The Women of the Cousins’ War:
The Duchess, The Queen and the King’s Mother
The Lady of the Rivers
The White Queen
The Red Queen
The Kingmaker’s Daughter
The White Princess
The King’s Curse
The Constant Princess
The Other Boleyn Girl
The Boleyn Inheritance
The Queen’s Fool
The Virgin’s Lover
The Other Queen
Changeling
Stormbringers
Fools’ Gold
Wideacre
The Favoured Child
Meridon
Earthly Joys
Virgin Earth
Alice Hartley’s Happiness
Perfectly Correct
The Little House
Zelda’s Cut
Bread and Chocolate
The Wise Woman
Fallen Skies
A Respectable Trade
First published in Great Britain by Simon & Schuster UK Ltd, 2015
A CBS COMPANY
Copyright © Philippa Gregory, 2015
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for
Maurice Hutt 1928–2013
Geoffrey Carnall 1927–2015
Contents
HAMPTON COURT PALACE, SPRING 1543
HAMPTON COURT PALACE, SUMMER 1543
OATLANDS PALACE, SURREY, SUMMER 1543
MANOR OF THE MORE, HERTFORDSHIRE, SUMMER 1543
AMPTHILL CASTLE, BEDFORDSHIRE, AUTUMN 1543
HAMPTON COURT PALACE, CHRISTMAS 1543
WHITEHALL PALACE, LONDON, SPRING 1544
WHITEHALL PALACE, LONDON, SUMMER 1544
SAINT JAMES’S PALACE, LONDON, SUMMER 1544
WHITEHALL PALACE, LONDON, SUMMER 1544
WHITEHALL PALACE, LONDON, SUMMER 1544
WHITEHALL PALACE, LONDON, SUMMER 1544
HAMPTON COURT PALACE, SUMMER 1544
LEEDS CASTLE, KENT, AUTUMN 1544
WHITEHALL PALACE, LONDON, AUTUMN 1544
WHITEHALL PALACE, LONDON, SPRING 1545
WHITEHALL PALACE, LONDON, SPRING 1545
WHITEHALL PALACE, LONDON, EARLY SUMMER 1545
NONSUCH PALACE, SURREY, SUMMER 1545
SOUTHSEA CASTLE, PORTSMOUTH HARBOUR, SUMMER 1545
COWDRAY HOUSE, MIDHURST, SUSSEX, SUMMER 1545
GREENWICH PALACE, SUMMER 1545
WHITEHALL PALACE, LONDON, AUTUMN 1545
WHITEHALL PALACE, LONDON, WINTER 1545
HAMPTON COURT PALACE, CHRISTMAS 1545
HAMPTON COURT PALACE, WINTER 1546
GREENWICH PALACE, SPRING 1546
WHITEHALL PALACE, LONDON, SPRING 1546
GREENWICH PALACE, SUMMER 1546
WHITEHALL PALACE, LONDON, SUMMER 1546
HAMPTON COURT PALACE, SUMMER 1546
HAMPTON COURT PALACE, SUMMER 1546
WINDSOR CASTLE, AUTUMN 1546
WHITEHALL PALACE, LONDON, WINTER 1546
OATLANDS PALACE, SURREY, WINTER 1546
GREENWICH PALACE, WINTER 1546
HAMPTON COURT PALACE, WINTER 1547
HAMPTON COURT PALACE, SPRING 1543
He stands before me, as broad as an ancient oak, his face like a full moon caught high in the topmost branches, the rolls of creased flesh upturned with goodwill. He leans, and it is as if the tree might topple on me. I stand my ground but I think – surely he’s not going to kneel, as another man knelt at my feet, just yesterday, and covered my hands with kisses? But if this mountain of a man ever got down, he would have to be hauled up with ropes, like an ox stuck in a ditch; and besides, he kneels to no-one.
I think, he can’t kiss me on the mouth, not here in the long room with musicians at one end and everyone passing by. Surely that can’t happen in this mannered court, surely this big moon face will not come down on mine. I stare up at the man that my mother and all her friends once adored as the handsomest in England, the king that every girl dreamed of, and I whisper a prayer that he did not say the words he just said. Absurdly, I pray that I misheard him.
In confident silence, he waits for my assent.
I realise: this is how it will be from now until death us do part, he will wait for my assent or continue without it. I will have to marry this man who looms larger and stands higher than anyone else. He is above mortals, a heavenly body just below angels: the King of England.
‘I am so surprised by the honour,’ I stammer.
The pursed pout of his little mouth widens into a smile. I can see the yellowing teeth and smell his old-dog breath.
‘I don’t deserve it.’
‘I will show you how to deserve it,’ he assures me.
