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Chapters (43)
  1. Cover
  2. The Taming of the Queen
  3. Family Trees
  4. Maps
  5. HAMPTON COURT PALACE,
  6. HAMPTON COURT PALACE,
  7. OATLANDS PALACE, SURREY,
  8. MANOR OF THE MORE, HERTFORDSHIRE,
  9. AMPTHILL CASTLE, BEDFORDSHIRE,
  10. HAMPTON COURT PALACE,
  11. WHITEHALL PALACE, LONDON,
  12. WHITEHALL PALACE, LONDON,
  13. SAINT JAMES’S PALACE, LONDON,
  14. WHITEHALL PALACE, LONDON,
  15. WHITEHALL PALACE, LONDON,
  16. WHITEHALL PALACE, LONDON,
  17. HAMPTON COURT PALACE,
  18. LEEDS CASTLE, KENT,
  19. WHITEHALL PALACE, LONDON,
  20. WHITEHALL PALACE, LONDON,
  21. WHITEHALL PALACE, LONDON,
  22. WHITEHALL PALACE, LONDON,
  23. NONSUCH PALACE, SURREY,
  24. SOUTHSEA CASTLE, PORTSMOUTH HARBOR,
  25. COWDRAY HOUSE, MIDHURST, SUSSEX,
  26. GREENWICH PALACE,
  27. WHITEHALL PALACE, LONDON,
  28. WHITEHALL PALACE, LONDON,
  29. HAMPTON COURT PALACE,
  30. HAMPTON COURT PALACE,
  31. GREENWICH PALACE,
  32. WHITEHALL PALACE, LONDON,
  33. GREENWICH PALACE,
  34. WHITEHALL PALACE, LONDON,
  35. HAMPTON COURT PALACE,
  36. HAMPTON COURT PALACE,
  37. WINDSOR CASTLE,
  38. WHITEHALL PALACE, LONDON,
  39. OATLANDS PALACE, SURREY,
  40. GREENWICH PALACE,
  41. HAMPTON COURT PALACE,
  42. AUTHOR’S NOTE
  43. BIBLIOGRAPHY

I try to remember. Now that he points it out to me I do think there were a lot of noticeably devout young women among the many that we met on progress. I give a little giggle. “My lord husband, this is—”

“Ridiculous,” he finishes for me. “But they think I am old and restless. They think I am whimsical, and that I would change my wife and change my church in the morning and change it back again in the evening. But you know,” he kisses my hand again, “you know better than anyone that I am faithful, to you and to the church that I am making.”

“You will hold to your reforms,” I confirm.

“I will do what I think right,” he says. “We shall have your family at court for Christmas. You must be pleased that I am going to honor them? I will give your uncle a title—he shall be Lord Parr—and I will make your brother an earl.”

“I am so grateful, my lord. And I know they will serve you loyally in their new positions. I shall be so pleased to see them at court. And—dear husband—may the children come for Christmas, too?”

He is surprised at the suggestion. “My children?”

“Yes, my lord.”

“They usually stay at their own houses,” he says uncertainly. “They always celebrate Christmas with their people.”

Will Somers, who is at the king’s side, cracks two walnuts together in his hands, picks out the shells, and offers the nut to his royal master. “Who are their people—if not us?” he demands. “Lord, Lord, King! See what a good woman will do to you? You’ve only been married for five months and already she is giving you three children! This is the most fertile wife of all! It’s like keeping a cony!”

I laugh. “Only if Your Majesty would wish it?”

Henry’s jowls are trembling with his emotion, his face flushes, his eyes fill with tears. “Of course I wish it, and Will is right. You are a good woman and you are bringing my children home to me. You will make us into a family of England, a true family. Everyone shall see us together: the father—and the son who will come after him. And I shall have Christmas with my children around me. I’ve never done such a thing before.”

HAMPTON COURT PALACE,

CHRISTMAS 1543