Innocent Traitor (39 page)

I make my ceremonial entry into London, and the people turn out in large numbers to greet me and pour blessings on me. Northumberland himself receives me most cordially at Mile End and escorts me to Clerkenwell.

“A fine day, madam,” he observes, riding by my side.

“Unusually fine for the season,” I agree.

He bends toward me. “I regret that His Majesty is too unwell to receive Your Grace today,” he murmurs. “May I suggest that you come to Whitehall tomorrow? He will be better then, I hope.”

I have no choice but to concur.

The next day, at the palace, I am astonished to find Northumberland and the whole privy council waiting to receive me, bowing low as I approach. This, more than anything, convinces me that my poor brother is indeed dying. Of course, they are anxious to court favor with their future sovereign, no doubt hoping that such excessive courtesy and demonstrable goodwill will erase any bitter memories of the cruel way in which they relentlessly persecuted me in the past.

Nevertheless, I wait three days to see the King. By this time I have heard the latest worrying rumors that are circulating at court and am more than ever persuaded that he cannot last long. I am also deeply troubled by allegations—admittedly made by those who have no love for Northumberland—that the Duke is poisoning His Majesty. But why, I ask myself, would he do such a thing? It would be madness. He has far more to gain from keeping Edward alive, for he must be aware that he has nothing, or worse, to hope for from me. Indeed, I have already made up my mind that John Dudley will receive short shrift when I ascend the throne: the man is a heretic and a traitor, and it galls me to have to show courtesy toward him. But the time will surely come when a reckoning must be made.

On the fourth day, I am relieved to hear that His Majesty is well enough to receive me. Nothing, however, not even the wildest rumor, has prepared me for the sight of my brother lying weak and wasted in the vast state bed. Northumberland has just informed me that he is on the mend, but how could I ever believe it now?

“Good sister, it is kind of you to come,” says Edward in a tired, cracked voice, extending his hand to be kissed. I kneel by the bed and put my lips to his fingers, trying not to wrinkle my nose at the putrid smell coming from him. The poor boy looks mortally ill, and I am grieved to see it, remembering his youth and that, for all his wrongheaded opinions, he is my brother. For a short while we converse, touching only on safe matters, and avoiding contentious ones such as his health or our religious differences, but before long Edward closes his eyes.

“I cannot talk further,” he mutters. “I…must…sleep.”

“Sleep well, sir,” I whisper, and quietly leave the room, tears blinding my eyes.

“His Majesty looks dreadfully ill,” I say accusingly to Northumberland.

“Your Grace speaks truth,” he answers smoothly. “He has good days and bad days. He seemed better this morning, but I fear that any excitement overtaxes and exhausts him. I regret that I have had to cancel the children’s masque. I hope Your Grace is not too disappointed.”

“Not at all. My concern is for the King my brother. What do his doctors say?”

“They say he will recover, given time.” The Duke’s face is impassive, impenetrable.

“And do you believe them?”

“I am in their hands, madam. They are the experts.”

“Doctors have been known to be wrong before.”

“Madam, we have had several opinions, and all concur. I can do no more. We must be patient.”

I do not believe him—I am no doctor, yet I can see my brother is dying. But there is nothing more to be said.

“Very well, sir, I will return to Newhall tomorrow.” I wait for him to find some excuse for detaining me at court, but he merely bows.

“I hope you will keep me informed of the King’s progress,” I say.

“Of course.” I know he will not keep his word.

I had thought, when I came to London, that I was walking into a trap, and perhaps I was. If so, I foiled my enemies by coming so publicly and so staunchly attended. I leave with the distinct impression that the wily Duke had invited me as part of another plot entirely, and that he has not finished with me yet.

John Dudley,
Duke of Northumberland

GREENWICH PALACE, KENT, MARCH 1553

In my closet at Greenwich, I sit alone, deep in thought. There is no escaping that God will soon call the King to Himself, and it is obvious that a radical solution to the problem of the succession is called for, if I am to survive. And, of course, the Church of England.

So far, I have been cautious. In February the King enjoyed a period of remission from the consumption that is eating away at his lungs and felt fit enough to open Parliament in person. There was, however, much furtive comment about how ill he looked. Somehow I managed to allay the fears of both Lords and Commons and convinced them—and, for that matter, the King himself—that His Majesty is in truth convalescent from a serious illness. Wiser souls at Westminster might have read something sinister into the announcement that the King had, at fifteen, now attained his majority and would henceforth assume personal control of the government of his realm. But I, who know the real state of the boy’s health, have merely placed sovereign power in his hands to lend legality to the plans forming in my mind. I know well that he is in no fit state to govern and that he is happy to delegate everything to his faithful servant—me. It should be no matter, therefore, to persuade him to agree to my scheme for preserving the Protestant religion—and, of course, my own power.

But the time is not ripe for that yet. To all appearances, Edward is getting better. With Parliament dissolved, the court has moved to Greenwich, where the healthful air is known to be beneficial to invalids. His Majesty believes that, given a few weeks here in the springtime, he might soon be his old self again.

I, however, am preparing for the worst. I have before me a copy of the late King’s will as well as the scroll on which is enshrined the Act of Succession of 1544, brought to me by the Master of the Rolls. I scrutinize both, looking for loopholes that will justify my plans, but find none. If it were merely a matter of altering King Henry’s will, it would be simple enough: the wishes of a deceased sovereign hold no force in law, and the will could be overridden by another written by Henry’s successor. But an act of Parliament can be altered only by another act of Parliament.

Of course, Parliament could be summoned again to debate the matter, but the King, worn-out by his state duties last month, has returned exhausted to his bed to recover his strength and is certainly too weak to open a new session. Either his absence or his appearance would give rise to the panicky rumors I have worked so hard to avoid by issuing reassuring bulletins on His Majesty’s health. I need time now to plan carefully for the future—my future—and more time for those plans to be put into effect. Yet I have only to look at the King to see that time is running out.

It is essential that the public, and even the council for the present, be kept in ignorance of His Majesty’s true state of health for as long as possible. The last thing I want now is Mary’s supporters rallying to her cause. Fortunately, I believe I have been successful in lulling her into a sense of false security.

As it is, I fear that when I lay my plan before Parliament, it will meet with such opposition as to ensure that it never becomes law.

The only course open to me, therefore, is to act independently of Parliament. The King’s consent to my proposals should be sufficient to quell any protests. Such a course might not be entirely lawful, but too much is at stake to pay heed to legal niceties.

I read over the will and the act for the third time. The old King’s intentions are clear: after Edward come Mary and her heirs, then Elizabeth and hers, and after them the heirs of Henry’s sister, Mary Tudor. That means her surviving child, Frances Brandon, Duchess of Suffolk, and Frances’s daughters in turn.

It is plain enough, but I dare not contemplate the consequences to myself, or to England, if the Lady Mary succeeds. The Catholic faith would certainly be restored as the official religion of the kingdom, and the Church of England would once more come under the dominion of the Pope in Rome. Protestants in England would be regarded as heretics, and I should not be surprised if Mary brought back burning as the punishment for heresy. She is obsessed with her faith, and no doubt desirous of being revenged on those who have persecuted her for it. My own destruction is assured.

Mary must, therefore, never succeed, and I am confident that I can make my fellow councillors see the sense of that. I know I have enemies among them, but even they must realize what Mary’s accession will mean for them—they have all supported me in my battle against her Mass. And while the King has great reverence for his father’s memory and might have scruples against changing his will, he is a zealous champion of the reformed faith and will desire to safeguard all his good work.

What of Elizabeth then? She is a dark horse, and I do not trust her. She rarely comes to court, and when she does visit the King, she appears meek and pious, but I am not fooled. Beneath that dutiful mask, I have no doubt, lies a devious and dangerous character. I would not like to tangle with Elizabeth—she has no worth for my purposes. No, what I require for the success of my plans is a candidate who is young and malleable; someone who will submit without complaint to my guidance and rule and comply with what is required of them. Elizabeth is not that person.

There is justification for passing over Mary and Elizabeth, since both were declared bastards when their mothers’ marriages were dissolved, and no bastard can sit on the throne. But they are popular with the people on account of being King Henry’s daughters, and I must tread carefully.

If I manage to exclude Mary and Elizabeth from the succession, that leaves Frances Suffolk, a Protestant to be sure, but even less likely than the princesses to be meek and biddable. She would certainly never submit patiently to my tutelage. Nor would there be any need for her to do so, for she is thirty-six and quite capable of ruling autonomously.

But if my Lady Suffolk could be persuaded to waive her right to the succession in favor of her eldest daughter, the Lady Jane Grey, then all would fall into place.

GREENWICH PALACE, APRIL 1553

Lying in his sickbed at Greenwich, the King is restless and fretful. Whilst striving to accept God’s will, he plaintively wonders aloud why He has chosen to inflict such suffering upon His faithful servant, and why, when His Majesty has done so much to promote the true religion, and there is still so much left to be done, He has decided to cut down His most devoted son in the first flower of his youth.

For it is as plain as day that, whatever the rest of us may say to reassure him, the King has guessed the truth.

“I know there will be no reprieve for me, my lord,” he tells me, fixing me with those cold, impenetrable eyes. “You can stop pretending. Comfort yourself in the knowledge that I am strong in my faith and can face death with courage and patience.”

In truth, death stalks him through every waking hour. It is apparent in his wasted limbs, his labored breathing, his racking cough, and in the vile, stinking sputum he hawks up, which was until recently greenish yellow, but is now increasingly streaked with bright blood. Yet, for all his brave words, the fear of death haunts his dreams, so that he lies wakeful yet weary, fighting off sleep, while complaining that he is too tired to make the necessary preparations for the salvation of his soul.

“What is hardest to bear, my lord,” he whispers, “is the knowledge that, once death has done its terrible work on me, all that I have striven for will be undone by my misguided and wrongheaded sister. It sickens me to think of an England returned to the Roman yoke, bedeviled once more by popish superstition and corruption; an England whose people will have scant hope of Heaven, but may face everlasting damnation. It is unbearable to contemplate.” But contemplate it he does as he lies there, hour after hour, his book lying unread on the counterpane, and the warm sun streaming in through the mullioned window.

I leave him to his terrible preoccupations so that I can mold him to my purpose when he is sufficiently demoralized. Sitting by his bedside, I speak mainly of state affairs and the grievous condition of his health, taking care to hint at the horrors that will engulf us under Mary’s rule; this has the gratifying effect of heightening the King’s fevered anxiety. Like a dog with a slipper, he worries around the problem constantly.

“What remedy is there?” he cries. “Should not Parliament be summoned to approve a new Act of Succession, passing over the Lady Mary and giving the throne to the Lady Elizabeth, my sweet sister Temperance, who is a loyal Protestant?”

I take my time answering, as though considering the matter. “Parliament might not agree to set aside the Lady Mary,” I warn, frowning. “If they pass over the Lady Mary, they may, on the same grounds, pass over the Lady Elizabeth, for both have been declared baseborn.” I pause to let this sink in. “Permit me time to think on this, sir. There may be a better way forward.”