As with Queen Elizabeth the century before, Mary contracted the tiny virus without any feeling or warning, but she soon started to feel tired and fevered. Fearing the worst, Mary got her affairs in order. She always feared the worst, but this time she was right. She destroyed all the papers that she did not want anyone else to see, burning diary pages and letters. At first it was thought she might have measles, but pustules came to tell a different story. Both of William’s parents had died from the smallpox and now it was taking his wife. The King was so upset he moved into her room and slept
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