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Arthur Tudor dies in this scenario, but his mother does not. It goes something like this:

Elizabeth of York survives her bout with childbed fever, albeit just by a whisker. Her recovery shall be a long one before she is finally able to hold her daughter, Princess Katherine; the kingdom temporarily is thrown into chaos for an interlude as both the king and queen are quite ill, but to the shock of the entire kingdom, Elizabeth finds a way to address her subjects from her bedroom window: it will be the one and only time in her life she does anything political. She reaffirms her attachment to the House of Tudor, and standing beside her in her seat is her son, Henry Jr, as she is his protector and otherwise behind the scenes she and Margaret have doubled security on the boy. Her public statement is reprinted to be read across the land and goes over well with the subjects, but its other meaning is not lost on the grasping De La Poles: they have been the ones causing a whisper campaign at court. Henry Sr. is unfortunately at this time is not entirely conscious and unable to hold things together as he usually does and has alas been afflicted with the same disease his son had, a form of hantavirus, then-called sweating sickness. He does not catch it from Arthur, no, but for reasons unknown to most (and since it is the early 16th century in which people believe in potions and talismans, nobody ever will know) the king is quite ill and modern doctors would call it hantavirus because unlike TB the king is vomiting and in quite a bit of pain whenever he tries to eat.

Henry Sr. takes nearly seven weeks to recover but blessedly regains consciousness not long after Elizabeth has her day: when she finally is able to see the king she explains that the usual plan of Margaret Beaufort taking all the political hits while the queen remained blameless and beloved simply does not work in Henry's absence and needs rethinking. Henry Sr. ponders this and grudgingly is happy that his wife intervened as without a former York there would have been no way to quell the oh so stubborn Yorkists still skulking about or contain the whisper campaign. (That, and the attempt made by Margaret Beaufort failed. People already thought she usurped power that was not due her and her appearance of acting in the king's stead made things much worse.) The De La Poles eventually make their way to the Tower and will wind up dying there, not executed, but largely forgotten long into the reign of Henry Tudor's son. (Literally: Henry Jr, as King Henry VIII of England is told, age 40, that the last of them has died. He will stare blankly at the person who tells him.)

Henry Sr. knows he must act fast if he is to make sure that nobody questions his fitness to rule, especially from what he remembers happened to Margaret of Anjou and her husband. Usually a reserved man who prefers to withdraw into his little chamber like an accountant into his booth, Henry makes extra effort to be seen. The christening of their daughter, Katherine, is greeted with pomp and a pr campaign that is designed to silence dissent with soft power, and it works.

However, behind the scenes, there are still two unresolved issues: the eminent departure of Margaret Tudor for Scotland and the widow of Arthur Tudor still hanging around.

TO BE CONTINUED..........
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