But nothing can change the nature of the palace. Not even the stamp of our soldiers feet on the marble floors can shake the centuries-old sense of peace. I make Madilla teach me what the flowing inscriptions mean in every room, and my favorite is not the promises of justice, but the question written in the Courtyard of the Two Sisters, which says: Have you ever seen such a beautiful garden? and then answers itself: We have never seen a garden with greater abundance of fruit, nor sweeter, nor more perfumed.
It is not truly a palace, not even as those we had known at Córdoba or Toledo. It is not a castle, nor a fort. It was built first and foremost as a garden, with rooms of exquisite luxury so that one could live outside. It is a series of courtyards designed for flowers and people alike. It is a dream of beauty: walls, tiles, pillars melting into flowers, climbers, fruit, and herbs. The Moors believe that a garden is a paradise on earth, and they have spent fortunes over the centuries to make this al-Yanna: the word that means garden, secret place, and paradise.
I know that I love it. Even as a little child I know that this is an exceptional place, that I will never find anywhere more lovely. And even as a child I know that I cannot stay here. It is Gods will and my mothers will that I must leave al-Yanna, my secret place, my garden, my paradise. It is to be my destiny that I should find the most beautiful place in all the world when I am just six years old, and then leave it when I am fifteen, as homesick as Boabdil, as if happiness and peace for me will only ever be short-lived.
Dogmersfield Palace,
Hampshire, Autumn 1501
I SAY, YOU CANNOT COME IN! If you were the King of England himselfyou could not come in.
I am the King of England, Henry Tudor said without a flicker of amusement. And she can either come out right now or I damned well will come in and my son will follow me.
The Infanta has already sent word to the king that she cannot see him, the duenna said witheringly. The noblemen of her court rode out to explain to him that she is in seclusion, as a lady of Spain. Do you think the King of England would come riding down the road when the Infanta has refused to receive him? What sort of a man do you think he is?
Exactly like this one, he said and thrust his fist with the great gold ring towards her face. The Count de Cabra came into the hall in a rush and at once recognized the lean, forty-year-old man threatening the Infantas duenna with a clenched fist, a few aghast servitors behind him, and gasped out, The king!
At the same moment the duenna recognized the new badge of England, the combined roses of York and Lancaster, and recoiled. The count skidded to a halt and threw himself into a low bow.
It is the king, he hissed, his voice muffled by speaking with his head on his knees. The duenna gave a little gasp of horror and dropped into a deep curtsey.
Get up, the king said shortly. And fetch her.
But she is a princess of Spain, Your Grace, the woman said, rising but with her head still bowed low. She is to stay in seclusion. She cannot be seen by you before her wedding day. This is the tradition. Her gentlemen went out to explain to you
Its your tradition. Its not my tradition. And since she is my daughter-in-law in my country, under my laws, she will obey my tradition.
She has been brought up most carefully, most modestly, most properly
Then she will be very shocked to find an angry man in her bedroom. Madam, I suggest that you get her up at once.
I will not, Your Grace. I take my orders from the Queen of Spain herself and she charged me to make sure that every respect was shown to the Infanta and that her behavior was in every way
Madam, you can take your working orders from me or your marching orders from me. I dont care which. Now send the girl out or I swear on my crown I will come in, and if I catch her naked in bed, then she wont be the first woman I have ever seen in such a case. But she had better pray that she is the prettiest.
The Spanish duenna went quite white at the insult.
Choose, the king said stonily.
I cannot fetch the Infanta, she said stubbornly.
Dear God! Thats it! Tell her I am coming in at once.
She scuttled backwards like an angry crow, her face blanched with shock. Henry gave her a few moments to prepare and then called her bluff by striding in behind her.
The room was lit only by candles and firelight. The covers of the bed were turned back as if the girl had hastily jumped up. Henry registered the intimacy of being in her bedroom, with her sheets still warm, the scent of her lingering in the enclosed space, before he looked at her. She was standing by the bed, one small white hand on the carved wooden post. She had a cloak of dark blue thrown over her shoulders and her white nightgown trimmed with priceless lace peeped through the opening at the front. Her rich auburn hair, plaited for sleep, hung down her back, but her face was completely shrouded in a hastily thrown mantilla of dark lace.
Doña Elvira darted between the girl and the king. This is the Infanta, she said. Veiled until her wedding day.
Not on my money, Henry Tudor said bitterly. Ill see what Ive bought, thank you.
He stepped forwards. The desperate duenna nearly threw herself to her knees. Her modesty
Has she got some awful mark? he demanded, driven to voice his deepest fear. Some blemish? Is she scarred by the pox and they did not tell me?
No! I swear.
Silently, the girl put out her white hand and took the ornate lace hem of her veil. Her duenna gasped a protest but could do nothing to stop the princess as she raised the veil and then flung it back. Her clear blue eyes stared into the lined, angry face of Henry Tudor without wavering. The king drank her in and then gave a little sigh of relief at the sight of her.
She was an utter beauty: a smooth, rounded face, a straight long nose, a full, sulky, sexy mouth. Her chin was up, he saw; her gaze challenging. This was no shrinking maiden fearing ravishment. This was a fighting princess standing on her dignity even in this most appalling moment of embarrassment.
He bowed. I am Henry Tudor, King of England, he said.
She curtseyed.
He stepped forwards, and saw her curb her instinct to flinch away. He took her firmly at the shoulders and kissed one warm, smooth cheek and then the other. The perfume of her hair and the warm female smell of her body came to him, and he felt desire pulse in his groin and at his temples. Quickly he stepped back and let her go.
You are welcome to England, he said. He cleared his throat. You will forgive my impatience to see you. My son too is on his way to visit you.
I beg your pardon, she said icily, speaking in perfectly phrased French. I was not informed until a few moments ago that Your Grace was insisting on the honor of this unexpected visit.
Henry fell back a little from the whip of her temper. I have a right
She shrugged, an absolutely Spanish gesture. Of course. You have every right over me.
At the ambiguous, provocative words, he was again aware of his closeness to her: of the intimacy of the small room, the tester bed hung with rich draperies, the sheets invitingly turned back, the pillow still impressed with the shape of her head. It was a scene for ravishment, not for a royal greeting. Again he felt the secret thud-thud of lust.
Ill see you outside, he said abruptly, as if it were her fault that he could not rid himself of the flash in his mind of what it would be like to have this ripe little beauty that he had bought. What would it be like if he had bought her for himself, rather than for his son?
I shall be honored, she said coldly.
Ill see you outside, he said abruptly, as if it were her fault that he could not rid himself of the flash in his mind of what it would be like to have this ripe little beauty that he had bought. What would it be like if he had bought her for himself, rather than for his son?
I shall be honored, she said coldly.
He got himself out of the room briskly enough and nearly collided with Prince Arthur, hovering anxiously in the doorway.
Fool, he remarked.
Prince Arthur, pale with nerves, pushed his blond fringe back from his face, stood still, and said nothing.
Ill send that duenna home at the first moment I can, the king said. And the rest of them. She cant make a little Spain in England, my son. The country wont stand for it, and I damned well wont stand for it.
People dont object. The country people seem to love the princess, Arthur suggested mildly. Her escort says
Because she wears a stupid hat. Because she is odd: Spanish, rare. Because she is young and he broke off pretty.
Is she? he gasped. I mean: is she?
Havent I just gone in to make sure? But no Englishman will stand for any Spanish nonsense once they get over the novelty. And neither will I. This is a marriage to cement an alliance, not to flatter her vanity. Whether they like her or not, shes marrying you. Whether you like her or not, shes marrying you. Whether she likes it or not, shes marrying you. And shed better get out here now or I wont like her and that will be the only thing that can make a difference.
I have to go out. I have won only the briefest of reprieves and I know he is waiting for me outside the door to my bedchamber and he has demonstrated, powerfully enough, that if I do not go to him, then the mountain will come to Mohammed and I will be shamed again.
I brush Doña Elvira aside as a duenna who cannot protect me now, and I go to the door of my rooms. My servants are frozen, like slaves enchanted in a fairy tale by this extraordinary behavior from a king. My heart hammers in my ears, and I know a girls embarrassment at having to step forwards in public but also a soldiers desire to let battle be joined, the eagerness to know the worst, to face danger rather than evade it.
Henry of England wants me to meet his son, before his traveling party, without ceremony, without dignity, as if we were a scramble of peasants. So be it. He will not find a princess of Spain falling back for fear. I grit my teeth. I smile as my mother commanded me.