“Perhaps, if you had never known Jane existed, you would not have missed her.”
“What a travesty of life that would have been!”
“So you would stay a prisoner if it was the only way you could be with her?”
“I would rather be in the darkest dungeon with her than on the grandest throne without her.”
That is love, I thought. And when it comes it must be taken with both hands. It is only fools who turn their backs on love.
I was not entirely surprised when Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, called at Hertford to see me.
I had met him on other occasions. Henry had mentioned him to me with respect and affection; and, moreover, Warwick had been in France at the time of our marriage and had taken part in my coronation.
Henry had said to me: “There is a man whom I can trust. Such men I keep close to me. I feel blessed that there are men like Warwick at my side.”
And I had always thought that Warwick deserved his confidence.
He kissed my hand and thanked me for receiving him so graciously, while I tried to remain calm, though guessing what he had come for made that difficult.
My fears were soon realized.
He said, “My lady, you will know that I was honored by the late King’s confidence, and to me he left the greatest of all tasks—the care and education of his son, our gracious King Henry VI.”
I bowed my head in acknowledgment.
“Your Grace has been in deep mourning this last year and I know that you have derived much comfort from living quietly with our dear lord, your son, who is very young yet.”
“That is so,” I said. “He is a baby still and he needs his mother.”
“It was noticed with what regal dignity he conducted himself at Westminster.”
I thought of the screaming infant who had manifested his disapproval at Staines by noisy and scarcely regal protestations. Henry was a baby, in spite of the miniature crown they had set upon his head.
The Earl went on: “It is time he was given his own household. He must begin to learn that he has a great position to fill.”
“I think he is hardly of an age to realize what that means.”
“It is never too early to begin to learn. The late King entrusted me with his upbringing and education and I am determined to do my duty in a manner which would have had his approval.”
“I understand, but he is…as yet…very young.”
“Responsibility descends early on royal heads, my lady. I have engaged for him a nurse in the person of one Joan Astley. A very worthy lady, the wife of Thomas Astley. She is well experienced with children and will be a careful and a loving nurse.”
“My woman Guillemote has looked after my son with the utmost loving care and he is very fond of her.”
“I am sure of that, my lady. But the King must have a qualified nurse and one who has the approval of the Council and myself.”
I knew it was hopeless. He had had my husband’s commands to form my son’s household, and in the eyes of these men, the matter of great importance was not that little Henry be surrounded by those who loved him but that he learn how to be a king.
I should have been prepared. I knew it had to come. I had in fact been expecting it all through the year. Yet I felt stunned. Whatever they said, whatever I tried to do, they were going to take him away from me.
I heard myself stammer: “This…Joan Astley…she is…er…kind …?”
“She will know exactly how to treat the King.”
“The King is but a child. He needs his mother.”
The Earl smiled at me benignly. “The King will have great responsibility. He cannot shelter forever in the loving arms of his mother.”
“In a year or so…perhaps.”
“The King is no longer a baby.”
What was the use? I felt angry. Why should some hardheaded man who knew nothing about the ties between a mother and her child decide our lives for us? My baby might be—rather sadly—a king, but he was only a child…my child. I wanted to rage and storm at this man who was smiling so confidently, sure that he knew what was best for my child.
“Mrs. Astley will be arriving within a few weeks,” he went on. “And, of course, equally important is his governess. I have chosen Dame Alice Butler…a most worthy lady.”
“You mean…she will be in charge of his household?”
He smiled and inclined his head.
I felt limp with dismay and anger. I knew that the Earl was only following custom. I knew it was the fate of all queens to lose their babies in this way…but that did not make it any easier to bear.
I wanted to shout: “No, I will not allow it.”
Wild plans were forming in my mind. I would run away. Guillemote and I would take Henry and find some humble place in which we could live in peace.
How foolish of me! I should have known that they would choose for me. They were going to take my baby away from me. Some would say I had been fortunate to have had him to myself for so long.
The Earl may have had a glimmer of understanding, for he was not an unkindly man, merely insensitive to a mother’s emotions.
“Your Grace will be highly satisfied with the ladies whom I have chosen,” he said. “They will be kind yet firm…exactly what his Grace the King needs. The Council have decided that, in view of the very important posts they hold, they shall be highly paid. In fact I can tell you that their salaries will be £40 a year, which is equal to the salary of a Privy Councilor. So you see, my lady, what importance has been attached to this matter. We are giving Dame Alice permission to chastise the King if that should be necessary.”
I cried out in alarm: “No!”
The Earl looked at me almost pityingly. “It is considered necessary for most children at some time. It will just be a little light punishment to teach the difference between right and wrong.”
I felt in despair. Facing it was even worse than I had imagined.
He went on: “The King will have his own Court and children of his own age—heirs to baronies and so on—to be brought up with him. So he will not lack company.”
No, I thought bitterly, except that of his mother!
“The King’s Court will become an academy for the young nobility, which seems a highly satisfactory arrangement.”
I was too emotional to trust myself to speak.
“Your Grace will find that the Council has been equally assiduous in its care for you. All the dower palaces will be at your disposal, the only exceptions being Havering and Langley, which, as your Grace knows, are in the possession of Queen Joanna, widow of the late King’s father, King Henry IV.”
I was not listening. All I could think was: it is as I feared. I have lost my son.
With a heavy heart I traveled to Southwark for the marriage of James and Jane.
How I envied them! They would be setting out on a new life. My ladies had shivered at the thought of the Court of Scotland and wondered how James would be received after spending so long away from his native land.
“It will be different,” said Joanna Courcy, “for there is no doubt that we are different from the Scots.”
“They are his people,” insisted Guillemote, “and blood is strong.”
“But he has become one of us,” said Agnes.
“Have no fear,” I told them. “He has Jane, and while they are together, they will be happy.”
They all sighed and I guessed they were thinking, with a little envy—as I was, of the lovers.
They were so radiantly happy, and as soon as the wedding was over they would set out for Scotland.
It was a very impressive ceremony, held in the church of St. Mary Overy, and immediately afterward we adjourned to the adjacent palace, which belonged to Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester. He was Jane’s uncle and delighted, of course, that she was marrying into the royal House of Scotland. The Bishop was one of the richest men in England, for he was the second son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and Katherine Swynford, although the Duke had married Winchester’s mother after his birth and he, with his siblings, had been legitimized by Henry IV.