To Hold the Crown: The Story of King Henry VII and Elizabeth of York

To Hold the

Crown

Contents

Title Page

Epigraph

Genealogy

The Birth of a Prince

The Baker’s Boy

Coronation

The Death of a Queen

Perkin

Henry Duke of York

The Scottish Court

Tyburn and Tower Hill

The Spanish Princess

The Bride and the Widow

The Princes in the Tower

Birth and Death

The Search for a Queen

The Prince Discovers His Conscience

Shipwreck

The End of a Reign

King Henry the Eighth

Bibliography

A Reader’s Group Guide

An Excerpt from Katharine of Aragon

About the Author

Preview

Copyright

Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.

SHAKESPEARE’S HENRY IV, PART 2.

To Hold the

Crown

The Birth of

a Prince

here was great consternation in the Palace of Winchester on that misty September day, in the year 1486 for the Queen—who was not due to give birth to her child for another month—had started her pains.

It was extraordinary for only eight months had passed since the marriage. Everyone had been delighted by the Queen’s promise of fruitfulness, and to have given birth nine months after the marriage would have been a most welcome sign, but to do so in eight months was a little disconcerting, though no one could believe for one moment that this might mean anything but the birth of a premature child.

Queen Elizabeth was sitting quietly with her sisters, Cecilia aged seventeen and Anne who was just eleven, working on an altar cloth, which the King’s mother, of whom they were in considerable awe, had decided was an appropriate occupation for them at such a time when all the favors Heaven could grant them were needed. Even Anne knew—for it was spoken of continually—that it was of utmost importance that the Queen should give birth to a healthy boy.