“I dislike putting you to such expense, cousin,” Rosamund said. “Is it really necessary? You have already been too good to me.”
“I have always meant to have a second little barge for guests, dearest girl. Your arrival has but caused me to act.” He smiled and patted her hand. “Having your own wee vessel will allow you to escape the palace when you are not needed by the queen.”
“I will admit to still being nervous about having been called to court,” Rosamund told him. “I do not belong here.”
“But here you are, Rosamund,” he said. “Listen, darling girl, and while we skim our way downriver I will tell you why you will be a breath of fresh air for the queen. You know that she lost a child at the end of January past. However, it was worse than that. Those overprotective fools who surround her were afraid to tell the king that the queen had miscarried of a daughter. So they continued to allow the queen to believe she was with child. And she blew up like a sheep’s bladder that is filled with air.”
“But how could she not realize she was no longer with child?” Rosamund asked, shocked.
“Because, dear girl, she is a Spanish princess and has been sheltered from common sense, among other virtues. Well, it did not take the king long to realize what had happened, for the swelling disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. The queen was devastated and thought she had somehow failed her husband. It was he who convinced her that it was God’s will. Then he quickly impregnated her once again.”
“The queen is with child?” Rosamund was astounded.
“Why, yes, dear girl. You did not know?” He was equally surprised. “Why, the child is due at the beginning of the month of January. Yesterday was the last day the queen was receiving gentlemen in her chambers, which was why it was so important that I get to her. She will go into seclusion now until her child is born, and be served only by women. Her ladies take over all the positions normally held by men in order that the queen’s household continue to run smoothly. How could you not know this happy news? But then with the confusion over the miscarriage, it is possible, and your Friarsgate is very isolated. But that is not all the gossip, dear girl.
“There was a most delicious scandal early this autumn. The queen learned that the king was having an affair with the sister of the Duke of Buckingham. But which of his sisters, for he has two, and both were serving the queen, no one is certain. Lady Anne Hastings is currently residing in a convent some sixty miles from London, contemplating her sins, whatever they may be. Her sister, Lady Elizabeth FitzWalter is also gone from the court, taken away in the black of night, it is said. And their husbands are banned as well. It seems the more chaste sister, whoever she was, spoke with her brother, the duke. She thought the other sister was involved with the king’s boon companion, William Compton. Buckingham is a terrible snob, and the Comptons are hardly the social equals of the Stafford family. Compton, however, was acting as a shield for the king. The lovers were using his house for their illicit trysts! The Duke of Buckingham was furious that his sister should demean herself in such a manner with who he believed was a man of lesser status. A family conference was convened. Worse, the innocent sister tattled to the queen, who then berated the king for his behavior in a very loud argument, which, though it took place in her privy chamber, was heard by half the court, who then reported it to the other half.
“Well, dear girl, one does not take Henry Tudor to task for his behavior. He is the king. He will do as he pleases, as those of us who know him understand. Besides, all kings have mistresses. Why the queen’s own father, King Ferdinand, had several, and was known to have sired a number of bastards. And King Henry was certainly being discreet. His little indiscretion would never have been known had not the duke’s sister spilled the beans.” Lord Cambridge chuckled wickedly. Rosamund sat in stunned fascination.
“The duke is a dreadful snob,” her cousin went on. “Of course he did not think Will Compton socially acceptable as a lover for his sister. Or, if the truth be known, does not even think the House of Tudor is good enough. After he bearded Compton and raised riot with him, Compton, a longtime companion and confidant of the king’s, went directly to him. The king called the duke into his presence and raised merry hell with him. The upshot was that the duke left the court in a temper. I suspect the king was angry at his secret being made public. He is genuinely fond of the queen and dislikes having her distressed. And, that, darling girl, is what has happened to date.”
“Has the queen forgiven the king?” Rosamund asked him.
“There was nothing to forgive, for it is Henry Tudor’s right to do as he pleases, Rosamund. The queen has been quite rightly scolded, by not just her husband, but by her father and by her confessor. She is, after all, Queen of England. Nothing can change that, but she cannot expect her husband to refrain from satisfying his manly appetites when she is with child and therefore forbidden to him. And he was discreet, but that she obviously suspected something of him, given his passionate nature. She set her women to spying on him. The king considered sending them all from court, but that it would have caused a dreadful scandal,” Lord Cambridge explained.
“Poor Kate,” Rosamund sympathized.
“She is a good woman, if naïve in some ways,” her companion replied. “No one who serves her dislikes her. They become quite fanatically loyal, but these ladies must remember that their first loyalty lies with the king, not the queen. I hope, dear cousin, that while you serve the queen you will remember that.” He patted her gloved hand.
“But all is well between the king and his spouse?” Rosamund asked. “They are now reconciled?”
“Aye, but it will never again be the same between them. The queen has been forced to face the fact that the honeymoon is long over. She must accept what she cannot change, and she will never change the king. He, while annoyed yet, has forgiven her. He believes that she will never again remonstrate with him for his peccadilloes, especially as she is unlikely to know of them. The queen’s women have learned their lesson, it is to be hoped, and will not impart gossip regarding the king’s amorous nature to their mistress in the future.”
“I think now more than before that I wish I was home,” Rosamund said with a small smile. “I do not know if I am up to all this intrigue.”
He chuckled. “I will be here for you, dear girl, and you can always escape to Bolton House.”
About them the river traffic was busier than it had been earlier. They were approaching the city itself. Great flat-bottomed boats ferrying cargo from ships moored in the London pool downriver appeared. Smaller barges with farm produce passed them by. Fishing vessels and other passenger barges surrounded them. The spires and turrets of Westminster loomed to one side of the river as their barge began to nose itself shoreward. Annie’s eyes were wide, and her ears were burning with all she had heard. Realizing it, Lord Cambridge cautioned her to keep her own council.
“Do not gossip with the other servant girls, but rather be pleasing in manner, helpful, devout, and keep your own ears open so you may report to your own mistress anything of interest. If you appear slightly stupid and countrified you will be considered unimportant and other servants will gossip in your hearing. Do you understand, Annie?”
“Aye, m’lord. I will be careful, for Iambut a simple country girl just like my mistress,” she replied, her eyes twinkling mischievously.
Lord Cambridge chuckled again. “Why, my girl, you are far more clever than I would have anticipated. You may prove very useful to your mistress.” And he gave her a wink.
Their barge bumped against the stone quay as a palace servant swiftly made the vessel secure so that its occupants might disembark. Lord Cambridge was helped out first, then waited while Rosamund and Annie stepped upon the dock. Without a word he turned and hurried off into the palace, the two young women swiftly following behind him. Rosamund vaguely recalled landing here years back with Meg and Kate and the rest of the royal family. Some of the interior seemed familiar to her as she trailed behind her cousin. Then they came to a large double door with the royal crest upon it. On either side of the doors stood a young woman in red velvet skirts, a leather breastplate gilded in gold leaf, wearing a small helmet and carrying a pike. Their pikes crossed in defense as Lord Cambridge and his party approached.
“Lady Rosamund of Friarsgate, widow of Sir Owein Meredith, and her servant, at the queen’s invitation,” Sir Thomas said.
“She may pass, and her servant as well,” one of the female guards said. They uncrossed their pikes, and one of them flung wide one of the doors.
“Farewell, cousin,” Lord Cambridge said, kissing Rosamund upon her brow. “If you need me, you may send a page for me. If I am not here, I will be at Bolton House.” He then turned and departed down the corridor.
Rosamund, Annie in her wake, slowly entered the queen’s apartment. It was filled with women, and it would appear that she knew none of them. She wasn’t even certain of the proper protocol to gaining the queen’s attention. She stood confused, and then a sweet-faced woman approached her, smiling.
“Lady Rosamund, you may not remember me. I am Maria de Salinas. My mistress bids you welcome back to court. Will you come with me to greet her majesty?”
“Thank you,” Rosamund replied, and followed the queen’s favorite lady, and her best friend, who had come with her from Spain and who had remained with her devotedly through all the years of her difficulty.
