Beyond Death

There are hints that Elizabeth’s relationship with Henry’s mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort, was not always easy. The Spanish envoy observed that Margaret kept Elizabeth ‘in subjection’. Another visitor to court claimed that she was the Queen’s gatekeeper, and begrudged the fact that he would have spoken more to Elizabeth ‘had it not been for that strong whore, the king’s mother’.

I feel very protective of Elizabeth because, contrary to what has always been said about the Henry VII-Elizabeth of York couple, I am firmly convinced that she lived in a prison of hyper-control and constant penance.

Just consider the fact that the much “beloved” mother-in-law, Margaret Beaufort, made her change her motto from “Without ever changing” to “Humble and penitent.”

(𝐎𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞, 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞 “𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐯𝐲𝐫” 𝐚𝐬 “𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠” 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐦 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭? 𝐈 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐝𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐫, 𝐄𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐡 𝐈, 𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐨 “𝐒𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐦,” 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 “𝐀𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞,” 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡, 𝐢𝐧 𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 “𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠” 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡. 𝐈’𝐦 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐥!)

That said, I was quite amused by the comment of a court envoy who referred to Margaret as a “strong whore.” No matter how hard the Tudors tried to paint a different story, the truth always comes out eventually. It’s just a matter of patience.

And we, well we have plenty of patience…

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