The Other Henry VIII

Unspoken Truths

12th June 1522

"Diana Westerly, Queen of England. You have brought against the court for charges of proven adultery against His Majesty the King of England. How do you plead?"

Diana curled her thin fingers around the dark wooden stand to steady herself. She had become pale and sickly from staying within her chambers, especially since summer had arrived. Her eyes were so sunken and bloodshot that you could barely make out their true colour. The once pleasantly rosy and plump cheeks had become hollow, with as little colour as the cold, marble floor beneath her. The pure dread, the anxiety, the stress had sucked the life and soul out of the Queen of England, leaving only a ghost behind. Half-closing her eyes, she glanced down to avoid eye contact with her grandfather, who sat facing her near the centre of the room.

"Hell is better than the scrap of life I have in this world. My reputation is beyond repair. I don't even live anymore, I survive. What do you think I plead?" She dragged the last scrap of courage left in her from all corners of her mind and stared at the judge in the face. "I am on the brink of existence, Your Honour. I have waited so long for this trial, for you all to make up your minds about me, for my half-life to be over in one way or another."

"Not so fast,"said the judge cruelly. "I believe the council has a question for you before your 'half-life', as you call it, is... ended." Diana looked around at the council, skimming over her grandfather bitterly, and watched as they began to murmur. Then speak. Then shout.

"Who was your lover?"

"Tell us the criminal!"

"We demand to know your conspirator!"

"SILENCE!"roared the judge, banging his gavel loudly. "Farmyard animals are not welcome in this council, gentlemen." He turned to Diana. "The question is: with whom did you commit adultery against the King?"

"You will never know. I assure you, I will never say it. You can do anything you want to me. I mean anything. Lock me up!"She thrust forwards her wrists. "Send me to the Tower! You and this court, and the WHOLE WORLD will never know because I am loyal." Diana plucked up the courage to glare at her grandfather, at his stony expression. "And I will never betray someone as long as I live!" She shoved the guards out of the way and ran up to the Duke of Norfolk hysterically. "YOU TRAITOR! YOU DISLOYAL, UNFAITHFUL, SCHEMING LITTLE RAT!"shrieked Diana. She was pulled away, her arms wriggling to get free from the guard's grip, across the courtroom and out of the door.

As the council collected themselves, Catherine Starling (who had sat at the back quietly for the whole trial) rose and slipped out of the door after her cousin.

24th June 1522

"My Lord Cromwell,"said the King dully as he watched his trusted adviser enter his study. The curtains were pulled across the window to stop the bright summer sun escaping through and the room was very dark save for a small slit of light cast across it.

"Your Majesty,"replied Cromwell, bowing. He too had become a hermit in his own body, the only strength left from the shock of Diana's fate used to conceal itself.

For a moment, Henry stared into the distance with his chin on his palm. Cromwell noticed how loose the heavy rings were on his master's fingers, the uneven stubble on his chin, his sallow skin, and knew that the King of England was not taking  his wife's adultery well. There was no anger left, nor was there much jealousy. Only fear remained: fear of what had to be done, fear of what the outcome would be.

"I have kept her in the Tower for too long. I have tried to put it off, see, out of hope that this whole scandal will resolve itself." His eyes met Cromwell's. "But it will not. People come to the palace everyday - ambassadors, spies, nobles - and demand to know what I plan to do with her. The peasants scream outside the walls for her to be released or, God forbid, executed. But I can't release her." He sighed. "How can I release her after the crimes she has committed? You see the courtiers coming in here one by one to say how flirtatious she was, how she'd always smile at other men, how she'd dance like a peasant with her hands in all the wrong places. But My Lord Cromwelll.....this has killed me."

"Your Majesty- "began Thomas but the King carried on as if hypnotised.

"You see what I have become? What her sins have made me? Do you think I want to kill her,  to see her beautiful face still in a basket with her hair flying out? I will watch it happen and wish that I had freed her, that I had not been so cruel to her during our marriage. Whatever choice I make, I will regret it. But I have to choose by the end of the month or I will lose the patience of my people."

"Your Majesty, what will happen to her son?"asked Cromwell, keeping his voice as level as possible. Henry closed his eyes.

"Ah, John. He may not be mine. It all seemed too perfect, the way Diana knew about her pregnancy so quickly, how he came at eight months but was born large and healthy. The joy from simply having a son blinded me before. Now, I see the flaws, the gaps in Diana's web of lies and I must act on it." He took a fresh piece of parchment and dipped his white quill in the ink-pot. "He will be brought here to me from Ludlow Castle and I shall have him put under the care of the people I trust most in the world: the Earl of Rochford and my sister Margaret."
For a minute or so, the King sat quietly at his desk inking the letter in his own hand, something he barely ever did, and the only sound in the room was the scratching of the quill against the parchment. Cromwell paced slowly from one side to the other, his hands clasped behind his back, while he waited for the King to finish. At least his son would be safe in the care of the aunt and uncle, it was the best thing Cromwell could hope for at this point.
"As for Diana's scandalous accomplice, I am not sure... We cannot get it out of her and I cannot torture my own wife and a noblewoman by birth for information." The King thought for a moment, looking up to God for some form of guidance or help.

"What will you do, Your Majesty?"asked Cromwell impatiently, but keeping his tone low and business-like.
"I was just getting to that, My Lord Cromwell,"returned the King irritably. "Patience, patience. I shall put every man at court under scrutiny. I want someone watching every single gentleman, every noble, for any signs at all that point to their tenderness towards my wife. And I want you to orchestrate this."

Oh the irony, thought Cromwell sourly but curtly nodded his head. "Of course, Your Majesty. At once."

He couldn't help falling in love with the King of England's wife. But he could help who found out about it.