Charlie Fenton’s Reviews > The Heretic Wind: The Life of Mary Tudor, Queen of England > Status Update

‘I have never been so disappointed in anyone in my life. She is the dowager queen of England, a woman of integrity and grace, a woman of intelligence, yet she cannot govern her own conduct. She has allowed lust to obliterate her common sense. She should have known better. She should have waited. Why does love drive out all sensible thought? I suspect I will never discover the answer to that.’

‘And so it goes on. The slow disintegration of the church I love is masked beneath a gauze of familial well-being. Every time Katherine tries to steer me onto her heretic path, I hold her off, not tempted by the vulgar crudity of the new religion, and as much in love as ever with the gentle grace of the old.’

‘When nobody is looking, I take her on my knee to let her tug my hair, pull my nose and dribble on my gown. She is as fat and warm as a tabby cat and in my greatest torment, I find my only comfort. Whenever she sees me, she holds up her fat arms to be held. I think Elizabeth is the only person in the house who likes me.’

“Had she been childless she would probably have obeyed my father and gone quietly into a nunnery, but she had to fight for me; do you see? For my rights; for my inheritance. The throne was my due and she would settle for nothing less. Sone people criticise her for that; some say she should have gone gracefully into a convent as others have before, but my mother was proud.”

‘Since I am not supposed to know of his existence, there is no one I can ask about this so-called son of my father’s but I keep my ears open, my mind attuned to learning more. For the first time I realise I am not the centre of the universe and my parents have secrets that they do not share with me. Sometimes I think everyone is keeping secrets.’