Assassination: The Royal Family's 1000-Year Curse (22 page)

In the following March, the country suffered an epidemic of influenza.BothCatherineandArthurfellill.Catherinerecovered within weeks, but Prince Arthur was not that lucky and five months after the wedding he was dead. It was a devastating blow for Henry and Elizabeth. However, they did have a second son, Henry, and two daughters, Margaret and Mary; their two other children, Elizabeth and Edmund, having died in infancy. Queen Elizabeth became pregnant again, but having given birth, both mother and child died a few days later.

Then King Henry lost the company of his daughter, Margaret, when at the age of thirteen she married King James IV of Scotland in a union that would be of overwhelming importance in British history.

Prince Henry was next. It was agreed that he would marry his brother’s widow, Catherine of Aragon. So, the young man who had been destined for the Church and a life of celibacy agreed to take the first of his six wives, although the wedding would not take place for some considerable time.

Marrying a deceased sibling’s spouse was not an unusual step. It maintained the strategic purpose of the marriage, and it meant that it was not necessary to return the dowry. In this way, Catherine’s oldest sister Isabella had married King Alfonso of Portugal. When Alfonso died, Isabella married his brother, King Manuel. Then, when Isabella died, Manuel married her sister Maria – completing the substitution of both spouses.

Henry VII now looked for a new wife. At first he had favoured his widowed daughter-in-law Catherine of Aragon, but her mother had objected. Next he considered Catherine’s cousin, the widowed Queen of Naples, but she brought no wealth. Then there was Archduchess Margaret of Austria, the daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor. That proposal advanced when in early 1506 a ship was driven on to the Dorset coast in a storm. On board were Philip Duke of Burgundy, the son of the Emperor, and Philip’s wife Joanna of Castile; they were travelling from the Netherlands to Spain. Philip was Archduchess Margaret’s brother, and Joanna was a sister of Catherine of Aragon.

Philip and Joanna became ‘guests’ of Henry for a month, before being allowed to continue their voyage. During their stay, Philip agreed an alliance with Henry, signing for himself and for his father, Emperor Maximilian. Henry was in a strong negotiating position, and he extracted a supplementary agreement requiring the delivery of Edmund de la Pole Duke of Suffolk on condition that he received a full pardon. Edmund was promptly returned, pardoned and sent to the Tower. Another agreement provided for Henry’s marriage to Archduchess Margaret, for Henry’s daughter, Mary, to marry Philip’s son, Charles of Ghent, and for Crown Prince Henry (despite the agreement for him to marry Catherine of Aragon) to marry Philip’s daughter, Eleanora (Catherine’s niece).

Within months, Philip was dead. So Henry turned his attention to Philip’s widow, Joanna. He had been much taken with her when she was his guest, despite rumours that had led her to be known as ‘Mad Joanna’. It was justified. Joanna would not permit the burial of her husband; instead, she set out on a second honeymoon with Philip – Joanna travelling in a bridal gown and Philip travelling in a coffin. She was locked up for the remaining 50 years of her life.

None of the marriages agreed by Henry and Philip took place.
Having given up on marriage, Henry became increasingly worn out. Then his eyesight began to deteriorate, and his fear of being overthrown was replaced by fear of blindness. He turned into a recluse, and in April 1509, Henry VII died at the age of fifty-two.
A king who had nearly been killed by a king, and whose forces or executioners had killed a king, two men entitled to be king and two bogus kings, Henry VII died miserable and alone, unloved by his people. Yet the narrow failure to kill him at Bosworth Field gave England a line of succession that would in future be departed from only because of religion.

As the second son, Henry had not been trained to be king. In fact, he had been a spoilt child, even having a ‘whipping boy’ who was punished when Henry misbehaved. But on Prince Arthur’s death, everything changed. Henry VII virtually imprisoned the new heir.

Young Henry’s bedroom had one door, so he was unable to leave without passing through his father’s room. He was only allowed to go outside into a private garden, and even then only if accompanied by his tutors or guards. Henry was rarely permitted to attend state functions, and when he did attend he was not allowed to speak to anyone; and he certainly could not see Catharine of Aragon, even though they were betrothed.

After being crowned king at the age of seventeen, Henry soon made up for the years of repression. Having married Catherine within two months of his accession, Henry spent most of his time enjoying his favourite pastimes: eating, hunting, jousting and music.

Henry’s joy was completed when in 1511 Catherine gave birth to a boy, named Henry. Sadly, two months later the young prince was dead.

When the French challenged the authority of the Pope, Henry decided to go to war against France. Before he left, he dealt with the last threat to the Tudor crown. The man who (if Clarence’s issue were excluded) was probably the rightful king, Edmund de la Pole Duke of Suffolk, had been a prisoner in the Tower for seven years after being handed over by Emperor Maximilian. As part of the deal, Henry VII had promised that Edmund would not be harmed. Henry did not consider himself to be bound by his father’s promise, so he had Edmund executed.
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The war against France was a disaster. However, Henry was not one to give up. He tried again, and this time Henry came home having won some French territory. While Henry had been in France, James IV of Scotland (to whom Henry’s sister Margaret was married) had taken the opportunity to invade England. Henry dealt with him forcefully. The Scots were soundly beaten at the Battle of Flodden, and James was killed along with 10,000 of his countrymen, leaving him famous as the first recorded player of golf. He was succeeded by his son, the infant James V, and Henry’s sister was appointed regent.

Henry returned to his pleasures, and he left control of the country in the hands of Thomas Wolsey, who became Chancellor and cardinal. Wolsey, the son of an Ipswich merchant, would prove to be as ruthless and unscrupulous as his master.

After some years of peace, Henry joined Holy Roman Emperor Charles in war against France. Charles was the winner, and he secured much of France and the Vatican. Henry would come to regret giving assistance to Charles.

The mood in England was hostile, as the war gained England little, it had cost a fortune, and Wolsey’s constant raising of taxes was resented. Then a greater problem arrived. Henry had grown tired of Catherine, who had failed to produce a male heir. It was not for lack of trying. In 1510 she had given birth to a still-born daughter; in 1511 a healthy son who died within weeks; in 1513 a son who died immediately; in 1515 a stillborn son; and finally, in 1516 a healthy child – but it was a girl, Mary. Several pregnancies followed, but there were to be no more children.

15 Edmund left a young daughter, so his brother Richard declared himself Earl of Suffolk, and the Yorkist claimant to the crown. With French support, he spent years preparing to invade England; but he was killed in 1525 at the Battle of Pavia while commanding the French infantry against a Spanish/Imperial army. He left no legitimate issue; and that was the end of the Yorkist cause.

Yet Henry did have a son. In 1519, Henry’s mistress, Elizabeth Blount, a lady-in-waiting to Catherine, gave birth to a healthy boy: Henry Fitzroy. However, an illegitimate son could not be the heir to the throne.

Henry began to wonder why he could not have a healthy son with Catherine. She could produce a child, he could produce a son; why not both together? He found the answer in the Bible. In Leviticus it was written: “Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy brother’s wife.” Presumably this only applied to a living brother’s wife, but it did not say so. That was why papal dispensation had been needed for the marriage in the first place, and it had been granted on the basis that Catherine’s marriage to Arthur had not been consummated.

There was soon an added complication. A young woman whose mother was the daughter of the Duke of Norfolk had become the King’s mistress. Her name was Mary Boleyn, said to have formerly been the mistress of King Francis II of France amongst others, and known as ‘the English mare’. She later arranged for her sister, Anne, to become a lady-in-waiting to Queen Catherine. Henry immediately showed a keen interest in Anne, but she refused to become his mistress – it was wife and queen or nothing.

So Henry had to dispose of Catherine. He demanded an annulment of his marriage, claiming that Catherine and Arthur had indeed consummated their union. Over the centuries, a pope’s agreement could be obtained in some sort of negotiation; but Pope Clement VII was the prisoner of Emperor Charles. Unluckily for Henry, Charles was Catherine’s nephew; so nullifying the marriage would make Catherine’s daughter Mary, who was Charles’s cousin, illegitimate. There was no way he would allow that.

Predictably, the Pope refused the annulment. It was a popular decision as the people of England were all for Catherine the foreign queen, Anne and her sister being regarded as whores. Nevertheless, Henry would not relent; he wanted to be rid of Catherine, he wanted a legitimate son and he wanted Anne Boleyn. Now Henry was angry; Wolsey had failed him, so he was dismissed, later having the good fortune to die on his journey to London for trial and the inevitable execution.

Angry or not, Henry was always happy to be jousting. On 10th March 1524 it almost cost him his life. Henry had designed a flamboyant suit of armour, and as soon as it was delivered he ordered a joust so that he could show off his new outfit.

Henry’s opponent was Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk (son of Henry VII’s standard-bearer who had been killed by Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth). Both men sat astride their horses at either end of the tilt, the long barrier along the middle of the arena that had been introduced to change jousting from a battle to the death to merely an extremely dangerous sport. Each contestant acknowledged the crowd and welcomed the cheers. Then each took hold of a shield in one hand and a lance in the other.

An official approached Brandon and said: “Sir, the King is come to the end of the tilt.” Brandon replied: “I see him not, by my faith, for my headpiece blocks my sight.” Then the official told Brandon: “Sir, the King is coming.” It was the instruction to proceed.

Both men charged along the tilt from opposite ends. The onlookers were shouting particularly loudly, but Henry could not decipher their words. They were not shouting encouragement, they were shouting “Hold! Hold!”. All of them could see that Henry had forgotten to lower his visor, and his face was unprotected.

The two men rode on, and as they closed, Brandon’s lance struck the King on the brow under the guard of the headpiece, right on the basinet to which the visor was hinged. That basinet was not strongly made, as it was meant to be covered by the visor when it was lowered. Brandon’s lance pushed Henry’s unlowered visor so far back that Henry’s face was quite naked. The end of the lance disintegrated, with a host of sharp splinters flying into Henry’s face.

Although his face was badly cut and bruised, by sheer good fortune Henry had not been blinded or killed. An accident? Did Brandon have to aim for Henry’s head? Surely he could see that Henry’s visor had not been lowered. Surely Brandon could have ridden away from the tilt. Strangest of all was Brandon’s premature defence, saying in advance that he could not see Henry.

The answer may lie in the succession. If Brandon had killed Henry, the first in line to the throne was Henry’s only legitimate child, Mary. She was eight years old; a long regency to be followed by a young queen was not an inviting prospect. The second in line was Henry’s sister Margaret, the widow of the King of Scotland; she was effectively ruling Scotland as chief councillor to her son, the king. That son, the twelve-yearold King James V, was therefore third in line to the English throne. Of course, the chief councillor and the child monarch of a neighbouring and hostile country were not acceptable candidates for the English throne. So the fourth in line was the most realistic successor; that was Henry’s younger sister, Mary
– and she was married to Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk (her first husband the King of France having died). Although a close friend of Henry’s, they had fallen out when Brandon married Mary without obtaining Henry’s consent. Brandon was only saved from a charge of treason by paying Henry £24,000 plus Mary’s recovered £200,000 dowry from her first marriage, together with all her plate and jewels. The motive was there; perhaps the joust offered Brandon the opportunity. Possibly another attempt to kill the King of England.