The Constant Princess

by Philippa Gregory

It was built first and foremost as a garden with rooms of exquisite luxury so that one could live outside. It is a series of courtyards designed for flowers and people alike. It is a dream of beauty: walls, tiles, pillars melting into flowers, climbers, fruit and herbs.

she had the clear, decided looks of a woman who had seen her hopes destroyed.

I have learned to grieve for the stain on my linen as if it is a child lost. Eighty-four chances for me to have a son, in the very flush of my youth; eighty-four chances lost. I am learning to miscarry. I am learning the sorrow of miscarriage.

‘Now, that is the very beginning of wisdom,’ he said gently. ‘I am sure of that, at least. Knowing that you do not know is to ask humbly, instead of tell arrogantly. That is the beginning of wisdom.

Then life taught me a harder lesson, beloved: it is better to forgive an enemy than destroy him.

Words have weight, something once said cannot be unsaid, meaning is like a stone dropped into a pool; the ripples will spread and you cannot know what bank they wash against.