So do I, and I'm afraid to say it's not the last they'll lose - I seem to have spared Anne her three miscarriages ITTL and given them to Kathy instead...
The Queen is Dead!: Katherine of Aragon dies in 1518
- Thread starter FalconHonour
- Start date
Well, at least they have Edmund. House Boleyn isn’t gone yet.
Three? Anne miscarried only twice (and we can be sure only about the last miscarriage)
You're quite right on reflection, it's three pregnancies. Regardless, Kathy's losing three...
Poor Kathy and poor George. Well at least they have Edmund and their little wards...You're quite right on reflection, it's three pregnancies. Regardless, Kathy's losing three...
Indeed. Kathy spoils Bridget rotten, because she ends up being their pseudo-daughter (Edmund goes to Eltham to be Lionel's companion and Siobhan's already Maria's, so Bridget is basically the recipient of all of Kathy's frustrated maternal tendencies - although Kathy falls more into the 'likes making children/doesn't mind the little ones but doesn't quite know what to do with them.' camp.
Hmm...I wonder, is Bridget of appropriate status to marry Edmund?
Daughter of the Earl of Kildare? Probably. But George has his heart set on matching his son to the little Baroness of Upper Ossory, Lady Grace Fitzroy.
Hopefully little Edmund will be the same kind of favorite to Lionel what Charles Brandon is to Henry....
Section CLIV - May 1524
Baynard's Castle, May 1524
Dr Linacre finished his examination and replaced the linen sheet over Kathy’s legs.
“Well, you confound me, Lady Pembroke, I must say. I can find nothing physical that might explain why you miscarried, particularly not so brutally or so swiftly. I can only conclude that the cause of the miscarriage must have been emotional. Have you found yourself overwrought in the past few weeks and months?”
Kathy chewed the inside of her cheek, trying to think. She hadn’t thought herself particularly stressed, but then she had been trying to keep herself under control for the sake of Marie and the babies while her sister-in-law was in confinement….and she had had a prominent place in the Christening festivities, being Lady Katherine’s godmother.
“Well, I was in attendance on Her Majesty throughout her confinement…” she began, and Dr Linacre’s lips curved into a wry smile. He, as well as any man, knew how demanding a triple pregnancy had made Marie.
“That would do it, especially if you had no idea you were with child, and therefore took no care for yourself,” he said softly, shooting an apologetic look at George for seeming to criticise his sister as the younger man closed his hand over Kathy’s shoulder.
“That’s all very well, Sir Thomas,” he said, not overly harshly, “But I rather think that rehashing the whys and wherefores of this particular miscarriage is unlikely to get us anywhere. Although I will admit that to hear there was no obvious physical cause for this miscarriage heartens me. I take it, therefore, that Lady Pembroke need not fear any lasting damage?”
“Oh, heavens, no!” Dr Linacre exclaimed, “I’d refrain from sharing a bed for a few weeks, give Lady Pembroke time to heal, but you’re both young and healthy. A miscarriage is a dreadful thing, but it is not unnatural for a woman to have one – or even more than one – during her childbearing years. I see no reason, why, as long as you take greater care over the next child, you shouldn’t be parents again within the year.”
The physician presumed so far as to clap George on the shoulder jovially as he spoke. George let it happen, sharing a soft, encouraging smile with Kathy, before releasing her shoulder and crossing the room to the bag of coins he had left on one of her travelling chests.
“Thank you, Sir Thomas,” he answered, relief clear in his tone, pressing the velvet purse into the older man’s hand, “That is a great blessing to hear. Take this for your trouble…and if I might presume on your discretion? It’s only that Lady Pembroke and I hadn’t told anyone yet, and I wouldn’t want the Queen to blame herself if she heard my wife had lost a child. You know how fragile Her Grace can be at the moment.”
“Of course,” Dr Linacre nodded, “You may rely on me, Lord Pembroke. This will go no further; I give you my oath on that.”
“Thank you,” George nodded, before Dr Linacre bowed his way out. No sooner had the doors swung shut behind him than George spun round and caught Kathy in his arms.
She clung to him just as tightly, the emotional bond between them saying, in that moment, what words could not.
“I’m sending you back to Raglan, as soon as it’s safe for you to travel,” George choked into her hair, “I don’t want you to have to deal with our nieces and nephews. Not now, not while all of this is still so fresh.”
A wave of gratitude strong enough to rob Kathy of words filled her at George’s promise. All she could do in return was nod.
Aww...Kathy and George certainly care for one another. Nice to see that their relationship holding up during this trying time.
They do. It took them a while to warm up to one another, but Edmund - and the lack of pressure on George and the rest of the Boleyns, now that Marie is secure as the mother of Henry's heir - have bonded them
They do indeed. And I promise their family isn't quite complete yet, though I'll say no more.
The below will be put in the TL as an appendix, along with various other miscellany that I most likely won't manage to pin into place during the course of the remaining chapters, but if anyone would like to know the titles of the TTL history books I have dreamed up titles and authors for, they are as follows. Warning, they do spoil the epilogues just a tad, so if you would rather be surprised, don't peek!
‘“The Thrice-Titled Dynasty”: The Boleyns of Ormonde, Pembroke and Upper Ossory’ by Rachel Wincraft
‘“Make No Windows Into My Lady’s Soul”: Religion in the Tudor Empire, 1500-1600’ by Graham Banworth
‘Christina: The Queen England Was Never Meant to Have’ by Sarah Rose
‘“The Fruitless Pomegranate”: Maria Tudor 1516-1558’ by Eoin Peniston
'"Lions Rampant": The Campaigns of Henry VIII 1520-1540' by Alexander Hickman
‘Taking Root: The First Century of the Tudor Dynasty: 1485-1575’ by Connor FitzSutton
England's Second Conqueror: A Life of Henry VIII, 1491-1551' by Amelia Morris
‘“Make No Windows Into My Lady’s Soul”: Religion in the Tudor Empire, 1500-1600’ by Graham Banworth
‘Christina: The Queen England Was Never Meant to Have’ by Sarah Rose
‘“The Fruitless Pomegranate”: Maria Tudor 1516-1558’ by Eoin Peniston
'"Lions Rampant": The Campaigns of Henry VIII 1520-1540' by Alexander Hickman
‘Taking Root: The First Century of the Tudor Dynasty: 1485-1575’ by Connor FitzSutton
England's Second Conqueror: A Life of Henry VIII, 1491-1551' by Amelia Morris
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Section CLV - May 1524
Baynard's Castle, May 1524
The English royal nursery had never been so challenged as it was in those first weeks after the triplets’ birth. Experienced nurses though Lady Bryan and Lady Salisbury were, the introduction of three new charges at once, all with such different levels of need, stretched even their abilities to oversee the royal children to the limit.
Like his brother Lionel had been before him, Richard was loud, demanding and predictable. It was easy to guess what he wanted when he cried, for his little body was like a clock...Food, fresh small-clothes, sleep, in that order, over and over again in regular two to three-hour cycles.
Lady Katharine, or Caitlin, as her father had christened her, was just as demanding as her brother, but more unpredictable in the order in which she would want things. However, Lady Bryan very quickly realised that the worst thing one could do for Caitlin was to let her get overstimulated and/or over-tired. If she missed a nap, or slept poorly, which, given she had two other triplets in her nursery and two older siblings and their companions who didn’t always succeed in staying quiet when the babies were sleeping, happened more often than her Lady Governess would have liked, she would spend the next portion of her awake time wailing and miserable, no matter how people shushed her. Still, at least there was a reasonably simple solution to the issue. Keeping Caitlin on a stable routine, and putting her down for more naps than might otherwise have seemed necessary, minimised that risk and thus kept her manageable.
It was her sister Jacquetta who was the real struggle.
The youngest and frailest of the triplets, she had always promised to be problematic from the very first day, when her parents had had trouble naming her. This only proved all the truer as she grew, for she cried almost constantly, a thin, piercing wail that broke the hearts of all who heard it. She spent more time in anyone’s arms than on her back in a cradle, for walking around with her seemed the only way to calm her, unlike either of her siblings, who flailed and kicked for freedom if held for too long. Moreover, she struggled to feed, only ever latching on to her wet nurse’s breast for a few sucks at a time before either falling asleep or bobbing off the breast, whimpering and refusing to suckle. Lady Bryan spent more time than she cared to admit holding a soaked linen cloth to Jacquetta’s lips, trying to tease her into taking some milk.
One day, about a month after the triplets had been born, Lady Bryan pulled Lady Salisbury aside as they went back to the nursery after Mass, the Princess Mary having been swept away by her father to dine with him and her mother in Marie’s apartments.
In the privacy of a half-hidden window embrasure, she locked eyes with the other woman.
“When are we going to admit it, Margaret? The Lady Jacquetta is not gaining in health and strength as we’d both hoped she would.”
“No,” Lady Salisbury pressed her lips together, “She is not. Though, before you ask, I don’t see what else we can do for her than what we, and the rest of her household, already are doing. Other than pray, of course.”
“Do we need to -” Lady Bryan hesitated, knowing her next words could well be seen as treasonous, but fearing for what might happen if she didn’t say them anyway, “Do we need to seek to warn Their Majesties that they might well lose the Lady Jacquetta as they lost His Highness Lord William?”
“Margaret!” Lady Salisbury gasped in horror, her hand flying to her mouth, “Did you just say -?”
“You and I both know that Lady Jacquetta will burn up like a candle the moment she gets even a touch of an infantile fever, to say nothing of anything more serious. I am asking you as a colleague and as a friend, do we need to warn Their Majesties?”
“The Queen won’t hear a word of it,” Lady Salisbury shook her head, “Do you know what my daughter overheard Her Grace say to her sister Lady Lancaster the other day? That it was in the Lady Jacquetta’s blood to be difficult and that we should count ourselves lucky we had at least one easy-going charge in Lord Richard! No, Queen Mary is too much of an optimist. She’ll not allow herself to imagine her little daughter cold in the grave. Not for an instant. Telling her would only distress her and do no good at all.”
“Then what do we do?”
“What we’ve always done. We do our duties as best we can and we offer up our prayers. I suggest special prayers to St Nicholas and St Gerard, in the hope that they might intervene with the Saviour for our poor Lady Jacquetta. Now, come, before Prince Lionel starts calling for us.”
Lady Salisbury squeezed Lady Bryan’s shoulder in comfort as she passed, before the two of them fell back into a matching pace, each step bearing them closer to their duties in the nursery.