I shall cede the point, as I need your brain for more plotting - I have sent you a message!
A Queen Twice Over: Mary Tudor the Elder Marries Francis I of France
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Indeed you have! I’m there!I shall cede the point, as I need your brain for more plotting - I have sent you a message!
Section CXXVII - October 1535
Falkland, October 1535
“I’m always struck by how healthy Lord Robert and Lady Margaret seem, Sister. Given they were eight-month babies, you must be caring for them extremely well. Your selflessness is astounding.”
The unspoken ‘They can’t have inherited your constitution’ hangs in the air as Louise’s voice rings out across the Great Hall. Her words silence the chattering courtiers. Every eye flicks to Mary, awaiting her reaction with bated breath.
Fifteen months after the cousin-sisters-in-law first met, their relationship is no less catty than it was all that time ago. The only difference is that, now that Mary has recovered her strength more fully, she is more than willing to go toe-to-toe with Louise if need be. The courtiers delight in placing bets as to which of the young royals will win each particular spat. It is never easy to guess, for, while Louise holds her husband’s heart in the palm of her hand, Mary is four years older and the mother of the second-in-line to the throne. Both these things give her quite a bit of leverage over the young Queen.
Tonight is no exception. Swathed in a heavy riding cloak of royal blue wool, the nineteen-year-old Duchess pauses to set her twenty-month-old son gently on the floor before dipping Louise a curtsy that flirts with insolence in its brevity.
“If I have given Bobby and Maggie the best of myself, then I have done so gladly, Your Grace. I thank God every day that they are so happy and healthy. As should we all. After all, they are Scotland’s future.”
Mary lets her eyes trail across her younger cousin’s trim figure as she speaks. She does so pointedly slowly, and Louise feels herself flush scarlet with rage and embarrassment.
Oh, she knows she should be grateful for the fact that Jamie is being considerate of her youth, that he is sating his carnal urges with mistresses, rather than risk her health, but just then, sitting face-to-face with Mary and her sturdy little son, it is hard to remember that. Particularly given Jamie isn’t actually here to dote on her, as he usually is when the Rosses are at Court. The Bethune hussy has just given him another daughter, and so he has gone to see to them, leaving Louise to deal with her relations by marriage alone for once.
Pulled from her musings by a tug on her skirts, Louise looks down. Little Lord Robert is pulling at her red brocade gown, fascinated by the feel of the rich material between his fingers.
For a moment, Louise does nothing but watch him. She can’t help herself. Though she’d never admit it, her maternal urges are in full bore, and she’s enthralled by Robert’s tiny pudgy hands and the way the candle light plays on his thick fair hair.
Just two more months. She’ll be fifteen in just two more months. Jamie will surely come to her bed when she’s fifteen. God Willing, she’ll have inherited her mother’s fertility and then she’ll have a son within the year. She’ll have a son to match Robert, and then this little boy will be no more than a future Duke. A royal Duke, true, but still. A Duke, not a Prince.
A stronger tug at her gown startles Louise out of her musings again. Robert has tired of simply stroking her skirts and has started mouthing on the seed pearls encrusting her hem.
Louise shakes herself. Why is she indulging Robert like this? He’s not her son!
She scoffs, more at herself than anything, and flicks her skirts sharply out of the toddler’s grip.
Robert’s eyes go wide. His little face falls. He sucks in a breath, preparing to wail his lungs out indignantly, when Mary intervenes.
“Bobby. Come here. Come to Mama.”
Distracted from his brewing fury, little Robert turns his head towards his mother’s voice, his face lighting up as he sees her.
Mary is crouched down a few steps from the dais, arms outstretched temptingly.
“That’s it, Bobby. Good boy. Come to Mama. Come to Mama,” she coaxes, and Robert jumps up.
He runs over, eyes sparkling with glee.
“Mama!”
Mary laughs and tosses him lightly in the air so that he squeals delightedly.
As much as she is seeking to please her son, however, the move is also a calculated one, for as she raises her arms to toss Bobby high in the air, her royal blue cloak falls open.
Falls open to reveal a stomacher that is laced ever so slightly broader than it should naturally be.
A ripple of gasps go through the room as the cleverer courtiers realise what Mary is hinting at.
The nineteen-year-old Duchess turns to her younger cousin and smirks.
As much as a moment of triumph this pregnancy gives Mary, it seems we will be getting Eleanor, Duchess of Ross, relatively soon…
Louise needs to cut her crap. Mary had nothing to do with her father's death and has done nothing to her. I hope Mary has another son, just to show her. And she better survive the birth.
Mary desperately wants a big family. She's delighted about a third child, even though we all know what it's going to do to her.
The cousins were never going to be friends. And I'm afraid the date of Mary's second childbed is set in stone. 19th May 1536. We all know what a momentous date that is.
I do intend to bring Katherine to Scotland at some point, yes. And Mary's not carrying twins this time, so that's something, surely?
Hopefully Mary's birth will be easier than the last. I was kind of convinced she would just have the twins, to be honest. But a single baby will probably make things at least a little better.....
Also, I can't help but feel bad for Louise. Yeah, girl, waiting until you're fifteen before you have kids is probably for the best, but it makes sense that she feels a little neglected. She's definitely being catty, but she's a teenager, after all.
Also, I can't help but feel bad for Louise. Yeah, girl, waiting until you're fifteen before you have kids is probably for the best, but it makes sense that she feels a little neglected. She's definitely being catty, but she's a teenager, after all.
She's a teenager who's watching her greatest rival for 'Queen Bee' get everything she wants. You're right, she's not a happy bunny right now, even if James does dote on her whenever they're together.
She's a very catty fourteen-year-old, yes, but then Mary isn't exactly rolling over, either. Why do you think she was being so public about the fact that she's with child - again - while Louise hasn't even shared James's bed yet?
Oh boy… This pregnancy has been hinted to be a danger to Mary… I don’t like this one bit
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I don't recall Mary humiliating Louise in front of the entire court. And she's doing her duty to Scotland like she should.
Indeed.
She just has. She's just made it very very clear that *she's* doing her duty to Scotland, and Louise *isn't*. Yes, we know that it's because James is being considerate, but now that Louise is fourteen, almost fifteen, do you think that's necessarily common knowledge? Isn't it more likely that everyone is watching Louise's waistline like a hawk, waiting for the slightest sign that she's with child, and Louise is only too aware of that?
This is how you had Louise treating Mary when they first meet. If that is not a humiliation in the grandest scale, then I don't know what is.
And that is Mary's problem because? Is she suppose to hide her baby bump? I think that the courtiers can count how old Louise is and thus isn't too hysterical about her not being pregnant yet.
I guess we’ll have a Duchess Eleanor of Ross by the end of 1537 then.
Oh, I'm not saying Louise hasn't humiliated Mary. All I'm saying is that Mary hasn't rolled over. She doesn't *need* to rub her fertility in Louise's face, but she's doing it anyway.
And yes, the Court is far from hysterical, but that doesn't mean that Louise isn't highly aware that everyone knows she's nearly fifteen, and thus half-expecting a pregnancy announcement any day, especially given her mother's fertility. She's probably reading more into the odd side glance than is really there because she knows James hasn't even tried to come to her bed yet. I'm not sure she's the most secure young woman, and who can blame her, after the childhood she's had?
I get that Mary hasn't been the most diplomatic, but Mary's responsible for maybe 1% of this problem.
Why should Mary need to roll over for Louise? She's the eldest daughter of the king of England. Perhaps she's proud of having a family of her own, given her mother's marriage got annulled, her first betrothed died and had to settle for a second son who's true love is of course her Best Friend. If Louise wants to be a brat, then it's not Mary's issue. I am more then sure that Mary would have become a important ally and helped Louise to acclimate to the court, but Louise threw that away in july 1534.
At this point I'm actually rooting for you to kill Mary at the day Anne Boleyn died because at least then she won't stand in the way of what someone else desires. And her poor daughter will of course be named Eleanor for her husband's mistress who Mary will give her blessing to live happily ever after with Alexander, because god forbid Mary should be the true love of her husband's life.
At this point I'm actually rooting for you to kill Mary at the day Anne Boleyn died because at least then she won't stand in the way of what someone else desires. And her poor daughter will of course be named Eleanor for her husband's mistress who Mary will give her blessing to live happily ever after with Alexander, because god forbid Mary should be the true love of her husband's life.
She's been extremely diplomatic given Louise called her a murderers daughter right before the whole court including the effing king.