mistake, my lady. I will leave you to read it in private.”

  He withdrew, and a rather awkward-looking young man entered the room and dropped to his knees. Mumbling something in halting French, he handed me a letter—written, in consideration of my still inadequate English, in French.

  I read it once, then twice, searching in it for clues about the man who would be my husband. Suffolk had shown me a miniature of him, which depicted a mild-looking man in his twenties with dark hair, and I had heard fearsome stories about his warlike father, Henry V, whose name was naturally enough a detested one in France. I had gathered that my husband was a rather different sort of man, more inclined to peace than to war, but other than that I had but the vaguest idea of his character. The letter provided no illumination; it was polite and warm, but it could have been written by anyone to anyone. “Did your master say when he would be coming?” I asked the still-kneeling squire. So intent had I been on my letter that I had not allowed the poor man off his knees.

  The squire could understand French better than he could speak it. “No, your grace,” he managed.

  “Well, you may go. Here is something for your trouble.”

  The squire backed away. His exit was followed promptly by the entry of the Marchioness of Suffolk and by Katherine Peniston. Both were wearing ill-concealed looks of amusement. “Pray, what is the matter with you two?”

  “My lady, how did you like the squire who was just here?”

  “The squire? Should I have noticed something about him? He did his duty, no more or no less.”

  “My lady, he was your king,” sputtered the marchioness.

  “That was Henry? Mon Dieu, I never let the man off his knees!”

  “So he informed my husband,” Alice said merrily. “But your grace needn’t worry. He was most pleased with what he saw.”

  I touched my cheeks, which still had faint pox marks on them. “He saw me like this?”

  “They are hardly noticeable.”

  “But why did he not simply introduce himself?”

  Alice shrugged. “It was a fancy he had, and I do believe he was a little shy about meeting you formally, without catching a glimpse of you first. He told my lord that he thinks a lady can be observed at her best while reading a letter.”

  I held the letter in my hand and stared at it as if I were reading it. “I don’t see how,” I said, putting it down.

  “Well, when a man is king, he can have whatever theory he pleases, can’t he?”

  “So when shall I see him officially?”

  “Tomorrow, if you are well enough. He knows you will like to be properly dressed for the occasion.”

  “Goodness, yes,” I said, realizing for the first time that I had received my husband in nothing but a shift. I was glad it was one of my thicker ones; Henry was reputed to detest loose women.

  ***

  The next day, the Marchioness of Suffolk and the other English ladies who had formed my escort led me—clad appropriately—out to the garden of the House of God, where the Marquess of Suffolk was waiting for me with the squire of the day before, who now that I took the trouble to notice him was a man with a slender but apparently strong build, with dark hair, cut somewhat shorter than was fashionable. This time, however, he was clad in robes trimmed with ermine.

  I began to curtsey to him, but he would not allow it. “Welcome to England, Margaret,” he said in French, taking my hands. “I have waited very long for you.”

  “And I a very long time for you, my lord.”

  The king gazed at me, and I looked into the kindest pair of eyes I have ever seen, before or since. “Come,” he said, leading me away from the Suffolks and the rest. “You are not strong yet, I know. Let us sit and talk.”

  We sat on a bench that surrounded a tree, the king holding my hand. “How is your English, Margaret?” he said in that language.

  “Not well,” I confessed in the same language. I blushed in shame, for Henry’s French, while overlaid with a strong English accent, was perfectly comprehensible, as opposed to my awkward English.

  “You may speak French with me while we are getting acquainted, then.” He smiled. “As you can hear, I speak it rather more fluently than I did the other day.”

  “I did practice speaking English, my lord, truly. I spoke it with my tutor, and I tried to speak it with my lord of Suffolk and the rest of my escort. But I fell ill in Rouen, and it was easier for all concerned for me to speak in French.”

  “Yes. The Marquess of Suffolk told me that you had a very rough crossing, and that you had been sick before that.”

  I nodded. “I could not even ride in the grand procession arranged for me at Rouen. The Marchioness of Suffolk had to take my place, and you had sent such a beautiful chariot for me to ride in!” I sighed, picturing again the splendid object that had awaited me in Rouen. “Instead, I had to lie in bed at the Duke of York’s house, while his children kept finding excuses to come to my chamber to peep at me.”

  “I cannot blame them, for you are very fair.” Cautiously, the king touched my cheek and drew a little closer to me. I closed my eyes and tilted my face upward, expecting a kiss. Instead, Henry drew his hand back. “I hope you are better now.”

  I blinked, startled at my unkissed state. I was quite virginal, but I knew enough about these matters to suspect that a Frenchman, or indeed most Englishmen, would not have passed up such an excellent opportunity. “Why yes. I am usually quite healthy.” I was silent for a moment before I ventured, “I hope I do not displease you, my lord?” I knew that I possessed the requisites for beauty in my native France—a dainty nose, bowed lips, expressive eyes, a firm, high bosom, a slender figure, pale and unblemished skin, and long, thick hair that was a darker blond than I might have wished, but that was still indisputably blond—but perhaps standards were different here. Or had those who had commended my looks been too flattering?

  “Displease me? Far from it.” Henry hesitated, then put his hand on my face again. “Marguerite,” he said. “In English it is a flower known as a daisy.”

  “Oh?”

  “But your eyes are like violets,” Henry said thoughtfully. He placed his other hand on my other cheek. This time, I did not move my face, but let him take the initiative. Slowly, gently, he drew me toward him and kissed me on the lips, very slightly at first, then with more pressure. When he pulled back, he was smiling. “I wish to be married very soon, Marguerite.”

  ***

  Our wedding was to take place at Titchfield Abbey, to which we moved a few days later. On the day before the ceremony was to take place, Suffolk called on me, the king being occupied with some business. “Your father’s wedding gift has arrived, your grace.”

  “Tapestries? Plate?”

  “No, not quite. Come see for yourself, your grace.”

  I followed the marquess outside, where in an elaborate wheeled cage, a lion—whether old or young or somewhere in lion middle age I had no idea—sat glaring at me, as well might a lion in his circumstances. As I stepped forward, he let out a mighty roar, and I jumped back, almost knocking down Suffolk. “What on earth am I supposed to do with him?”

  “Feed him, I would venture to say,” Suffolk said wickedly. “He seems hungry.” He smiled as I turned to glare at him. “The king does have a menagerie at the Tower, your grace. He can be housed there.”

  I sighed. Already, I had learned, Suffolk had said a discreet word to the king about my scanty wardrobe, and as a result a dressmaker had been hastily sent to Titchfield to dress me in a manner more fitting for a queen. And now my father had sent a gift that would have to be fed and tended, causing the king even more expense on my account. “My father is not always a practical man,” I said.

  “I
seem to remember hearing that he had a menagerie himself.”

  “It was one of the first things he did when he came back to Anjou, to start acquiring beasts for it. But there weren’t any lions in it when I left.”

  “Then he must have acquired this one especially for you.”

  “I would have preferred a songbird. Or some more plate.” I cautiously moved forward. My gift roared at me again, but this time I stood my ground. “At least he didn’t send me any of his dwarfs.” My father was rather fond of them, and any tiny person in Anjou or Provence was sure to find his way to our household sooner or later.

  “Yes, they would be rather underfoot,” Suffolk said, this time drawing a grin from me. “Come, your grace, don’t fret. For some years, we’ve had a keeper of the lions with no lions to keep. You shall supply him with a purpose in life.”

  ***

  My wedding on April 22, 1445, was not a large one, as so much was to be going toward my coronation in a few weeks. William Ayscough, the Bishop of Salisbury, who was also the king’s confessor, officiated. I wore a gold crown set with pearls and precious stones, along with a beautiful but simple blue gown decorated with fleur-de-lis and trimmed with ermine, and the ring Henry slipped on my finger was a large ruby set in gold. All have long since gone into the hands of others.

  That evening as I prepared to spend my first night with my husband, the Marchioness of Suffolk, who had been supervising the proceedings, shooed the rest of the ladies out of the room. She began brushing my long, dark blond hair, which had been brushed so thoroughly already that it hardly needed the extra attention. “I always wished the Lord would have brought my lord and me a girl,” she said wistfully. “But I am thankful that He blessed us with the son we did have.” She cleared her throat. “Tell me, child. Has your mother told you what you need to know about what is to come?”