Her Highness, the Traitor - By Susan Higginbotham Page 0,93
(scrupulously, we made certain all of her own relations were duly represented) when late on July 9, John ordered that Jane be brought from Chelsea to Sion.
“I’ll fetch her,” offered Mary. She winked at her brother. “King Guildford would probably scare her off if he went in person.”
Guildford gave a regal scowl.
Presently, Mary returned, escorting Jane into the room where John conducted business, and a short time later I saw John, the Duke of Suffolk, the Marquis of Northampton, the Earl of Arundel, the Earl of Huntingdon, and the Earl of Pembroke arrive. Guildford went to meet them. My friend the Marchioness of Northampton had been deputed by the council to bring the Duchess of Suffolk to Sion, and they arrived just as John’s man came to my chamber. “The men want the ladies to join them,” he said succinctly.
We charged—“hastened” would give the mistaken idea we were delicate about it—into John’s chamber. There Jane stood, surrounded by a group of kneeling men. “Mother!” she cried, turning so sharply poor Northampton was assailed by her skirts. “They are telling me that the king is dead! Is it true?”
“It is true,” Frances said gently. “The king has gone to God.”
“Well, of course it is true,” I put in irritably. “Why would all these men be kneeling before you if it were not?”
Jane recovered to give me an icy stare, and I realized my place. “Your Majesty,” I said, and knelt so low to the ground that every bone in my being protested.
John craved Jane’s permission to allow the company to rise. She gave it in a distracted manner, and John, reading from a long sheet of parchment, outlined what all of us knew already: the king had disinherited his sisters in favor of Jane. Once again, we all knelt, the men promising to defend Jane’s right to the throne with their very blood.
Jane stared down at us. Then she sank to the ground and began weeping, but only as long as was proper. After she prayed in silence, she accepted Guildford’s proffered hand and rose to her feet. “I have not sought this crown, which is too great a weight for a person as insignificant as myself. But if it is rightly and lawfully mine, I beseech His Divine Majesty to grant me such grace and spirit that I may govern to his glory and service, and to the advantage of the realm.”
“Long live the queen!” we shouted.
***
After Jane accepted the crown, there was an interminable banquet that was far more memorable for its awkwardness than for the quality of the fare. The queen alternated between looking confused when the other guests did her honor and looking annoyed when they did not. No one seemed quite to know what to do with Guildford, the new royal consort, who finally ended up sitting at a table with his brothers, all of whom I suspected were drinking too much wine. John and the Duke of Suffolk sat with the rest of the royal councilors, most of whom had a dazed look on their faces. Only the Marchioness of Northampton appeared entirely happy. “Who would have thought my matchmaking would be for a queen?” she asked rhetorically.
When the banquet had at last ended, John followed me to my chamber. “Well, we’ve carried out the king’s will. I hope we’ve done the right thing. I realized at the banquet tonight that I really know very little of Lady Jane—I mean, Queen Jane. Oh, she’s learned, all right, but is England safe in her hands?”
“The king thought it would be.”
“Yes. I hope he’s right. I wish he’d been given more time, so that Parliament could have given its approval of these arrangements.” Tears came to his eyes. “I still can’t entirely believe he’s dead. I was fond of the lad. I kept hoping for a miracle.”
“I am sure it will all be well.”
“I hope so. I keep picturing King Henry glowering down at us from heaven, asking what we were doing listening to a mere boy.” John sighed and kissed me good night. “With that image in mind, I believe I’ll keep to my own chamber tonight.”
30
Frances Grey
July 10, 1553, to July 12, 1553
The day after accepting the crown, my daughter held her first council meeting, and asked me to join her. The Duchess of Northumberland was in the same room at the time, and naturally took this as an invitation to her own self, as well.
The meeting had just started when an elderly man, his