Well Henry do not need to know that... What are doing ATL Cromwell and Cranmer by the way?
The Queen is Dead!: Katherine of Aragon dies in 1518
- Thread starter FalconHonour
- Start date
Cranmer will be Dickon's almoner in Normandy if Anne has anything to say about it. I haven't decided about Cromwell yet.
I haven't given it much thought, but I'm sure she's figured something out with her siblings - Maria dotes on her and the triplets were so young when it happened, they probably don't know any different. Plus, she has her own governess in Kat Champernowne, while Caitlin and Dickon are under Lady Bryan and Lady Salisbury, so Kat's probably come up with some sort of system. Though Caitlin will most likely be given a new household too in a year or so, once Maria goes to Paris and Dickon is sent to Rouen. Lionel is already in a household of his own under Sir Henry Wyatt at Tickhill, with the young Duke of Richmond and Edmund Boleyn acting as his companions.
Section CLXXV - April 1531
Raglan, April 1531
“No, not the scarlet, the blue! The blue, you fool! Or no, forget that, the green. The green brings out my eyes and I must look my best when we ride out with my royal aunt and uncle this morning! And where’s my breakfast? I asked for it ages ago!”
“Your porridge is on its way, Lady Bridget.”
“Porridge? I don’t want porridge! I want eggs! Eggs, wheat cakes and berries!”
“But Lady Bridget. You asked for porridge and cream when you woke up this morning.”
“No, I didn’t, you idiot! Have you gone completely witless? I’d never ask for porridge. I hate porridge!”
“But Lady Bridget...”
“Urgh! Mama! The servants are being stupid again! Mama!”
Bridget slammed out of her bedroom and ran down the hall, shouting for her mother. George heard her go and groaned inwardly. Kathy had never learnt not to indulge the children and Bridget had grown up fractious and irritable. The slightest thing going against her wishes would precipitate a flood of bad temper and insults which culminated in a flight into Kathy’s arms, where she would inevitably be soothed and petted...and bribed into compliance if need be.
George knew the servants lived in fear of her and wished he’d taken a greater role in her upbringing, one that had started early enough to control her. But he hadn’t. He’d done what his father had done and more or less left the children to Kathy and their nurses until they were old enough to be of some use to him. Unlike his father, however, he hadn’t done it because he saw his children as political bargaining chips more than he saw them as people. Rather, he’d done it because he’d wanted to give Kathy a chance to indulge her more maternal side, a side that had gone almost unassuaged for so long, in those three dark years when every pregnancy had ended in a bed of blood and an aching heart. Edmund and little Bridget had been about the only thing that had made Kathy smile whenever she’d been recovering from one of her miscarriages. How could he have taken that away from her? He’d only wanted to ease her pain, in whatever way he could. He’d never realised what would come of it. He just thanked his lucky stars that Edmund and Siobhan were growing up with their royal cousins. At least their heir wouldn’t turn out so wilful, even if the younger girls did.
Though George was trying to curb Tilly before she copied Bridget too much. It was difficult, though, because, now, being four, she was becoming old enough to realise that her thirteen-year-old surrogate sister was so much more pampered than she was. She was starting to find it unfair. And Kathy was never any good at saying no to her either, so it made George’s life an uphill battle.
Sighing, he hurried after Bridget, only to find her nestled in Kathy’s arms, weeping passionately into her shoulder.
“I hate them! They always do what Tilly wants. They just don’t like me because I’m not your real daughter!”
“That’s not true, darling. You know it isn’t. Mama will talk to them, Mama will. Just hush now, there’s a sweet girl.”
Kathy was patting Bridget’s back as though she was a tiny child again. She glanced at George over her head.
“Go and get my diamond necklace and coronet. Bridget can wear them today.”
“Really?” Bridget’s eyes lit up. Kathy nodded, “Maybe if we dress you as befits your rank, they’ll have no choice but to remember who they’re talking to.”
“Thank you, Mama!”
“My pleasure, sweetheart.” Kathy kissed her wayward daughter’s brow and rose. George, who hadn’t moved, caught her arm as she passed him in the doorway.
“This has got to stop,” he said lowly, “You can’t keep indulging her like this. If nothing else, she’s setting a bad example for Tilly.”
“I know, I know. This is the last time, George, I swear.”
“You always say that and it never is.”
“This time I mean it. On England, Harry and St George.”
Knowing that her words were hollow, but having no way of proving it, George merely harrumphed and let her past.
“Honestly,” He thought to himself, “I’m the Earl of Ormonde and Pembroke, the brother of the most beloved Queen England’s ever had and one of the most powerful men in the Marches, yet I can’t keep my own household in order. Where did I go wrong?”
He exhaled slowly, “Well, let’s just hope Lady Honour is better at controlling little Lady Ossory, or else Edmund is going to have an extremely wilful wife as well as two capricious sisters. I wouldn’t wish that on him.”
Then he went down the steps to the courtyard to check that all was ready for the next stage of the progress.
Last edited:
With a second son who wasn't sent off to Tickhill to be with Lionel? Perhaps. But he'll never know that.
Haha, it looks like Bridget will be a formidable woman one day... Those poor servants....
Yes, if you can find a husband that can control her, she'll be an excellent Lady of the manor!
Tsk tsk George and Kathy, y’all should know better! Though in a way I don’t blame them, it would be hard to have so many pregnancies end in miscarriage.
And to be fair to George, he's not been around much. He's been stuck in Ireland for most of the past two years. But yeah, if they'd had all the kids they were hoping for, Kathy would still be an indulgent mother, but no way would she spoil Bridget this much...
Probably not... Not that I ever worked out who he was going to be..
Could she perhaps marry a member of the Howard family, or one of Henry's nephews through Mary if she has sons with Charles Brandon?
Possibly. Maybe Charles Howard, since he's Anne's ward and Margaret Douglas is now a Hastings...
Section CLXXVI - April 1531
Middleham, April 1531
George was not the only one with family troubles in the spring and early summer of 1531, however. In Middleham, too, another man and wife were arguing. Not about their children, for they had none, but arguing nonetheless.
“For God’s sake, wife, must you be so disagreeable?! If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a thousand times. The King had already planned his progress before I returned from Normandy. Of course I told him we’d be more than happy to have him to stay, but he prefers to spend time with Lord and Lady Lancaster at Sizergh, and who can blame him? They are his brother and sister by marriage after all. And Sizergh is closer to Chester than Middleham.”
while
“You’ve served the King loyally these past seven years! You’d think that would at least merit a visit. Any true gentleman would insist that it did. But no! We have been summoned to York, to watch as that mewling infant of a boy that the parvenu Queen birthed is invested as the greatest magnate in the North, and his spoilt sister is raised to be the future Queen of Scots. Without even the honour of a royal visit to cushion the humiliation! I say again, no true gentleman would stand for such a slight. But then, you’re no true gentleman, are you?”
“Zounds! Are you still throwing that in my face? It’s been over nine years, Lady Mary!”
“I don’t care! You’re still beneath me, because you’re too spineless to push yourself forward at Court!”
“I’m happy to take whatever His Majesty sees fit to give me! As you should be!”
“I should have had so much more! I should have been Lady Northumberland! Lady Lancaster! But no, I get shunted aside and fobbed off with a mere Viscount while those jumped-up Knight’s daughters swan around, play-acting at being the greatest ladies in the land. Well, I won’t do it, I tell you! I won’t bend the knee to them, no matter where we are!”
“What you’re saying is treason! I should divorce you and see you arrested this instant!”
“Why don’t you then? Do it! Do it! Or are you too much of a coward even for that?”
“Don’t push me,” Anthony warned, his voice uncharacteristically cold. But Mary simply glared at him.
“Do it. Or I shall regard you as the greatest coward that ever lived.”
Then she turned on her heel and stalked out of the room, slamming the door behind her.