The Queen is Dead!: Katherine of Aragon dies in 1518
- Thread starter FalconHonour
- Start date
Thicker than his thumb, if memory serves, though I am happy to be corrected. And well, that depends on their namesake, doesn't it? Maria was named after her aunt Mary, Duchess of Suffolk, who wasn't exactly the most saintly of women....
What do you mean, stupid? Once she's his wife, he controls her, not vice versa. I wasn't planning on detailing this marriage much, but if people want to see it as a foil to Henry and Marie/Harry and Anne, I'm happy to try.
Section XCIII - April 1522
Eltham, April 1522
The sound of glass smashing alerted Mark to the fact that something was exceedingly wrong in Hal’s apartments. Thanking all the Saints he knew, for what was possibly the thousandth time, that the King’s unwillingness to have any reminders of his liaison with Bessie at Court had made it so easy for him to become Hal’s cupbearer instead, he raced upstairs. Bessie was destroying everything she could get her hands on, ranting and raving the whole time.
“She’s like Hal in the throes of his worst tantrums.” The thought flashed into Mark’s head before he realised, to his horror, that Hal was witnessing the entire spectacle, wide-eyed and flinching away from his mother’s loss of control.
Moving like lightening, Mark bundled the lad out of the room and bolted the door behind him before he could protest. Then he turned back to Bessie, flinging his arms around her waist and pinioning her arms to her sides before she could do any more damage to the furnishings.
“What is it, Cousin? What’s wrong? I’ll do whatever I can to help, but you have to tell me what’s wrong.”
“She’s pregnant again!”
Mark sighed. She meant only one thing in Bessie’s vocabulary. The Queen.
“She might not be. It might just be a rumour. You know how these things fly around,” he soothed, but Bessie shook her head.
“Lady Salisbury told me herself. She took great pleasure in making it clear to me that, come August, my boy will be yet another step away from the throne. And Gilbert and I scarcely ever share a bed. We’re both too exhausted from running around after Hal. Even when we do, he doesn’t truly seem to care any more. He’s losing patience because I haven’t fallen pregnant yet.”
“You’ve barely been married more than a year and a half,” Mark protested, “I’m hardly an expert, but even I would say there’s hardly desperate cause for worry yet.”
“We’ve been married a full two months longer than she’s been married to the King. She’s already birthed one healthy boy. A second on its way, no doubt. While my belly remains empty. Useless, flat and empty!”
Bessie broke down into heart-wrenching, gulping sobs and Mark was nearly powerless to soothe her. All he could do was hold her and rub her back while she cried.
Well, I can't imagine the poor chap is having a particularly pleasant childhood at the moment, no. Is it any wonder he's going to grow up to be very insecure?
As for his father, no, he didn't!
I can see I'm going to have to detail how Marie deals with him once Bessie finally goes too far...
Also: Any suggestions for Hal's bride? I know she's going to have to be shy and younger than him so that he can play the Knight in shining armour with her to boost his confidence, but that's as far as I've got.
Would dynastic Tudor/Plantagenet bloodline considerations be purposefully sought for or purposefully ignored for Fitzroy?
If sought, then maybe Eleanor Brandon, if her birth was not butterflied away.
Or, if the Pole family is in better standing with Henry, and butterflies don't flap much, there might be someone in that line: Winifred, born early 1520s (daughter of Henry Pole and Jane Neville). I would suspect that Dorothy, daughter of Ursula Pole and Henry Stafford, would be out of consideration thanks to Buckingham's treason.
Perhaps, due to butterflies, Henry Courtenay (a first cousin, who this time does not fall out of favor with H8 and lose a head for it) and Gertrude Blount (married OTL 1519) have a daughter instead of sons. I am assuming Gertrude Blount is some sort of cousin to Bessie Blount - so there is some symmetry there.
Mary Neville, daughter of George Neville (2nd or 3rd cousin to H8) born 1524 OTL (sister of Jane Neville mentioned above). Though, on further research, Mary's mother is a daughter of the disgraced Buckingham; so maybe not. [Note: Jane Neville had a different mother]
There are always foreign marriage prospects. Some French princess of the 2nd or 3rd line.
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I was debating Catherine de Medici, but that assumes that all stays as OTL re the Papacy, which it may well not. I am more likely to go for a domestic match, so I shall take your suggestions into consideration, thank you!
Some nice lady from Scotland? Might help with national relations?
The most likely brides are an Howard girl (from the junior branches not a daughter of Norfolk) or Henry's nieces Eleanor Brandon and Margaret Douglas (she is four years older but has a disastrous family life and OTL also a disastrous love life before marrying).
Mary Neville here do not exist as her mother married her OTL brother-in-law instead of her sister Katherine (who is George Boleyn’s wife here). Dorothy Stafford is a niece-by-marriage of George Boleyn, if she is close enough and loyal to her Boleyn relatives can work better than Winifred as bride for Fitzroy.
What about Catherine Howard?
In OTL she was fourth wife of Henry VIII, daughter of Lord Edmund Howard and Joyce Culpeper as well as and niece to Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk.
ITTL she is cousin to Mary Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII, I doubt the POD would change her birth as her father wasn’t as involved with Henry VIII as her other uncles.
Oh, I haven't forgotten about Kitty. I have plans for her anyway, though I hadn't chosen her a husband, so I will definitely keep her in mind. I have difficulty seeing her as shy, I have to say, but I will keep her in mind.
I feel so sorry for Catherine Howard in OTL having to be pushed at the age of 16 onto a bloated gout ridden king 32 years older than her.
My full list of candidates as brides for Fitzroy:
1) a daughter of Anne Boleyn and Henry Percy
2) a daughter of George Boleyn and Katherine Stafford
3) Kitty Howard
4) a minor Howard relatives of the Queen (not daughter of Norfolk), better if ward of Anne Percy or George Boleyn
5) Eleanor Brandon
6) Margaret Douglas
6) Dorothy Stafford
6) daughter of Henry Courtenay
6) Winifred Pole
Other than Margaret Douglas? Better no. Well also Catherine de’ Medici can work as Scottish match as Albany is first cousin and brother-in-law of her mother (and she is the heiress of all the french lands of her mother and childless aunt). An ATL daughter of Albany would work better for a second son of He ry and Marie (but that would likely require a second wedding for Albany)