The Tudor Triangle

Chapter 26: The Two Queens

6th July, 1553

Somerset Place, London

The red-faced messenger hands me a torn piece of parchment, bows briefly, and then hurries back down the corridor. I close the door, leaning against the other side. The note flutters in my shaking hand. Unfolding it, my breath quickens as I am struck by my husband's untidy scrawl. It is the worst writing I have ever seen from him.  A chill runs down my back, despite the summer's heat haze. That which I have feared for months has finally come to pass.  My eyes sweep over the words:

"My dearest wife,

King Edward, God rest his tortured soul, is dead. Do not speak a word of this.  I am away to capture Mary Tudor, and so secure the crown for Queen Jane. I wish you to travel at speed to Camberwell; your mother and Katherine await you there. It is not safe for you to reside in Somerset Place. You must not go to Stanfield. Hear me, Amy. Mary Tudor is in the East and insurrection will be heaviest there. These are uncertain times. I pray God sees you safe. If aught should happen to me, then know that you were ever in my heart. Look to the stars, Amy, and I will be there. You must renounce me, and deny all knowledge of this plot.  Pray for me and for our troubled kingdom. Do not worry, for God must be on our side. 

I crumple up the note in my fist, and bang my head hard against the wood. A sob catches in my throat. I cannot bear it.  

"If aught should happen to me..." I could not live one day in this world without him. There is no Amy without Robert.

I slide to the floor, and for a moment there is blissful peace. Then I come to, as pounding on the door makes me jump.  Could it be Robert? Has he come for me?

Henry is standing before me, now a boy of twelve. He is trembling and his eyes are red-rimmed.

"My Lady, we must away. My Lord Robert..." He falters for a moment but then draws himself up to his full height. "My Lord Robert has given me strict instructions to follow. I have prepared the horses."

I look around at the splendid chamber where I have spent so many idle hours.  "I must get my things."

"No, my Lady.  Lord Dudley was very clear. There is not time."

I run to my desk and stuff my precious jewels down my bodice.  All my velvet and silk dresses, tapestries and paintings catch my eye.  We have so many possessions.  My husband delighted in spoiling me. But, I would trade all of them, until left only with a thin chemise, for my Robert to be returned to me safely.  

We charge through the winding corridors of Somerset House, and ride to Surrey as if the Devil is on our heels. It is only a few miles from Richmond but feels like another world, so green is it. I long to be heading for Stanfield; it makes me feel safe like no other place. Robert knows me well and was right to caution me. Henry regains his natural cheer, and tries to raise a smile from me.

I see mother as soon as we enter the courtyard of her childhood home. Alighting, I sink into her outstretched arms, sobbing like a distraught four year old child.

We settle in the parlour, and I lay my head in her lap as I did when young. She strokes my hair with her fingertips, and traces the curve of my cheek. The nightmare of the past few months haunts me. I don't feel I have spoken above a whisper in weeks. Has God has deserted England?  "I could not tell you of how ill he was, Mother."

"Well, we heard rumours at Stanfield that he would not last the year. The poor boy King."

"To think of him well at our wedding, with all of England's hopes upon his bony shoulders." Tears come to my eyes afresh. "Mother, he suffered so.  Coughs racked his thin chest, and he often vomited a strange yellow-green liquid. He could not sleep. Robert would come back from court looking more and more harrowed. It has aged him so, for he grew up with Edward, they studied together. To think he is gone--"