Read Online Jean Plaidy by The Reluctant Queen: The Story of Anne of York - Free Book Online Page B

marriage, I was not sure. Certainly she and George seemed very happy together; and there was no doubt of his charm, but for some reason I could not entirely trust him and I wondered how deep his feelings went.
    During that visit there was a great deal of talk about the Woodvilles and their influence at court. George was less discreet than my father and uncle. He told Isabel and Isabel told me that the main trouble with the queen’s family was that they flattered the king and fell in with everything he said. He liked that. It made life easy. And then that woman would come along with her request for this and that…and it was the simplest way to give it to her.
    â€œGeorge says that the king is not faithful to the queen,” said Isabel. “She knows it but she never reproaches him. She just treats it as though it is natural. I told George I would never be like that so he will have to be a good husband when he marries me. He says Elizabeth is very clever. All she cares about is having children and getting her family into high places and rich marriages. He says she will think of one for him and one for me…and it won’t be for us to be married to each other but to a Woodville for each of us. That makes us laugh, because we are going to marry each other, says George, and nothing is going to prevent us.”
    â€œOh, Isabel,” I cried. “I hope it all comes right for you.”
    â€œOf course it will come right. Our father will see to that.”
    When I look back over that time, I can follow step by step how everything fell into place and how gradually we approached disaster.
    Now that I see it all so much more clearly and with the advantage of hindsight, I cannot blame my father. He had worked hard to attain his power but he had simply misjudged his puppet. He had found it difficult to understand the nature of Edward and it was imperative for him to do so if he were to succeed in his schemes. He had dismissed Edward as a light-living luxury-loving young man—which he was—but there was another side to his nature.
    From the beginning Edward had the making of a king who was determined to become one and remain one. This my father failed to see. Edward was a great soldier and so far had never been beaten on the battlefield. He had avoided conflict, was not in the least vindictive, and was inclined to forgive his enemies and bear few grudges, and this, in some ways, added to his strength. He knew what he owed to my father; he realized he could be a powerful enemy; but Edward was determined to rule in his way and no other man’s. When he had sought the crown and Warwick had helped him attain it, he had listened and obeyed his mentor the earl because he recognized his power at the time to make or break him; but he was now made; he was the king and all must be made aware of it.
    I think that was the true state of affairs, and who could blame Edward? My father had agreed to accept him as king, to work for him and serve him. The quarrel over Edward’s marriage could have been forgotten and the king would have borne no rancor. They could have resumed their normal relationship and have been of inestimable help to each other. It was my father’s pride—and that only—that stood in the way of a reconciliation.
    There was a difference of opinion between them on foreign policy. My father had been wooed by the King of France, who had seen in him the real ruler of England, which had been true in the first period of Edward’s reign. My father greatly valued the friendship of France. For many years there had been conflict between the royal house of France and that of Burgundy; and both the French and the Burgundians would be watching what was happening in England and would be aware of the coolness between the king and the Earl of Warwick. Therefore Burgundy decided to woo Edward.
    Since he had come to the throne, Edward had matured considerably and he would have realized that my