Charlie Fenton’s Reviews > Shadow Queen > Status Update

‘With the placing of the crown over Richard’s head I had been deemed King’s Mother. This was my metier. This was why I was born, it seemed. Not to be Princess in distant Aquitaine. Not even to be Queen of England. This was my fate, to mould and guide a new king to further England’s greatness.’

‘Who would want a royal heir of only nine years old when King Edward would so obviously follow his son into his grave within the year? Sometimes it was difficult to decide who would die first, King or Prince. King Edward waned before our eyes despite the firm hand of Alice Perrers, whom I had been driven through necessity to accept after her triumphant return to the court.’

‘But when did an English prince marry a woman with a questionable marital history and a dark shadow of lasciviousness hanging over her? When did the future King of England not marry a woman of status and rank and European connection to enhance his own prestige, a girl who was a virgin cosseted since childhood in the ways of a princess consort?’

“The Lady Joan is my wife, as she will affirm. Joan and I took oaths per verba de praesenti.” How easily the Latin fell from his tongue. “There were witnesses to that oath-taking who are still alive to speak of it, and there was a physical consummation. Our marriage is as lawful as your own, my lord. Joan’s marriage to the Earl of Salisbury is not a legal one, it never was, and never will be.”

‘Here we were trapped, in a complex spider’s web of our own making. It might be better if I resigned myself to life with William which would not be unpleasant, but if would not have that spark of exhilaration that had brought me from my bed this morning in anticipation of seeing Thomas, even for a handful of minutes.’