Queen of This Realm - Plaidy Jean - Страница 21

After his success against the Norfolk peasantry, John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, as he was by then, had brought two hundred captains to Seymour to demand more pay for the work they had done. When the Protector refused this, Warwick suggested that they gather together a body of men who were tired of the Protector's rule and overthrow him. Somerset, however, managed to raise ten thousand men and went to Windsor with the King. But the Council had had enough of Somerset by then. He was an able man, if ambitious, but he was stern and his manner brusque—the opposite of his brother's—and that had not endeared him to them.

Events turned against him, and it was not long before he too was judged a traitor and lodged in the Tower.

How thankful I was then to be away from Court. I did wonder what part my brother had played in this. Had he also resented those days when Somerset controlled his purse strings?

Warwick took over the role of Protector, but he could not bring himself to agree to Somerset's execution; nor could others. I supposed it crossed their minds that they could as easily be in Somerset's shoes.

So he was released, and when his eldest daughter Anne married Warwick's eldest son, Viscount Lisle, it seemed as though the two families had patched up their quarrel. Perhaps Somerset hoped to return to his former position; perhaps Warwick feared him; but it was not long before the King's uncle was once more in acute danger.

A death struggle was taking place between Edward Seymour and John Dudley. Each had his advocates but surely, as the King's uncle, Seymour must prevail even though Edward had never liked this uncle. Thomas had been his favorite and yet he had given evidence against him although he had always been so affectionate toward him. I did not altogether understand my young brother. There was something aloof and cool about him. He could not be swerved from an opinion, and he was quite fanatically religious, having more and more turned to the new reformed faith.

Events might have turned out more favorably for Edward Seymour if he had not fallen ill and had to take to his bed. That gave John Dudley his chance. He immediately gave himself a grander title than that of Earl of Warwick, and became the Duke of Northumberland; and his close friends were similarly raised to the peerage.

Then, one of his adherents, a certain Sir Thomas Palmer, who had served my father well and acquired a reputation for great courage along with a fair amount of property, decided that he had not prospered as he would have wished under the Seymour regime, and could look for advancement under that of John Dudley. One day he called on the Duke and asked if he might walk with him in his gardens. There he disclosed what he called the plot. He had evidence, he said, that Edward Seymour was planning to kill the newly created Duke of Northumberland. He was sure of this because he had been one of the conspirators. However, he had changed his mind and no longer wished to support Somerset and he was therefore throwing himself on Northumberland's mercy. The plot was to raise the country against Northumberland and bring about his downfall.

Shortly after that Edward Seymour was arrested and sent to the Tower.

For six weeks he remained there while evidence against him was collected and sifted. He was then accused of plotting to destroy the city of London, seize the Tower and the Isle of Wight and secure for himself and his heirs the crown of England.

I could scarcely believe that the man of whom we had all lived in awe for so long was now himself a prisoner.

Some months before this I had come out of my retirement. I thought the scandals had been forgotten by this time and I did not want to remain buried in the country forever. Perhaps I was safer there but after the period following the Admiral's execution I had felt so shut away that I was longing for some excitement however dangerous it might be.

My sister Mary arrived in London a day or so before I did and was given a warm welcome, but Mary was such a firm Catholic, holding so tenaciously to the old ways, that people did watch her rather warily; and when I rode in shortly afterward, there was no doubt of their pleasure in me.

I caught the whisper: “How like her father she is! It might be great Henry himself riding there! That is just how he must have looked in his young days.”

I had his reddish hair and general coloring. I sat my horse well. I was upright, but whereas he had had great bulk, I was very slim. They cheered me. “Long live the Princess Elizabeth!” And I went on hearing those words echo long after I had left the streets. They were the sweetest music to me. I wanted more of their admiration after my long isolation. I responded with a rush of happiness. The truth was that I wanted to ride among them, to see their smiling faces and to hear and sense that they loved me.

Edward was delighted to see me, and made a great show of his affection, which made everyone marvel because with most people he was so aloof. He made me tell him what I was studying with Roger Ascham and we talked of Cicero and the Greek Testament with more excitement than I was sure Edward showed for the affairs of the country.

I told him about my household and the latest indiscretions of Kat Ashley, which made him smile. I had Parry back with me now, which was another great joy, but as I told Edward, now I was watchful of the household accounts myself.

We read to each other and chatted in Latin and were very happy together.

He said nothing about the trouble between Northumberland and Somerset and I was wise enough not to mention it, although I should have loved to know what his feelings were, considering it was his uncle who was in the Tower awaiting death. Perhaps he did not care, for he had been fond of Thomas and appeared quite indifferent when he went to the block.

I was very disturbed to receive a letter from Edward Seymour begging me to speak to the King on his behalf. He knew the King's love for me and he was sure I could influence him more than anyone else. If I would remind the King of their relationship and the love his uncle had always borne him…

I pondered that. I should have liked to show people the influence I had with Edward, but caution was at my elbow. Remember Thomas Seymour, it said. Whatever happens, do not become embroiled in their quarrels. If Northumberland knew that I had pleaded for his enemy, what would his feelings be toward me?

No, certainly I must take no part in their quarrel.

“Being so young a woman,” I wrote to him, “I have no power to do anything in your behalf”; and I went on to explain that the King was surrounded by those who would resent my making such a request to him.

I was delighted to come out of my retirement and I was pleased that so many people were intent on paying respect to me. Whether this was due to the King's affection for me or whether many of them were looking ahead to the future when, if certain events took place, I might one day be Queen, I did not know; but it was very gratifying. The previous year Mary of Guise, who had married the King of Scotland, had come to Hampton Court. She had been granted safe conduct when she was returning to Scotland from France, whither she had been to visit her mother at Joinville, and storms had driven her into Portsmouth Harbour, so she had stopped at Hampton Court to pay a visit to the King. She was received with many honors and she and her ladies, although they were only in the country for a week or so, had a great influence on the fashions. The French costumes were copied, and hair was worn frizzed and curled just as the French ladies wore it.

This had the effect of making our ladies all look very much alike, so I decided to have none of it. I wore my own hair smooth and clung to the plainness of my ordinary garments. This meant that I attracted attention everywhere I went, and if the ladies of the Court thought I was out of step, the people in the streets liked it. I heard warm compliments everywhere— “Our little English Princess,” they called me. And the approval of the people in the streets meant more to me than that of frivolous courtiers. It was also perhaps a sense that I was gaining of how to be entirely myself that I might always be marked for my individual view and never one to accept the mode of the moment, whether of dress or of more important matters.