Margaret Beaufort: Mother of the Tudor Dynasty (21 page)

A number of disaffected Yorkists had joined Simnel’s ranks and one of their complaints was that the king did not show enough honour to his wife by arranging for her to be crowned. Henry’s own coronation had taken place before his marriage, and Elizabeth had therefore not been able to share it. It was, however, unusual for a queen not to be crowned before she bore an heir and the delay seemed, to contemporaries, striking. It may be that Henry had simply not got round to arranging the coronation or baulked at the expense, but given his love of pageantry and his determination to stress the power and prestige of his dynasty, this is unlikely. It may, therefore, be that he was concerned about elevating Elizabeth too much due to the danger that it would appear that he only possessed the crown through marriage. From Margaret’s point of view, the fact that there was no crowned queen in England (with the exception of the disgraced Elizabeth Woodville) may also have been pleasing and further bolstered her position as one of the leading ladies in the land. In 1487, however, with the concern that Henry’s Yorkist supporters were beginning to fall away, both the King and his mother recognised the importance of stressing Elizabeth’s role, and in November, Henry finally consented to having his wife crowned.

In October 1487, Henry and Elizabeth set out from Warwick for London, spending All Hallows Day at St Albans. Margaret’s presence is not specifically mentioned, but it would be unusual for her not to have been with her son and daughter-in-law at such an important moment, and she probably travelled with them. Alternatively, she certainly joined the couple once they reached London. It was the first time that Henry had entered his capital since his victory at Stoke, and he was determined to make a show of his power. According to a contemporary manuscript,

Against his coming into his Citie of London, all the streets that his Grace should rid through with his royal company, were clensed; and, upon both sides of the streets, the sitizens of every craft that rod not, were set in rowe, every crafte in dewe Order in their Livereys well besene, from Bisshops Gate unto Powles.

The grand entrance was intended to be Henry’s moment and Margaret and Elizabeth had slipped into the city earlier.

All the Houses, Wyndowes, and streetes wheras he passed by, were hugely replenished with people in passing great Numbre, that made great Joye and Exultacion to beholde his most royall person so prosperously and princely coming into his Citie after his late Triumphe and Victorie against his Enimies. And so to beholde the fayre and goodlie sight of his comyng, the Quenes Grace, and my ladie the Kings Mother, and many other great Estates, both lordes and Ladyes, richely besene, were secretely in a Howse beside St Mary Spittle, without Bisshops Gate; and when the sight was passed, thei went from thence to Grenewich to their Beddes.

The scene must have reminded Margaret of Henry’s great triumph in winning the crown only two years earlier, and she was proud of all her son had achieved, with her assistance. Once the procession was over, the moment belonged to Elizabeth of York, attended, as ever, by Margaret. On 24 November, Elizabeth appeared wearing a dress of white cloth of gold and damask and a furred mantle, fastened with gold and silk lace. She was generally regarded as a beauty and her blond hair hung loose over her shoulders, adorned by a circlet of gold studded with precious stones. Elizabeth’s sister, Cecily, bore her train, and she was attended by most of the nobility as she processed through the streets. The following day, Elizabeth was crowned in Westminster Abbey. As she would have expected, Margaret was granted a prominent place to watch the proceedings, and ‘in the aforesaid church, on the right side, betwene the Pulpit and the High Aulter, was ordeyned a goodly stage, coverid and well besene with Clothe of Arras, and well latised, wherin was the Kings Grace, my Ladie his Mother, and a goodlie sight of Ladies and Gentlewomen attending upon her; as my Ladie Margaret Pole, daughter to the Duke of Clarence, and many other’. Margaret returned with the assembled company to Westminster Abbey in order to attend Elizabeth’s coronation feast. She sat privately with her son on a hidden stage in order to observe the festivities, and both she and Henry must have been pleased with the success of the coronation, which once again had demonstrated the might of their Tudor dynasty. The banquet itself was splendid, and Margaret and Henry, dining in private, shared some of the twenty-three dishes in the first course, which included such exotic and expensive fare as pheasant, swan, capons, lamphreys, crane, pike, carp, perch, richly garnished mutton, custard and tarts. The second course was equally lavish, and its twenty-nine dishes included peacock, pheasant, cocks, partridge, sturgeon, rabbit, quails, larks, baked quince and, as a final flourish, ‘castles of jelie in Temple wysely made’. Margaret went to bed that night well satisfied with the show her son had put on for his wife, and whilst she was naturally forced to yield somewhat to the Queen at Elizabeth’s coronation, she remained prominent, with the same contemporary manuscript recording,

On the Morow the king heard Masse in St Stevens Chappell; and the Queene, my Ladie the Kings Mother also, greatly and nobly accompanyed with Duchesses, Countesses, Viscountesses, Baronnesses, and other Ladies and Gentlewomen, to the Number of lxxx [eighty] largely. And the Queene kept her Estate in the Parliament Chambre; and my ladie the Kings Mother sat on her Right Hande, and my ladie of Bedforde and my Ladie Cecyll sat at the Bourds Ende on the left Hande.

Margaret remained with the court after the coronation, and she dined with Elizabeth in the Queen’s Chamber at Greenwich on Christmas Day. She was still at court on New Year’s Day when she made gifts of largesse to members of her household. The triple nature of the monarchy continued on Twelfth Night, when Henry and Elizabeth appeared crowned and in company with Margaret, who wore a rich coronet as the three walked in procession before Matins. As an emphasis of her regal rank, Margaret wore the same mantle and surcoat as the Queen, and the two women were followed by the other leading ladies of the court:

And when the High Masse was done, the king went to his Chambre, and from thence to the Hall, and there kept his Estate as enseweth, crowned with a riche crown of Golde set with Perle and pretious stones, and under marveilous riche Clothe of Estate, and the Archebusshop of Canturburye on his Right Hande; and the Queene, also crowned, under a Clothe of Estate hanging somwhat lower than the Kings, on his left hande, and my ladie the Kings Mother, with a rich coronell on her Heade, on her Left Hande, with all foure Estates, were servid coverid.

At Easter, both Margaret and Stanley were prominent at Henry’s St George’s Day celebrations, and unusually for women, in an effort to emphasise their ranks, both Elizabeth and Margaret ‘were in Gownes of the Garter of the same as the king and the lordes ware’. Once again, Elizabeth and Margaret’s clothes were identical, and they had been given as a gift from the King from his great wardrobe in good time for the celebrations, as the accounts record:

To Elizabeth queen of England, as a gift from the king, for her robe made of sanguine cloth in grain, furred with the wombs of menever pure, garter with letters of gold. To the Countess of Richmond, the king’s mother, as a gift from the king, for her robe made of sanguine cloth in grain, furred with pure menever, garter with letters of gold.

When Elizabeth had appeared wearing the same dress as her predecessor as queen, Anne Neville, at court at Christmas 1484, it had caused comment, and the symbolism of the Queen and her mother-in-law wearing the same clothes would not have been lost on their contemporaries in 1488. Whilst Margaret, who was some years older than the beautiful Elizabeth, could not possibly have hoped to compete with her in the matter of appearances, by wearing identical clothes, she emphasised that she was of the same (or very close to the same) rank as the Queen, something that can also be seen in her adoption of the signature ‘Margaret R’. Margaret’s anomalous position was recognised by her contemporaries. For example, in February 1487, the constable of the town of Farnham in Surrey was granted a licence to found a perpetual chantry in the town, tellingly ‘for the good estate of the king, Elizabeth queen of England, prince Arthur, and the king’s mother the countess of Richmond’.

As Margaret and Elizabeth were constantly in each other’s company, there is no doubt that there would have been friction between them as they vied for status and position. However, whilst Margaret was determined to be the dominant party, it is clear that there was some affection between the two women. There are a number of recorded examples of them working together, and they shared some interests. On 21 December 1487, for example, Elizabeth, Margaret, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Bishop of Exeter, and Reginald Bray were granted the next presentation to the deanery of the college or free chapel of St Stephen in the Palace of Westminster. An earlier document, made on 6 February 1486, only a few weeks after Elizabeth’s marriage, granted the two women, with a number of their other associates, including Reginald Bray, a licence to found a perpetual chantry in the parish church at Guildford, close to Margaret’s residence at Woking. Both women shared an interest in religion and were active patrons of the Church. A greater common interest between them was in relation to Elizabeth’s children, Margaret’s only grandchildren.

Elizabeth’s second child, Margaret, was followed by a son, Henry, in 1491, Elizabeth in 1492, Mary in 1496, Edmund in 1499 and Katherine in 1503. There was also a further unnamed son who died at birth. Margaret always had a particular fondness for her eldest granddaughter, Margaret, and her youngest grandson, Edmund, who was created Duke of Somerset by his father and for whom she stood godmother. Elizabeth, Edmund and Katherine sadly died young, but Margaret was very involved in the upbringing of the remaining children. Henry VII was able to secure a major diplomatic coup when he succeeded in betrothing his eldest son, Prince Arthur, to Catherine, the daughter of King Ferdinand of Aragon and his wife Isabella, Queen of Castile. From the first, both Elizabeth and Margaret took an active interest in the prestigious marriage. In 1498, for example, the Spanish ambassador was able to report to Catherine’s parents that he had enjoyed an interview with the King that lasted for four hours. Elizabeth and Margaret were both present and ‘to hear what they spoke of your Highnesses and of the Princess of Wales [Catherine] was like hearing the praise of God’. At that meeting, the ambassador gave Elizabeth two letters from Catherine’s parents and two from the princess herself. This caused the only recorded quarrel between the royal couple, and ‘the king had a dispute with the queen because he wanted to have one of the said letters to carry continually about him, but the queen did not like to part with hers, having sent the other to the Prince of Wales’. Only two days later, Elizabeth and Margaret jointly sought out the ambassador to ask that Catherine should make a point of always speaking French with her sister-in-law, Margaret of Austria, who had been raised in France, so that she would be able to converse with the court in England. They also asked that Catherine accustom herself to drinking wine, concerned that the water in England was not drinkable. Both women actively made a point of involving themselves in the future Princess of Wales’ life and upbringing, although it was Elizabeth who took the greater interest, writing personally to Isabella of Castile and her daughter and also enquiring as to her future daughter-in-law’s progress in French. Margaret and Elizabeth collaborated together again in 1498 when a marriage was suggested between the nineyear- old Princess Margaret and the already adult James IV of Scotland. In an interview with the Spanish ambassador, Henry informed him that

I am really sorry that I have not a daughter or a sister for him [James]; for I have loved him most sincerely since the conclusion of the peace; not to mention that he is my relative. He has behaved very well towards me. I wish to see him as prosperous as myself. But I have already told you, more than once, that a marriage between him and my daughter has many inconveniences. She has not yet completed the ninth year of her age, and is so delicate and weak that she must be married much later than other young ladies. Thus it would be necessary to wait at least another nine years. Beside my own doubts, the queen and my mother are very much against this marriage. They say if the marriage were concluded we should be obliged to send the Princess directly to Scotland, in which case they fear the King of Scots would not wait, but injure her, and endanger her health.

The idea that her namesake and favourite granddaughter should be exposed to the perils of early marriage that she herself had gone through was too much for Margaret, and it is likely that, in this case, it was she who enlisted Elizabeth’s support, warning her of the dangers to the princess of risking childbirth at too young an age.

Margaret also played a role in the upbringing of her younger grandchildren and, in particular, her precocious second grandson, Henry, whom his father was considering making Archbishop of Canterbury. She is known to have helped superintend his education. The famous scholar Erasmus was granted an audience with Henry and Elizabeth’s younger children in 1499, and he recorded one of the few impressions of the family in childhood:

I was staying at Lord Mountjoy’s country house when Thomas More came to see me, and took me out with him for a walk as far as the next village, where all the king’s children, except Prince Arthur, who was then the eldest son, were being educated. When we came into the great hall, the attendants not only of the palace but also of Mountjoy’s household were all assembled. In the midst stood Prince Henry, then nine years old, and having already something of royalty in his demeanour, in which there was a certain dignity combined with singular courtesy. On his right was Margaret, about eleven years of age, afterwards married to James, King of Scots, and on his left played Mary, a child of four. Edmund was an infant in arms. More, with his companion Arnold, after paying his respect to the boy Henry, presented him with some writing. For my part, not having expected anything of the sort, I had nothing to offer, but promised that on another occasion I would in some way declare my duty towards him. Meantime I was angry with More for not having warned me, especially as the boy sent me a little note, while we were at dinner, to challenge something from my pen. I went home, and in the Muses’ spite, from whom I have been so long divorced, finished the poem within three days.