Виктория Холт - The Reluctant Queen

Isabel pursed her lips and smiled. She had her own views and I could see that my mother was very disturbed.

Isabel talked indiscreetly but I hoped only to me, which did not count. George was evidently equally indiscreet if what she told me was true.

"George says his brother is ruining the realm," she said.

"He spends most of his time with women ... not the queen ... though she knows about it and says nothing. She never protests as long as he lets her family have all the best positions in the country. That's no way to rule a kingdom. So ... well... what if he were no longer king ...?"

"What do you mean?" I cried. There are others who could take the crown,"

"You mean ...?"

She smiled and I followed her reasoning. She was seeing herself in a crown, receiving the homage of her husband's subjects. Isabel, Queen of England.

"And you ... well, after all, you are my sister. George has a brother and I think you do not exactly dislike him."

"Richard!"

"Why not? With our father and all the Nevilles ... and the brothers of the ex-king... his sons-in-law. Well, you see ..."

"It is not possible."

"I tell you, it is ... and we are going to see that it is."

"Who?"

"George ... my father ..." she answered.

That was wild talk, but I was not entirely dismayed to hear it. I was of an age when many girls in my position would find themselves betrothed to men whom they had never seen before -yet so far nothing had been said about a husband for me. If Isabel was suitable for the Duke of Clarence then I could be for the Duke of Gloucester. In the old days it might have been a possibility but that was before this unhappy state had arisen bringing strife between my father and the king. Richard would have to marry where his brother, the king, wished him to, and so would Clarence.

I did have an opportunity of talking to Richard, and I felt a little embarrassed when I did so.

"What is going on?" he asked.

"Everything seems different."

There has been trouble. You know my Uncle George is no longer Chancellor."

"Yes, but it is the earl, your father, who has changed."

"He has much on his mind."

"He is constantly in the company of my brother George."

"Well, they were always good friends."

"But I was brought up here. I feel sure that the earl wants to tell me something. I am not sure what."

"I think he probably wants to explain his side of the question."

"Side of what question?"

"You must have seen that the king and my father have not been quite on the old terms for some time."

"Not since Edward's marriage, you mean. Your father did not like that, I know. But it is for a man and in particular a king to say whom he will and will not marry." "Kings are in very important positions."

"Certainly, but it is not the duty of subjects to show displeasure at their choice."

Richard would always support his brother. He might imply that he would have preferred his brother to have married more suitably, and that he deplored the manner in which the Woodvilles were seizing power, but his brother had given them what they had and that was an end of the matter.

I realised that I could not tell Richard of my fears and I tried to assure myself that they were unfounded.

I said no more on the subject and tried to behave exactly as I had in the days of that deep friendship between the king and my father. It was soon after that talk when guards riding at the head of a company of men-at-arms arrived at the castle.

They had come, they announced, to conduct the Dukes of Clarence and Gloucester to the king who had need of their company. Clarence hesitated and was about to refuse to go, but on my father's advice he left with his brother.

Isabel was very upset at their departure. She shut herself in her room and when I went to her I found her weeping bitterly.

"You know what this means," she said.

"The king has heard that we are arranging to get married. Oh, Anne, he is going to try to stop us."

"Perhaps he will agree when the dispensation comes." She could not be comforted. She was sure this sudden and peremptory call meant that the king had heard of the arrangements and was determined to put a stop to them. It was more than a month later when Clarence came to see my , father. He looked very serious and determined. My father greeted him as though he were indeed his son and then took him away to his apartments where they were in conference for a long time. Isabel eventually learned what had happened and told me about it.

She was more cheerful now. She had been right, she said. The king did want to stop the marriage, but her gallant and faithful lover was determined to snap his fingers at his brother if need be "George is wonderful," she said.

"He is so much in love with me He said twenty kings could not keep us apart. All we want is that wretched dispensation. Otherwise, of course, they would say it was no true marriage. Let me tell you what happened."

She proceeded to do so.

"Your poor little Richard was in a fine state, because he thought his brother Edward was angry with him. George did not care if he were. But Richard was right. Edward was angry. He had them both brought before him and he wanted to know why they had arranged to leave court without his permission. Who had suggested they do it and so on. They said no one had. They had decided they would go and visit their old friend, the Earl of Warwick. Then Edward said: "Have either of you been contemplating marriage with one of Warwick's daughters?" And he reminded them that they could not marry without his consent. Richard was silent but George would not be bullied. He said why should he not marry the daughter of the Earl of Warwick? I was the best match in the kingdom! Edward lost his temper with George, which was rare for him, so he must feel strongly about this. He's usually all smiles and waving awkward things aside. He put both George and Richard in a room with guards at the door. Not for long, of course. He soon let them out and was jolly with them. But George said he was quite serious when he impressed on them that they could not marry without his consent."

"What does this mean, Isabel?"

"George says it means that as soon as the dispensation arrives we shall be married, whatever the king says."

"It could cause terrible trouble."

"It is what our father wants."

"Has it occurred to you that our father no longer has the power he once had?"

"Don't talk so about our father. It's disloyal."

"It's the truth."

She laughed at me.

"I should not be afraid to marry without the king's consent, even if you would."

"Oh, Isabel," I said.

"I hope it will not come to that."

"I can tell you this." she said.

"We have seen the last of Richard. George says he will stand by Edward. He will do nothing of which the king does not approve. So he will not be coming to Middleham again."

"I know.""How different George is! George is bold and adventurous. When George makes up his mind, no one is going to stop him, and he is determined to marry me."

I had seen the look in George's eyes, and I feared he was determined to do many things besides marry Isabel.

The shadows deepened. My mother was constantly apprehensive of what would happen next; and I shared her feelings.

Isabel was living in a world of dreams, I believed. George was often with her. They would talk, laugh, ride together and plan for the future. I did wonder whether George was in love with her or her fortune and what my father could do for him.

It sobered me a little to remember that I, too, was a great heiress. Our father must be the richest man in the country and to whom could he leave his wealth but to his two daughters? Yet Richard did not seek me in spite of my fortune. He was above all loyal to the king.

There came an alarming day when guards arrived at the castle. There was shocked tension throughout the place when we heard they had come to conduct my father to the king. Certain charges had been made against him and he must answer them.

My father was furious. This was the greatest insult. He demanded to know what the charges were.

He was told that, when the army was storming one of the Lancastrian castles, a man had been captured and, probably under threat, had declared that my father was scheming to bring Henry back to the throne after he had deposed Edward.

At this time this was an absurd accusation, for although my father had decided to withdraw his support from Edward, he had no intention of restoring Henry, for if he did there would be Margaret of Anjou to contend with, and she would be more difficult to handle than Edward could ever be.

I realised then that at the back of his mind was an idea of replacing Edward with George, Duke of Clarence who, by that time, would be his son-in-law.

However, that plan was in its early stages and my father wasincensed that he should be accused of something of which he was not guilty.

It amazes me, looking back, how easy-going Edward was and always had been. I suppose he could have arrested my father, but, in view of my father's power particularly in the north that could have meant the starting of a civil war; but Edward was forever placatory.

When my father refused to leave, the king sent back a messenger this time. Would the Earl of Warwick be kind enough to confront his accuser, just to show those who might be ignorant enough to believe there might be truth in the rumours, that they were utterly false?