A Queen Twice Over: Mary Tudor the Elder Marries Francis I of France
- Thread starter FalconHonour
- Start date
Oh, they'll have several surviving children, you may be sure of that!
i dont know how i feel about françoise de foix being margot's governess. i certainly hope françois wont cheat on marie, but I know him all too well sadly.
and please, for the love of god henry, STOP TRYING TO MAKE EVERYONE LOVE YOU! poor lady bryan, I do have a fondness for her that makes me angry at this situation.
and please, for the love of god henry, STOP TRYING TO MAKE EVERYONE LOVE YOU! poor lady bryan, I do have a fondness for her that makes me angry at this situation.
It's just so like Henry to do it though, you have to admit.
Oh, I think we can all see the warning signs where Madame de Foix is concerned, can't we?
Yeah i guess its my own fault for believing in Henry VIII in his pre-jousting accident years.
I can definitely see the warning signs and am biting my own nails in anticipation.
Section XIII - August 1516
Rambouillet, August 1516
Little Margot is scarcely five months old when Marie’s breasts swell and grow tender again. When she can barely sit up in the morning without first nibbling on costly ginger and arrowroot.
Unlike the last time this happened to her, she doesn’t panic. Having been through it once before, she has a strong suspicion as to the cause of her sudden malaise.
As it sinks in, she groans. Her ladies will turn into a flock of twittering starlings, fussing over her slightest wince or shift in discomfort as soon as they garner even a whisper of her suspicions. They have a tendency to treat her like a petted child anyway, and that indulgence is only heightened tenfold whenever they think she might have missed her courses.
Oh, part of her loves the attention. She can’t help it. It reminds her of her heady days as the baby of the Tudor nursery, when her delicate health and charming smile made her lightest word almost law among her doting attendants. But even for her, their constant attentions can be stifling. And it will only be ten times worse should her suspicions prove true and she is forbidden from riding, hunting and dancing for the sake of the child.
“Honestly, you’d think I was made of glass, the way these ninnies fret over me so,” she complains to Marguerite, as the two of them stroll through the parkland surrounding Rambouillet, their hawks on their wrists, “Have they forgotten that the mettle of the Tudors flows in my veins? I’m not going to collapse if they take their eyes off me for a few seconds.”
“Can you blame them?” Marguerite raises an eyebrow as she tosses her merlin into the air. “Speaking frankly, it’s not as if you and my brother are models of decorum. You can’t be in the same room for more than five minutes before you’re kissing and fondling each other. You’re going to conceive again sooner rather than later, and given how hard the early months were for you when it came to carrying Margot, it’s no wonder they’re watching you like a boil of hawks for any sign that her brother might be on his way.”
“Well, I wish they wouldn’t,” Marie pouts, “It’s not like they can help me with the sickness anyway. All they ever do is make moues of sympathy and tell me it will pass, which is no good at all.”
Marguerite sees the petulant set of Marie’s jaw and bites her tongue on a retort. Her brother and his wife are well-suited to one another, she finds. They are both utterly gay and charming when they are happy, and both equally impossible to reason with when they have their minds set against something.
“Honestly,” Marguerite tells herself, not for the first time, “Madame de Foix ought to count herself lucky. Given her parentage, I don’t know how Margot ended up such a placid little darling.”
*** *** ***
Mademoiselle Margot might be a charmer, but she’s clearly not the only charmer in the royal nursery. As the weeks pass and Marie’s suspicion turns to certainty, the young King develops a surprising fondness for spending long afternoons in the nursery wing.
It doesn’t take long for anyone with eyes to figure out what – or rather who – his true reason for doing so is. After all, while Mademoiselle Margot is His Grace’s firstborn child, all she does is eat, soil herself and sleep, none of which are activities likely to capture the imagination of a boisterous, virile young King, at least not for long.
Madame de Foix, however, is a pretty blonde with piercing blue eyes and curls that cascade to her waist when she releases them from the confines of her hood. Sister to the King’s good friend, Thomas, Lord of Lescun, she generally holds herself aloof from Court machinations, or so she likes people to think.
However, she is seen laughing and ducking under the royal arm one evening after Vespers, as King Francis playfully tries to stop her returning to put her little charge to bed.
The King catches her hand and kisses it before he will let her pass. Oh, there’s nothing wrong with the gesture in itself, but the tender informality with which it is delivered speak volumes. As do the sapphires that glisten in Francoise’s fair hair, revealed for a brief moment as the tussle knocks her hood askew. Those could not have been bought on a governess’s salary alone.
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Oh no poor Marie, I hope she does not catch her husband personally, that would be far too distressing for her... I hope that this infatuation and all other prove temporary and that the King finds women that will not threaten Marie, scant consolation though that may be.... Excellent job!!!
Uh oh, I have a feeling that this won’t end well. Marie better be kept from finding this out, lest she cause herself to miscarry.
It probably won't help to know that I see Francoise as TTL's Lady Eleanor Luke, then? 😉 😛 Yeah, I shall be drawing heavily on the Tudors for the next few chapters.
Ok that really doesn't sound good.
Oh yes...nearly forgot about that. @FalconHonour please do not give Marie the syph, she doesn't deserve it
Right, she might be mad but honestly, what else did she expect?
Well, exactly. He had to have at least one mistress we discussed in some detail....
Er... I'm saying nothing. But no French pox for Marie @curlyhairedhippie I promise.
Oh, I should so have used that! It would have been brilliant! But no, it's not the fact that Francis takes a mistress that Marie minds, it's where and when and how he happens to flaunt her that causes an issue.
Oh, given how easily Marie quickens with child, I don't think anyone is questioning Francis's ability to perform!
Exactly. She has clearly inherited the fertility of the maternal side of her family