Nine Days a Queen: The Short Life and Reign of Lady Jane Grey (14 page)

For once in my life, she was right. I stood up from my prayers and faced them. "If what has

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been given to me is lawfully mine, may Divine Majesty help me to govern with spirit and grace and to the advantage of the realm," I said.

I managed to say it without a quiver in my voice too. They all clapped. And they seated me on the makeshift throne under the canopy.

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NINETEEN

W

e had to make a grand entrance into London the next day, so everybody could see me as Queen. All around me people were in a state of frenzy, assembling clothing for me to wear. I must wear the Tudor colors, white and green. I must have a green damask kirtle. I must have a gem-encrusted French hood.

Mother insisted on three-inch-high chopines, which are wooden platform shoes, because I was too short and would not be seen in a procession. They must be found immediately.

Guildford would wear white, gold, and silver, walk beside me, and bow low to me each time I spoke with him. It was almost worth all the insanity, just to have Guildford bow low to me.

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Mother would be my train bearer. Mother would carry my train, she who had slapped me and beaten me and pinched me.

There was some good in all this, then. There was justice in the world!

Six noblemen would carry the canopy of state over my head as we headed for the Tower, where all kings and queens went to stay in the royal apartments before they were crowned.

I was never alone now. My sisters fluttered around me. Little Mary kept saying "Queen Jane, Queen Jane." It was worth it to see her so happy.

But we were not to have a procession in the streets. We were to travel on the royal barge on the Thames. A flotilla of other barges would go before us, filled with those of the Privy Council and important members of state.

I shivered, seeing all the fuss. I was hot one

minute and cold the next. I was hungry, and I

couldn't eat a morsel when it was brought to me. Mother rubbed my hands, taking them in her own, as she had never before done.

My father kept saying encouraging things to me. Every minute one of my ladies inquired as to

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wherther I had need of something. They combed my hair. They perfumed it. They plaited it with pearls and flowers. I sneezed and they said, "God save the Queen."

God save me. I couldn't save myself!

People of my household told me there was "a strong military presence in the city," the next morning when I took breakfast. Northumberland had arranged it. He stood before me.

"We have the royal heralds out announcing that you are Queen. I have reports they have already made the announcement in Cheapside and are continuing on through the city."

He did not look happy.

"What is the response of the people?" I asked.

"The trumpeters are blowing fanfares. There are shouts of 'God Save the Queen' from many sources."

That told me all I needed to know. "The people are not happy," I stated flatly.

"They will be," Northumberland insisted. "Only one man, who works at an inn, said

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Princess Mary should be Queen in your stead. We have taken him in hand."

"What have you done with him?" I asked.

"We have had his ears cut off."

"I want no one's ears cut off on my account." I faced Northumberland, and he glared at me. My gaze was cold and hard.

He smiled and gave a little bow. "No more ear cutting," he agreed. Why did I have the feeling he was only assuaging me?

"At midday the royal heralds will make the announcement at the Tower, at St. Paul's Cathedral, and in Westminster. And again at Cheapside this evening."

"I want no more maiming of my people," I insisted.

Northumberland gave a bow. Was he mocking me? "Yes, Your Majesty," he said.

It was a pleasant summer's day when we took the royal barge to the Tower. It was decorated with the royal canopy and there were musicians on board. The water was calm, and people lined the shore on both sides of the

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river, but there was no cheering as we went by. A few little girls threw flowers into the water, but that was all.

"The people don't want me," I said to my mother.

"If they don't, they are fools," she said quietly. "Mary would burn them at the stake for not being Catholic."

She was so sure of this that it frightened me. I gave a little whimper of fear, and Mrs. Tilney patted my head. My ladies-in-waiting smiled at me in encouragement. More and more people were gathering on the shore as we reached the Tower. What if they rioted?

I looked for Northumberland, but he was in one of the barges up ahead.

"What if they riot?" I asked Guildford, who sat next to me in the barge.

"They wouldn't dare," he answered. "My father would have them driven into the Thames."

He was so sure of himself. He was having a good time, waving at the people on

the

shore. He had the other arm around me possessively, and though I did not love him, I could not shake him

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off--it would not look right. So I smiled instead, and was carried to the Tower, all on that summer's day.

There was great fanfare as we came to

the

water gate of the Tower. Yeomen of the guard stood around, barring anyone from getting near me. Northumberland helped me, then my mother, up the stone steps. There was a booming salute from the guns on the Tower wharf. It echoed off the water and through my bones. I did not like guns. Then Northumberland assembled the procession, again with Mother carrying my train.

There was the canopy of state, over me again. There were the trumpets. There were the people staring as we passed by on our way to the royal apartments.

"Why, she's just a child," I heard one woman remark as I clomped by on my wooden shoes. "A mere child."

"So was King Edward," someone reminded her.

Oh, Edward!

"Hold your head up," came the savage whisper

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from behind me. Mother. She might carry my train, but it was my guess that she would still slap me in private.

I held my head up. Tears rolled quietly down my face.

Waiting to meet us at the royal apartments were the Marquess of Winchester, my sister Catherine and her husband, Lieutenant of the Tower Sir John Bridges, and more yeomen of the guard. Sir Winchester went on his knees.

It made me uncomfortable to have anyone on his knees in front of me. I whispered this to my mother and she reached forward and pinched the back of my arm.

"Well, you'd better get used to it," she whispered.

Winchester made a pretty speech, and then offered me the great keys of the Tower, but Northumberland reached out and took them instead.

We went into the White Tower, and here were more people waiting to receive me. And here they had a throne and I had to sit on it.

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Northumberland went down on his knees. "Welcome, Your Majesty," he said, "and as soon as it pleases you, we are having divine services in the Norman Chapel of St. John up in the keep."

"It pleases me," I said.

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TWENTY

T

hey brought the crown jewels to me that fine summer's day. The crown itself rested on a red velvet pillow with gold tassels and was brought by one of the elder Northumberland's men.

"Try it, milady," he insisted.

Mother stepped forward to smooth my hair. It was she who took the crown and set it on my head.

I had all I could do to hold my head up, it was so heavy. Edward had really worn this?

"I can't," I said. "I won't."

Mother slapped my arm and took the crown off. "Silly child. Won't wear the crown. How did we bring you up? You'll wear it when need be."

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"I'm not a silly child," I lashed back. "I'm Queen."

"Then behave as such. And wear it."

But I wouldn't. And I remembered my own promise to myself to throw the crown at them if they ever made me wear it. Guildford was seated next to me on the throne. He put his arm around me. "Don't fret, Jane. I'll wear one with you," he whispered.

"What?"

But his mother had heard him. "He said he'd wear one with you. We're having another made for him."

There was something amiss here, but I put the thought in the back of my mind to be dealt with later. They were bringing the rest of the crown jewels to me, boxes of them for my inspection. I must open the boxes and admire them.

That evening there was a great banquet in the Tower with everyone present. The food was good and the company cheerful to the point of being riotous. I never remembered seeing my parents so happy. Mother was drinking a lot of wine and remembering her own girlhood. Father

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was looking on her with outright love.

Then he gave a toast, "To the woman who raised a queen!" And everyone cheered.

Guildford's parents were deep in conversation with mine. Guildford sat next to me, whispering loving things into my ear. And every so often he would say, "When we rule, Jane, when we

rule--"

I

must stop this immediately,

I thought.

Tonight.

Could anyone imagine Guildford ruling England?

My thoughts, and indeed the whole banquet, were interrupted then by the arrival of a man announced as Thomas Hungate.

"A messenger from Princess Mary," the yeoman of the guard announced him.

Everyone fell silent. The man came in walking proudly and stood there with a letter in his hand. Northumberland reached for it, and we all waited while he read it.

He remained stone-faced, then bade the servants give the man some food and drink, and he was ushered outside.

"She has evaded all capture," Northumberland said of Mary. "She intends to advance

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her claim to the throne."

A murmur of concern went around the banquet table. Northumberland held up his hand. "Don't worry, any of you. She is a woman alone. She has no resources. And I think her quite mad. She writes"--and he laughed and read a part of the letter--"'The other night in the storm I saw my father, Henry VIII, on the battlements of Whitehall. It has been reported to me that he was seen at Windsor and Hampton Court also, standing on the battlements and shouting into the storm. And he is angry.'

"Her mind has gone," Northumberland insisted. "She is seeing things."

He did not say anything about the other people who had seen the ghost of Henry VIII, raving into the storm, however. We went back to eating. But the banquet was noticeably quieter and there were no more toasts.

That evening Guildford came into my bedchamber, but I was determined that he should not stay. I was determined that he should not touch me. Ever. I had not wanted him as a husband and I would not have to do with him.

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"Jane, my love"--and he reached for me-- "what say you about the crown for me?"

I backed away. "Never," I told him.

"What?"

"Never."

"But I must be crowned King so I can sit beside you and help you rule."

"You couldn't rule a court jester, Guildford. Now be sensible. I can have you made a duke, but only Parliament can make you King, and I don't hear anything about them setting out to do it. Do you?"

"But you are Queen. And you rule."