On a dismal day in late February, in the queen’s privy chamber, Alys and I were feeding hempseed to the queen’s parrot when Jane the Fool capered across the room and stopped directly in front of me. She pressed both hands over her heart.
“I sigh, I pine,” she said in her carrying, singsong voice, and rolled her protuberant eyes.
I laughed, anticipating entertaining antics. Jane’s sole purpose at court was to amuse the queen and her ladies. Although she was dressed in beautiful court clothing, with a bright red pleated underskirt and a bodice and gown of brocaded damask, she wore the hose and shoes of a jester. A close-fitting cap covered her oversize head and she had bells sewn onto her sleeves. The tinkling sound attracted the attention of everyone in the privy chamber. They were all watching when Thomas, the queen’s male fool, skipped over to Jane, fell to his knees at her feet, clasped his hands high in the air in front of him, and began to declaim.
“I will do whatever it takes to have you, my love!”
“You already have a wife!” she cried.
“I will remove the impediment! Oh I, Will, will!” And he began to make stabbing motions with a wooden knife. Then he tossed it aside and mimed strangling an imaginary wife.
Horrified, I could do nothing but watch as the queen’s ladies tittered and Jane cheered Thomas on. When he abandoned strangulation and pretended to take out a pistol, prime and fire it, Jane mimed combing out long hair and placing a circlet on her head—like a bride.
“Stop,” I whispered. “Oh, please, stop.”
“Hush, Bess,” Alys warned. “Do not let on that you know they are mocking you and Will.”
Although I saw the sense in what she said, it was already far too late to salvage the situation. I heard laughter, hastily muffled, and saw the knowing glances directed my way. It was left to the queen herself to put an end to my torment.
“Jane. Thomas,” she said in her sweet, quiet voice. “That will do.”
At once the two fools fell into a tumbling routine that ended with Thomas juggling four wooden knives. Queen Kathryn ordered me into her bedchamber. She dismissed her other ladies and led me through into the secret lodgings beyond, the one area of her apartments where we could be truly private.
Five adjoining rooms made up the secret lodgings: the queen’s bed-chamber—the one where she actually slept; a withdrawing chamber with a garderobe; a privy chamber; another withdrawing chamber, one that the king and queen both used; and another private bedchamber. The latter was where the king and queen slept together, an increasingly rare occurrence if the rumors were to be believed. That bedchamber, in turn, connected to yet another privy chamber, one of the king’s, and to a private stair that led outside the palace. All the rooms looked out over the park and privy garden. The queen bade me sit beside her on a window seat in the middle room.
“Bess, this incident is most regrettable.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
“I should send you back to your parents.”
“Yes, Your Grace, but I pray you will not.” My heart was hammering so hard that I feared it might leap out of my chest. I could barely hear the queen’s words over the rushing sound in my ears.
She tilted her head to better study my face. Then she reached out and patted my hand. “My brother is a good man, Bess.”
“Yes, Your Grace.” I took a deep, calming breath and reminded myself that we both loved Will Parr.
“I sympathize with you, my dear, but there is little hope that he will be permitted to remarry while his wife lives. The king disapproves of such unions.”
I bit back a rude reply. The king kept one standard for himself and another for everyone else. “Perhaps His Grace will change his mind.”
“I do not believe he will, and no good can come of pining for what you cannot have.”
The sudden hitch in the queen’s voice told me Her Grace spoke from experience. I had heard the story. Queen Kathryn had been courted by someone else before the king decided he wanted her—Thomas Seymour, younger brother of the late Queen Jane. I wondered if she had been in love with him. How sad if that were true. She’d had to yield to the king, even though her heart belonged to another. To defy King Henry was never wise.
“I believe that Will’s feelings for you are genuine,” the queen continued. She sounded as if this surprised her. “But you must be sensible. Discourage him, Bess. You have admirers aplenty here at court. Choose one of them, marry, and be happy.”
“I should like to be happy, Your Grace.”
She frowned at my answer. “Will is not besotted enough to kill his wife for you.”
“He would never kill anyone!” I sprang to my feet, for a moment forgetting that I was talking to the queen of England. “And her death is not the only way for us to wed.” Will was a member of the king’s Privy Council now. Surely that meant His Grace favored him.
“Stubborn fools, you and Will both, to live in hope of a royal decree.” Although the words were harsh, the queen’s tone of voice was tolerant, almost affectionate. Then she sighed. “I will not send you away, Bess, but I do ask that you be more discreet.”
“Yes, Your Grace. I will strive to be.”
I thought she would dismiss me then. Instead she added one more warning. “I have enemies at court, Bess. I am certain they were behind today’s attempt to discredit you. Have a care what persons you trust.”
I left the secret lodgings in a troubled frame of mind. Someone had put Jane Fool up to her antics. Jane’s mind was no more complex than a small child’s. She had to have been given lines to say and actions to pantomime.
I found Jane with her keeper in the poultry pen in one corner of the privy garden. The queen had given three geese and several hens to Jane to tend. The fool was industriously throwing grain at them when I called to her. She trotted over to the fence, a lopsided smile on her pale, unlined face.
“Jane,” I said slowly, “who told you to pretend to be a bride?”
“Her Grace said to entertain the ladies.”
I rephrased the question, but it did no good. Jane had no idea what I was talking about.
Discouraged, I returned to the privy chamber. I thought about pursuing the matter. I could talk to the other fool, Thomas. But to continue to ask questions would only call attention to the incident, and more notoriety was the last thing I wanted.
19
I did not need to tell Will about the pantomime. The story was all over court by the next morning. That afternoon, as we strolled together in the queen’s gallery, surrounded by other members of her household, I relayed my conversation with his sister in a whisper and told him about my unproductive effort to question Jane.
“Kathryn may be correct,” he said “There are warring factions at court. Religious matters divide them. My sister has made a powerful enemy of Stephen Gardiner, bishop of Winchester. Gardiner is always careful not to offend the king, but everyone else knows he’d return the Church of England to Rome if he could. He blames Kathryn for persuading His Grace to be lenient toward reformers. That the king and queen discuss religion in private infuriates him. He thinks he should be the only one guiding His Grace in such matters.”
Her Grace favored the evangelical point of view—further reform of the Church of England and the right to study the Scriptures for ourselves. There were all manner of religious books and translations of the Bible in her apartments. I had not read them. I was more interested in music and games, dancing and masques. When I read at all, it was a letter from my family or a newly composed sonnet.
“Does the king need guidance?” I asked. By declaring himself head of the Church of England, King Henry had replaced the pope. I wondered if that made him equally infallible.