Chapter 31 #3
Their eyes met. Did Kate detect a gleam of recognition that they were more than cousins? She could not be sure. Now that she was back with Elizabeth once again, all her feelings of kinship and affection had surged back, and she longed to share this closest bond with her.
They talked deep into the night, of Elizabeth’s troubles during Mary’s reign, and then of Kate’s exile. As the time sped by, Kate became increasingly anxious to be gone, for Francis must be wondering where she was. But Elizabeth showed no sign of wishing to retire.
“I have a great task before me,” she said, as a clock struck one. “There are urgent matters of state that must be debated in my first Parliament. Foremost is the question of religion. I am determined to make the Protestant faith the established religion of this realm.”
“I rejoice to hear it, as will your true subjects,” Kate applauded.
“You know, I studied nothing but divinity until I came to the throne, and I am convinced that our faith is the way to God. But when it comes down to it, Kate, there is only one Jesus Christ. The rest is a dispute over trifles.”
Kate was impressed to hear Elizabeth expressing such an enlightened view.
“Unlike my sister, I am no fanatic,” the Queen went on, “and I hate fanaticism in others, of whatever persuasion. For me, the arguments of theologians and divines are as ropes of sand or sea-slime leading to the moon. I see many who are overbold with God Almighty, making too many subtle interpretations of His will, as lawyers do with human testaments. If I were not certain that mine were the true way to God’s will, God forbid that I should prescribe it to my subjects.
” She leaned forward, her thin face alight with purpose.
“You know, Kate, I differ very little from Catholics in my beliefs, as I believe that God is in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. But I abhor the darkness and filth of Popery.”
“Amen to that,” Kate said, shuddering at the memory of the horrors of the late Queen’s reign. “I do believe, Bess, that the people of England will always equate Catholicism with persecution.”
“Indeed, they will! And, really, what should it matter to a ruler if their subjects choose to go to the Devil in their own way. I would rather spare those who disagree with me, because I would enjoy having theological arguments with them. My sister could never see things that way.”
“Her late Majesty took her faith to extremes,” Kate ventured, glancing surreptitiously at the clock.
“And some say I have no religion at all!” Elizabeth laughed. “Yet I read the Bible regularly, and I always set the Last Judgment before my eyes and rule as I shall answer for to a higher Judge.”
“No one could be more sincere.”
“And yet men make such complications about religion! Take transubstantiation. In my view, Christ took the bread and broke it, and what His words made it, that I believe, and in that spirit I take it. Yes, Kate, I am determined to tread a middle road. My watchwords will be caution, compromise, and moderation, for I do not wish to offend my Catholic allies in Europe. The truth is that I need them. They see me as a bastard, a heretic, and a usurper. To them, the true heir to my throne is the Queen of Scots, the Dauphine of France. And yet the Act of Succession passed under my father bars her from it. Besides, she is a foreigner, born out of this realm. Yet she is a Catholic, and that counts for all with some people!”
“Bess, will you outlaw the Catholic religion in England?” Kate asked, stifling a yawn. If she did get to bed with Francis, she would be too tired for any passionate reunion.
“Again, I must compromise. For now, both Catholic and Protestant services will continue in the churches. I am hoping that a peace will be concluded with France, because it will frustrate those who support the claim of the Queen of Scots. It is a necessity because she and her husband have begun styling themselves King and Queen of England, if you please!” Elizabeth’s eyes blazed with indignation.
“So peace with France is a priority, and with Spain, to guard our trade and hopefully obtain protection against the French. I know well that my success in the field of diplomacy depends on my playing off those bitter enemies one against the other.”
The clock chimed two.
“Is that the time?” Elizabeth said. “I must go to bed.” She rose, picked up a candle, and opened the door to the gallery. Kat was there, slumped on a window seat, fast asleep. “We’ll leave her there. You can attend me to bed, Kate.”
Kate’s heart sank as she followed the Queen to her bedchamber. There was nothing for it; she would be spending the night on the pallet bed at the foot of Elizabeth’s. Kate could only pray that Francis would guess what had happened and understand.
She helped Elizabeth to disrobe, unlacing her sleeves and her bodice, laying away the rich gown and kirtle in a chest, then lifting the fine lawn night rail over her sovereign’s head before helping her into bed.
Then she divested herself of her own clothes, pulled out the pallet bed, which was thankfully made up, doused the candle, and climbed wearily between the cold sheets.
“Good night, Bess,” she said.
But Bess, it seemed, was in no mood for sleep. “Kate, there is another matter that Parliament must address, and it is one I dread to broach. Aside from Kat, there is no one I can confide in—except you.”
“I am honored that you feel able to talk to me,” Kate said, stifling the urge to drift off, although in truth she was now coming wide awake, wondering what was worrying the Queen. “What is the problem?”
“It is the matter of my marriage. The succession, my councillors tell me, depends on it. They say that if I do not marry and produce an heir, I have no clear successor. But Kate, for me, it is not a question of whom I should marry—which they are debating furiously—but of whether I should marry.”
Kate was startled. “But you must!”
“The word ‘must’ is not to be used to princes!” Elizabeth reprimanded her.
She hastened to apologize. “I crave your Majesty’s forgiveness. I was just so surprised.”
“As are my councillors. They think my reluctance stems from maidenly modesty. Hah! If I had been born crested and not cloven, they would never dare say such things to me!”
“But there is surely a need to provide for the succession?”
“Indeed. But how? Remember, I come from a race that is not known for its fruitfulness. The Act of Succession provides that, after me, the crown should pass to the heirs of Father’s younger sister, Mary, who was queen of France and then married the Duke of Suffolk.
That means her two daughters with the Duke, Frances and Eleanor.
Frances has borne three daughters, including the late lamented Lady Jane Grey.
That leaves Lady Katherine and Lady Mary Grey. ”
Kate had never met these cousins and knew next to nothing about them.
“They are both Protestants,” Elizabeth was saying, “but I can’t abide the sight of Katherine.
I suspect that she has dynastic pretensions and that she is plotting with the Spanish ambassador.
I do not wish her to succeed me. Nor do I much favor her sister Lady Mary.
Some say that their father’s treason in supporting Northumberland has rendered their claim to the succession forfeit. ”
“What of Eleanor?”
“She is dead, and has left a daughter, who is married to Lord Strange. In my sister Queen Mary’s time, some people saw her as a likely successor to the throne because, unlike the Grey family, she took no part in Northumberland’s treason.
Yet I am told that she has no desire for a crown.
Even so, I shall insist upon her coming often to court, so that I can keep an eye on her. ”
The Queen sighed. “That leaves my cousin Lady Margaret Douglas. Her mother, my father’s elder sister, Margaret, who married the King of Scots and was grandmother to their present Queen Mary, was excluded from the Act of Succession.
At the time it was passed, King Henry was at war with Scotland and his ambition was to marry my brother, Edward, to the Queen of Scots and so unite England and Scotland under English rule.
The Scots would have none of it, hence the war, and therefore, when determining who was to succeed him, my father passed over Margaret’s heirs.
The Lady Margaret is the child of her second marriage to the Earl of Angus, and is married to the Earl of Lennox, with whom she has two sons.
But she is a Catholic—and a very ambitious woman.
When I was in disgrace in my sister’s reign, there was much talk that Queen Mary would name Margaret her heir.
So you see, Kate, none of those in line for the crown are worthy of it.
And I do confess that I have an abhorrence of naming anyone to succeed me.
I have known what it is like to be the heir and the focus of conspiracy and rebellion, and there are threats enough to my security without that.
If I acknowledge the right of any of these claimants to succeed, I suspect I will be back in the Tower within a month! ”
Kate lay there, feeling tense. It had just become very clear that Elizabeth had no love for most of her female relations, and was suspicious of all of them, because clearly, they were too close to the throne for comfort.
Yet understanding this boded ill for the Queen ever acknowledging Kate as her sister.
Would she think that Kate had ideas above her station or even dynastic ambitions?
She might not believe that, half sister to the monarch though she was, she had no desire to be queen, and she could never claim the throne anyway, for a bastard could not succeed, having no rights of inheritance.
In the eyes of the law, she was William Carey’s daughter.
It was best, she concluded, to leave matters as they were and not hope for too much.
It was enough that Elizabeth had someone who loved her unconditionally and posed no threat to her.
“The answer, of course, is for you to marry and bear children,” Kate ventured, wishing she was in Francis’s arms.
“So everyone keeps telling me! King Philip has already proposed himself as a husband. I told his ambassador that the issue of my marriage will be raised in Parliament. But Kate, that is what I dread! I cannot easily explain my aversion to marriage. I cannot see it as a holy estate. Indeed, it seems to be anything but! I think I shocked one of my bishops when I said that. But there have been so many marital conflicts and disasters in my own family that I cannot see wedlock as a secure state, and I fear to enter it.”
Kate guessed that she was referring to her father’s disastrous matrimonial career, the disputed marriages of both his sisters, and the tragedy that had been Mary’s marriage to Philip.
But then Elizabeth’s voice came out of the darkness. “I am terrified that, if I married, my husband might carry out some evil wish. Dear God, Kate, I hate the idea of marriage more every day, for reasons I would not divulge to my twin soul, if I had one.”
She had said the same thing before, long ago. “But why?” Kate could not help asking. “The love of a good man for his wife is well worth having. I have found great joy with Francis. I cannot tell you—”
“Francis is not royal! He is not looking for principalities or to wield dominion over you. He is a kind man—that much I have seen. No, Kate, I cannot discuss this, even with you. Let us go to sleep.” Without another word, she turned over in the bed.
Kate lay there sleepless for a while. Half of her resented Elizabeth for keeping her from Francis; the other half felt for her, since she was in an impossible position and it seemed that there was no way out of it. Elizabeth would just have to confront her fears.