CHAPTER 65
WITHIN SIX MONTHS OF MICHIELI’S RELAZIONE, MARY AGAIN believed she was pregnant. This time she waited until her sixth month and then in January 1558 sent word to Philip.1 “The news of the Queen, my beloved wife,” Philip wrote to Pole, “has given me greater joy than I can express to you, as it is the one thing in the world I have most desired and which is of the greatest importance for the cause of religion and the care and welfare of our realm.” It has “gone far to lighten the sorrow I have felt for the loss of Calais.”2
Weeks later, Don Gómez Suárez de Figueroa, count of Feria, was sent to England. He was to express Philip’s delight at the news of his wife’s impending labor but also to try to discover if it might be true. Many believed it was not, and this time no preparations were made for her confinement. Upon arriving in England, Feria quickly came to the conclusion that Mary was only “making herself believe that she is with child, although she does not own up to it.”3
Yet Mary remained convinced, and on March 30, as she approached what she believed to be the ninth month of her pregnancy, she made her will:
Thinking myself to be with child in lawful marriage between my said dearly beloved husband and lord, although I be at this present (thanks be unto Almighty God) otherwise in good health, yet foreseeing the great danger which by God’s ordinance remain to all women in their travail of children, have thought good, both for the discharge of my conscience and continuance of good order within my realms and dominions, to declare my last will and testament.
In the event of her death, the crown would be left to “the heirs, issue and fruit” of her body, while Philip, her “most dear and entirely beloved husband,” would be appointed guardian and regent for the prince or princess.
BY MAY, MARY’S HEALTH had deteriorated: she suffered from intermittent fevers, insomnia, headaches, and loss of vision. It was clear that there was no pregnancy. Writing to Philip, Feria described how “she sleeps badly, is weak and suffers from melancholy; and her indisposition results in business being handled more slowly than need be.”4
Over the summer Mary grew progressively weaker. In August, she caught influenza, then endemic in the country, and was moved from Hampton Court to St. James’s Palace. Forced to acknowledge the seriousness of her condition, she added a codicil to her will: “feeling myself presently sick and weak in body,” she admitted that it was unlikely she was with child. “Forasmuch as God hath hitherto sent me no fruit nor heir of my body, it is only in his most divine providence whether I shall have any or no.” If God did not grant her an heir, she would be “succeeded by my next heir and successor by the Laws and Statutes of this realm.”5 She stopped short of acknowledging Elizabeth by name but exhorted Philip to protect and care for England “as a father in his care, as a brother in his love and favour … and a most assured and undoubted friend to her country and subjects.”
On October 29, Antonio Surian, the Venetian ambassador, who was with Philip, wrote to the doge and Senate:
A few days ago, his Majesty received news from England that the Queen was grievously ill, and her life in danger, which intelligence, most especially at the present moment being of very great importance, so disquieted his Majesty, and all these lords, that it was immediately determined to send the Count de Feria to visit the Queen, in the name of her consort but as when the count was about to depart, fresh advice arrived that her Majesty’s health had improved his departure was delayed … the matter to be treated by him is the marriage of Milady Elizabeth, to keep that kingdom in any event in the hands of his Majesty’s confidence.6
By the terms of the marriage treaty, Philip’s prerogatives in England would cease with Mary’s death. In April, the marriage between Mary, queen of Scots, and the French dauphin, the future Francis II, had finally taken place. If Mary Stuart’s claim to the English throne could be secured, France’s position would be strengthened immeasurably and tip the balance in the Habsburg-Valois struggle. Even if Elizabeth succeeded, Philip feared that her Protestant sympathies would lead to a diplomatic realignment that would leave Spain isolated.
Feria was instructed to visit Elizabeth on the king’s behalf, present his compliments, express Philip’s hope that the amity would continue between Spain and the Tudor dominions, and ingratiate himself with the men around her. Elizabeth responded favorably, declaring that she would always be grateful to Philip because “when she was in prison [the king] had shown her favour and helped to obtain her release,” but dismissed the suggestion that she might marry the duke of Savoy.7 Meanwhile, Feria was “to try and dispose the Queen to consent to Lady Elizabeth being married as her sister, and with the hope of succeeding to the crown.”8
The first few days of November saw some alleviation in the queen’s condition, and as Parliament met, the Council petitioned her to make “certain declarations in favour of the Lady Elizabeth concerning the succession.” On November 6, Mary bowed to the inevitable: she “consented” and accepted Elizabeth as her heir. It was what she had fought to avoid most of her life, but now, realizing that death was near, she had no choice. Sir Thomas Cornwallis, the comptroller of the royal household, and John Boxall, secretary to the Privy Council, were sent to Hatfield to give Elizabeth the news. Mary asked that Elizabeth pay her debts and keep the Catholic religion as it had been established.9 She knew it was a futile plea.
While Mary lay dying, the court began to move to Hatfield, as “many personages of the kingdom flocked to the house of ‘milady’ Elizabeth, the crowd constantly increasing with great frequency.”10