My story is a sad one but at the end of every rain storm is a rainbow... right? Well let me begin with my name, Victoria Marie Blumburg. My family house was a beautiful castle full of rose gardens and herbs that my mother would use for medicines for us children. It was my favorite place to play as a child with my brothers James and Edward. The happiest days of our lives then, we would run through the gardens playing war games where my brothers would fight to their play deaths over the love of the princess, which was always me. my mother was the single best memory i have of my childhood she was so loving and always was there for us when most mothers at that time just sent there children to the wet nurses, she was beautiful with long blonde hair that she would wear down her back during the summer holidays we would get with her and father on there brakes from court. she had the most beautiful blue eyes it was like looking into a clear blue ocean. she would often join us in the gardens it was her favorite spot to get out of the stuffy house once the long winters were over. I was the oldest out of the children even tho being a girl that made no difference since my brother james was made the heir to our family lands and titles... something i never agreed with, but my sweet brother edward he was everything to me he was born quite some time after me so i took to him like he was my baby and needed my special care and attention more so when my mother was away at court. I was reaching a age where my father was starting to look into what my role would be to advance our family, a truly horrible thought for me seeing that i was only 13 and did not want to leave my mother or brothers. my father was a cold man that we hardly saw so i could only feel anger towards him for what i knew he was going to try and send me away to some man to just have many sons. that's what he thought was the only purpose of daughters to marry and bring our family more wealth.
Little did i no that what i was thinking was nothing compared to what he really had in store before he sent me away he took my brothers form me and sent them to live with other nobles of the land he said they needed to start learning what it is to be a man and advance their studies, and a month later he told me that i was to be sent away to the courts of france, a whole different country! i was terrified to leave my sweet mother to go to a place where i would know no one and hardly spoke any french it was a sad day for me being so young and knowing i would not see my family for much longer than i would ever want to be away from them. My mother was not happy with it either but put on a brave face for me. i was so afraid of looking out of place all i did for the three weeks i had left was study french so i could at least present myself as a noble lady and not shame my family by being sent back home.
When that sad day came it was like the heavens felt as sad as i, the rain poured down the worst i had seen in my youth and made for a horrible trip over seas, by the time we finally landed i was so sea sick and probably more homesick i was to weak to even walk off the boat i had to be carried off board by one of my fathers servants he had hired to escort me to my new home to serve the french queen. i was so afraid to meet her i couldn't sleep so i stayed up all night practicing my french and curtsies hoping and praying that they would be good enough. that morning all i could think about was what dress should i wear and how my hair and hood where. my long blonde hair i probably brushed over a hundred times, as i looked into the mirror i prayed she wouldn't think i was ugly, i was not like the pale beauties that were all the rage in the courts around the world. true i did have the golden blonde hair that shone like the sun but i was of a darker completion with big brown eyes that looked like the leaves of fall and no matter how hard i tried to stay out of the sun or sit in the shade the sun just seemed to stick to me which gave me a darker tan and red checks all thru the summer. but i was pleased with some aspects of my body even at my young age my body was filling out fast and well i had a thin waste and budding breasts that made me look much older when i would dress up in my new fancy gowns that my father bought for me for my travels golds and dark blues were my best colors to bring out my eyes and dark skin. I would have to make new dresses soon though in the french fashion so i don't stay a outcast for long.
for my meeting with the queen i picked out my best dress which was a dark blue velvet with long hanging sleeves that where all the style in England from our new queen anne which i loved in many ways she was my fashion idle i would only wear french hoods and i had just got a new one that had blue gems going around the top of it to match my dress. after i had washed and was clothed i went to my small mirror to look over myself one last time pinched my checks to make them glow took a deep breath and a quick cup of ale to calm me, and out i went to meet the queen of france praying the whole way that she would like me and not send me back...
When I met queen Claude she was a very kind but small woman, when I was introduced to her she was sitting in a grand chair surrounded by her ladies, one was reading a book of some grand romance. when she summoned me forward I fell down into a deep curtsie, almost so low I didn't no how I would get back up... But she smiled kindly to me. "you must be lady Blumberg, very pretty little thing for just 14" (which I was by the time I finally arrived from that dreadful journey.) "Thank you your majesty." I replied. "I've heard a lot about you from your mother she was a great friend to me awhile back you no. she said you show great talents in needle work and dancing and even hunting?" She asked sounding curious about my skills in hunting."your majesty when you are a only daughter with to eager brother I don't no how I couldn't no how to hunt" I said with a bow. and at that she laughed then went over my rules of service, I must be discreet honest and chaste in my behavior in pain of being sent back to England in disgrace. all of which at the time I fully intended on doing but my future was going to lead me down quite a different path.
I became the queens new favorite very fast she seemed to like my happy bubbly personality after being surrounded by dull judgemental woman her whole life. along with being a favorite came gowns I never could have dream of having the finest silks and reds and blacks which were the most expensive of colors. I was even getting court admirers giving me love tokens and small jewelry, it was a whole new life I never expected and I was excited by all the richness here I was rising fast for only being here for a few months even the king himself noticed me and had a dress specially made for me. that dress was scarlet with my long sleeves and had rubies sown in all threw the folds so in the sun it sparkled and shown all over and went perfect with my figure. all the women in court where jealous and started saying that I was his new whore, and that I was not! women were worse than men when it came to things like that, they simply could not stand when a lowborn girl comes to court and out shines all of them noble women. I took great pleasure in their dirty looks and snickering because I knew it was because I had the king AND queens favor and protection, not them.
