The White Countess - The White Queen

Clarendon Palace, Salisbury, Wiltshire, England, Summer 1453

The day we leave Grafton is a sad one. I walk with Elizabeth and Jackie that morning by the river and beseech them to write to me.

"I have my ladies, but besides that there's no children or young women."

"Doesn't the queen have several ladies at court?" Jackie asks.

"Yes," I say, "and all are boring besides the ones in my household. However, even they can get repetitive when you live with them all the time."

Elizabeth smiles, "Then we swear to you that we shall make time to write."

Soon after that I have to leave. Jacquetta requests that I ride and I'll let her alone with her and so my ladies shuffle into another one. I understand that Jacquetta is lonely. Her husband Richard had to return to Calais almost as soon as little Lionel was born and I have a feeling that until our French lands have been secured that he has no chance of coming home. I know it wears on her and her children. It must be hard. I never knew that emotion until I had to come to England and leave my father behind. When I was a little girl it was almost unheard of that he didn't take my mother and I along whenever he went except if he had a battle to go on or was leading a campaign for the pope.

We are watching the trees of the beautiful woods in North Hampshire disappear behind us when Jacquetta says, "I am to leave for Calais."

I turned to her shocked. I do not know what to say. Finally after realizing I must look extremely dumb I utter, "Calais? But surely-"

"I have already decided. Please Eliza, do not be upset. I will be back before you know it, as soon as the Earl of Shrewsbury has secured our lands in Gascony. But I cannot bear to be away from Richard for much longer. My children need a father, when they see more than twice a year if we're lucky. And you must learn to make your own destiny. I will not always be there to guide you at court. You must learn to do that yourself."

I do not know what to say to her.  I play with the golden Brideri stitched on the sleeves of my burgundy gown and think. If she is to leave I will be all alone. I love the queen but Jacquetta is my guardian. We are second cousins through our great great grandparents who are half siblings. She is the only family I have an England, or at least the only one I am closely related to. What am I to do without her?

"But my powers-"

"I will teach you before I leave," she reassures me quickly, "But you must be able to use them on your own. I will not be gone for long child, you have no need to worry. Besides, a few months on your own in court will make you a favorite of Margaret of Anjou. Then your future in this country will be more than safe and secure. You must promise however to try your hardest. Make friends, not enemies if you can manage. You must show that you are more than a little girl who can be used as a pawn. You must come into your own."

I nod, though I wish she wouldn't leave.  Neither of us can think of anything to say and so the ride back to court is eerily quiet.

My misery at the the prospect of Jacquetta's departure is almost ironic as the mood at court when we arrive is very merry. Apparently Somerset has all but consolidated power. No one but his own are of any influence and the Duke of York, a man I have come to both fear and pity, has been left completely out of governance and power. Edmund seems to revel in this and does anything to show his new found power over the king. When they go to judge cases Edmund encourages the king to make tough punishments and praises him when they are carried out. I would've been happy the king found a backbone is it wasn't Edmund Beaufort's.

The progress through the kingdom is made more complex by the fact that the queen is with child and everyday a band of mules must assembled so she can travel in a specially made litter. Edmund also goes about entertaining her, himself or the king bringing her little gifts everyday. It is during these times when I see that Edmund Beaufort truly cares for Queen Margaret, that he is not just a fortune leacher, but my resolve about him remains the same. He is bad for her reputation. He must go.