Chapter 36
In the New Year, the Queen declared that she was not interested in marrying either the Archduke or Erik of Sweden. Lord Robert took that to mean that he would soon be elevated to the king consort’s throne.
“If I live another year, I will be in a very different position from now,” he boasted to a gathering of courtiers in the Queen’s chamber, while they were waiting for Elizabeth to arrive.
Kat bent toward Kate. “He’s laying in a good stock of arms, they say.
Every day, he assumes a more masterful part in affairs.
He presumes more and more, and there is talk that he means to divorce his wife.
” But as the weeks passed, and his lordship took no steps to have his marriage dissolved, Kate concluded that it was pure gossip and that Lady Dudley was expected to die soon of her malady.
That spring, Elizabeth granted Kate and Francis the manor of Taunton and leased to them the castle there.
She also bestowed on them the stewardship of Syon House.
“You may make use of it whenever you wish,” she told Kate.
Kate was wondering if the Queen was trying to make up for her unkindness.
It was a generous gift, but she didn’t want to live at Syon House.
“Why ever not?” Francis asked, when they collected the keys and went to inspect it. “It’s nearer to London.”
“I would always be looking over my shoulder,” Kate said, shivering as they stepped into the deserted hall and gazed at its abandoned splendors.
There were dead leaves on the checkered floor and spiders’ webs festooned the tall windows.
The rafters soared darkly overhead. “I would be looking for ghosts,” she said.
Francis laughed. “Oh, Kate…”
“No!” she protested. “This is not a happy place. Katheryn Howard was imprisoned here before they took her to the Tower to be beheaded. It then belonged to Protector Somerset, who was also beheaded. And it was here that they offered the crown to Lady Jane Grey—and look what happened to her. No, I should never have a quiet night’s sleep here. ”
“As you wish.” He shrugged. “But it will be my duty to look after the place—as if my workload were not heavy enough—and it would please me mightily if you could come with me sometimes. It would give us a chance to be alone together, away from the court. And Greys Court is only about thirty miles to the west. You could ride there and back to see the children under cover of visiting Syon.”
“Indeed, I could,” Kate conceded, warming to the prospect. “It just angers me that we have to resort to such convolutions in order to lead some semblance of a normal life.”
“We must make do with what Dame Fortune has decreed for us,” he said, taking her into his arms. “Let us not spoil this precious time alone together.” He bent and kissed her. “There’s a bedchamber in the steward’s lodging…”
—
Kate was missing her children dreadfully; her empty arms longed to cuddle her baby, who would be sitting up now.
But Elizabeth was enjoying another glorious summer.
Cecil was in Scotland, having negotiated an advantageous peace with the Scots and, freed from the threat of war, the Queen gave herself up to a season of revelry in the company of Lord Robert.
At the end of July, they left Greenwich to go on progress, traveling by slow stages along the Thames and staying at great houses along the route.
Robert, as Master of the Horse, was much in evidence, but he was also to be seen at Elizabeth’s side long after his official duties were done.
They rode and hunted nearly every day, and in the evenings, they danced and made music.
“She is a wanton,” Francis muttered, standing next to Kate and watching the Queen flirt outrageously. “I hear that she spends whole days closeted alone with him. This fellow is ruining the country with his vanity!”
Kate sighed.
“She has little regard for marriage,” Francis growled.
“Her conduct is unseemly. And yet, with this new peace, which has seen the Queen of Scots renounce her claim to the English throne, our Queen’s prestige has been much enhanced in the eyes of the world.
Cecil ought to be well satisfied with what he has achieved. ”
Kate said nothing. There was no need, for the musicians had struck up another tune and she was hoping that Francis would ask her to dance. But he just stood there, impervious to the irresistible beat of the tabor.
She knew that Elizabeth was not pleased with Cecil.
She was furious with him for not demanding the return of Calais from the French and for not forcing them to reimburse the money she had spent fighting them in Scotland.
Kate suspected that Dudley was behind her complaints and out to discredit Cecil.
The Queen was also angry with Cecil for having written from Edinburgh to express the hope that God would direct her to find a father for her children to ensure the succession.
Elizabeth had screwed the letter up into a ball and flung it on the fire.
When, at the end of July, after an absence of two months, Cecil caught up with the court, he doubtless expected to receive a grateful welcome from his sovereign.
But Elizabeth was cool and distant. Kate watched his face as her disfavor had its impact on him.
Later, Francis told her how worried Cecil was.
“He is most alarmed,” he said, as they lay together in his lodging.
“He is utterly dismayed by the change in the Queen’s attitude toward himself.
She has shown no gratitude for his triumph in Edinburgh, and she has refused even to defray all his expenses.
Now, when he needs to consult her on state affairs, he is told that she has gone out riding with Dudley.
The signs are that she means to marry the man if he could be freed from his marriage.
Cecil is about to fall on his sword. He thinks she is recklessly ruining her reputation and courting disaster. ”
He extricated himself from Kate’s arms and rolled over onto his back.
“The sooner the Queen has a husband, the better—but not if it is Lord Robert Dudley. I tell you, Kate, Cecil is very depressed and is seriously considering tendering his resignation. But I pray he reconsiders. No monarch ever had such a devoted servant.”
—
In August, Kate begged for leave to go home for a visit, since she had been away for ten months.
Her attempts to flit off to Greys Court while visiting Syon House with Francis had been thwarted by the Queen, who had permitted her to go, but insisted that she be back within three days.
Again, leave was refused, and she accompanied the court when it moved to Windsor at the end of the month.
Elizabeth was in a good mood, having learned that the Scottish Parliament had abolished the authority of the Roman Catholic Church and made the Calvinist form of Protestantism the official religion of Scotland.
The Scots wanted to conclude Arran’s marriage alliance with the Queen, but Elizabeth was enjoying herself too greatly with Lord Robert to show much interest. It seemed obvious to many that he was her intended husband.
One afternoon, as she sat playing music with her ladies in the privy garden, she suddenly laid down her lute.
“The malady in Lady Dudley’s breast has got worse,” she said. “I hear too that she is very downcast, which is hardly surprising in the circumstances.”
Kate said nothing. This depression could also have been caused by Amy Dudley’s grief about her husband’s pursuit of the Queen, or by her belief that he was only waiting for her to die so that he could marry where he pleased.
“Poor lady,” Elizabeth said, then picked up her lute again and began talking about the festivities that were planned for her twenty-seventh birthday a few days hence.
But when the great day came, she was preoccupied.
“Kate,” she said, “attend me in private.” She led the way into the closet she used as an oratory. “Lord Robert’s wife is dying. Her suffering is great, so it will be a merciful release.”
“I am very sorry for her,” Kate murmured, “and for Lord Robert.”
Elizabeth gave her a strange look. “This must go no further. The only other person I have told is Bishop de Quadra. He too is enjoined to secrecy. You can imagine the speculation that would arise if this became public knowledge.”
Kate could not fathom why the Queen had confided in the Spanish ambassador, of all people. The news would be all over Europe in ten minutes. It was rather odd.
The interlude preyed on her mind until she snatched a few minutes with Francis after supper and he insisted that they go walking in Windsor Great Park.
“Cecil is still in disgrace,” he told her.
“He is convinced that Lord Robert is trying to deprive him of his place in the Queen’s counsels.
He fears anyway that her Majesty is conducting herself in such a way that it is impossible for him to continue in her service.
He says it is a bad sailor who does not make for port when he sees a storm coming, and he foresees ruin if the Queen continues her intimacy with Lord Robert.
He does not believe that her subjects would tolerate their marriage.
So he is determined to retire into the country, although he supposes she will send him to the Tower rather than let him go. ”
Kate could believe it.
Francis was looking about him, frowning.
There was no one in sight. “Would that I could retire with him! Yet he has implored me, for the love of God, to remonstrate with the Queen, to persuade her not to throw herself utterly away as she is doing, and to remember what she owes to herself and to her subjects. But Kate, you know how she is. I value my neck too much to risk her displeasure.”
“She would just ignore your advice,” Kate said.