The Virgin's War (Tudor Legacy #3)(113)
Next to Minuette, Lucette squeezed her hand. She and Julien were on Minuette’s right, with their four children beyond, wide-eyed and impressed despite themselves. On Minuette’s left were Stephen and Maisie and their equally awed three children. And her remaining son and grandchildren? They would be front and center soon enough.
Minuette smiled often to herself as the ceremony unfolded in the deliberate, formal manner of more than five hundred years of ritual. The Archbishop of Canterbury’s call for the Recognition of the Sovereign. The administration of the oath, ending with the monarch’s vow: “All this I promise to do. The things which I have here before promised, I will perform, and keep. So help me God.”
Then the procession to St. Edward’s Chair and the drawing of curtains for the private rite of anointing with oil. After returning to the public eye, there was the ritual robing and presentation of various regalia. Madalena, Anabel’s faithful friend and lady for thirty-five years, was today’s Mistress of the Robes. Minuette noted the eyes of the Spanish woman’s husband upon her—four years after Pippa’s death, Matthew Harrington had wed Madalena and they had both served Anabel faithfully in all the years since.
After receiving the orb, the ring, the scepters of both dove and cross, Anne at last received the Crown of St. Edward set atop her long, loose hair. With cries of “God Save the Queen!” it was time for the oaths of fealty.
Though only an earl, and thus subordinate to several of the peers, Anabel’s husband was the first to so swear. He knelt at his wife’s feet, and Minuette heard the tremble of pride in her youngest son’s voice. “I, Christopher Courtenay, the Earl of Somerset, do become your liege man of life and limb, and of earthly worship; and faith and truth will I bear unto you, to live and die against all manner of folks. So help me God.”
When Kit rose, he kissed the queen on the cheek, a liberty not allowed her other peers. Save those two who immediately followed their father in offering fealty: fourteen-year-old William, Prince of Wales, and his twelve-year-old brother, George, Earl of Richmond.
Last of all, Minuette’s gaze rested upon the youngest member of the royal family. Though two Courtenay granddaughters had preceded her, both Lucette and Stephen had ignored the obvious choice of name for their daughters, leaving it where it rightly belonged—with Kit. And when this baby princess had been born eleven years ago, God himself—or perhaps one of His angels, still watching over her family—had bestowed a mark of favour. For in the vibrant red hair of her mother, the girl bore a single bright streak of gold framing her face.
Princess Philippa Tudor.
For Elizabeth Tudor
1533–1603
Princess, Lady, Scholar, Queen
With Respect and Great Affection
And with apologies to Mary I and Edward VI
Whose reigns (and/or lives) I so shamelessly edited
Tamar Rydzinski: who changed my life six years ago, and has made each day better ever since.
Kate Miciak: whose edits, wisdom, and good humor are lifelines in times of professional need.
Marietta Anastassatos, Caroline Cunningham, Shona McCarthy, Peter Weissman, Poonam Mantha, Maggie Oberrender, and Julia Maguire: for art and design that makes me swoon from its beauty, for impeccable production and perfection of the text, for enthusiastic publicity, and for taking my every email with good humor.
Matt, Jake, Emma, and Spencer: for being, always, yourselves and letting me be part of your lives. Forgive me my many maternal faults, and know how much I love you.
Becca Fitzpatrick, Pat Esden, and Suzanne Warr: I admire you as writers, and love you as women.
Ginger Churchill and Debbie Ramsay: for being just a text away when trauma hits.
Katie Jeppson: For. Everything. Always. Full stop.
For Chris: Full stop.
For all readers: You are my people. In a fractured and fractious world, reading is an act of defiance that proclaims that understanding and tolerance are values worth fighting for. Fight the good fight.
And for every person who has taken a risk in picking up any of my twisted Tudor books: Thank you. I hope it was worth it.
BY LAURA ANDERSEN
The Boleyn King Trilogy
The Boleyn King
The Boleyn Deceit
The Boleyn Reckoning
The Tudor Legacy Trilogy
The Virgin’s Daughter
The Virgin’s Spy
The Virgin’s War
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
LAURA ANDERSEN is married with four children, and possesses a constant sense of having forgotten something important. She has a B.A. in English (with an emphasis in British History), which she puts to use by reading everything she can lay her hands on.
lauraandersenbooks.com
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@LauraSAndersen
Because thou has offended our sovereign the King’s grace in committing treason against his person…thou hast deserved death, and thy judgment is this: that thou shalt be burned here within the Tower of London, on the Green, else to have thy head smitten off, as the King’s pleasure shall be further known of the same.
—Duke of Norfolk, pronouncing sentence against his niece, Queen Anne Boleyn, on 15 May 1536
More than ten years ago, I set out to write one book reimagining history if Anne Boleyn’s final miscarriage had never happened. A story of a king-who-never-was, of the friends who loved him and broke his heart…and of the sister who was left to pick up the pieces.