(A/N: some parts of this chapter may be difficult for some readers, but they are necessary for a telling of the true story. Please feel free to skip ahead if you don't want to read certain difficult parts, which should become clear before you get to them 🙂 )
2
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August 1509
Greenwich Palace
London
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It does not feel like I have been the Queen of England for two months already. Henry and I had a joint coronation in the warm, June sun, surrounded by hundreds of thousands of people cheering and rejoicing the start of this golden age. Gone are the days of cold misery and economic stinginess, here come the days of England's finest monarch. I could not be prouder to be married to Henry VIII.
Henry is keen to get to work creating his new kingdom and instigating the changes he desires; it is truly his wish to create a new England. He spends hours with his advisors, signing documents and adjusting taxes, discussing foreign affairs and planning government changes; and then at night he comes to me a man in love. For the time being everything seems perfect, but I am not so naïve to think that it will last forever. We will encounter problems, and we will have to tackle them.
"I cannot be seen to look weak, Katherine." Henry tells me as we walk together in the palace; he is accompanying me to the gardens before he sits through more council meetings. "That is the problem with being a young king, older rulers throughout Europe will see me as vulnerable and changeable, they may try to bend me to their wills."
I let out a small laugh and smile at him. From what I have learned of my husband over the past months, his will is not so easily changed once he has his mind set on something.
"What is it?" Henry asks, unable to help but return a smile. "Why are you laughing so?"
"I like the idea of other people trying to change your mind on something - that would be no easy task." I exclaim.
"You think me stubborn then?"
"More...determined." I smile.
"I should hope so too. I will not have anybody tell me what to do - except, perhaps, you." Henry remarks as we leave the palace into the gardens, arm in arm, close together.
"Well, if that is the case then I should certainly like to tell you something...something that may well change the way you view your role as king." We stop walking and stand facing each other, surrounded by the greens and pinks and yellows of the summer gardens. "I believe that I am with child."
"With child! So soon?" Henry exclaims, his mouth breaking into an unstoppable smile. "Katherine, that is wonderful!"
He takes me in his arms and kisses me softly. "I knew you would be pleased." I say.
"Most pleased! This is the best news you could bring me. Soon we will have a son and heir to secure our reign."
"Indeed, and so if I may offer you some advice, please do not make any irrational decisions. Make peace with Europe, keep the country safe whilst I protect our child. It would make me happy to see our child come into a safe world."
"Of course, Katherine, you are right." Henry takes my hands in his. "I will make England safe for our son. Now I'm afraid I must go; I have many council meetings to sit through today - and I must make peace with France!"
"And with all countries." I prompt. I find it hard to conceal my distaste at his desire to ally with France instead of Spain, but I wish above everything just for peace.
YOU ARE READING
To Keep A King
Historical Fiction'I dreamt about her again tonight. The woman whose name I don't know and whose face remains ever obscured...I don't know who this woman is, but I have a dreadful and inexplicable feeling that, one day, I will...' Many of us have heard of the story o...
