The Italian Rose

Thirty-six

It was the sound of drums that caught the attention of the farmhands working in the fields, the youngest spotting the banners and immediately threw down his bundle of hay before dashing towards the road with his father and brothers calling out to him.

Soon he joined a small crowd of children standing on either side of the road, staring in awe at the finery of each man that had passed by, from what he remembered in what little education he received, several of the banners had the crest of House Tudor, the rest had a golden loin on a field of red cloth. If you were to look close enough, the letters H and I were elegantly embroidered along the hem of the banners.

The men marched two at a time in the procession line, there were some hunting hounds walking beside their masters as the horses carrying armoured men trotted to the beat of the drums, there the boy stared with mouth agape as the King of England sat upon his horse.

Beside the King was a woman with hair as golden as the Crown she wore. He immediately knew that this was the Queen, Isabella, a smile upon her face as she noticed the boy's awe.

Signalling behind them with her finger, the royal couple continued onwards. Soon, another man rode forward and tossed the boy a gold coin.

A familiar hand landed on his shoulder, and the boy gripped the coin tightly. "Papa, I saw the King and Queen!"

A carriage moved on by carrying some ladies inside and a small child, who gave the boy a toothy smile.
Cheers began to echo at the sight of the Royal couple, and the boy and his father joined in.

"God bless King Henry! God bless Queen Isabella!" The commonfolk cried, bowing as their King and Queen rode past them. "God bless the Prince of Wales!"

Isabella glanced back at the carriage that held her beloved son inside with Lady Pole, Lady Clarice and Jane Seymour inside, her newly born twins were back at Greenwich Palace under the watchful eye of Lady Giulia and Anne Boleyn.

Isabella smiled at the well wishes of her people, she signalled for gold coins to be distributed amongst those present and she waved at a small girl hiding behind her mother's skirts, the girl returned the wave with a toothy smile.

"The people love their Queen." Henry whispered, smiling at the greetings that Isabella was receiving. It was a surprise as he had not expected such a welcome for his new queen. The nobles had to show loyalty, but Catherine had the love of the commonfolk for a very long time, and now, the very same people were showing the same amount of love towards Isabella, if not more.

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Stefano De Angelo stared ahead as the procession slowly came through the gates of his estate, his mind racing with the possibilities of what could go wrong during the visit of the Royal couple, Thomas Cromwell had oversaw the preparations as this was the first time that the Duke had welcomed such fine guests into his home.

A part of him wishes that there was more time to prepare, especially now that the Princess Mary had departed for France a day after her fourteenth birthday with the Dowager Princess of Wales, Ludlow Castle was now unoccupied and many had guessed that either the young Duke of York or Princess Anna would reside there once they come of age.

Sophia had given her father's hand a light squeeze, which had brought him out of his thoughts. He gave her a stiff nod before stepping forward to greet the king.

Stefano could not deny that even after birthing three children, Isabella looked as beautiful as the day she had caught the attention of the King, aside from a few laugh lines around her lips; motherhood suites her well.