Виктория Холт - The Merry Monarch’s Wife

“She is there now?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“I see. I am glad to be in the secret. Thank you, Lettice.”

* * *

IT WAS AFTERNOON before I saw Frances. She had not appeared, so I sent for her. I was alone when I received her. She looked frightened.

I said: “Come and sit on the stool, Frances, and tell me what is wrong.”

“Your Majesty has doubtless heard what happened last night.”

“Yes. The Duke of Richmond and Lennox was in your apartments when Lady Castlemaine burst in with the King. That is so, is it not?”

“Yes. There was nothing wrong. I have never…I have always said I wouldn’t…and I never have.”

“I believe you, Frances,” I said.

“Oh, thank you, Madam. I fear the King does not. He will be very angry.”

“He should not be,” I said ironically.

“But it was not so. I never have. I’ve always sworn.”

I patted her hand. “I understand the Duke came in for a little chat before saying goodnight. Is that so?”

“Yes…yes.”

“Perhaps it was a little unwise. I believe he has strong feelings for you.”

“He…he wants to marry me.”

“And you?”

“I should like to be married, Your Majesty.”

“Well, Lady Castlemaine brought the King to your apartments because she knew the Duke would be there. I wonder how she knew? Perhaps he made a habit of escorting you to your apartments and coming in to say goodnight.”

“He has done it before…but that was all. We never…”

I silenced her again. I believed her. If she had been going to be someone’s mistress, it would have been the King’s, I was sure.

“And now,” I said, “what shall you do?”

“I do not know. Perhaps the King will send me away.”

“I scarcely think he will do that. I understand the Duke has already gone. Do you know where?”

She looked at me in frightened silence, her lips pressed together. So she did know.

“All right,” I said soothingly, as one would to a child. “It is going to be rather uncomfortable for you at court, Frances.” She looked at me trustingly. “I should like to help you.”

She took my hand and kissed it.

“It is time you were married,” I continued. “If you had a husband he would protect you from all these men who are seeking to seduce you.”

“Oh yes,” she said.

“And you say the Duke wishes to marry you?”

“Yes, Madam. He has asked me.”

“And what have you said?”

“I…I am not sure.”

“You would be a duchess.”

She smiled. The prospect was obviously agreeable to her.

I had heard that the King had offered to make her a duchess if she became his mistress. That was before the rumors of divorce had crept in.

She had refused. I believed that she was a virgin. She had no doubt been taught that it was unwise to give in to any man without marriage, and in her rather simple mind that had become an indisputable doctrine to which she clung.

But to be a duchess through marriage would please her.

“You would like to marry the Duke, would you, Frances?”

“Yes,” she said.

“If you joined him, you could be married…then you would be safe.”

“The King…”

“The King could do nothing if you were already married.”

She was thoughtful.

“There could be an elopement,” I suggested.

Her eyes shone with excitement.

“If you knew where the Duke was, you could go to him,” I went on. You could get married without delay. Then you could have a husband to protect you. I am sure the King would soon ask you and your husband to come back to court. Suppose you joined the Duke today? If only you knew where he is…”

“I do know. He is taking rooms at The Bear near London Bridge. He has had rooms there before. He is going to stay there until he sees what happens.”

“The Bear! That is not far. Why do you not join him there? Why do you not elope? Go back to your apartments. You are not well enough to see anyone and I have told you to go to your bed and stay there until tomorrow. As soon as it’s dark, you must leave the palace. Try not to be seen and take a carriage to The Bear near London Bridge. Tell the Duke that you are ready to marry him.”

“Oh, Your Majesty!”

“Do as I say. Tell no one. Very soon you will be the Duchess of Richmond and Lennox. I am sure you will be a charming duchess.”

“Your Majesty is so kind.”

I kissed her and wished her Godspeed, and I meant it from the bottom of my heart.

What good fortune this was! In becoming the Duchess of Richmond and Lennox, Frances could sweep away all my fears of being set aside.

This could not be anything but a fortunate turn of affairs for me.

* * *

THE WHOLE COURT WAS TALKING about Frances’s elopement. The King was furious and shrouded in melancholy. He was unlike himself. He must have cared deeply for Frances.

At length we heard that she and the Duke were married. I hoped she would be happy. She was such a simpleton, and I should greatly have preferred her to Lady Castlemaine if there had not been this threat of divorce. What I then heard of the Duke led me to believe that Frances might suffer some disillusion. He had already had two wives and he was constantly looking for favors at court; moreover he drank heavily.

I had a few qualms orf conscience when I heard this, even though I had not discovered it all until after the marriage. Perhaps I had been thinking too much of my own advantage. But at least she had married, which was what she had wanted; and it was she who had chosen Richmond.

As the weeks passed, the elopement of Frances Stuart ceased to be the main topic of conversation throughout the court. Lady Castlemaine retained her position and was obviously delighted to be rid of her formidable rival.

The war was going badly and the King was deeply immersed in the need to rebuild the city. More money was needed. There was never enough.

That June the country suffered one of the most humiliating defeats it had ever known. People were outraged and amazed to see the Dutch fleet right on our shores. It sailed up the Medway as far as Chatham, took possession of Sheerness and burned several of our ships — the Royal Oak, the Great James and the newly launched Loyal London among them. They blew up stores of ammunition worth forty thousand pounds; and they did all this more or less unopposed, having taken the English completely by surprise. During the operation they lost only two of their own ships. Not that these had been taken in battle; they had merely run aground and were set fire to by the Dutch to prevent their falling into English hands.

There was great fear that they would reach London; and ships were sunk at Blackwall and Woolwich to prevent their doing this.

Having wreaked havoc not only on our ships but on our morale, the Dutch sailed triumphantly away.

The English were outraged and, as is customary, they looked for a scapegoat.

They chose Clarendon. He had become increasingly unpopular over the last years. I was deeply sorry for him. I knew he was not guilty of what he was accused. It was no fault of his that we were at war with the Dutch, nor that we had suffered plague and fire and lacked the necessary funds to carry on the war successfully.

Charles was turning away from him even though the Earl had been such a good friend to him during his exile.

Clarendon was a man who lived a very moral life. He believed a husband should be faithful to his wife; he deeply deplored the King’s promiscuity and, because of that familiarity rooted in the past, he did not hesitate to say so. Although normally Charles was tolerant, he was under great strain at this time and less inclined to patience. So…Clarendon was out of favor…not only with the people.

He had powerful enemies at court. Buckingham was one, Lady Castlemaine another; and the King was weary of his continual lectures.

So he was certainly in a lonely position.

While the foreign ships were in the Medway, the mob had gathered outside Clarendon’s house. They had uprooted trees, broken windows and set up a gibbet which was an indication of the hatred they had for him.

Charles was deeply anxious. How I wished he would talk more to me of his troubles!

He did on one occasion and I asked him what was happening about Clarendon.

“He will have to go, I fear,” he said. “There is nothing I can do to save him. His time has come.”

“They are blaming him for the war!”

“That is unfair, of course. He was a good friend to me in the past…but now…”

“You do not like him as you used to.”

“He has frustrated me in so many ways.”

I knew what he meant. He blamed Clarendon for Frances Stuart’s departure. I never ceased to marvel that physical attraction could be so strong. It could not have been anything beyond that considering Frances’s childlike mind. And Charles suspected Clarendon of arranging the elopement. I wondered what he would say if he knew what part I had played in that. I think he might have understood my motives and not judged me too harshly. However, I would not tell him…not until we were old and near the end of our lives. Perhaps not even then.

“I do not like these sanctimonious ones,” said Charles. “They set themselves up as pillars of virtue and think it is their duty in life to censure those who fall short of their standards. Such men are tiresome.”

Previously Charles had been good-humored about criticism. He must certainly be feeling Frances’s desertion deeply.

“I have been advised,” he went on, “that if I do not rid myself of Clarendon, I might go the way of my father.”

“No!”

He looked at me wryly. “The heads of kings are never fixed very securely on their shoulders.”

“Please do not talk so.”

“Never fear, Catherine. I am deteremined to keep mine where it belongs, and never will I go wandering again. The best thing would be for Clarendon to resign. He could do that gracefully and it might be that we could then avoid unpleasant consequences. James is putting the suggestion to him.”

“James?”

“Yes. Perhaps not the most tactful emissary, but he is my brother and Clarendon’s son-in-law, and it could scarcely come from me.”

Poor Charles! He was very anxious at that time.

The result of James’s interview with the Earl was that the latter presented himself at Whitehall and told Charles that he would give up the Great Seal. Which was wise, said Charles, for the only alternative would have been to take it from him.

I was sorry for Clarendon. He, who had once been mighty, was indeed brought low.

The relinquishing of the Great Seal was not enough for his enemies. He must be arraigned for treason. I was glad that his son-in-law the Duke of York stood by him. Alas, in the midst of this James was smitten by smallpox and had to retire. Fortunately he soon recovered, but people said that the smallpox had been a sign of God’s displeasure because the Duke had defended Clarendon.

In spite of the feeling against him, the Earl was able to prove that the charges had no foundation and they had to be dropped.

Charles showed me the letter he had received from Clarendon.

He wrote: “I do upon my knees beg Your Majesty’s pardon for any over bold or saucy expression I have used to you. It is a natural disease in servants who have received too much countenance…”

He went on to ask the King to have the prosecution withdrawn and to allow his old Chancellor to retire overseas where he could spend his last days in peace.

Charles looked at me in consternation. “What can I tell him?” he said. “There will be an uproar if I give him permission to leave.”

That did not mean that he did not help Clarendon to get away and put an end to this distressing matter.

Clarendon did leave.

He slipped away quietly to the coast and took a ship for Calais.

LATE THAT YEAR TWO EVENTS OF SIGNIFICANCE TOOK place. Neither of them attracted much notice. I suppose what was happening in Portugal would not; but they were important to me.

Donna Maria was the only one to whom I could speak of Portuguese affairs. In fact, it was the only subject in which she was really interested. She disliked England and constantly wished that we had never come. In vain did I tell her that I had no desire to return to Portugal, especially now that my mother was dead; and if she yearned so much for her native land I would make sure that she returned to it.