Royal Sisters: The Story of the Daughters of James II (16 page)

“Send for the King,” she said, “and have everyone summoned who should be present when my child is born.”

She left her bed then and sat down on a tabouret to wait.

Margaret Dawson, one of her most trusted women, who had been in the service of the first Duchess of York and had attended the births of Anne and Mary, came hurrying in.

“Your Majesty,” she cried, “has your time come then?”

“It is close, Margaret,” said the Queen.

Margaret saw that the Queen was trembling, and asked if she were cold.

“Strange, is it not?” answered Mary Beatrice. “Cold on a morning in June. Margaret, I am so … uneasy.”

“Your Majesty, it is often thus at this stage.”

“So much depends on this, Margaret. Is the pallet ready?”

“It is not yet aired, Your Majesty.”

“Then have it aired immediately and when this is done I will go to it.”

The pallet was in the next room and as Margaret went to do the Queen’s bidding, the King arrived.

“My dear,” he said, taking the Queen’s hand and kissing it, “has the time come then? Then all those who are at church must be sent for without delay.”

She nodded; for those at church were their enemies, the Protestants, and it was imperative that they should be present at the birth.

“Let me take you to your pallet,” said the King.

“They are airing it now.”

“Then I will make sure that all those who should be here are summoned.”

A warming-pan was being carried into the Queen’s lying-in chamber. Margaret Dawson threw back the quilt, the pan was placed in the bed, and the covers drawn over it.

“The bed must be thoroughly aired,” said Margaret, “before her Majesty gets into it.”

Shortly afterward Lady Sunderland arrived.

“How is it?” she said to Margaret Dawson.

“All well so far. The Queen is in her own bedchamber and will occupy the pallet as soon as it is thoroughly aired. I fancy her time is near.”

Lady Sunderland nodded. “I was in the chapel preparing to take the sacrament,” she said, “but I was told I must come to the Queen at once.”

“It is well that you came,” answered Margaret. “She was sitting on her tabouret shivering when I went in so I want the bed thoroughly warmed.”

“It is a warm morning.”

“But in that state a woman can feel anything. She is so wrought up that I fear the shock will be too much for her—be it boy or girl.”

“Much depends on this child,” agreed Lady Sunderland. “She has asked that just at first none should say whether it is a boy or girl for she feels that the pleasure or the disappointment would be unbearable. This should be made known.”

Margaret nodded.

The King came into the apartment accompanied by Dr. Walgrave and the midwife.

James was clearly anxious. He was talking earnestly to the doctor, making anxious inquiries as to the state of the Queen’s health. The doctor thought that all should go well, but he was a little perturbed by the Queen’s anxiety.

Seeing Lady Sunderland James came to her and expressed his pleasure to see her there.

“We are all anxious about Her Majesty,” said Lady Sunderland. “She is more excited than she has been at previous confinements.”

“She longs so much for a boy,” replied James.

“I have asked the midwife to pull at my dress, Your Majesty, if the child should be a boy, so that no word shall be spoken to excite Her Majesty.”

“You must give me a sign,” said James. “I shall be watching you eagerly. Touch your forehead like this … if it is a boy. If there is no sign I shall know it is a girl. Then I trust the Queen will be able to rest and recover a little before she hears what is the sex of her child.”

It was agreed that that should be the sign and the group broke up as the Queen, accompanied by some of her ladies, came into the apartment.

She got into the bed and it was clear that her pains had started.

Now the room began to fill. The doctors, nurses, midwife, the Queen’s ladies and officers of the household with eighteen members of the privy council came into the room.

Mary Beatrice lay back on her pillows groaning.

By half past nine the atmosphere was stifling because of the crowd assembled there. At the foot of the bed the Privy councillors stood watching.

“Margaret,” called Mary Beatrice.

Margaret came to her mistress and took her hand.

“I cannot endure this,” cried the Queen. “These men staring. Draw the bed curtains.”

Margaret firmly did so.

“Pray stand back,” she said to the men. “It is unseemly that you should crowd about the bed at such a time.”

Shortly afterward the child was born. James was watching Lady Sunderland.

The midwife was bending over the bed. She turned and quickly pulled Lady Sunderland’s dress, and when Lady Sunderland touched her forehead the King gave a cry of joy. But he could not restrain himself, and must have the joyous information confirmed.

“What is it?” he demanded in a loud voice.

The nurse had taken the baby from the midwife. She said in a clear voice which could be heard throughout the apartment: “What Your Majesty desires.”

James seized the arm of the nurse who held the child and said to the privy councillors: “You have witnessed that my son is born.” Then he turned to the nurse and cried: “Make way. Make way for the Prince of Wales.”

Mary Beatrice was
exhausted but triumphant; the King could not withhold his joy and knighted Dr. Walgrave in the lying-in chamber. The guns of the Tower were firing salutes, and all over London the bells were ringing. There should be a feast for the poor, and wine with which they could drink the health of the Prince of Wales.

But while the people feasted and drank, they asked themselves what this birth would mean. Were they asked to accept a slice of roasted ox, a flagon of wine—for popery?

This would be the end of Protestant England. Was it what the people wanted? Those might who had forgotten the Smithfield fires, the threat of Spain; but there were many who remembered. They said the Court was full of those who were flirting with Rome, not seriously, but only for the sake of commandeering the high posts because the best way of advancement at Court was through the Catholic Faith. But many were false Catholics; and when the time came they would turn.

It was unfortunate that there should be a son at this stage. But was there truly a son?

On a June morning the Queen’s bed had been warmed by a warming-pan which had been taken into her bed just before she entered it. A warming-pan! A simple homely implement! But it could be significant, for why should not a child be concealed in a warming-pan and put into the bed before the Queen entered it?

A wild idea? But all knew how wily these Catholics were. They would stop at nothing to do what they wanted.

The rumor grew. The boy whom they called the Prince of Wales was not the Queen’s child at all. She had not been pregnant. It had all been a pretence. There were stories which had come from the Cockpit and surely the Princess Anne who lived close to the Queen must know; the Queen would let no one see her without her shift, she would let no one feel her body. Why not? Because she was not pregnant. It was a plot, a wicked plot to bring Catholicism back to England.

And then the confinement. A baby in a warming-pan!

It was a tale that appealed to the people who wanted to believe that the baby who was called the Prince of Wales was not the son of the King and Queen, but a spurious child whom they hoped to foist on the nation for the sake of the Catholic Faith.

When Anne returned to London the air was full of rumors which delighted her.

She was particularly entranced by that of the warming-pan.

She referred to her half brother as the warming-pan baby, and did her best to keep that story alive.

Anne wrote to
Mary:

My dear sister can’t imagine the concern and vexation I have been in, that I should be so unfortunate as to be out of town when the Queen was brought to bed, for I shall never more be satisfied whether the child be true or false. It may be that he is our brother, but God knows.…

Each day she waited for news from Holland; she knew that something would have to be done now, for she did not believe William would allow the scandals concerning the Prince of Wales to die down. If the people accepted him as Prince of Wales, what hope would there be of Mary’s coming to the throne, what hope for Anne?

While she waited for news from Holland, she must keep the rumors alive. The Mansell boy must never be accepted as her brother.

Her father was still unpopular in spite of free feasting and drinking. The bishops were still in the Tower. The foolish man, thought Anne, did he not see that by releasing them he would have won more favor than by roasting a few oxen for the poor?

His enemies made certain that the warming-pan story was the great topic of conversation at all the feasting; and one of the foremost of his enemies was his daughter Anne.

There was a
great activity at St. James’s as the nursery ceremonies took place. The Prince of Wales must have a governess and the Marchioness of Powis was appointed to this post. His two nurses, Mrs. Royere and Madame Labadie, were already installed; he must have an assistant governess to help the Marchioness and Lady Strickland was chosen for this office. In addition he must have his own laundress and seamstress, four rockers and two pages.

All those who visited him in his cradle declared him to be a bonny child, although in the first hours following his birth there had been a fear that he might succumb to convulsions as other royal children had before him.

There was such anxiety to keep him alive that too many physicians were appointed to look after him and this almost resulted in a fatal accident, for it was decided to give a drug which was believed to be good for babies and this was done; but the physician who had given it did not inform all the other physicians and one of them, not knowing that the child had already had one dose, gave him another.

Mary Beatrice awoke
with a start to find no one in her bedchamber. Lady Sunderland, who was lady of the bed for that night, should have been present.