Towards the end of July the last of the proposed maids of honor (in England) arrived with her mother at court. The 14 year old eldest daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn arrived to be fitted for the wardrobe expected of a maid to the Princess. Henry VIII was paying for the fanciest of the wardrobe items, so that English women would make an impression on the French. Some of the older women going were jealous, there were far fewer of them receiving such gifts from the King. Lady Elizabeth Boleyn was thrilled to have a second daughter at a foreign court - her younger daughter Anne was already abroad at the court of the Regent of the Netherlands, Margaret of Austria. Anne's fluency in French and desire to learn the writing of it, along with her father's diplomatic friendship with the great lady, had gotten her there.
Henry, still touchy about Spanish attachments, had his sister ask Sir Thomas to have Anne brought back to England so she might accompany the household with everyone else attending the Princess. Boleyn, who liked Margaret and knew her to be fond of Anne, was of a divided opinion on the matter; but his wife Elizabeth was not. So, semi-reluctantly (having two daughters with the Queen of France would bring just as much honor) and diplomatically, he wrote in August to the Regent, asking that his younger daughter be sent home with the message bearer to prepare to join Mary. The messenger returned alone, Anne was with Margaret at one of her estates, away from her official residence. Anne's arrival in France might well be from Margaret's home.
The Queen knew better than to expect fidelity from her husband during a pregnancy; it disappointed her that he'd chosen to accept the flirtation of Bessie Blount as an invitation and now had the girl in his bed. Bessie's father, who served the King personally, had to know of it. She wondered how he bore the humiliation of a daughter behaving as a whore. Unless he had encouraged her to profit from the association. Katherine learned from others that he had not encouraged it and chose to emulate his Queen in responding to it; that it, he didn't. Which made Katherine sorry for the girl, as the available sons of higher-ranking nobles would not wed the King's whore without great inducement.
Princess Mary left in late September for Calais; she did not wish to wed King Louis XII, but had extracted from her brother a promise that her next husband would be chosen by her. He would have agreed to anything to get her to go. He had no intention of keeping the promise, for he knew of her infatuation with Charles Brandon. Charles, for his part, had never behaved with anything other than proper courtly behavior. With any luck, Brandon would be married again before Louis died (which Henry was hoping happened at least a year from the wedding). She arrived in France at the start of October and by mid-way through the month, she was the crowned Queen.
November ended in sorrow. Katherine was delivered of a stillborn son on the 17th, the day before she was to go into confinement. Henry was in mourning as well, but told Wolsey it was but a temporary bump. They had two healthy sons, surely more would follow. She mourned until the end of the month, then Henry insisted that she cooperated in celebrating Christmas. She kept her sorrow to herself and went along as if nothing had happened. Amidst the preparations and celebrations, Katherine learned that since Henry had returned to her bed, Bessie Blount had found another to warm. The Queen considered telling her husband about the girl's going to another man's bed, but only for a moment. Henry could be angry and take it out on the man, even though he was a close companion. It was okay if the King dishonored one of her ladies, but quite another if the man had been 'invited' to share her. Katherine sighed as her ladies prepared her bed. Two more days until January, she hoped it brought better than 1514.
