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Authors: Victoria Holt
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envious of babiesut perhaps not so much of girls.
She received me with a show of affection and I did my scene, implying thankfulness for her recovery, which I managed very well, and which I fancied touched her, for she kept me at her side and gave me some plum-colored velvet to have made into a gown and a lace ruff with a wire underpropper to go with it. It was a mark of her favor.
It was while I was at Court that news came that the Archduke Charleshat suitor whom she had declinedas now seeking the hand of Mary Queen of Scots. The intensity of Elizabeth feelings towards that royal rival would not be disguised. She was inordinately interested in Mary. If she gleaned any information about her, she would be tense with concentration; and she never forgot any detail of what she had been told. She was jealous of Mary not because of the Scottish Queen unquestionable legitimacy, nor because of her claim to the throne, but because Mary was reputed to be one of the most beautiful women in the world; and the fact that she was also a queen made comparison natural. That Mary was beautiful and talented, there was no doubt; but I felt sure she could not have possessed one hundredth part of the shrewd cunning and that heaven-sent cleverness of our own Lady Elizabeth.
I fell to thinking how different their lives had been. Mary, the petted darling of the French Court, fawned on, loved by her father-in-law and his mistress Diane de Poitiers, who was of far greater importance than Queen Catherine deMedici, doted on by her young husband, beloved of the poets. And our Elizabeth, growing through her uneasy childhood and girlhood, never very far from death. I think it was probably this which had made her what she was; and in that case it was doubtless worthwhile.
It was amazing that one who was as clever as she was could not have seen fit to hide her jealous rage because the Archduke was seeking Mary hand. Had she suffered it in private it would have been a different matter, but she sent for William Cecil, was abusive in her reference to that ake of Austriaand declared that she would never give her consent to a marriage between him and Mary, and she wished Mary to be advised that since she considered herself heiress to the crown of England, it behooved her to take heed of the opinion of England Queen.
Cecil was afraid that the Queen outburst would be ridiculed by the foreigners concerned and when the Emperor of Austria wrote to the effect that his son had been insulted and he had no intention of submitting himself to that indignity again, the Queen smirked and nodded.
Robert must have felt his chances were good at that time. I caught glimpses of him now and then and there was no doubt that he was very sure of himself. He was constantly with the Queen, alone in her apartments; so it was small wonder that people like Mrs. Dowe believed the rumors which were spread about them. But it seemed that Elizabeth was still thinking of the Amy Dudley affair and that was why she went on holding back.
When we heard that another of her suitors, Eric of Sweden, had fallen romantically in love, she could not stop herself repeating the story over and over again. He had seen a beautiful girl named Kate selling nuts outside the palace and had become so enamored of her that he had married her. It was like a fairy story, said Elizabeth. So touching. But what great stroke of good fortune for poor Kate that she had refused Eric! Indeed, she said, Kate should be as grateful to her as she was to her lover. But it was clear that a man who could marry a nut seller was no mate for the Queen of England.
She loved to discuss her suitors. She would often make me sit beside her while she went over details of the offers of marriage which had been made to her. nd here I am, still a virgin,she sighed.
ut not for long, Your Majesty,I said.
hink you not so?
here are so many seeking the honor, Madam. You will, I doubt not, decide to accept one and make him the happiest man on
She received me with a show of affection and I did my scene, implying thankfulness for her recovery, which I managed very well, and which I fancied touched her, for she kept me at her side and gave me some plum-colored velvet to have made into a gown and a lace ruff with a wire underpropper to go with it. It was a mark of her favor.
It was while I was at Court that news came that the Archduke Charleshat suitor whom she had declinedas now seeking the hand of Mary Queen of Scots. The intensity of Elizabeth feelings towards that royal rival would not be disguised. She was inordinately interested in Mary. If she gleaned any information about her, she would be tense with concentration; and she never forgot any detail of what she had been told. She was jealous of Mary not because of the Scottish Queen unquestionable legitimacy, nor because of her claim to the throne, but because Mary was reputed to be one of the most beautiful women in the world; and the fact that she was also a queen made comparison natural. That Mary was beautiful and talented, there was no doubt; but I felt sure she could not have possessed one hundredth part of the shrewd cunning and that heaven-sent cleverness of our own Lady Elizabeth.
I fell to thinking how different their lives had been. Mary, the petted darling of the French Court, fawned on, loved by her father-in-law and his mistress Diane de Poitiers, who was of far greater importance than Queen Catherine deMedici, doted on by her young husband, beloved of the poets. And our Elizabeth, growing through her uneasy childhood and girlhood, never very far from death. I think it was probably this which had made her what she was; and in that case it was doubtless worthwhile.
It was amazing that one who was as clever as she was could not have seen fit to hide her jealous rage because the Archduke was seeking Mary hand. Had she suffered it in private it would have been a different matter, but she sent for William Cecil, was abusive in her reference to that ake of Austriaand declared that she would never give her consent to a marriage between him and Mary, and she wished Mary to be advised that since she considered herself heiress to the crown of England, it behooved her to take heed of the opinion of England Queen.
Cecil was afraid that the Queen outburst would be ridiculed by the foreigners concerned and when the Emperor of Austria wrote to the effect that his son had been insulted and he had no intention of submitting himself to that indignity again, the Queen smirked and nodded.
Robert must have felt his chances were good at that time. I caught glimpses of him now and then and there was no doubt that he was very sure of himself. He was constantly with the Queen, alone in her apartments; so it was small wonder that people like Mrs. Dowe believed the rumors which were spread about them. But it seemed that Elizabeth was still thinking of the Amy Dudley affair and that was why she went on holding back.
When we heard that another of her suitors, Eric of Sweden, had fallen romantically in love, she could not stop herself repeating the story over and over again. He had seen a beautiful girl named Kate selling nuts outside the palace and had become so enamored of her that he had married her. It was like a fairy story, said Elizabeth. So touching. But what great stroke of good fortune for poor Kate that she had refused Eric! Indeed, she said, Kate should be as grateful to her as she was to her lover. But it was clear that a man who could marry a nut seller was no mate for the Queen of England.
She loved to discuss her suitors. She would often make me sit beside her while she went over details of the offers of marriage which had been made to her. nd here I am, still a virgin,she sighed.
ut not for long, Your Majesty,I said.
hink you not so?
here are so many seeking the honor, Madam. You will, I doubt not, decide to accept one and make him the happiest man on
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