My Enemy, the Queen (27 page)

hen I said: adam, I think it is a mistake to bring the Frenchman here.

hy so?she cried. o you expect me to marry a man I have never seen?

replied: o, Madam, I do earnestly hope and pray that you will not marry outside this country.

hen she laughed and let out a stream of oaths. She said she understood that well for I had always had high pretensions. I had allowed myself to believe that because she had shown me some favor I might share the crown with her.

kept my temper and answered that no one would be so foolish as to hope to share her crown. All he could wish for was to serve her and if there was a chance of his doing so in an intimate capacity he would be fortunate.

he then accused me of doing everything I could to impede Simier, who himself had complained to her of my lack of friendship towards him. I gave myself airs. I seemed to think I was of especial importance to her. I would have to lower my fancies, for when she married she doubted her husband would tolerate that. At which I asked her leave to retire from Court.

he shouted at me: t is granted. Go, and stay away. There has been a little too much of the pride and glory of my Lord Leicester at our Court of late.

o I came to Wanstead and here I am.

o you really think this French marriage will take place?

cannot believe it. It monstrous. She will never get an heir, and what other reason could there be? He is twenty-three and she is forty-six. She is not serious. She cannot be.

l swear she feels this is the last chance to play her little courtship game. That the answer.

He shook his head, and I went on: erhaps now that you are out of favor it would be a good time to make our marriage publicly known. After all, she has rejected you, why should you not seek consolation elsewhere?

n her present mood it could be disastrous. No, Lettice. God help us, we must still wait a while.

He was in such a state of anger against the Queen that I decided not to pursue the matter. He talked a great deal about what the withdrawal of the Queen favor could mean to us, as though it had to be explained to me how disastrous that could be. A man who had enjoyed such favors had naturally incurred a great deal of rancor. Envy was the prevailing passion in the world and Elizabeth Court was no exception. Robert was one of the richest and most powerful men in the countrymade so by the Queen gifts. He had the magnificent Leicester House in the Strand, the incomparable Kenilworth, Wanstead, lands in the North, South and Midlands, all of which brought in considerable revenues. Men came to him when they sought the Queen favor, for it was well known that there had been times when she could deny him nothing he asked; moreover, in the wholeheartedness of her affection she wanted all to know how she regarded him.

But she was a despot; her resemblance to her royal father was apparent in so many of her actions. How often had he warned a subject: have raised you up. I can as easily cast you down.Her vanity was great and an assault on it would never be forgiven.

Yes, Robert was right when he said we must tread warily.

All that day and far into the night we talked of our future, and although Robert could not believe she would marry the Duc dnjou even if she brought him to England, he was very uneasy.

The next day a summons came from the Queen. Robert was to return to Court without delay.

We discussed it together.

don like it,said Robert. fear that when I come humbly back, she will want to show me how much I depend on her. I shall not go.

isobey the Queen!

l use the tactics she so successfully used in her youth. Il pretend to be ill.

So Robert made a feint of preparing to leave but before he had time to do so he complained of the pain in his legs and he said the swelling was great. His doctorsremedy was to retire to bed at such times, so to bed he went and sent a message to the Queen acknowledging her summons but craving her indulgence for a few weeks as he was too ill to travel and must take to his bed at Wanstead.

It seemed advisable for him to stay in his apartments because we had to be careful that those who wished us ill did not carry tales to the Court; and how could we be sure who our friends were?

I was, thankfully, in the house when a party was seen approaching. The royal standard fluttered in the breeze heralding one of the Queen journeys. In horror I realized that she was on her way to the invalid at Wanstead.

There was just time to make sure that Robert was looking wan in bed and to remove from the bedchamber all signs which might indicate that a woman shared it with him.

Then the trumpets sounded. The Queen had arrived at Wanstead.

I heard her voice; she was demanding to be taken to the Earl without delay. She wanted to assure herself of his condition, for she had suffered much anxiety on his account.

I had shut myself in one of the smaller rooms, listening intently to what was happening, feeling alarmed at what this visit could mean, and angry because I, the mistress of the house, dared not show myself.

I did have some servants whom I believed I could trust, and one of these brought me news of what was happening.

The Queen was with the Earl of Leicester, expressing great concern about his illness. She was not going to trust any of the nursing of her dear friend to anyone. She would remain in the sickroom, and the chamber which was kept for her at Wanstead must be made ready for her when she should need it.

I was dismayed. So it was not to be a brief visit!

What a situation! There was I, in my own house, with, it seemed, no right to be there.

Servants were scurrying up and down to the sickroom. I could hear the Queen as she shouted orders. Robert would not have to feign sickness; he would be ill with anxiety wondering what was happening to me and whether my presence was going to be discovered.

I thanked God for Robert power and the fear in which many went of him, for just as the Queen could cast him down, so he could wreak vengeance on any who displeased him. Moreover, he had a reputation for dark deeds. People still remembered Amy Robsart and the Earls of Sheffield and Essex. It was whispered that those who were enemies of the Earl of Leicester should take care not to dine at his table.

So I was not unduly afraid of betrayal.

Yet I was faced with a problem. If I left and were seen leaving, there would indeed be a storm. And yet was it safe for me to stay hidden in the house?

I decided on the latter course and prayed that Elizabeth sojourn would be a brief one. I often laugh now to think of that time, although then it was far from a laughing matter. Food was smuggled up to me. I could not go out. I had to keep my faithful maid continually on the watch.

Elizabeth remained at Wanstead for two days and nights and it was not untilrom the window of a small top room had seen the cavalcade disappear that I dared to emerge.

Robert was still in bed and in excellent spirits. The Queen had been attentive; she had insisted on nursing him herself, had scolded him for not taking better care of his health and had implied that she was as fond of him as ever.

He was certain that she would not make the French marriage and that his position at Court would be as firm as it ever had been.

I did point out to him that she might be incensed when she heard that he had married, since she appeared to have lost none of her affection for him. But Robert was so pleased because he was back in favor that he refused to be depressed.

How we laughed over the adventure now that the danger was past! But the problem of disclosure lay ahead of us. One day she would have to know.

Robert was still at Wanstead when we heard that there had been an accident at Greenwich which could have cost the Queen her life.

It appeared that Simier was conducting her to her barge when one of the guards fired a shot. The Queen bargeman, who was standing only six feet from her, was wounded in both arms and fell bleeding to the ground.

The man who had fired was seized immediately and the Queen turned her attention to the bargeman who lay at her feet.

When she had satisfied herself that he was not fatally wounded, she took off her scarf and bade those who were attending him to bind him up and stop the flow of blood, while she bent over him and begged him to be of good cheer, for he and his family should never want. The bullet had been meant for her, she was sure.

The man who had fired the shot certain Thomas Appletree as dragged away, and the Queen went on to her barge, talking as she did so to Monsieur de Simier.

The incident was discussed throughout the country; and when Thomas Appletree was put on trial he declared that he had had no intention of shooting and that the firearm had gone off by accident.

The Queen, gracious as she always liked to be to her humble subjects, saw the man himself, and declared herself convinced of his honesty and that he was speaking the truth. He fell to his knees and told her with tears in his eyes that he had only ever had one wish and that was to serve her.

believe him,she cried. t was an accident. I shall tell your master, my good Thomas, to take you back into his service.

Then she declared that the man who had been shot was to be well looked after and, as it turned out that he had not been badly hurt, the incident appeared to have been forgotten.

But this was not so. Many knew that the Earl of Leicester had quarreled with the Queen over the granting of the passport to the Duc dnjou. Simier complained that Leicester had done his best to make the mission a failure; and in view of Robert reputation it was soon being hinted that he had arranged for the guard to shoot Simier.

Simier himself believed this and he was determined to have his revenge. We discovered in what manner when the Earl of Sussex came riding to Wanstead.

Thomas Radcliffe, third Earl of Sussex, was not a great friend of Robert. In fact there was a fierce rivalry between them, and Robert was well aware that Sussex deplored the favors which the Queen had lavished on her favorite. Sussex was ambitious like the rest of those men who circulated about the Queen, but it was his boast that his only motive was to serve her and this he would do even if by so acting he offended her. He had little imagination or charm and was certainly not one of Elizabeth favorite men, but she kept him for his honesty much as she kept Burleigh for his wisdom; and although she would berate them and vent her anger on them, she would always listen to them and often took their advice; she would never have dispensed with either of them.

Sussex was looking stern, I noticed, and not without a certain self-satisfaction, for the news he brought was that Simier, infuriated by what he believed to be an attack on his life by Leicester, had told the Queen what so many people already knew although it had been kept from her, that Robert and I were married.

Robert asked me to join them, for there was no purpose now in keeping my presence a secret.

ou are in deep trouble, Leicester,said Sussex. ou may well look dismayed. I have never seen the Queen in such a fury.

hat said she?asked Robert quietly.

t first she would not believe it. She screamed out that it was lies. She kept saying obert would never do it. He would never dare.Then she called you a traitor and said you had betrayed her.

Robert protested: he has spurned me. She is at this time contemplating marriage. Why should my marriage be of such moment to her?

he would not listen to reason. She kept saying that she would send you to the Tower. She said you could rot in the Tower and she would be glad of it.

he is ill,said Robert. nly a sick woman could behave so. Why, she offered me to the Queen of Scots and was willing for me to marry the Princess Cecilia.

y Lord Leicester, it is said that she would never have allowed those marriages to take place and if she had they would have been political marriages. It was when she heard whom you had married that her fury increased.He turned to me apologetically. will not, Madam, insult your ears by telling you the names the Queen called you. Indeed, it would seem her fury is more violent against you than against the Earl.

I could believe it. She would know of the passion between us. I had not been mistaken when I had seen her watching me so closely. She knew that there was a power in me to attract men, which for all her glory she lacked. She would picture Robert and me together and she would know that what we shared was something which, by her very nature, she could never enjoy. And she hated me for it.

o, never before have I seen the Queen in such a passion,went on Sussex. ndeed, I felt she was on the verge of madness. She kept declaring she would make you regret your actionsoth of you. You, Leicester, she really wanted to send to the Tower. It was with the greatest difficulty that I restrained her from giving the order.

hen I have to thank you, Sussex, for that.

Sussex gave Robert a look of dislike. saw at once that the Queen would harm herself by giving such an order. She would be allowing her emotions to override her good sense. I pointed out to her that it was no criminal act to enter into honorable marriage, and that if she showed her subjects how deeply enraged she was, they might put all manner of constructions on her conduct which would be detrimental to her. So, in due course, she relented, but she made it clear that she did not want to see you and that you should stay out of her way. You are to go to the Tower Mireflore in Greenwich Park and stay there. She has not said that you shall be guarded, but you are to consider yourself a prisoner.

nd I am to accompany my husband?I asked.

o, Madam, he is to go alone.

nd the Queen gave no orders for me?

he said she never wished to see you again, nor to hear your name spoken. And I must tell you, Madam, that when your name is mentioned she flies into such a passion that were you there she would be ready to send you straight to the block.

So the worst had happened. And we now had to face the consequences.

Robert lost no time in obeying the Queen order and going to Mireflore. I went to my family at Durham House.

It was clear that we were all in disgrace, although after a few days the Queen relented somewhat and sent word to Robert that he could leave Mireflore and return to Wanstead, where I joined him.