10 October 1471 – The Duchess of York is impatient as she waits for one of the women to bring her news. The ward delivered to her care some months before, following the battle at Tewkesbury, lies in the next room. The girl, a waif of fifteen, is her great-niece, Anne Beauchamp-Neville, Dowager Princess of Wales, is in labour. The father of the child is the late prince of Wales, son of King Henry.
The Duchess is well aware of the implications if the child is born male…and born alive.
Suddenly, the door opens and a maid comes in, passes the message to a lady in waiting. The lady-in-waiting approaches the Duchess, and reports – “It is only a girl, milady.”