[Henry VIII] Tudor Crown

The letter sent by Henry II was nothing more than nonsense about why he couldn't afford the dowry money, and implicitly expressed the indignation that William III didn't lack the money at all, so there was no need to ask for money like a debt collector.

In this regard, William III knew that the best way to deal with hooligans was to give the strongest counterattack.However, after he received a letter from Catherine de' Medici, he hesitated a bit about the order he was about to issue.

It is true that with the character of the King of France, he would never allow his puppet queen to write a personal letter to another king on the English Channel without permission.Therefore, Catherine de' Medici could only ask William III's sister, her biological mother, Princess Mary, to help her deliver her personal letters to the King of England while visiting her second daughter, Claude.

Compared with the heartless Henry II, the tone of Catherine de' Medici's letters can be described as humble to the point of politeness, full of touching maternal love.

Regardless of the history, the relationship between Princess Margot and Catherine de Medici was not good. Even after the religious war broke out in France, it was once to the point of incompatibility.

But the current Princess Margot is just a five-year-old girl who grew up in a deformed palace dependent on her mother.

Because Henry II's attention is on state affairs, Diane de Poitiers, and Prince Francois, the only ones who care about Princess Margot are her sister and mother, and those who arrange her courses Diane de Poitiers.

Although Catherine de' Medici hated her husband's mistress deeply, from a mother's point of view, she recognized Diane de Poitiers' elegant taste and management skills, and even hoped that her daughters From the king's mistress, they can learn the demeanor that once belonged to the "Lady of France" (here refers to the daughter of Louis XI, Princess Regent Anne of France).

It can be said that in Catherine de' Medici, the mother's responsibility and the woman's jealousy are ingeniously divided and balanced.

Until Henry II mercilessly broke this balance and ignited Catherine de Medici's anger that had nowhere to go.

If it is said that Isabelle de Limoy's rumors only made Catherine de' Medici give up all illusions about her husband.Then Henry II wanted Princess Margot to follow Catherine de' Medici's old path and become the most worthless bride in the English court, which undoubtedly made Catherine de' Medici's heart crazily emerge. Killing her husband.

Because Catherine de Medici married into the French court at the age of 14, and less than a year after her marriage, the protector who signed an alliance agreement with France, that is, the second pope of the Medici family and the real The person in power - Clement VII died of illness in Florence.The ensuing dispute over the inheritance of the Medici family also made it impossible for Florence and the Holy See to honor Catherine de Medici's dowry.

It is conceivable that a foreign bride who has no dowry and has lost the support of her natal family lives in the French court carefully, like walking on thin ice.

To make matters worse, because the eldest son of Francis I died in the third year of Catherine de' Medici's marriage, Henry II, who became the Crown Prince of France, had the right to divorce his worthless wife , and then marry a Catholic princess worthy of the crown princess.

For Catherine de Medici, that period of time was no less than the torment she suffered in the Martyrdom of Rome.

Although there were no soldiers outside her door shouting to "drag out the Medici bitch and hack it to death", she knew very well that she would be driven out by the French nobles who broke in at any time.

And Florence would not accept a Medici girl who was driven back to her hometown.

Fortunately, after Cosimo I quelled the riots in Florence, he made up for Catherine de' Medici's dowry, and also maintained a good relationship with his cousin.

Otherwise, given the situation Catherine de Medici was in at the time, it was absolutely impossible to escape smoothly.

And now, her youngest daughter is going to follow her old path.

This was something Catherine de' Medici could not tolerate.

To make matters worse, Princess Margot is now nine years younger than Catherine de Medici, who just married to France.

Because Henry II wanted to save the cost of marrying his daughter, he married Princess Margot to England "by the way", five years earlier than agreed in the agreement.

On the other side of England, with Mary Stuart's jewels in front of her, who can look up to Princess Margot who was married naked?

Even though Mary Stuart was more of a child bride than Princess Margot, she was crowned Queen of Scots and raised at the English court.

In contrast, the snobbery in Whitehall will definitely isolate Princess Margot.

As for William III and Queen Juana...

Catherine de' Medici didn't expect them to worry too much about Princess Margot's situation. After all, the two are ruled by two kings, and they are very busy all year round. Even the Duke of Richmond rarely bothers them. , not to mention Guillaume who is engaged to Princess Margot.

And if Princess Margot and Guillaume were to dissolve the engagement, not only would the relationship between Britain and France deteriorate again, it would even lead to Princess Margot ending up in a monastery or being married to a more remote small country by her father.

Although the identity of the prince and princess can bluff many people, in fact, except for the most core members of the royal family, everyone else is facing the embarrassing situation of not having a marriage partner.

Because the right match is an eternal truth.

This is also the main reason why members of the royal family will become abbots, bishops, or already have lovers and illegitimate children, but are still single and have no heirs.

After all, seeing how Philip II lost his wife for so long before waiting for Princess Elizabeth of France, one can imagine how narrow the choice of royal marriage is.

And the second son of the royal family, who is rich and noble like Guillaume, actually has a wider range of choices than the Duke of Richmond, who is the crown prince.

If there is no agreement on the marriage with France, it is not difficult to tell Guillaume a German princess or the daughter of an Italian duke by means of William III. Female nobles listed as reference objects.

But Princess Margo is different.

Looking at the whole of Europe, no one would consider a princess with no dowry and no dowry. Otherwise, why would Henry II's younger sister, the Duchess of Berry, who was considered to marry William III, marry with her niece?

Even if some nouveau riche want to improve their social status by marrying the princess, the royal family can't do such a shameful thing.

Gein Europe in the sixteenth century only accepted the marriage model of low marriage and high marriage.

William III was also a mortal child of a parent, so he naturally understood Catherine de' Medici's good intentions in not wanting her daughter to spend her life in a monastery.

If the mother is still alive, at least with Catherine de Medici's method, no one will treat Princess Margot badly.

And if the old mother died, then with the current performance of Catherine de Medici, it is not difficult for William III to imagine the performance of those French princes.

From this point of view, Habsburg is really a model of brother-sister harmony, and even William III wanted to learn from his cousin.

"Let Guillaume come over." William III decided to throw this difficult question to the person involved.

It can be regarded as an escape from the old father.

…………… I am the dividing line……………

When Guillaume stood anxiously in front of his old father, he thought he was the Duke of York who was about to part with Michelangelo completely, and showed William III the expression of Romeo being arrested after escaping marriage—although Shakespeare hadn’t born.

"...I'll give you three seconds to clean up your sloppy attitude, or I'll send you to your mother." William III's palms on the table were bruised, and he wished he could give Guillaume immediately A chestnut.

What an unlucky kid who deserves a beating no matter what.

For the first time in history, William III experienced a rise in blood pressure.

Even when it was negotiating wars with Charles V or Henry II, William III was never as worried as he is now.

"France can't afford Princess Margot's dowry, so I want to rescind your engagement with Princess Margot." William III ordered the letters from Henry II and Catherine de' Medici to be handed over to Guillaume , by the way, check the other party's French score: "Your aunt sent a personal letter to the Queen of France. It seems that she wants to win another one or two for Princess Margot, so what are you going to do?"

"Me?" Guillaume, who had roughly read the two letters, asked with some doubts: "Isn't it all up to you and your mother to make decisions? Can I make decisions about my marriage?"

"It's because your mother and I... mainly because I can't make up my mind, so I want to hear what you think." William III, who was demolished by his son, coughed and tried to find a way to go down: "After all, I am looking for a wife for you. If you do not accept France's request, then I will choose a German princess for you after retiring from France's marriage."

In fact, as early as Sir Cecil frequently summoned the French ambassador, someone had already smelled the crisis of the marriage between the two countries.

The elector of Saxony even enthusiastically offered to choose a Protestant princess for Guillaume.

Although William III did not respond directly, he took the proposal of the Elector of Saxony to heart.

"Your words really make me speechless." Guillaume said very dissatisfied: "You only come to seek my advice when there is a problem with the marriage. Isn't this just shirking responsibility?"

"If I just shirk responsibility, what do you think?" William III's straightforwardness made Guillaume feel unbelievable.

"You are the king!"

"Even a king, there will be times when he wants to escape." William III didn't think it would be detrimental to let his son understand his father's "shameless" side: "You will have to face more shameless people in the future, It's a shameless thing, so today's incident, in the end, is just a test for you."

"Really?" Guillaume doubted: "You have found the time for this test too well. If I don't want to dissolve the engagement with Princess Margot, then what will you do?"

William III did not answer Guillaume's question directly, but was surprised that his youngest son did not think of breaking the engagement with Princess Margot: "I thought you would be furious at what Henry II did."

"Anger is the emotion I should express." Guillaume is far more manly than William III thinks: "If I break off the engagement with Princess Margot, then her end will be in the monastery, and some people who can pay the price Among the dukes, make a difficult choice."

"Just considering that France can't afford the dowry of a little princess, the big families in the country, such as Guise, Bourbon, and Foix, will not favor a princess who is not of much value."

After all, the "Salik Code" is based on patrilineal blood, so the princess's marriage can only be icing on the cake, and it does not bring the right to inherit the throne.

"And a princess who can make both my aunt and you fight for her should also have good qualities that make me not give up on her." Guillaume is not stupid, but he is too lazy to bother about things he is not interested in: "It's disgusting." Just because a good father doesn't mean he has a stupid daughter. And a vicious mother doesn't necessarily raise a mean and vulgar son."

"That's the truth." William III agreed, "So what kind of compensation do you want France to give you?"

"Huh?" Guillaume didn't keep up with his father's jumping thinking, so he asked one more question: "Didn't you say that France can't get the princess' dowry?"

"My lovely and simple son! The background of France is not comparable to that of England, especially our ancestors were vassals of France. Could it be that Henry II has nothing else to offer besides money? "William III felt that the Duke of Richmond was better in cleverness.

But fortunately, Guillaume did not preconceived a grudge against Princess Margot, so William III did not have to worry about them becoming a bitter couple.

"Even though it is impossible for Henry II to marry Princess Margot with land, there are many works of art in France...and that is what you like the most." William III's words made Guillaume's eyes light up: "François I ...that is, your fiancée's grandfather invited Leonardo da Vinci to his court and spent more than 20 years collecting Renaissance treasures."

"It is no exaggeration to say that any name you can think of has an authentic collection in the French court."

"Including the "Mona Lisa" that made Da Vinci flee Florence, but also to stay."

William III suggested: "It depends on what you want now, and then I will ask someone to discuss with the French ambassador."

"It must be about Henry II..." William III couldn't help but spurn when he mentioned this name: "Forget it, let's talk about Queen Catherine who really cares about this marriage."

"Although works of art are not something that preserves value, in this case, it can barely make both sides faceable."