Katharine, the Virgin Widow Read online

  She dared not think of their fate.

  It had all happened so long ago. Her uncle Richard, who had once thought of marrying her, had met his death at Bosworth Field; the Tudor dynasty had begun.

  It was this matter of hanging the mastiffs which had made her brood on the past. It was this betrayal of her husband’s fear, of his determination to show all those who might rise against him what they could expect at his hands.

  It was thus that Henry found her. He had come to her, she knew, to discover her feelings regarding the affair in the arena, though he would not ask. He never asked her advice or opinion. He was determined that she should remain his consort only. This desire to preserve his own supremacy was always present. Elizabeth knew it for a weakness which he attempted to hide by a show of arrogance.

  “You are resting?” he asked.

  He had come to her unheralded. She, who remembered the pageantry of royalty with which her father had surrounded himself, even now was a little surprised by this.

  She gave him her hand which he kissed without much grace.

  “The heat in the arena was overpowering,” she said. “At one time I was afraid Arthur would be overcome by it.”

  The King frowned. “The boy’s health leaves much to be desired,” he said.

  The Queen agreed. She murmured: “But young Henry grows more and more like my father every day.”

  The King was not displeased; he liked to be reminded that his son’s maternal grandfather was Edward IV. But he did not wish Elizabeth to realize the extent of his pride, so he said: “Let us hope he does not inherit your father’s vices.”

  “He had many virtues,” Elizabeth said quietly.

  “His virtues gave him the strength to fight for the throne; they brought men rallying to his side; but it was his vices which killed him. Let us hope young Henry will not be so fond of good food and wine, and most of all, women.”

  “Henry will take care of himself. It is Arthur on whose account I am so concerned.”

  “Soon the Infanta will be here, the marriage celebrated.” Henry rubbed his hands together and his grave face was illumined suddenly by a smile.

  Elizabeth knew that he was contemplating the Infanta’s dowry and congratulating himself that there could not have been a more advantageous match than this one with Spain.

  Henry turned to his Queen. “I must be watchful of Ferdinand. I am not sure that he is to be trusted. He will try to arrange that all the advantages are on his side.”

  “You too are shrewd,” his wife reminded him.

  Henry nodded. “It has been very necessary for me to foster shrewdness. I shall be very pleased when the dowry is in my possession and the marriage ceremony has been performed.”

  “It would seem that what is delaying our Infanta is not her father’s diplomacy but the weather.”

  “Ah, the weather. The winds of the Bay of Biscay are unaccountable, even in summer.”

  “What is the latest news of her journey?”

  The King hesitated. He did not share such information with any, even his ministers. But there could be no harm in telling her of the Infanta’s progress.

  “I have heard that her squadron is still at Laredo to which port she was forced to return on account of the storms. It seems to me that Ferdinand and Isabella are deliberately keeping her there to delay her arrival in England.”

  “No doubt the Queen finds it hard for a mother to part with her daughter.” The King grunted impatiently. “This is a girl who is to become Princess of Wales. I should have thought they would have been as distressed by the delay as we are.”

  There was a great deal he did not understand, thought Elizabeth; and never would. This husband of hers was without emotions except those of ambition.

  “Yet,” murmured the Queen, “I have heard that Queen Isabella is loath to lose her daughter.”

  “And she is said to be a great Queen!”

  Henry was thoughtful; he was recalling the rumors he had heard concerning the relationship of the Spanish King and Queen with whom his own family would soon be linked in marriage. It was said that Isabella never forgot that she was the Queen of Castile and the senior in the royal partnership. Henry, glancing swiftly at his Queen, was once more grateful to the fate which had given him such a woman.

  In an unguarded moment he said: “I think some of our subjects were a little shocked by the hanging of the traitors.”

  “The four dogs? I think many were.”

  “And you?”

  He so rarely allowed a personal note to creep into their relationship that she was momentarily startled.

  “I…I was surprised.”

  “It is not a pleasant death,” said the King. “It is well to remind ambitious men of this now and then.”

  He was smiling but his smile was cold. He had been on the verge of telling her that he intended to send an English sailor to Laredo—a Devon pilot who could lead the fleet of the Spanish Infanta to England without delay; but he changed his mind.

  Elizabeth was critical of his conduct and he would endure no criticisms from any man or woman living.

  He said: “Matters of state demand my attention. Tonight I shall visit you.”

  She bowed her head in acquiescence, but she was afraid. Must there be another pregnancy, another child who, it was more than likely, would never grow to maturity?

  It seemed such a short time ago that little Edmund had died. It was heartbreaking when they lived a little while and one grew to love them. A pretty child, Edmund, but to suffer such discomfort, such pain, and then to give birth to a sickly child over whom one watched with anxiety until one suffered yet another loss!

  I am too old, too weak for more childbearing, she thought. But she said nothing. What use would it have been to complain to him—to say: I have given you six children, four of whom are living. Do they not suffice?

  His answer would be cool and to the point. A Queen must go on bearing children as long as possible. It is her duty.

  Did he, she wondered, ever give a thought to Katherine Lee, her own maid of honor? If he did, not even Katherine would know it. She doubted whether Henry was ever unfaithful to herself even in thought.

  She had married a strange man, a cold man; but at least she had a faithful husband. Henry would indulge in a sexual relationship for only one purpose: the procreation of children; and to procreate children with any other partner than his wife would in his opinion be an unnecessary act.

  There were times when the Queen of England wanted to cast aside her dignity and laugh aloud; but that would be hysterical laughter and the Queen was no more given to hysterical outbursts than her husband was.

  So she bowed her head and told herself that she must inform her women that this would be one of the nights which the King would spend in her bed.

  The Marriage of Arthur, Prince of Wales

  THE INFANTA STOOD ON DECK AND WATCHED THE SPANISH coastline fade from view.

  When would she see it again? she wondered.

  Doña Elvira Manuel, the stern and even formidable duenna whom Queen Isabella had put in charge of the Infanta and her maids of honor, was also gazing at the land she was leaving; but Elvira did not share the Infanta’s sorrow. When she left Spain her authority began, and Elvira was a woman who dearly loved power.

  She laid her hand on the Infanta’s arm and said: “You should not grieve. You are going to a new land whose Queen you will surely be one day.”

  The Infanta did not answer. How could she expect Elvira Manuel to understand. She was praying silently, praying for courage, that she would not disgrace her family, that she would be able to remember all that her mother had taught her.

  It had been a mistake to think of her mother. The thought had conjured up an image of that stern yet loving face which had changed in recent years. The Infanta remembered Queen Isabella, always full of quiet dignity but at the same time possessed of a purposeful energy. Sorrow had changed her—that sorrow which had come to her through her great love fo
r her children.

  In Spain I was dearly loved, thought the Infanta. What will happen to me in England? Who will love me there? I am not even beautiful as my maids of honor are. I shall look plainer than ever, compared with them. It was not kind of my father-in-law to stipulate that my maids of honor should all be handsome.

  “All will be different,” she whispered.

  Elvira Manuel said quickly: “Your Highness spoke?”

  “I merely said that nothing will be the same, in this new land, as it has been in Spain. Even my name will be different. From now on I am no longer Catalina; I am Katharine. And they say there is little summer in England.”

  “It cannot be colder there than it is in some parts of Spain.”

  “But we shall miss the sun.”

  “When you have children of your own you will not care whether or not the sun shines.”

  The Infanta turned away and looked at the heaving waters. Yes, she thought, a son. Children would make her happy; she knew that. And she would have children. Her very device was the pomegranate, which to the Arabs signified fruitfulness. It reminded her of the pomegranate trees which grew so profusely, with the myrtle, in the gardens of the Alhambra. Whenever she saw her device, and she knew it would throughout her life be constantly with her, she would always remember the patios of Granada and the glistening waters in the fountains. She would think of her childhood, her parents and her brother and sisters. Would she always think of them with this deep yearning? Perhaps when she had children of her own she would overcome this desire to be back in her own childhood.

  But it was long before she could expect children; and in the meantime she could only yearn for home.

  “Oh, Mother,” she whispered, “I would give everything I have to be with you now.”

  In the royal apartments in the Alhambra Queen Isabella would be thinking of her now. She could be certain of that. The Queen would pray for her daughter’s safety at sea until she reached England; then she would pray that her Catalina’s marriage with her English Prince might be fruitful, that Catalina might achieve a happiness which had been denied her sisters, Isabella and Juana, her brother Juan.

  The Infanta shivered and Elvira said sharply: “A breeze is rising, Highness. You should retire to your cabin.”

  “I am warm enough,” was the answer. She was unaware of the wind. She was thinking of early days in the nursery when they were all together. She felt almost unbearably sad to recall those days when she had sat at her mother’s knee while her sisters, Isabella and Maria, had worked at their tapestry and Juan read aloud to them. Her sister Juana had neither sat at her needlework nor read, nor nestled quietly at their mother’s feet—restless Juana who gave them all cause for such anxiety!

  Her sister Isabella and her brother Juan were tragically dead; Maria had gone into Portugal recently to marry Isabella’s widower, Emanuel, King of Portugal. She would be happy there, for Emanuel was a kindly gentle man and would cherish Maria for the sake of her sister whom he had dearly loved. And Juana? Who could say what was happening to Juana? Her life would never run smoothly. There had been rumors that all was not well with her marriage to the handsome Archduke Philip and that in the Brussels court there was many a stormy scene of jealousy which ended in outbursts of strange conduct on Juana’s part.

  All her life the Infanta had realized what a deep shadow her sister Juana cast over her mother’s happiness.

  But that was the family she was leaving. What of the new one to which she was going?

  “Arthur, Margaret, Henry, Mary.” She whispered their names. They would be her companions now; and to them she would be Katharine…no longer Catalina.

  She was going into a new country. The King and Queen of England would be her father and mother now. “We shall regard the Infanta as our own daughter, and her happiness shall be our main concern….” Thus wrote the King of England to her mother, who had shown her those words.

  “You see,” the Queen had said, “you will have a new family, so perhaps you will soon forget us all at home.”

  At that she had been unable to preserve the dignity which was considered necessary to an Infanta of Spain, and had flung herself into her mother’s arms and sobbed: “I shall never forget you. I shall never cease to long for my return.”

  Her mother had wept with her. Only we, her children, know how gentle she is, thought the Infanta. Only we know that she is the best mother in the world and that necessarily our hearts must break to leave her.

  It was different, saying goodbye to her father.

  He embraced her affectionately, kissed her fondly, but his eyes gleamed, not with tears at the parting but with satisfaction at the marriage. If he had had his way she would have been dispatched to England long before. He needed the friendship of England; he was eager for this marriage. He was fond of her, but the great loves of his life were power and money, and his feeling for his children was always second to the advantages they could bring him.

  He had not attempted to hide his delight at the parting. There was little that was subtle about Ferdinand.

  “Why, daughter,” he had said, “you’ll be Princess of Wales, and I’ll warrant it won’t be long before you’re Queen of England. You’ll not forget your home, my child?”

  His meaning was different from that of her mother. The Queen meant: You will remember the love we bear each other, the happiness we have had together, all that I have taught you which will help you to bear your trials with fortitude. Ferdinand meant: Do not forget that you are a Spaniard. When you are at the Court of England be continually on the alert for the advantages of Spain.

  “Write often,” Ferdinand had said, putting his lips close to her ear. “You know the channels through which any secret information should be sent to me.”

  She closed her eyes now and looked at the gray waters.

  It was true, a storm was rising. The hazards of the sea were all about her. What if she should never reach England?

  She gripped the rail and thought of Isabella and Juan, both of whom had finished with earthly trials. How long would it be before her mother joined them?

  Such thoughts were wicked. She, not yet sixteen, to long for death!

  Only in that moment had she realized the depth of her fear.

  This is cowardice, she told herself sharply. How do I know what awaits me in England?

  * * *

  * * *

  * * *

  SICK FROM THE ROCKING of the ship, cold and drenched with sea water, Katharine stood on deck watching the land which grew more and more distinct as she stood there.

  England! The land in which she was destined to be Queen.

  Elvira was at her side. “Highness, you should prepare yourself to meet the King.”

  “Do you think he will be at Plymouth to greet me?”

  “Surely he will, and the Prince with him. Come! We must make you ready to receive them.”

  They went to her cabin where her maids of honor clustered round her. All so much prettier than I, she thought; and she imagined Arthur, looking at them and being disappointed because she was the Infanta and his bride.

  “We are far from London,” said Elvira. “I have heard that the journey to the capital will last three weeks.”

  Katharine thought: Three weeks! What did it matter what discomfort she had to endure if it meant postponing the ceremony for three weeks!

  When she was ready to go on deck the ship already lay at anchor. A beautiful sight met her eyes; the sun had come out and was discovering brilliants on the blue water. Stretched before her was the lovely coast of Devon, the grass of which was greener than any she had ever seen; and the gorse was golden.

  Before her was Plymouth Hoe, and she saw that many people had gathered there and that they carried banners on which were the words—she knew little English but they were translated for her: “Welcome to the Princess of Wales!” “God bless the Infanta of Spain!”

  There was the sound of cheering as she came on deck with her ladies, and
she found that her spirits were lifted. Then she heard the bells ringing out and she saw a small boat approaching the ship; in it was a company of splendidly dressed men.

  The English pilot who had brought them safely to England came to Katharine’s side and bowing to the veiled figure said: “Your Highness, you are safe from the sea. This is Plymouth Sound and the people of Devon are eager to show you how glad they are to have you with them. Here come the Mayor and his aldermen to give you formal welcome.”

  She turned to an interpreter who stood beside her and told him to ask whether the King and Prince of Wales were in Plymouth.

  “I doubt they could make the journey to Plymouth, Your Highness,” was the answer. “We are three weeks’ journey from London. But they will have sent orders that all are to welcome you right royally until they can do so themselves.”

  She had a feeling that this was an apology for the absence of his King and Prince. It need not have been made to her. She was relieved that she could have a little respite before she met them.

  She received the Mayor and his aldermen as graciously as even her mother could have wished.

  “Tell them I am happy to be with them,” she said. “I am grateful that I have escaped the perils of the sea. I see a church steeple there. I would first like to go to church and give thanks for my safe arrival.”

  “It shall be as Her Highness commands,” was the Mayor’s answer.

  Then Katharine came ashore and the people of Plymouth crowded about her.

  “Why,” they said, “she is naught but a child.” For although her face was veiled there was no doubt that she was young, and there was many a mother in the crowd who wiped her eyes to think of a young girl’s leaving her home and going to a strange land.

  How brave she was! She gave no sign of her disquiet. “She’s a Princess,” they said, “every inch a Princess. God bless her.”

  Thus Katharine of Aragon rode through the streets of Plymouth to give thanks for her safe arrival in England and to pray that she might give no offence to the people of her new country, but please them in every way.