Jean Plaidy - The Red Rose of Anjou

They would not remain for long in this state of euphoria.

Margaret was happy. Henry was all she could have wished and he was devoted to her. He had had her emblem of the daisy shown in every possible place; it had even been enameled and engraved on his plate.

‘The young fool is besotted by the French wench,’ commented Gloucester.

He would have his revenge, though. He would be equal with them all. He had never managed to outwit that wily old bird the Cardinal, nor Suffolk; but he would have done but for that unfortunate matter over Eleanor and the waxen image. He often wondered not how such a clever woman could have become involved in such practices but how she could have been so careless as to have been caught. She had been working for his advancement, of course. She had wanted to see him on the throne.

He would have been there but for people like the Cardinal and Suffolk. They thought they were clever arranging this French marriage but they had not seen the end of that yet. All they had was a temporary truce, and the French would soon be making further demands. He could see it coming.

Meanwhile, Margaret reveled in her role as Queen. She dazzled Henry with her prettiness and her quick wit. She visited the Cardinal at his mansion of Waltham and there she was received with great pleasure.

The old man delighted in her youthful charm. She was such a dainty creature and he was amused to think that such a delicate-seeming person could conceal a woman of strong will which she undoubtedly was.

But she was willing to submit that will to him.

‘I know,’ she told him, ‘that there is so much I have to learn and I want you to teach me.’

This seemed the utmost wisdom to the Cardinal for in spite of the adulation she was receiving she realized her shortcomings and she could not have sought a better teacher.

His old eyes misted over as he watched the beautiful young creature and she raised her blue eyes to his and said: I shall never forget our first meeting. I knew then that you would be my friend.’

‘You are so young and yet from the first I saw your latent wisdom,’ said the Cardinal. ‘There is no one on earth I would rather see than you beside the King on the throne.’

‘I hope I may come and see you often now that you do not always find it easy to come to Court.’

‘What a plague old age is when a beautiful Queen invites a man to Court and he is too infirm to take advantage of the honour. My dearest lady, whenever you come to see me I shall deem it the greatest honour that could befall me.’

Margaret enjoyed such compliments, particularly coming from this old man of the Church who was, she had quickly sensed even now, the most important man in England.

He talked to her of affairs in England. He said that what England needed was peace and he was sure the King realized this. She was heartily in agreement with that because it was exactly what her uncle the King of France wanted. The trouble, she knew, was that he wanted it on certain terms which the English might not be prepared to give.

He talked of Gloucester. His hatred for the Duke was in every inflection of his voice, every gesture, every expression which flitted across the old face.

‘Gloucester has been at the root of all our trouble. In his first marriage he offended Burgundy when Burgundy’s friendship was of vital importance to us. He was a menace to his brother Bedford, as fine a man as ever came out of England and almost as great a soldier as his brother the late King. T’was a pity Gloucester was not strangled at birth. He has caused nothing but trouble in this realm.’

I hate him,’ said Margaret vehemently. ‘So does Henry. He doubles the guards when he is around.’

‘You must be wary of him. He hates your marriage. He wanted the King to have one of the daughters of the Count of Armagnac. He does not want peace. He wants to continue the war.’

‘Did his wife plot against the King?’

‘Yes, she made waxen images with a witch and some soothsayers. They got their just deserts. She has been a captive ever since.’

‘Why was Gloucester allowed to go free?’

‘He was not suspected of plotting against the King’s life.’

‘I feel sure he was involved. Henry thinks so.’

‘Well, that is Gloucester. Be careful of him. He will harm you if he can. You have a good friend in the Marquess of Suffolk.’

‘I have, and the Marchioness is my dearest friend.’

‘Cling to them. And the Shrewsburys. Kings and Queens have many enemies.’

‘They will not get the better of me,’ said Margaret.

When she next came to Waltham the Cardinal showed her a chamber he had had prepared for her. He called it the Queen’s Chamber and the Cardinal had gone to great expense to furnish it elaborately with hangings of cloth and of gold from Damascus.

Margaret was delighted with it. She felt that with such friends as the Cardinal and the Suffolks she cared nothing for her enemies. And she was not going to put up any pretence of liking them. She would make it very clear to the Duke of Gloucester that she regarded him as an enemy.

* * *

Margaret was delighted with the friends who rallied round her. With such as them what had she to fear from a few enemies? She was already assembling what was known as the Court Party, and she insisted on Alice’s being in constant attendance.

Alice was delighted, but she was wise enough to know that the joyous feeling which at the time prevailed throughout the country could not last. Her husband was worried, too.

‘It is only a truce, that’s what they don’t realize,’ he said. ‘There has to be a reckoning soon and then the question of Maine and Anjou will arise again. When the people know what price we have had to pay for peace they will blame me.’

‘They must not do so,’ cried Alice. ‘What have you done but what you consider best for England?’

‘My dear, one’s intentions get little consideration. If one is successful one is a noble hero; if one fails, a villain.’

‘Oh come, William,’ said Alice. ‘You are strong enough to stand against them.’

‘I fear Gloucester.’

‘He has not the same power these days.’

‘He could always make trouble and now his friendship with York is growing.’

‘York. What is his grievance?’

‘That he doesn’t wear the crown.’

‘Why this is a nonsense.’

‘It would seem so. But he reckons he comes nearer through Clarence than Lancaster does through John of Gaunt.’

‘That is going back a good way.’

‘That matters not. There is a certain reason in it.’

‘Oh, no, it is too far back.’

‘As you say, it is far back and there are closer matters with which to concern myself. I have to face the Parliament. Well, I can tell them that the delegation will be coming to England to discuss the truce and that in the meantime I am advising the strengthening of the frontiers round Maine.’

‘That should please them.’

‘For the time being. But the reckoning is coming. I want them to know that whatever is arranged it is none of my doing.’

Alice looked at him a little dubiously. She did not remind him that when a man set out to guide a country’s policy, to be the most important minister in the land, he would surely be blamed if anything went wrong.

‘The Queen settles in happily, it seems,’ she said to change the subject.

‘Is she really beginning to lead the King?’

‘I can see it coming. She was born to lead and he to be led so the outcome is inevitable.’

‘Alice, try to restrain her a little.’

‘It is difficult. She is honest by nature. She finds it hard not to speak her mind. She lets it be known that she regards Gloucester with something like venom. She is sure that he is plotting to destroy the King.’

‘She is probably right but she should not say these things. Gloucester will show his hand if she goes much farther. At the moment he is pretending to support the marriage—which we know full well he did everything he could to prevent. I distrust him in this mood.’

‘Margaret does not yet understand the devious ways of statesmen.’

‘She must learn to, Alice.’

Alice lifted her shoulders. ‘She is a lady of very strong views. She will go her own way, I think.’

‘If anyone can influence her, you can.’

‘She is fiercely loyal. She is affectionate. But she will not prevaricate. No matter what one tried to make her she would always be Margaret of Anjou.’

‘And the King?’

‘He thinks that the words which fall from her lips are pure wisdom.’

‘She has managed to enchant him.’

‘He loves her strength. It appeals to his weakness. And she is very pretty but small and that seems to make her especially attractive to a man like Henry. He feels protective when he looks at her, knowing all the time that he will rely on her to protect him.’

‘Well, Alice, we must pray that we can extricate ourselves from this situation with skill so that we are not blamed for any of the demands which will have to be made.’

It seemed that he might do so, for when in the Parliament he explained that although there was no real peace with France, only a truce, that the frontiers of Maine and Anjou were being strengthened and that a delegation was coming to England, he was applauded.

The Commons congratulated him on the manner in which he had conducted affairs, and when the Duke of Gloucester moved a motion to the same effect in the Lords, he felt he had come through very well indeed.

But very quickly he became more uneasy than ever. When Gloucester complimented him he ought to be very wary indeed.