“But,” went on Dr. West, “there was naught else to be done. When these gentlemen passed through our country without first having asked for a safe conduct, and we knew they were on their way to France, naturally we arrested them. If I could have an audience with the King and explain this matter to him, I feel sure I could make him see the justice of what we have done.”
“I am sure the King would understand.”
“But, Your Grace, I cannot obtain an audience with the King. I come to ask you to plead my cause — and that of your royal father — for me. Your father has asked me to tell you that he knows you will remember you are his daughter and do all in your power to work for the good of your native land, and seek to dissuade your husband from accepting the friendship of your father’s enemies.”
This was a new role for Margaret — political adviser to the King. Why not? She was after all the Queen. She must show James that she was not as one of his light-o’-loves — there to enjoy a night or two of passion. She was the Queen.
She said: “You may tell my father when you see him that he can trust me to remember that I am an English Princess and the daughter of the King of England.”
Dr. West looked about him a little uneasily.
“Speak low,” said Margaret. “I understand what you have to say is for my ears alone.”
“It is important, Your Grace, that the embassy which the King of France is sending, should not succeed. I come to ask you to use your influence in every way in order to make it fail.”
Margaret nodded slowly.
James came riding back to Edinburgh. Exuberantly he came to his Queen. He had brought velvet and damask for new gowns, and jewels for her to wear with them.
Margaret expressed her delight, while the King gently stroked her swollen body.
“And how is my Queen and her little bairn?”
“Your Queen has been a little sick and very lonely.”
James embraced her, determined to banish self-pity. “Then she shall be so no longer. I want you to help me plan entertainments such as we have never had before. We have visitors coming to see us and they pride themselves on their skill at the joust. We shall have to show them that in Scotland we are no mean performers.”
“The French?” she asked.
“The French. You will be amused. Such handsome men; and such charming manners!”
“Is it fitting that you should receive the French,” asked Margaret, “when my father’s ambassador has been waiting a long time for an audience with you?”
James raised his brows in a puzzled way. “Do not tell me that my Queen is turning her attention to politics!”
“Why should she not?”
“For many reasons, one of which is that dancing and music and showing my Court how elegant and beautiful she is, becomes her better.”
“I am no longer a child, James.”
He laughed. “You grow old. Eighteen, is it?”
She shrugged impatiently. “You must realize that I am not merely a woman with whom you may amuse yourself, and who has the privilege of giving you legitimate children. I am the Queen.”
He rubbed his finger along her cheek. “A charming queen of whom any king would be proud.”
“Therefore you should talk to me of more serious matters than the plays Cuddy and Dog devise.”
“But are these not serious matters?”
“James, you know they are not. Why cannot you receive my father’s ambassador and mend this silly quarrel with England?”
He was at once withdrawn and the obstinacy showed in his face. He would be gentle and kind, he seemed to imply, but always he would be the ruler. She must understand that.
“My dear Margaret, this pretty head of yours must not be troubled with such tiresome matters. I have no wish to see Dr. West.”
“Why?”
“Other matters occupy me.”
“You are ready to dance and joust, to hunt and hawk. Why cannot you meet the ambassador sent by the King of England?”
His eyes narrowed and his lips tightened. “I do not care that my subjects should be arrested and made prisoner. It is an unfriendly action.”
“Dr. West wishes to explain this matter to you.”
“I will tell you this much,” he said. “Sir Patrick Hamilton has escaped out of England, though his brother Arran remains there. They have not been well treated in your father’s domains. That does not please me. And if your Dr. West is here to attempt to persuade me not to receive the French embassy, you may tell him he is wasting his time. I understand he has seen you. Now let him return to his master and tell him that in Scotland it is the King who decides what shall be done; and when his subjects have been maltreated he is not to be won over with soft words.”
“You are cruel to me,” cried Margaret. “And I in my present condition!”
James laughed softly. “Nay, when was I ever cruel to you? Everything in reason that you ask for is yours. You shall have pleasure, fine clothes, precious jewels. But you must not meddle, my love, in matters which do not concern you.”
He left her then, and when he had gone she stared sullenly before her. Again she had been insulted. In England, they would know that not only was her husband unfaithful to her, but he would not discuss matters of state with her. She was nothing more than a doll to be played with and set aside — she was there merely to become pregnant as soon as possible so that he might dally, in good conscience, with his mistresses.
Some might be content to accept such a position; not so a proud Tudor.
James was always remorseful when he disappointed his Queen. She was so much younger than he was that he forgot she had left childhood behind. He always saw her as the girl of thirteen she had been when she first came to him.
He sought therefore to placate her with childish amusements. He spent a great deal of time with her discussing the entertainments, but she was listless because it seemed wrong to her that these pleasures should be planned for the visiting French embassy who were enemies of her father.
To please her, James brought two Moorish girls to her who had come to Scotland from Portugal. They were very beautiful girls and their dark skins and flashing eyes attracted a great deal of attention among the Scots.
“They wish to become Christians,” James told her. “I am going to give them into your care.”
For a while Margaret was interested in the girls. She took them into her household and they were baptized — one as Margaret and the other as Ellen. Margaret grew fond of them — particularly of Ellen who became generally known as the Queen’s Black Ellen. They appeared at the jousts, where they attracted attention, and the Queen took great pleasure in dressing them in gold and scarlet to show off their extraordinary dark beauty. No tournament was complete without the Moorish girls; they would be placed near the Queen, and their desire to serve her was apparent to all.
But Margaret could not be long content with the services of these two lovely girls; she wanted power, the first place in her husband’s affections and councils.
James, watching her, began to wonder whether he knew his Margaret after all, and to placate her he did see Dr. West, and he allowed the Queen to attend a meeting at which Sir Patrick Hamilton was present and at which he declared on oath that his brother Arran had been ill-treated in England.
After the meeting, James took his Queen by the hand and led her to her apartments; when they reached them he kissed her gently on the brow.
He said little but his meaning was clear. There, he was saying, you see, you should not meddle in politics if you are wise. What can a young girl — albeit she is a queen — know of what is happening at the courts and in the countries of her husband’s enemies?