Hello!

I have been inspired by the TV show The Tudors (and its fantastic actors) but I also include some historical elements that are not to be found in the show.

I decided that the girl we see with Charles Brandon on the Tudors is Mary Stafford. And I changed the circumstances of their affair, inspired by the true historical event that has been changed for the show.

My main character is not necessarily an OC, she is Mary Stafford's younger sister Catherine. (daughter of Duke of Buckingham)

I took some liberties with the ages and birthyears to make the story acceptable in modern society. (no marriage for 12-year-olds here!)

Please leave a review, I appreciate both praise and censure. ;)


Thornbury Castle, Gloucestershire

~o~

Catherine Stafford

"Catherine!" her lord father called her and little Cat flew down the dark oaken staircase.

"Yes, Lord Father?" she curtsied in her black mourning dress.

"Now that your Lady Mother has passed away, it has been decided that you will be sent to the French court. Your education is thorough enough but you have to learn courtly etiquette and protocol."

The French court. Her Lord Father hated the French with a passion because they had taken all the English possessions in the war that lasted a hundred years. Why would he send her there?

"Lord Father, may I speak?" she asked, shily. Edward Stafford was not the most patient of men.

He nodded.

"Why the French Court, my lord? I always thought-"

"It is the king's wish. He once sent his own sister, the Queen Mary, to France. Now that she has married this man of low birth, the king needs other ways to keep the French at bay. We need peace, little Cat. And a few noble maids of honour from England will appease the French king. Just see that you do not appease him too much."

I am part of the bargain. Her father was the Duke of Buckingham, a direct descendant of Edward III. and with nobler blood in his veins than the king himself. She was not allowed to say that outside of Thornbury's massive walls, though.

"I shall go and pack then." she said, although her chest grew tighter at the thought. She was the last one left here. Elizabeth, her eldest sister, was married to the son of the Duke of Norfolk, the Earl of Surrey. Henry, the second, and the only son, had married Ursula Pole and lived with her in Gloucestershire on one of Edward Stafford's vast estates. Her last sister, Mary, not so much older than her, was a maid of honour to Queen Katherine. Cat had always hoped that she would serve Katherine of Aragon, too. She was not yet twelve, but her Spanish was better than Mary's.

It is France for me, not England. Claude, not Katherine.

"Not now." The Duke shook his head impatiently. "You will leave early in the next year, Catherine. You will need new gowns and cloaks, silver sewing needles, a prayer book decorated with gold. I want you to shine, I want you to outshine. The Duke of Bourbon resides at the French court, and the Duke of Alencon. A french marriage might be profitable."

Her Lord Father looked at her.

"You are only a child now, Queen Claude's youngest maid-of-honour. But you will be beautiful and obedient and pliant. I want you to be perfect, Cat. You will represent our family. The Staffords have roots in France."

Catherine nodded but she felt sick. She was to leave her home, only half a year after her mother's death. And maybe, she would never return home again. I am a Stafford and a Percy. I must not be afraid.

January, Ch?teau de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Paris

~o~

Catherine

Catherine felt miserable. She was ten now, and Queen Claude's youngest maid of honour...but she was also afraid. She sat on the bed in the chamber she shared with another girl. A granddaughter of the Duke of Norfolk, but with an insignificant father, her own Lord Father had said. She would help her here, show her everything.

"Tu es Cathérine de Stafford?" a girl came in without knocking. That was exceptionally rude but Catherine did not find the courage to say that.

"Yes, I am Catherine Stafford." she replied, in English. The girl was slender and pretty, with dark eyes and even darker hair that was visible under her French hood. She was maybe a few years older.

"Je suis Anna. Anna de Boullans." the girl said, in French again. Anne. The English girl that should show me everything. Why did she speak French, though?

"Enchantée de faire votre connaissance." Catherine replied and the girl at the door laughed.

"And I thought you didn't know a single word of French." That was funny. Catherine had been taught French, Latin, and Spanish for years now.

"And I thought you didn't know a single word of English." she gave back.

The girl smiled. She had a pretty eyes, Catherine noticed.

"Come, I'll show you the castle. And then, you will be introduced to the Queen."

"How is she?" Catherine asked, out on the corridor.

"Kind, patient, modest." Anne replied. "And horribly boring." she whispered in Cat's ear. That made her laugh.

The palace was ostentatious, pomp and splendour reigned here. There was more gold in the Long Gallery than in all of her father's keeps and houses. The women dressed differently here, too. The gowns were not so stiff, the necklines lower and more lavishly decorated, the skirts were flowing...and Catherine felt horrible in her huge English gable hood. She would tell the seamstress to make her a french hood, as quickly as possible.

"Is it very different from England?" Anne asked her now, curiously.

"Like the sun from the moon." Catherine said. "I need a hood like yours." she admitted.

"You do. That one looks like a house." Anne said with a critical look at her headdress. "Come, Madame Servigné, the seamstress, will still be here, she measured the Duchess of Lorraine this morning."

A few months later.

"Anne! Anne!" Catherine hurried through the corridors of the palace in St. Germain, a letter in her hand.

"Anne!"

Anne was in the gardens. The Queen had no need of their service this morning.

"Cat!" Anne laughed. "You look like a common milkmaid. Look at your hair."

Catherine tucked some of the loose strands back under her French hood.

"Listen, you will not care how I look. My lord father wrote to me. The King is going to come to France! He will meet the king out on the fields around Calais. It will be a spectacular event. The king will bring a huge retinue. My father will come, and my brother, your uncle and grandfather, too." Maybe it was a bit incomprehensible?

Slowly, joy spread on Anne's dark face.

"Feasts. Tourneys. Balls. Oh, Cat, imagine the splendour! When? When will they come?"

Anne was three years older than Catherine but now, she was as giddy as her friend.

"In summer. June, most likely. The kings will meet on an open field between their kingdoms to show their affection, and there will be feasts and pageants and dances. Oh, it will be like a tale!" Catherine was just as excited. She would see her lord father, and her sistsers and brother. And she would see the king. And Queen Katherine. She could hardly remember her face.

They spent the whole morning in the gardens until it was time for their lessons. They were both ambitious by nature, eager to learn and quick to understand. Anne's French was that of a native by now, but Catherine's Latin was far better than Anne's. They both loved to read about history, read theological scripture, and listen to the old Monsieur Daniers when he talked about the stars at the night sky. The French court was cultivated and well-educated and Anne and Catherine were both determined to shine.


The cover image shows Elizabeth Olsen in "In Secret", I took it from co uk.