Love, Remember Me Read Online Free PDF Page B

the feast of Candlemas. Westminster had been chosen as the site for the coronation ritual.
    The king was currently at Hampton Court. Each day he issued more orders regarding his wedding and the convivial days that would follow it. Henry Tudor had thrown himself wholeheartedly into the preparations. Several times each day, and always in the presence of others, he would draw Holbein's miniature of the Princess of Cleves from his tunic, where it nested against his heart, gaze dramatically upon it, and sigh gustily like a young lad seriously involved with a woman for the very first time. The king fancied himself in love again. This Anne, he declared to his intimates, would be far different from the other Anne. This Anne would be gentle, wise, and loving. She would ease his old age when it finally arrived in some far distant future. Perhaps he would even have more children by this pretty German princess with her sweet face. That would be to the good, he assured them. Some among the court wished the king well in this new marriage. Others silently thought him a fool that he continued to believe in romantic love at his age.
    A messenger arrived at Hampton Court on the fifth day of November. The Princess of Cleves had departed her brother's ducal seat at Dusseldorf, and would arrive in approximately three weeks, or by the end of the month at the latest, according to all reports. She traveled with a large, stately retinue of 263 people, along with 228 horses. There were coaches for the ladies, and over fifty baggage carts. The progress of so great a retinue was very slow, however. The king finally sent to Calais for news of his bride's arrival when word came that she was overdue. Now it was believed she would reach Calais by the eighth of December. The king's brother-in-law, Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, and the lord admiral, the Earl of Southampton, Sir William FitzWilliam, departed for Calais to escort the bride across the Channel to England. The Duke of Norfolk and the king's chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, were ordered to stand by to greet Anne of Cleves at Canterbury.
    Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, was not pleased by the match. Most, including Bishop Gardiner, believed it was because the bride was a German Protestant. Actually, Duke Thomas hated Cromwell, and equally disliked being out of the intimate power structure surrounding the king. The Duke of Norfolk was England's premier noble. He was used to being part of the decision-making process of the Privy Council. He had opposed this marriage from the start, for it was Cromwell's great plan. It would be Cromwell, responsible for lifting this German princess from obscurity, who would influence this new queen, not Thomas Howard, whose foolish niece, Anne Boleyn, had once worn England's crown. If Anne had but taken his advice, she would yet have her crowned head.
    He sighed deeply. Was it not bad enough that he had seen Anne replaced by that whey-faced Jane Seymour? That he had been forced to endure the arrogance of Jane's two brothers, Edward and Thomas Seymour, those upstarts from Wolf Hall? That he had seen a Seymour succeed where a Howard had failed? At least this bride was royal. It was his only consolation. That, and the fact he had miraculously managed to retain his position as Lord Treasurer, despite his family's failures and the king's displeasure.
    The retinue from Cleves did not reach Calais until December eleventh. They were escorted into the town with much grand celebration, but once there, they were detained for the next two weeks by storms of horrendous proportions that were wracking the coasts of France and England. It was simply not possible until December twenty-sixth to make the comparatively brief crossing from Calais to Deal.
    Anne whiled away her time learning to play cards. She did not know how, but quickly picked it up. Her teacher, the Earl of Southampton, had told her that the king loved to play cards. Anne was eager to learn all things that would