Everyone is being so horrible to Catherine here. It's a well written TL, but this just makes me sad.
An Heir To Rule
- Thread starter Tudorfan
- Start date
It's always Catherine it falls on. I see it over and over again here. Good luck with this TL, but I will ignore it from now on. It just depresses me.
But keep in mind that ITTL his brother Edmund is alive. And after the Pope Annika his marriage and declares his daughters illegitimate, Edmund is Henry’s heir until he has legitimate children.
So:
Prince Edmund Tudor lives.
Prince Arthur Tudor marries Katherine of Aragon and dies young.
Katherine remarries to Prince Henry Tudor, who succeeds as Henry VIII.
Katherine has a daughter Mary in 1516 who lives.
Katherine has a daughter Elizabeth in 1518 who lives.
Pope Clement VII grants Henry annulment of his marriage to Katherine.
Thomas Boleyn has a third daughter Eleanor.
Anne Boleyn is dead.
Mary Tudor has a son Louis by Louis XI.
Margaret Tudor marries James IV of Scotland, has two sons, James and Alexander, and is widowed in 1515, but does not marry the Earl of Angus.
Changes in italics. And there are a lot of them. Nothing unlikely, except the annulment.
Prince Edmund Tudor lives.
Prince Arthur Tudor marries Katherine of Aragon and dies young.
Katherine remarries to Prince Henry Tudor, who succeeds as Henry VIII.
Katherine has a daughter Mary in 1516 who lives.
Katherine has a daughter Elizabeth in 1518 who lives.
Pope Clement VII grants Henry annulment of his marriage to Katherine.
Thomas Boleyn has a third daughter Eleanor.
Anne Boleyn is dead.
Mary Tudor has a son Louis by Louis XI.
Margaret Tudor marries James IV of Scotland, has two sons, James and Alexander, and is widowed in 1515, but does not marry the Earl of Angus.
Changes in italics. And there are a lot of them. Nothing unlikely, except the annulment.
AIUI, Katherine was not allowed to return to Spain; Henry VII wanted to keep her dowry.
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That's about the size of it. Now, about Katherine's returning to Spain. You're right, she may well not have been allowed to. But you have to remember that Edmund was only a toddler when Katherine came to England. He may well not have understood the intracacies of what was going on...
Yep; when Arthur carks it, Edmund is two years and three months old, still in diapers and throwing poop at his Governess. I'm working on the idea that, other than a portrait of Arthur, which was kept IOTL, he can't remember what his brother actually looks like.
In order.
Yep.
Yep.
Yep.
Yep.
Yep.
Yep, and I'll explain why, later.
Yep.
Yep, and I'll explain why, later.
Yep.
Technically, she's widowed in 1513, not 1515, but otherwise, yep.
Not exactly true. Ferdinand named Catherine as his Ambassador in England for keeping her there instead of having her return. Considerations about the dowry were mostly before Isabella’s death and specially before Ferdinand demonstrated to be fully unreliable
Book The First: Katherine of Aragon - The Pomegranate Queen
Book The First: Katherine of Aragon - The Pomegranate Queen
Chapter III: November 1518 - June 1519
Holyrood House,
Edinburgh, Scotland,
November 1518
"She's failed again," thinks Margaret, laughing to herself as she reads the announcement of the birth of another girl from England. "Another girl. At her age, Henry is not getting a son from her now. Elizabeth is appropriate though, after dearest Mama. I will give Katherine that small praise: it is a good, strong, English name."Edinburgh, Scotland,
November 1518
James is dancing with the young Lennox girl, Elizabeth.
"One day," she thinks, watching him lead the girl around the floor in a Pavane. "He may be King of England too. Papa was a clever man."
Across the room, she catches sight of the Duke of Albany and raises a goblet to him. He meets her eyes and raises the goblet back. It's a teeth clenched Regency to be sure, but as long as it's not Angus in charge, they will continue on in their united Regency.
*~*~*~*~*
Royal Château de Blois,
France,
November 1518
"Katherine's had the child?"Royal Château de Blois,
France,
November 1518
"She has, Your Grace," says Diane, reading the letter for her.
"And?"
"A girl," says Diane, trying to ignore the sparkle that seems to dance through her Mistress's eyes at the news. "Elizabeth, after your mother."
"She'll be honoured," says Mary and she means it; she knows her mother well enough to know that she'll be honoured to have a granddaughter named after her. But, despite it all...
She tries - oh, she really does - but she cannot help the smile that threatens to break her face. "Diane, send for the Duke of Valois and fetch me a Quill and some parchment. I must write to my sister, Meg."
*~*~*~*~*
Whitehall Palace,
England,
June 1519
Katherine knows what the cannon blasts and fireworks mean. She isn't stupid - far from it - and she's heard them before: at the celebrations of her own short-lived boy. Bessie Blount, Henry's common whore, has succeeded where she has failed. She's birthed a boy, a living boy, which, in Henry's eyes, is better than a dead girl, a short-lived son, two stillborn boys and two living girls.Whitehall Palace,
England,
June 1519
Bessie Blount has won the fight, but she won't win the war.
Katherine meets Maria's eye in the mirror of her vanity and nods.
*~*~*~*~*
The celebrations are in full swing and Henry is pleased - a boy, a living boy, at last. Yes, he's a Bastard, but that did not stop the Portuguese, who founded a Dynasty from it. His boy will do great things, he is certain of it.
Heavy footfalls on steps behind him make him turn; Wolsey is there, staring up at him from the bottom of the staircase, crosier in hand.
"Your Majesty is to be congratulated on such a happy event," he says, bowing as much as his rotund body will allow him to.
"Thank you, Your Eminence," Henry replies, bowing to him. "The Lady is upstairs."
Wolsey waddles past him.
"Henry." He turns at the voice and smiles down at twenty-year-old Edmund, who is resplendent in red and smiling up at him under a flame-haired fringe. "Congratulations."
"Thank you, brother," he says. "I always knew it wasn't my fault."
"No," agrees Edmund; Katherine is Queen, but she is not as important as Henry - he's King, she just has to birth the future one to succeed him. "Indeed not."
*~*~*~*~*
In the Solar above, Bessie Blount looks down over the celebrations. Wolsey is talking to her, but she is hardly listening. She knows that he knows that she knows that he knows that she knows that he knows that she knows that he knows that she knows what happens next with her son.
"His Majesty has decided to recognise his son. He will be known, for the present, as Henry FitzRoy. He will have his own establishment at Durham House with a chaplain, an office and a retinue befitting his status."
"Thank you," she says.
"You should rather thank His Majesty," says Wolsey, somewhat genially. "I only do his bidding."
She knows that's a lie - Wolsey has a pension from the French and negotiates treaties with them when it suits them.
*~*~*~*~*
"The Queen!" announces a herald, loudly. "The Queen!"
Katherine arrives with Maria de Salinas, the Baroness Willoughby de Eresby, to her left and Lady Mary Talbot, daughter of the fourth Earl of Shrewsbury, to her right and she's resplendent in all her finery; earrings, necklace, crown, sumptuous green cloak of ermine around her. The celebrations fall silent as everyone drops into a bow or curtsey at her presence; even Edmund and Henry and their mother bow to her - she may have been shamed in her failure to provide a son, but she is still his wife.
She takes a goblet from the tray offered to her - it's small and grey compared to Henry's enormous golden one - and raises it in acknowledgement, as he does to her. The two drink in unison, eyes locked, no words passing between them.
She's done her duty.
She turns and leaves sadly, knowing that, for tonight at least, her failure is clear for everyone.
Henry watches her go. "Well handled, Kate," he thinks, knowing that she desired to rage and shout at him. "Well handled." He raises his goblet to the room. "To my son!" he cries.
The room explodes into cheers and he knows Katherine can hear them.
He finishes the goblet in one.
Katherine returns to her chambers and dismisses all of her ladies except for Maria - then, surrounded by the only lady she can trust completely, she cries.
*~*~*~*~*
Elizabeth of York is loathe to blame Katherine for failing to provide a son, but she's also seen dynasties fall due to lack of sons - her own dynasty did, when sons that were too young were murdered by a usurper. She has lost children young herself - her own Elizabeth, Edward and Katherine - but at least all of her children had been born alive.
She sees Katherine pass her as the room explodes into cheers and knows that Katherine must hate her own existence right now, that she'll spend days in prayer begging for a new son.
But, as sad as she feels for Katherine, she is happy that her son, at last, has a son - a bastard, yes, but her own father had many of those, so she won't judge Henry for it.
"Congratulations, Henry," she says as her son joins the celebrating crowd below.
Her son grins handsomely - always second, always the spare, now he's the centre of attention, the man of the hour - and preens under the praise. "Thank you, Mama," he says, raising a goblet. "You'll stand as Godmother to him with Lady Salisbury, of course?"
"Not Katherine - or Mary or Elizabeth?"
"No," he says sharply, and she knows he's punishing Katherine for her failure to provide a living son, though he will say that he would never dishonour Katherine by making her stand as godmother to a bastard. "Not Katherine or my daughters."
"I would be honoured," she says, noticing silently to herself that Henry did not ask her to stand as Godmother to either of his daughters with Katherine. "And the godfathers?"
"Edmund and the King of France," says Henry almost instantly and she knows, from the rapidity of his reply, that he has been thinking of this day for years. "Louis is almost five now - old enough to be Godfather. I have written to Mary already to ask her."
She doesn't point out to him that his own daughter, Mary, is only six months younger than Louis and old enough to stand as Godmother herself, but she understands: Katherine, and the failures related to her, must be kept as far away from this son - and that, much to her sadness, includes her two granddaughters. She will visit them at Hatfield next week since Henry does not desire them here tonight.
"I am sure she will be honoured to have Louis stand as Godfather," she says.
Henry smiles shortly, knowing how argumentative Mary can be - she had fought tooth and nail to avoid her marriage to Louis, but he had been right in the end, as he always was. "Perhaps, this time, she'll listen to her brother and be more obedient, like Edmund," he thinks to himself. "Perhaps this time."
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The POD is the survival of Henry’s younger brother. Elizabeth of York was killed by her last childbirth, and her pregnancy was most likely caused by the wish of Henry VII and Elizabeth herself to better secure the succession after Arthur’s premature death so is likely who she would not try to remain pregnant if she and Henry had still two living sons after Arthur’s death
I did, actually, mention a “Katherine” that Elizabeth of York had in this timeline, but she didn’t die from the childbirth, though it was her last.
Not really. I HAD planned to reveal that Katherine was a surprise baby after Arthur’s death - they didn’t have protection back then and, oops, there’s another baby - but she died a few hours old. I just cut the line because it wasn’t important.
Fabulous.
Now, I have a question for you - should I begin each section in medias res or not? I already know what my thoughts are, but I thought I’d ask for opinions too.
Deleted member 147978
I believe it's best for you to continue the TL from the In Medias Res beginning.