White Boar and the Red Dragon, The (24 page)

‘But events catch up with us, boyo! You have been precipitated from a quiet backwater on to the world stage! There is no escaping it!’

‘Well, this is no life, being pushed and pulled from pillar to post! I wish sometimes I had been born a commoner!’

‘Well, lad, unfortunately, you were not! It was your misfortune, if you like, to be born into the highest rank! A chess piece you may be in the political game, but your high birth ensured that you have no choice but to accept it!’

‘So I must just be a prey to all the winds that blow, like a rudderless ship, for good or evil—tossed hither and thither with no hope of a settled, happy life?’

‘As, I said, Henry, there is always hope. I still believe that circumstances could change dramatically once more and present another opportunity for the Lancastrians to be in the ascendancy again. And you would be the kingpin of any attempt to regain the throne!’

‘But maybe I do not
want
to be king! I am sure I would be happier doing other things! I don’t care much for the thought of being on the throne! I am in the grip of my Lady mother’s and your ambitions for me and maybe I do not want to know any more!’ Henry turned away angrily, his face dark with frustration.

‘You will have to accept your destiny, boyo. You have no choice! If an opportunity arises for you to become king, you must take it! Too much depends on you—the lives and safety of thousands of people, perhaps!’

‘I wish it didn’t! Am I to have no freedom of choice in anything?’

‘If you do become king, you will be all-powerful and capable of enormously important decisions which every king has to take! That is called power! Then, no man will gainsay you! Think about that, lad! It is surely not something to sniff at if given the opportunity to rule. Most men would aspire to it, if only they had the chance!’

‘Well, I do not! But I suppose I will do my duty if asked to! The need for that has always been drummed into me!’

‘High position, great estates, and riches bring responsibilities too! There is no escaping that fact! Now I think we must put our minds to more immediate problems. The wind has got up sharply, you may have noticed, and those black clouds look very ominous. I am sure we are in for a storm shortly!’

Woking Old Hall, Surrey, Summer, 1471

My Dear Henry,

Remember I assured you when you were small that your time would surely come?

Well, you have now become the most important member of the Lancastrians! And I know you have many loyal supporters there in Brittany with you already. And now those that escaped from the battle and found their way to safety after Tewkesbury have also joined you. The king cannot be very happy about that. He keeps telling me to bring you back—that he will not harm you—but I distrust him absolutely!

For now, you are safe at the court of Duke Francis. I know you were in low spirits when you had to escape there across the channel with Uncle Jasper. And that terrible storm must have been terrifying! Thank God you arrived safely on land, even if you were making for France in the first place and were blown off course.

Your escape into exile was absolutely necessary after King Edward came back into power after the battle of Tewkesbury, as you are now the next—and only—legitimate Lancastrian candidate by bloodline to the kingship. And King Henry himself—poor soul—murdered at Edward’s orders, to be sure—prophesied that you would one day sit on the throne! He may have been mad, but he had foresight.

Edward is an usurper. And usurpers are sure to come to a bad end! God will punish him. His own mother, the Duchess Cecily, admitted he was a bastard in 1464. She revealed he was the son of an archer, Blaybourne! He is just the fruit of her lust for a common archer while she was lonely in France because her husband Richard, Duke of York, was always away fighting and left her on her own too much. I believe that she spoke the truth. She is not the kind of woman to speak lightly. And she was driven to it by Edward’s secret marriage to that awful woman, Grey—and she just a commoner! Also, by Edward’s increasingly degenerate lifestyle. She does not regard her own son as fit to be king because of this—apart from his lowly birth. And that means that if he is a bastard—an imposter—then his children have absolutely no rights of succession after him at all. You have! You are descended from pure royal blood. John of Gaunt was your ancestor, remember that!

I continue to work on your behalf here as much as I can, though a woman’s powers—even mine—are limited and depend on the goodwill of men. I often wish I had been born a man. I have every bit as much ability and intelligence as any man in power! But then, of course, I would not have had you, my son.

Be as happy as you can and wait patiently. I am sure that, when you do return, your circumstances will have changed immeasurably. I just know it. I have always known that you were destined for great things!

Don’t ask me how. I just do. Poor King Henry felt it too.

I am sure you miss Raglan, the Herbert family, and your life there. But you must bear it as best you may. You must bide your time and enjoy Duke Francis’s hospitality—which is very generous, you must admit!

Your loving Mother,

Margaret,

Countess of Richmond

Westminster Palace, Summer, 1471

‘I worry about this renegade Jasper and his nephew, Henry Tudor, Richard! He was so quick off the mark getting him away to Brittany! What did he think I would do? Have him killed on the spot for being a very distant future threat to my security on the throne?’

Edward IV rubs his eyes wearily. After yet another night drinking heavily and servicing Mistress Shore, he is not at his best—especially for political matters.

‘Henry Tudor is young, Edward, and completely ignorant of the ways of men! He has lived in Welsh backwaters all his life! He knows nothing of fighting, warfare, tactics, or politics. He is surely not a real threat at all, even with his uncle’s support and protection? Jasper has never been successful in any of his campaigns or endeavours! He is a loser! He’s spent most of his life on the run!’

‘Yes, Richard, but neither of them are short of supporters, even in exile. I should think that anyone who is anybody left on the Lancastrian side has fled to Duke Francis’s court, either before—when they saw how badly things were going for them—and certainly after Tewkesbury! And Jasper will be teaching him everything he knows, as a seasoned campaigner, about warfare and tactics! He will be sure to prime him well to take his chances when he is old enough. You may be sure of that!’

‘You know, I met him at Raglan? I got to know him quite well in the few days I stayed there. He is an unassuming boy, totally without arrogance and certainly not ambitious, to my mind. He is quiet and studious like Lord Herbert, who was his guardian. They both shared a love of rare manuscripts. It is his mother, the formidable Lady Margaret Beaufort, who poses the real threat, I think. She is obsessively ambitious for him. He bewailed the fact to me!’

‘That woman! If she were a man, I would have had her executed long since for treason! She is openly of the Lancastrian persuasion. It is only because her second husband, Stafford, is such a loyal Yorkist and promised to keep her in line that I have spared her up to now. She defies me still, l know it, and is in contact with her son regularly. And with her enormous wealth and influence, she could do a lot of damage. She can also ensure strong support for her dear son. If anyone can fill him with the desire to try for my throne—and provide the resources to back him up—it is her! While that boy lives—and grows up—he is a thorn in my backside, which I am sure will become ever more painful if it is not pulled out and got rid of! And all the time support will grow for him amongst the Lancastrian exiles. I am trying to persuade Francis of Brittany to give him up to me. I have promised him our firm support against Louis of France if he does this. And he cannot turn his nose up at that! He needs us to succeed in his desire to become King of Brittany in his own right, with Brittany an independent state. Louis wants Brittany merged into France and all under his thumb! I have also tried bribing Louis into sending out men into Brittany to capture Henry Tudor and his pesky uncle and send them back to me in custody—with the same incentives (bribes if you like)—of help from England in the event of war with Brittany!’

‘And have either of them shown any willingness to do this?’

‘Not Francis. But I think Louis could be worked on. He is a devious devil. I believe he would go a long way to capture the boy to make a good deal with me!’

‘I wouldn’t trust that one further than I could throw him! Forget Louis. Continue to work on Francis. After all, he actually has Henry at his court! But I still think the boy is harmless.’

‘On his own, perhaps. But his supporters will push him to assert his possible right to the throne, slender though that may be. If not soon, then some time in the future! I know it!’

‘I got quite friendly with him when I visited Raglan Castle as I told you. If he had been a Yorkist, I would even have liked him by my side. I would have invited him to be one of my squires.’

‘You mean, you would actually have desired him as a friend?’

‘Yes, we got on very well, have similar backgrounds in many ways—and similar tastes. It is a pity he is on the wrong side. It is a friendship which could go nowhere.’

‘Well now, more urgent matters have to be dealt with! King James of Scotland is becoming a nuisance again, and his brother, the Duke of Albany, even more so. I wish they would be satisfied with keeping on their own side of the border! Scotland is a big enough country. But no, there are constant raids into our northern lands. I want you there, Richard, as one of proven military ability, to deal with the unending troubles on the Scottish border. Scarcely do we seem to get them settled, when it all breaks out once more!’

‘You are sending me north again?’

‘Yes, you know and love the north country anyway. I am restoring to you the posts of Constable and Admiral of England, held by Warwick until his death, and also you will be Steward of the Duchy of Lancaster-beyond-Trent. So you now have all the lands of the north to command, which formerly belonged to that traitor, Warwick!’

‘I thank you, my lord! You have made me a very happy man! You know I do not really like living in London or being at court much.’

‘No, you are a man of the wide open spaces and a lover of your freezing moorland air!’ Edward shuddered. ‘You are the ideal man for the job! So you shall have the castles of Sheriff Hutton and Middleham, which, I know, is your favourite place to be.’

‘It is my heart’s home, Sire! I always loved it, from the moment I arrived there to train under the Earl of Warwick in the knightly arts.’

‘Well, now it is yours. You will also have authority over the Earl of Northumberland!’

‘He will not like that. He has always been used to having his own way!’

‘The Percys need taking down a peg or two! They are far too big for their boots, always have been. So now, you are Lord of the North, my dear and most trusty brother. I wish you Godspeed and success in your endeavours!’

Anne, Westminster, Late 1471

So Richard has been given Middleham by the king, my old home. And his, when he was a boy in training there. I know he loves it, as I do, so I have no resentment at him inheriting it. All my inheritance was forfeit anyway, because of my father’s disaffection. And my sister Isabel’s. George of Clarence has managed to get his hands on a large portion of it. I know he is working to get it all. He is an avaricious, self-seeking man. My mother was immediately stripped of all her estates after father was killed at Barnet. She has nothing now.

She is existing on the goodwill of her friends. Perhaps Isabel and I will end up with nothing too—though I do not think so, somehow. Richard will see that I am looked after anyway. He will persuade the king to be kind to me, I know that. I trust him. He has always cared for me, as I do for him. I wish I could go back to Middleham to live too. With Richard. I hate London and the court. The filthy, polluted air of London makes me cough. I seem to have a cough on and off most of the time now. I long for the clear air of Wensleydale.

I saw Richard again when I came to London for King Edward’s triumphal procession to Westminster in May.

I had to take part in the procession, and Richard was just ahead of me. He looked very grand on his great white horse. He always did prefer white horses. It was splendidly caparisoned—like its master. It is a very young stallion, and he loves it dearly. Richard has named it White Surrey.

He turned to smile at me several times. He does not include me in his anger at what my father did. He loved my father once—very much, looked up to him as if he were his father, as he never knew his own. But I suppose he hates the Earl of Warwick’s memory now. It is not surprising. Father was always headstrong, wilful, and vaunting in his ambitions He had a power-mania. Mother used to warn him this would lead to his downfall, but he only laughed at her. I know he was wrong to do what he did, but I miss him. I loved him very much too, in spite of all.

I am not well, and it is so stifling in the city. I am afraid, particularly of George of Clarence. I know he plans to use me somehow to achieve his own ends. Perhaps he will even have me secretly killed while Richard is away and cannot protect me. I feel so vulnerable. Edward, the king, treats me with respect and care, but I do not think he realises how utterly ruthless George is. With his charm and his handsome face, he gets away with everything. The king has good reason to distrust him too, after he sided with my father, but he forgave him it all! He must love him a great deal to forgive so readily every time he goes against him. But I know he loves Richard best. Richard has always been his favourite brother. And George resents this—greatly. I think he even hates Richard now. Brothers should not hate each other. But George’s nature is ruled by jealousy of Richard’s place in the king’s heart and by his avariciousness. I try to avoid him, but he is now trying to persuade the king to let him be my protector—while he angles his way to get hold of the rest of my inheritance. My protector?! I would not trust him an inch. He is a wolf in sheep’s clothing! An utterly untrustworthy man. The complete opposite to Richard. I would trust him with my life! I wish he were here, all the time. Particularly now.