Mary Tudor - Anna Whitelock [148]
Principal among Mary’s distresses were those that arose from her love for Philip and her resentment of her sister, Elizabeth. Philip’s constant traveling left Mary bereft, “not only of that company, for the sake of which (besides the hope of lineage) marriages are formed,” but the separation “which to any person who loves another heartily, would be irksome and grievous” is felt particularly by a woman so “naturally tender.” Her “fear and violent love” for Philip left her constantly in a state of anxiety. If to this were added jealousy, the ambassador continued, “she would be truly miserable,” as to be parted from the king was one of the “anxieties that especially distresses her.”
Added to this was her “evil disposition,” as Michieli described it, “towards her sister Elizabeth”; although the queen pretended otherwise, “it cannot be denied the scorn and ill will she bears her.” When faced with Elizabeth, “it was as if she were in the presence of the affronts and ignominious treatment to which she was subjected to on account of her mother,” Anne Boleyn. Worse still, Mary saw “the eyes and hearts” of the nation already fixed on Elizabeth as her successor, given Mary’s lack of an heir. Much to Mary’s dismay, she perceived that no one believed “in the possibility of her having progeny,” so that “day by day” she saw her authority and the respect induced by it diminish. Besides this, “the Queen’s hatred is increased by knowing her to be averse to the present religion … for although externally she showed, and by living Catholically shows, that she has recanted, she is nevertheless supposed to dissemble and to hold to it more than ever internally.”
Mary had, the Venetian reflected, become a queen of regrets. She had been “greatly grieved” by many insurrections, conspiracies, and plots that continually formed against her at home and abroad, and she mourned the decline of the “affection” universally evinced toward her at the beginning of her reign, which had been “so extraordinary that never was greater shown in that kingdom towards any sovereign.” The country was, Michieli said, “showing a greater inclination and readiness for change” than ever before. The “fruitlessness” of Mary’s marriage was a source of profound regret, and the lack of an heir threatened the restoration of Catholicism and the obedience of the English Church to Rome, which was now sustained by her “authority and presence.” But, Michieli added, “nor is it to be told how much hurt that vain pregnancy did her.”
If the queen predeceased Philip, he would be deprived of the kingdom; but more important was the fear that the king’s “enemies” would seek to occupy England “or cause the realm to fall into their hands.” Michieli ended his relatione with a list of possible claimants for the English throne: first, Elizabeth, whose right was based on the will of Henry VIII and the Act of Succession; then Mary, queen of Scots, who claimed an absolute hereditary right; and the two sisters of the late Lady Jane Grey, who claimed precedence over Elizabeth on account of the will of Edward VI. Yet, as Michieli concluded, even if Mary were to be “undeceived,” which “as yet she is not,” about the possibility of having children, she wished to avoid naming a successor and “will rather leave it to time to act, referring the matter after her death to those whom it concerns either by right or by force.”1
CHAPTER 65
THINKING MYSELF TO BE WITH CHILD
WITHIN SIX MONTHS OF MICHIELI’S RELAZIONE, MARY AGAIN believed she was pregnant. This time she waited until her sixth month and then in January 1558 sent word to Philip.1 “The news of the Queen, my beloved wife,” Philip wrote to Pole, “has given me greater joy than I can express to you, as it is the one thing in the world I have most desired and which is of the greatest importance for the cause of religion and the care and welfare of our realm.” It has “gone far to lighten the sorrow I have felt for the loss of Calais.”2
Weeks later, Don Gómez Suárez de Figueroa, count of Feria, was sent to England. He was to express Philip’s delight