The White Queen -The White Queen

Westminster Palace, London, England, January 18, 1474

My daughter Elizabeth is 17 now, turning 18 in less than a month. She is a beautiful girl, with my golden-red hair and blue eyes. Nobody could doubt that she is the daughter of the most handsome king and the most beautiful queen England has ever had. She is tall and regal and I find that if you want to tell somebody that she were a queen you would find yourself inclined to believe them. 

Today is the morning of her wedding to Henry Tudor, one of our last steps in securing peace in England and the first step of my daughter to founding her own dynasty. Today she unites York and Lancaster for good. They will no longer be clashes between York and Lancaster. There will simply be York and their loyal supporters who are rewarded with good marriages, some even to princesses of England, if they are willing to submit and remain loyal to us. Today is a test of our power and the power of our supporters and every single ambassador at our court will show up for this wedding. Elizabeth will be my first child to be married and I am determined that as the first child hold such a privilege her wedding will be appropriately grand. 

We wake her up early to prepare her for her wedding in the morning so that they will have all evening to spend with one another. Henry tells her this with a cheeky luck and my daughters cheeks blush bright red with my husband and his brothers and her fiancé's father seem to find it set to laugh and the rest of us women look at my poor daughter sympathetically. Men truly don't know what topics are completely off-limits to save their lives. Still, Lizzie agrees to the plan saying that she would like there to be some light when she gets married. She never liked the dark, not after spending all those months in Westminster after her father was deposed by Lancaster.

When she steps out of her bed I pull her nightgown over her head and I put her into new undergarments as if she were a child that I was dressing. Her gown is one of the finest that I have ever had made for her. It has silk embroidery on the white linen at the hem and then there is a red satin overgown that is slashed at the sleeves and opening at the front to show a black silk damask under gown. It looks beautiful on my daughter who is finally growing out to be a woman. At 17 she is no longer skinny but beautiful and described as one of the most handsome women in Europe. She was quite a sought-after bride and many princes came after her hands even after she was engaged to Henry, but she never wanted anybody else but him. She fell in love with him as a child and would have nobody else.

I want everything that my child wears today to be absolutely magnificent. My daughter stands like the blessed virgin but in red and black. Her white skin gleams against the rich deep fabric and her hair shines like the sun. I am in a gallon of cream with green and silver ribbons that are tied loosely at my back. I am not yet 34 and I am already watching one of my daughters being escorted down the aisle. I should not feel old. Most women my age would not feel old but a part of me feels old at seeing my precious firstborn being given away.

"You look lovely," I tell her gently as I kiss her cheeks. "Henry will not be able to keep his eyes off of you."

"Thank you Mamma," she tells me. "Is pretty and I love it very much, but why must we use red?"

"Why, whatever do you mean?"

"Red means Lancaster," she reminds me, "I am a daughter of the House of York. There has never been Lancaster in May and there never will be."

I smile. She is her father's daughter, stubbornness and a certain amount of heroism and hardheadedness that nobody could ever seem to break her out of. She had no doubt heard the tales of Margaret of Anjou, the woman who once raised me, from her uncles and cousins and even her Henry who fought in his first battle against Margaret at Barnet. She does not like any reminders of the old house that once ruled England before she was the beloved firstborn princess. No doubt she wonders why she wears red, even though it is a very beautiful color, on her wedding day.