The Queen is Dead!: Katherine of Aragon dies in 1518

For half a second I thought she kissed King Henry, thankfully it was her betrothed. Imagine THAT scandal though...
Anne kissing her brother in law when they're both drunk out of their heads? Hell, that would be a scandal and a half. No, it is definitely Harry Percy. In theory, there's nothing wrong with this, because betrothals can be seen as being as binding as a marriage, but that would be a proper betrothal in a church in front of a priest and witnesses. Harry and Anne never had that. Their 'betrothal', if you can call it that, was basically Henry's public blessing of their match, which although he's the King, doesn't hold as much water, as he's not, ITTL, Head of the Church of England, and has no intention of ever being so. The next generation, however...
 
Section CII - August 1522
Kenilworth, August 1522

They had always known the night would be a blur, but just how much of a blur was only clear when they woke up, side by side, in a chamber unfamiliar to both of them. Harry blinked, rolling away from Anne lazily – then sat bolt upright at the sight of the scarlet blood that pooled beneath them, staining both Anne’s thighs and the crisp white linen they were lying on.

“What have I done?!”

His exclamation woke Anne and she murmured, “What is it? What’s wrong?”

“Well – Just – Look!!!”

Anne raised herself on her elbows and peered down at the ragged, rapidly-drying stain that was causing her husband-to-be such distress.

“I should think it’s fairly clear what you’ve done,” she answered acidly, arching an eyebrow.

“Your sister’s going to kill me!”

“I don’t see why. I’m plenty old enough to be a wife and mother.”

“I promised to wait to take your maidenhead. I swore it to the King himself before more or less the entire Court.”

“No one need ever know you haven’t. I can easily ask Marie to ensure our bedding isn’t witnessed.”

“What if you’re with child? If your belly quickens as easily as your sister’s, it’s going to be rather hard to hide.”

“Let’s cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, let’s count ourselves lucky that these rooms don’t seem to be occupied. Go back to your rooms and I’ll go back to mine. We’ll pretend last night never happened.”

“And if it becomes obvious that it did?”

“Let’s not worry about that yet. All I need now is your promise that you’ll stand by me, come what may.”

“Always. Come what may, forever and always.”

Harry sealed his promise with a quick kiss to her perfect, pouting lips, then gathered his clothes, dressed, and fled.

Anne, for her part, struggled into her gown as best she could without a friend, sister or maid to help her, lacing the strings haphazardly, then left the room, hurrying in the opposite direction to the one Harry had taken, praying to all the saints that she wouldn’t run into anyone she knew en route.
 
Heh- perfect comedy setup.

Plus *everyone* will know as someone will have seen them tumble into that room...

Oh, it will be common gossip among the Court, but the King and Queen themselves...? They are going to be wilfully blind/very distracted by something that is about to kick off next chapter...
 
Section CIII - August 1522
Eltham, August 1522
There was one person, however, who wasn’t celebrating the birth of King Henry’s Duke of York. Bessie Blount received the news with stoic correctness, as befitted a Baroness and the mother of the King’s son, but in the privacy of her apartments, she let her defences break as she gave way to a storm of fury.

“I can’t bear it! I can’t! What has Marie Boleyn – Mary Bullen – ever done to deserve her good fortune?! She has Henry’s ring on her finger, his heart in the palm of her hand and she’s as fertile as the ground in a lush spring! As if Lionel wasn’t enough, now there’s a Duke of York as well. Damn them! Damn them all to Hell!”

“Well, I don’t know about that, but we could certainly knock them out of their halcyon days,” Mark answered slyly, pushing himself of the wall behind her. Bessie swung round to him.

“We could?”

“Of course. We live with their children, don’t we?”

With that, Mark sauntered out of the room. Bessie stared after him, mind suddenly aflame with possibilities. He was right. Strong though Henry and Marie’s bond seemed, it hinged heavily on their children. If something was to happen to them...

Especially if the rumours were true and Dr Linacre had forbidden them from sharing a marital bed until he himself deemed Marie healed from Prince William’s difficult birth. Would they survive the loss of their sons, if they couldn’t try for another? Or would Henry, in his grief, turn to her for succour? Or if not to her, then at least to their golden boy?

Bessie couldn’t stop her heart from leaping at the thought. She fairly ran from the room to write to her sister, who still served the Queen, albeit in a much less exalted position than before. If anyone knew whether the King and Queen truly had been told they couldn’t share a bed, it would be Marie’s household, wouldn’t it?
 
Right now I am worried for the little Prince of Wales, the newborn Duke of York and also little Hal (who risk to pay the prince of his mother’s folly)
 
Right now I am worried for the little Prince of Wales, the newborn Duke of York and also little Hal (who risk to pay the prince of his mother’s folly)

Hal will be fine. Even Henry isn't going to take his wrath out on a boy who's barely talking... I make no promises about the Tudor boys, mind.
 
Jesus - she wouldn't be that stupid surely?

She isn't that subtle to be able to do it and get away with it.

She thinks Henrys rage was there when she pushed him to acknowledge Hal as his heir. . . Kill his trueborn heirs and blooming Nora, i dread to think what he'll do. (unless i've seriously misunderstood what was going through her head XD)
 
Jesus - she wouldn't be that stupid surely?

She isn't that subtle to be able to do it and get away with it.

She thinks Henrys rage was there when she pushed him to acknowledge Hal as his heir. . . Kill his trueborn heirs and blooming Nora, i dread to think what he'll do. (unless i've seriously misunderstood what was going through her head XD)

You haven't misunderstood, no. Bessie is suffering severe (undiagnosed) Postnatal Depression and is also extremely bitter that Henry married Marie rather than her, when she gave him a son too. Suffice it to say that she's not particularly stable right now.
 
You haven't misunderstood, no. Bessie is suffering severe (undiagnosed) Postnatal Depression and is also extremely bitter that Henry married Marie rather than her, when she gave him a son too. Suffice it to say that she's not particularly stable right now.

A very fun ASB scenario would be to provide licensed pychologists to the Tudors.
 
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