Elizabeth's Women

by Tracy Borman

  The person who had least cause to rejoice at the king’s marriage to Jane Seymour was his younger daughter, Elizabeth. Her mother’s disgrace and execution had already rendered her a bastard, but now a woman had come to the throne who was openly opposed to everything Anne had stood for. If Elizabeth had been old enough to understand how Jane had usurped her mother’s place and hastened her downfall, she would have resented her bitterly. As it was, at just under four years old, it is unlikely that she realized the full implications of Jane’s rise to power. Any resentment she may have felt would therefore have been caused by the favoritism that the new queen showed toward her half sister, Mary.

  Jane made no secret of her admiration for the late Catherine of Aragon, and shrewdly praised her as widely as possible in order to enhance her own popularity. Although she was in theory stepmother to both Elizabeth and Mary, it was upon the latter that all of her attention was bestowed. Even before she became queen, Jane had shown “great love and reverence” toward Mary.21 She had also started to lay the foundations for a reconciliation between her future husband and his elder daughter. “I hear that, even before the arrest of the Concubine, the King, speaking with Mistress Jane Semel [Seymour] of their future marriage, the latter suggested that the Princess should be replaced in her former position,” reported Chapuys. Her attempts had been met with a rebuke from the king, who told her “she was a fool, and ought to solicit the advancement of the children they would have between them, and not any others.”22

  Thenceforth, Jane played a much more cautious game, anxious not to overstep the mark with Henry like her predecessor had done. Rather than repeating her suggestion of restoring Mary as princess and heir to the throne, she praised her virtues to the king whenever the opportunity arose. Less than a week after her wedding, she confided to Chapuys that she had “spoken to the King as warmly as possible in favour of the Princess, putting before him the greatness and goodness of all her kindred.”23 In the meantime, she wrote often to Mary, assuring her that she would soon be restored to favor. Mary responded with effusive gratitude and affection, thanking Jane for her “motherly joy” and “most prudent counsel.” She soon began to address her as her “good mother”—a mark of respect that she never accorded to Anne Boleyn.24 In July 1536, both women had their wish. It was at least partly thanks to Jane’s encouragement that Mary had at last made a complete submission to her father by accepting her illegitimacy. As a result, she had been welcomed back to court for the first time in almost three years. Jane was delighted at this first triumph of her reign and was also pleased to have a companion of her own rank at court. She presented Mary with a “beautiful diamond” to mark the occasion.25

  By contrast, the new queen showed scant interest in her husband’s younger daughter, the “little whore,” Elizabeth. Although her campaign to restore Mary to favor had been supported by the powerful Imperialist faction at court, there were no such supporters for Elizabeth, and Jane was not willing to put her neck on the line for a friendless bastard—particularly the daughter of a woman whom she had despised. Despite her passive demeanor, Jane had a keen sense of her status and was cool and distant with her inferiors, demanding that they show her all due reverence as queen. Even Chapuys, who was inclined to favor the woman who had ousted the detested “concubine,” admitted that she was “proud and haughty.”26

  Most accounts have painted a harmonious picture of Jane befriending first Mary, and then Elizabeth, but there is little evidence to support this, beyond the traditional exchange of gifts between the three women at New Year’s 1537. The fact that Elizabeth had been invited to court that Christmas was due not to the new queen’s kindly intervention but to that of the Lady Mary, who was Elizabeth’s most valuable (if not her only) advocate at court. Mary had little control over what happened once they were there, however. During the festivities, while she took her place opposite Henry and Jane at the top table, her younger sister was seated out of sight.27

  Apart from her visit to court at Christmas 1536, Elizabeth remained at her household as it made its regular removes to different country palaces. Then, in February 1537, news arrived from the court that threatened to disrupt the newfound stability of Elizabeth’s regime. Her stepmother, Queen Jane, was pregnant. The king was transported with joy, convinced that this time God would grant him a son. The news was formally announced at court and celebrated at a Mass in late May. Jane’s pregnancy progressed without incident, and in the middle of September, she began her confinement at Hampton Court. Everything depended upon the sex of the child. The king and his courtiers waited anxiously for news as Jane’s labor dragged on for two days and three nights. Finally, at about two o’clock in the morning of October 12, the child was born. It was a boy. Henry’s long struggle for a male heir was over at last.

  There was great rejoicing throughout the court and beyond. England had a male heir; her troubles would surely now be at an end. But for Elizabeth, the news was a good deal less welcome. Her status, which had long been subject to doubt, had been struck a blow from which it seemed unlikely ever to recover. She was now not only a bastard, she was an insignificant girl. The king had a son with whom to carry on the Tudor dynasty. At a little over four years old, Elizabeth looked set to be relegated to the sidelines of history.

  The birth of Edward did have a more positive impact on Elizabeth by bringing her closer to Mary. Any lingering rivalry between the sisters seemed to have been removed now that the king had an undisputed male heir, born in lawful wedlock. It was even less likely that either Mary or Elizabeth would inherit the throne, and this took the pressure off their relationship.

  Both girls were invited to court for their brother’s christening on October 15. While Mary was accorded the honor of acting as Edward’s godmother, Elizabeth was too young to play any formal role and instead was carried to the christening by the Queen’s brother, Edward Seymour. Mary led her young sister by the hand when the ceremony was over.

  Scarcely had this event taken place than Mary and Elizabeth learned the shocking news of their stepmother’s death. Jane had never recovered from the birth, and died, possibly of puerperal fever, some twelve days later. “Divine Providence has mingled my joy with the bitterness of the death of her who brought me to this happiness,” lamented the king.28 Having had barely a year to come to terms with her new stepmother, Elizabeth’s young life was once more thrown into uncertainty.

  Worse was to come. Elizabeth learned that her Lady Mistress, the woman who had cared for her throughout almost all of her infant life, was to be taken from her and transferred to the household of the new prince. All the attention she had received from her surrogate mother was passed on to her baby brother. The lesson was simple to one of Elizabeth’s precociousness: being male was what counted.

  In the event, Lady Bryan did not leave Elizabeth’s household altogether. The death of Jane Seymour just days after giving birth to Edward made it expedient for the boy to leave court and join his half sisters’ establishment. With Mary still there, this meant that Lady Margaret had charge of all of the king’s children, but it was clear that her main focus would be Edward. The alacrity with which she transferred her affections to the new prince meant that Elizabeth had now lost a second mother in just over a year.

  Lady Bryan no longer worried about Elizabeth’s wardrobe and instead made sure that Edward had every luxury he could wish for. “His grace … was as full of pretty toys as ever I saw child in my life,” she wrote proudly to Cromwell, but even then she was not satisfied and begged the minister to procure “a good jewel to set on his cap.”29 She doted on the boy, her affection no doubt fuelled by the fact that he was England’s undisputed heir, the boy upon whom were pinned the country’s hopes. As he grew into a demanding toddler, she indulged his every wish. “The minstrels played, and his grace danced and played so wantonly that he could not stand still,” she proudly told Cromwell in 1539, when the boy was two years old.30

  By now Lady Bryan had learned not to become too attached
to the royal offspring in her charge. The Lady Mary had been abruptly removed from her care after six years, and the apparent neglect that had been shown toward Elizabeth after Anne Boleyn’s death must have made Margaret doubt how much longer she would be responsible for the girl’s upbringing. Elizabeth had no such experience to draw upon. Customary it may have been, but to be suddenly deprived of her Lady Mistress in order to make way for her infant brother must have seemed a gross injustice to her young mind. But the brutal world of Tudor politics had taught her a valuable lesson, one that she would put into practice when queen: it was not wise to become too attached to those around you. “Affection,” as she would later say herself, “is false.”31 As a result, she came to prize one quality above all others, and only after it had been proved beyond doubt would she return it in like sort. That quality was loyalty.

  The loss of Lady Bryan accelerated Elizabeth’s development, sharpening her wits and giving her a wariness beyond her years. But then, children were generally made old before their time in the Tudor world. Many encountered its cruelty when mothers and siblings suffered premature deaths from childbirth or disease, while a few experienced the worse fate of losing family members to the executioner’s axe. They were lectured in the classics, when today children would still be reading fairy tales, and dressed as miniature versions of their parents. Elizabeth was no exception. From infancy, she had worn uncomfortable corsets and petticoats beneath the pretty but restrictive dresses that her mother provided. Her intellectual talents were already outstripping those of her governess, and members of her household remarked upon her “towardness” with a mixture of astonishment and admiration.

  After the initial shock and disruption caused by Lady Bryan’s transfer to Prince Edward’s care, Elizabeth adapted to life in her changed household. Mary remained with her, and they enjoyed a close and harmonious relationship. Over the next few years, Mary paid Elizabeth a great deal of attention, supervising her lessons and teaching her card games and other entertainments. She also delighted the little girl with trinkets and gifts, such as a box embroidered with silver, a kirtle of yellow satin, a gold pomander with a clock inside it, and regular supplies of pocket money.32 This was the first time since Anne Boleyn’s death that Elizabeth had been so spoilt, and she responded with eager affection.

  Both girls were delighted with their new brother—Mary for maternal reasons, and Elizabeth because it gave her a playmate nearer to her own age. By March 1537, the Sheltons had no longer been in charge of the girls’ household, which must have been a relief to Mary.33 The domestic arrangements of the household were flexible as long as their father remained unmarried, for there was no expectation that either Mary or her sister would be required to attend a new stepmother. They continued to move regularly from palace to palace, Elizabeth sometimes sharing a residence with Mary, and sometimes with Edward.

  Apart from her siblings and attendants, Elizabeth had other company in the form of well-born young children who joined her household from time to time. Among them was Lady Elizabeth Fitzgerald. Known as “Fair Geraldine,” Lady Fitzgerald was herself of royal blood. Her mother, Lady Elizabeth Grey, was the granddaughter of Edward IV’s queen, Elizabeth Woodville, and first cousin to Henry VIII. Her father was Gerald Fitzgerald, ninth Earl of Kildare, a former favorite of the king.

  The Kildares had fallen on hard times after leaving their estates in Ireland to visit Henry’s court in 1533. In their absence, Elizabeth Kildare’s half brother, Lord Thomas Offaly, had seized the earldom for himself, but he was later arrested for treason and beheaded at Tyburn. His rebellion had ruined the house of Kildare, for both title and estates were confiscated and the family had been forced to seek permanent refuge in England.

  Elizabeth Kildare’s childhood was as turbulent as that of the king’s younger daughter. Just a few months after her arrival in England, her father was imprisoned in the Tower on corruption charges and died there on September 2, 1534. Her mother was forced to seek help from her brother, Lord Leonard Grey, who agreed that she might take refuge at his estate in Beaumanor, Leicestershire. After about two years there, King Henry took pity on his cousin by inviting her youngest daughter, Elizabeth, to join the household of his two daughters at Hunsdon. Although she was to share in their education, the gulf in their ages meant that she was probably afforded separate tuition. She was some eleven years younger than Mary, and six years older than Elizabeth. Although evidence of the time that she spent with the king’s daughters is scarce, it suggests that she enjoyed all the comforts of a royal household, and one source noted that “she tasteth costly food.”34 She stayed with them until they moved to a different residence and evidently created a favorable impression, for she was invited back to Hunsdon when they returned there in 1538. It has been suggested that she acted as an intermediary between the two sisters whenever they quarrelled—which, as Elizabeth grew older, was ever more frequently.35 Henry VIII’s younger daughter in particular had formed an attachment to her pretty cousin, and she would become one of her closest favorites as queen.

  Meanwhile, the king had gradually begun to take more notice of his youngest daughter. The fact that he now had a male heir no doubt removed some of the resentment he had felt toward her after Anne’s death. Elizabeth’s moral development was a cause of particular concern to Henry, given the sin that he believed her mother had fallen into. He made it known that he preferred “ancient and sad persons” for her household, and when a young girl of good gentry stock applied to enter her service, he refused in favor of a “gentlewoman of elder years,” claiming that his daughter was already surrounded by too many young women.36

  Among these was a woman whose youth, by Tudor standards, was passing her by, and whose quiet assiduity and impeccable morals made her an ideal guardian for his daughter. Her apparently genuine devotion and loyalty to her young charge had quickly secured her a place in Elizabeth’s affections. Her name was Blanche Parry, and she would prove one of the most influential women in Elizabeth’s life.

  Blanche Parry, or “Apparrie,” as her name often appears in contemporary records, was born around 1508 in the Herefordshire village of Bacton. Her father was Henry Parry of Newcourt, one of the oldest estates in the country, and his first language was Welsh, although he had learned English in order to carry out his official duties as sheriff and steward of Dore Abbey. He had married an English lady, Alice Milborne, of nearby Tillington, who was of the same social status as Henry, being the daughter of an esquire. Blanche was raised in a bilingual household, and she and her seven siblings enjoyed an idyllic childhood in the midst of a loving, devoted family. They were imbued with a keen sense of their ancestral pedigree, for the Parrys had a long history of service to the Crown. In the previous century, they had played an important role in the Wars of the Roses, fighting on behalf of King Edward IV. Using the lessons from their family’s past, Blanche and her siblings were taught to serve those in power with loyalty and diligence.

  The royal court must have seemed a distant cry from this idyllic backwater in the Welsh marches. But Blanche would be introduced into this privileged world when, aged fourteen, she joined her aunt and namesake, Blanche Milborne, Lady Troy, in the service of Elizabeth Somerset, Countess of Worcester. The countess rose to prominence at court, becoming a close associate of Anne Boleyn, and Lady Troy basked in her reflected glory, winning a reputation as a cultured and trustworthy servant. She evidently came to the notice of King Henry himself, for in 1531 she was appointed to the Princess Mary’s household when the latter was separated from her mother, Catherine of Aragon, and set up in her own establishment at Ludlow. Lady Troy performed her tasks so well that she was subsequently transferred to Elizabeth’s household and was involved in the important task of choosing a wet nurse for her. The evidence suggests that she went on to play a role in both Elizabeth’s and Edward’s education, helping to teach the children their letters. When Lady Margaret Bryan took charge of the prince’s household in 1537, Lady Troy was appointed Lady Mistress
to Elizabeth, overseeing the domestic side of her household.37

  It was through Lady Troy’s influence that her niece was appointed to the princess’s household. Blanche may have been among the original ladies to serve the infant Elizabeth. She was certainly there when the latter was still a baby, for she was put in charge of the four “rockers” of her cradle. This was an important task, for it would keep the child quiet and amenable, and thus insure that favorable reports of her could be sent back to court. Lady Troy gave her niece all the training necessary to carry out her duties successfully. Indeed, the evidence suggests that she was grooming Blanche to succeed her in the princess’s household, as she herself was nearing retirement.

  Blanche quickly struck up a close relationship with Elizabeth and doted upon the child. It has been suggested that she sang her to sleep with Welsh lullabies and taught her the rudiments of that language as she grew older. Blanche’s love of Wales was well known, and one contemporary praised her as a “singular well willer and furtherer of the weale publike” of that country.38 She accompanied Elizabeth on all her frequent changes of residence, and provided much-needed stability in a fragile and turbulent world. The young girl came to trust in her steady kindness and was flattered by her humble reverence. Blanche also acted as something of a playmate, sharing Elizabeth’s passion for riding. This was encouraged as Elizabeth grew older. The household accounts show that Blanche kept her own horse and was paid an allowance for “horse-meat,” which was over and above her already generous wage. She was the only one of Elizabeth’s women to be given this additional sum, which suggests that riding with her royal mistress had become part of her official duties.

  However much the young Elizabeth might have valued the steady, uncomplaining Blanche, there is little evidence to suggest that Mistress Parry had a profound influence on her emotional or intellectual development. In fact, her influence would be far greater when Elizabeth was queen. She was an important presence during her royal mistress’s childhood, but perhaps because she never attained preeminence as her Lady Mistress, she remained in the background. Unswervingly loyal and diligent, she had always put the princess first, but, at least while there were others in this most senior of posts, Elizabeth did not return the compliment. Things would be very different with the woman who now rose to prominence in Elizabeth’s household.