1500's Spain
A scream pierces the thick night air as a husband lays dying and a wife loses too much blood. The midwife smiles and brings forth a tiny baby, placing it in the mother's shaking arms. "A daughter, my queen, such a beauty."
"That she is, please, bring my husband."
Several agonizing minutes later, the King of Spain is brought forth in a wheelchair, a tired and pained smile on his sweaty face. "We must name her." He strokes the baby's cheek and a tear falls from his eyes, "she shall very soon be the Queen of Spain, and she must be hidden."
"Castellana," his wife says quickly, "a beautiful name for a ruler."
"It is perfect, now get away from this place, our forces will be here soon to defeat the English, but if you don't leave now they will kill us all."
"And what of you, my husband?"
"Let them kill me, I'm already dying."
She hands the baby to a servant and tries to move, but more blood flows that cannot be stopped. "I fear I will bleed out before they break down the doors of the castle."
The King grips his wife's hand and turns to a young servant boy in the corner. "Run, as fast as your legs will take you with my daughter, run until you find the the French ambassador to take my child and yourself safely to his country."
The boy nods, taking the baby as the crest of Spain is hung around her neck, to prove that she is their rightful Queen. The mother and father hold onto each other, as a blade pierces his heart and the trauma from childbirth takes his wife.
But the Queen of Spain will survive, and will return when her country no longer burns, she will reclaim her birth right.
France
The Queen of Spain is carried into the throne room before the King of France, wrapped in a white linen with the gold crest still around her neck. A picture of nobility, even as an infant.
"King Antonio and his wife Charlotte of Spain are dead, your majesty, but their daughter was brought into the world on the night they met their end, the rightful Queen of Spain was trusted under the protection of France."
"She will have it, I will raise her as my own." The King of France takes the girl in his arms and turns to face his young son of no more than five, the prince of his country.
"My boy, you are looking upon a babe who is already a queen, one that will be your wife."
The boy only nods, wondering how an infant will become his bride.
YOU ARE READING
The Queen of all Spain
Historical FictionThe young Queen of Spain was hidden away as a baby after the murder of her parents as a try to take control of her country. By chance, Castellana escaped to France where she would be raised by its king, leaving Spain to await their monarch. As the...
