a judgement.’
‘I am a Solomon,’ he said. ‘They will call me Arthur the Good.’
‘Arthur the Wise,’ she suggested.
‘Arthur the Magnificent.’
Catalina giggled. ‘But I want you to explain to me something that I heard about your mother.’
‘Oh yes?’
‘One of the English ladies-in-waiting told me that she had been betrothed to the tyrant Richard. I thought I must have misunderstood her. We were speaking French and I thought I must have had it wrong.’
‘Oh, that story,’ he said with a little turn of the head.
‘Is it not true? I hope I have not offended you?’
‘No, not at all. It’s a tale often told.’
‘It cannot be true?’
‘Who knows? Only my mother and Richard the tyrant can know what took place. And one of them is dead and the other is silent as the grave.’
‘Will you tell me?’ she asked tentatively. ‘Or should we not speak of it at all?’
He shrugged. ‘There are two stories. The well-known one, and its shadow. The story that everyone knows is that my mother fled into sanctuary with her mother and sisters, they were hiding in a church all together. They knew if they left they would be arrested by Richard the Usurper and would disappear into the Tower like her young brothers. No-one knew if the princes were alive or dead, but nobody had seen them, everyone feared they were dead. My mother wrote to my father – well, she was ordered to by her mother – she told him that if he would come to England, a Tudor from the Lancaster line, then she, a York princess, would marry him, and the old feud between the two families would be over forever. She told him to come and save her, and know her love. He received the letter, he raised an army, he came to find the princess, he married her and brought peace to England.’
‘That is what you told me before. It is a very good story.’
Arthur nodded.
‘And the story you don’t tell?’
Despite himself he giggled. ‘It’s rather scandalous. They say that she was not in sanctuary at all. They say that she left the sanctuary and her mother and sisters. She went to court. King Richard’s wife was dead and he was looking for another. She accepted the proposal of King Richard. She would have married her uncle, the tyrant, the man who murdered her brothers.’
Catalina’s hand stole over her mouth to cover her gasp of shock, her eyes were wide. ‘No!’
‘So they say.’
‘The queen, your mother?’
‘Herself,’ he said. ‘Actually, they say worse. That she and Richard were betrothed as his wife lay dying. That is why there is always such enmity between her and my grandmother. My grandmother does not trust her; but she will never say why.’
‘How could she?’ she demanded.
‘How could she not?’ he returned. ‘If you look at it from her point of view, she was a princess of York, her father was dead, her mother was the enemy of the king trapped in sanctuary, as much in prison as if she was in the Tower. If she wanted to live, she would have to find some way into the favour of the king. If she wanted to be acknowledged as a princess at all, she would have to have his recognition. If she wanted to be Queen of England she would have to marry him.’
‘But surely, she could have…’ she began and then she fell silent.
‘No.’ He shook his head. ‘You see? She was a princess, she had very little choice. If she wanted to live she would have to obey the king. If she wanted to be queen she would have to marry him.’
‘She could have raised an army on her own account.’
‘Not in England,’ he reminded her. ‘She would have to marry the King of England to be its queen. It was her only way.’
Catalina was silent for a moment. ‘Thank God that for me to be queen I had to marry you, that my destiny brought me so easily here.’
He smiled. ‘Thank God we are happy with our destiny. For we would have married, and you would have been Queen of England, whether you had liked me or not. Wouldn’t you?’
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘There is never a choice for a princess.’
He nodded.
‘But your grandmother, My Lady the King’s Mother, must have planned your mother’s wedding to your father. Why does she not forgive her? She was part of the plan.’
‘Those two powerful women, my father’s mother and my mother’s mother, brokered the deal between them like a pair of washerwomen selling stolen linen.’
She gave a little squeak of shock.
Arthur chuckled, he found that he dearly loved surprising her. ‘Dreadful, isn’t it?’ he replied calmly. ‘My mother’s mother was probably the most hated woman in England at one time.’
‘And where is she now?’
He shrugged. ‘She was at court for a while, but My Lady the King’s Mother disliked her so much she got rid of her. She was famously beautiful, you know, and a schemer. My grandmother accused her of plotting against my father and he chose to believe her.’
‘She is never dead? They never executed her!’
‘No. He put her into a convent and she never comes to court.’
She was aghast. ‘Your grandmother had the queen’s own mother confined in a convent?’
He nodded, his face grave. ‘Truly. You be warned by this, beloved. My grandmother welcomes no-one to court that might distract from her own power. Make sure you never cross her.’
Catalina shook her head. ‘I never would. I am absolutely terrified of her.’
‘So am I!’ he laughed. ‘But I know her, and I warn you. She will stop at nothing to maintain the power of her son, and of her family. Nothing will distract her from this. She loves no-one but him. Not me, not her husbands, no-one but him.’
‘Not you?’
He shook his head. ‘She does not even love him, as you would understand it. He is the boy that she decided was born to be king. She sent him away when he was little more than a baby for his safety. She saw him survive his boyhood. Then she ordered him into the face of terrible danger to claim the throne. She could only love a king.’
She nodded. ‘He is her pretender.’
‘Exactly. She claimed the throne for him. She made him king. He is king.’
He saw her grave face. ‘Now, enough of this. You have to sing me your song.’
‘Which
