monarch

A week after the quarrel, on December 1547, 12, a richly decorated Spanish galleon arrived at Canary Wharf in London along the Thames, led by a pilot, through the complicated river course. .

Spectators packed the embankments and the harbor platforms as a ship adorned with the Vatican's coat of arms arrived in the island nation for the first time since King Henry's feud with the Catholic Church a decade ago.

The flags of Spain and the Papal State fluttered high on the mast of this big ship. Under the control of the Spanish sailors on board, the big ship like a huge whale slowly approached the shore.

The huge iron anchor was thrown from the ship, and with the rattling sound of the iron chain, the cable was thrown to the shore, and the workers on the pier quickly tightened the rope.

Princess Mary stood on the pier and looked at the big ship that was docking, the joy in her eyes could not be suppressed.Princess Mary is still wearing her usual pomegranate red dress today. She holds the rosary tightly in her hand, and her lips move slightly, obviously praying in a low voice.

Standing behind Princess Mary were Bishop Gardiner and members of his party.Compared with Princess Mary, their enthusiasm is obviously much weaker.After the king made it clear that His Excellency the Pope's special envoy would only be treated as an ordinary diplomat, it would be suspected of contradicting the king to come to the pier with such fanfare to greet the cardinal.However, Princess Mary was very insistent on this matter, so these minions could only wait helplessly in the cold wind, praying that the king would not be offended by this matter.

The gangway was lowered from the ship, and a man in his 50s, wearing a cardinal's robe, stepped out of the cabin to the sound of the horn.He had a thick beard on his long face, and a few deep forehead lines were left on his forehead because of his serious expression. The eyes in the deep-set eye sockets calmly scanned the outside scene.

Cardinal Eugenard Pearl left England as a young man in the prime of his life, now in his fifties, his thick black hair now grizzled, and his pale skin gradually sallow , only the enthusiasm in those eyes looked the same as before.

As the grandson of the Duke of Clarence, one of the famous three York brothers who drowned in a Madeira barrel, the cardinal and his brothers have always been shadowed: compared with the Tudor family, their Plantagenet blood was as pure as King Henry's.

In 1485, when Henry VII killed the notorious Richard III of the York family on the battlefield of Bosworth and forged a new crown for himself with blood and sword, he immediately married Elizabeth of the York family as his own. For the remaining members of the York family, he is not so kind-the only remaining male of the York family, the "Last Plantagenet" Earl of Warwick, a mentally handicapped child, who was thrown by him into the Tower of London and then to the guillotine; the child's sister, Margaret York, Countess of Salisbury, was married to a much older man, a Tudor supporter, Richard Sir Chad Pearl.

As the cousin of Queen Henry VII and the aunt of the late king, Mrs. Salisbury took good care of the young late king. Therefore, in the early days of the late king's reign, the entire Pearl family was also a good family member.As the third son of Mrs. Salisbury, the Cardinal also got the opportunity to study in Italy.

However, after the king broke with the Roman Church, Father Eugenard Pearl firmly stood on the side of the Catholic Church. He fiercely opposed the policies of King Henry VIII, and even called on foreign monarchs to intervene, which brought him great troubles. The cardinal's crown also attracted the assassins of King Henry VIII.After several failed assassinations, Henry VIII's anger turned on the cardinal's family, the bishop's mother, brothers, who died one by one on the guillotine in the Tower of London.

The cardinal was once proclaimed by the pope to be the rightful heir to the throne of England, and many Catholics at the time imagined that he would march into the island, surrounded by foreign armies, and set things right.Now the bishop is returning to London after more than a dozen years in exile, but in many minds this is only the first step.

The cardinal glanced at the huge figure of the Tower of London with complicated eyes. The gray building stood there without saying a word. In the past ten years, it had swallowed almost all the members of the cardinal's family.He turned his head, took a deep breath, put all the thoughts in his mind behind him, took a step, and walked along the diving board to the shore.

When the cardinal's feet finally set foot on the soil of England, Princess Mary had already stepped forward to greet the cardinal and curtseyed to the cardinal, which was even bigger than when she bowed to the king.

"Your Majesty, my dream has finally come true. The representative of God and the Holy See has finally set foot on this unfortunate land." Her eyes were filled with tears, and her voice was choked with excitement.

The cardinal looked at the eldest princess with loving eyes, "My child, God will eventually save His people, and God's holy light will eventually shine on this beautiful island."

He stretched out a hand towards Princess Marie, and Princess Marie held the thin, sallow hand like a drowning person grabbing a life-saving straw, and kissed the cardinal's ring.

The cardinal smiled and lifted the eldest princess up, and drew a sign of the cross on his chest, "Your piety will eventually be rewarded by God, Your Highness."

Princess Mary wiped the tears from her eyes, and she resumed her usual serious expression, "Please let me introduce my friends to you."

"His Excellency Bishop Gardner." Princess Mary pointed to her number one officer.

Bishop Gardiner smiled reluctantly. He bowed slightly, looking a little embarrassed and obviously uncomfortable.With the growing power of the king, Bishop Gardner is now more and more regretful that he got on the princess's ship. However, there has been news recently from Rome that Pope Paul III has run out of fuel, and this cardinal is a member of both Spain and France. One of the promising future pope candidates.Bishop Gardner is like a bouquet of morning glories. It has become his instinct to cling to the powerful. The temptation to get in touch with the future Pope of Rome is too great. Even if it may anger the king, it is worth a try—after all, His Majesty Hasn't the cardinal been granted permission to come to England?It was entirely fitting that he went to greet him as a representative of the Church of England.

The cardinal showed a knowing smile, obviously aware of Gardner's hesitation. "I have heard of your name for a long time, Your Excellency Bishop Gardiner. All Europe is impressed by your knowledge and resourcefulness."

Bishop Gardner frowned slightly. For a politician, these two items are naturally the foundation of his life, but for a clergyman, piety and belief in God are the highest praises. The bishop can't help but wonder if this sentence implies eloquent.

However, when he was still thinking about this sentence, the cardinal had already walked past him to greet the next person.

The whole welcome ceremony ended very quickly. On the one hand, the possible dissatisfaction of the king was taken into account. On the other hand, these gentlemen who came to welcome the cardinal were just to show their faces in front of Princess Mary, and there was no relationship between them and the cardinal. There is nothing to say.Therefore, 10 minutes after disembarking, the cardinal and the eldest princess got into the carriage and galloped all the way to Whitehall Palace.

From the window of the carriage, the cardinal gazed with interest at the street scene, which he had last seen nearly 20 years ago.He sat there quietly, as silent as a stone statue.And the radiant Princess Mary wisely did not interrupt the cardinal's meditation. She held the black rosary tightly in her hand and muttered something.

The carriage drove into the gate of the Whitehall Palace, the courtyard was empty, and there were no welcoming crowds or guards of honor.The treatment given by the king to the envoys of the Holy Father is far inferior to that of ambassadors from other countries. Princess Mary's face instantly became a little stiff, while the cardinal remained calm, as if there was nothing in this world that could arouse his anger. Mood changes.

The carriage stopped in front of the porch, the groom stepped forward to open the door, and a guard stepped forward and helped Princess Mary get out of the carriage.Then he turned again, and handed the cardinal his shoulders, and the old man stepped out of the carriage on his shoulders.

"Thank you, my child, and may God bless you." The cardinal smiled and crossed himself.

The guard bowed solemnly, turned and left without saying a word, apparently having received an order from above.

The cardinal couldn't help feeling a little embarrassed.

"This is really disrespectful." The cloud on Princess Mary's face became heavier, "I will ask the king to punish that guard."

The cardinal smiled, "It's nothing, Your Highness. Compared with the assassin sent by your father, this soldier is much more friendly to me. After all, he doesn't intend to pierce my chest with the sword in his hand."

Princess Mary smiled dryly, and the two walked into the porch of Whitehall Palace together.

There were not many people in the palace, but they all stood a certain distance away, looking at the cardinal with guarded eyes, whispering to each other as if watching some dangerous exotic beast.When the cardinal approached, they all backed away in unison, as if the cardinal had the plague, cholera, or smallpox.No one would want to be considered a friend of Rome by the king any more than they would rather have the plague or smallpox.

Viscount Robert Dudley, chief attendant of the court, greeted the cardinal and the eldest princess at the door of the king's reception room, "Your Highness, Your Majesty, Your Majesty is receiving guests, please wait a moment."

Princess Mary asked dissatisfiedly, "Who is with His Majesty?"

"It's the ambassadors of the German Protestant princes." Robert had a smile on his face, but what he said was very straightforward.

Princess Mary looked as if she had swallowed a fly. "Those rebels and scum who oppose the emperor?" she said in a tone of indescribable disgust.

"It's the princes who disagree with the emperor on religious affairs." Robert nodded slightly.

Princess Mary cast a disgusted look at him, "You are really a born diplomat, Mr. Viscount, no wonder my brother values ​​you so much." She took a step forward, "However, your and my brother's judgment But it's not good enough to rank these useless scum ahead of a holy representative of the Holy See."

"Thanks for your highness's praise, but in my opinion, these envoys are not as bad as you said, on the contrary, they are all gentlemen with high morals." Robert retorted.

Princess Mary's face turned dark, and she looked like she was about to have a seizure.

"Your Highness, since the gentlemen of the Protestant League have come first, we might as well wait for a while." The cardinal interjected.

Princess Mary still looked very dissatisfied, but the cardinal had already expressed her opinion, so she couldn't say anything more, "You are really generous." She smiled apologetically at the cardinal.

"Then please wait a moment, both of you." Robert pointed to the armchair in the waiting room, motioning for the two to sit down and wait.

"Thank you very much." The cardinal said with a smile, "Mr. Viscount, if I'm not mistaken, your father is the Lord of the Navy, Lord Earl of Essex."

"It's my father."

The cardinal looked at Robert carefully, and he smiled slightly, looking like a loving elder.He didn't say anything more, walked to an armchair and sat down, and the eldest princess also sat beside him.

After about 10 minutes, there was a bell at the door.Robert stood up, opened the door, and walked into the king's reception room. After a while, the door opened again. Under Robert's leadership, a group of diplomats came out in a file. They were talking in German and seemed to be in high spirits.

The tall man in the lead noticed the cardinal in the waiting room at a glance, and the expression on his face suddenly froze, and the people behind him also fell silent.

The cardinal held on to the handle of the armchair, stood up, and saluted without humility, "Hello, Your Excellency Count von Holstein."

Count von Holstein, the Minister of the Palace of the Elector of Saxony, also nodded towards the cardinal, "Your Majesty."

The two sides greeted coldly, and then the envoys of the Protestant League left without stopping.

"Your Majesty can receive the two of you now." Robert stretched out his hand to signal the cardinal and princess to enter.

The cardinal nodded slightly and walked into the door.

On the other side of the huge drawing room, hung a huge portrait of King Henry VIII created by Hans Holbein. On the throne under the portrait, sat a black-haired boy with his Compared with his father, his face was much more refined and paler, and he looked like a fragile ceramic statue. The cardinal could not help but think of some new kings in England who were in poor health and might not live to be 30 years old. rumors, but he didn't show it at all.

He walked to the center of the room and bowed deeply.

"Your Excellency the Cardinal," said the King.

The cardinal looked up, and the eyes of the king in the portrait and the king under the portrait looked at him.

"Your Majesty, I bring you the greetings of our Holy Father, His Majesty Pope Paul III, and wish you a long life."

"It's your holy father, Your Majesty the Holy See." The king corrected him coldly, "but I'm still very grateful for His Majesty's blessing."

The cardinal didn't take it for granted, as if nothing had happened, he continued, "Your Majesty the Pope entrusted me to convey to you the goodwill of the Roman Church. He believes that the differences between England and the Roman Church are just a momentary difference between brothers. And, as long as both sides have good intentions, then it will soon be possible to turn hostility into friendship."

"I hope so too." The king nodded, "but with all due respect, if Rome fails to fully recognize the independent status of the Church of England, then the reconciliation between the two parties will only be a fantasy."

"I hope Your Majesty will not be prejudiced against the Catholic Church." The princess said, "If you plan to join hands with those German heretics against the Holy Church, then I advise you to think twice."

"I have no prejudices," replied the King, "and the ambassadors of the Pope and the Protestant League will be treated alike with me, and you need not worry about that, my dear sister."

Princess Mary shook her lips, obviously she wanted more than equal treatment.

"Speaking of which, His Excellency, we are still cousins." The king looked at the cardinal again, "Even in the eyes of many people, your family is more qualified to sit on the throne than mine."

"Your Majesty still remembers." The cardinal smiled self-deprecatingly, "However, this is not so much an honor as a misfortune."

"I am sorry for what has happened to your family," said the king, "but I think my father did what he had to do."

"Will the old man who took care of him be executed, as well as the child who is only a few years old?" The cardinal expressed his feelings for the first time.

"But they are all pretenders to the throne, aren't they? For a man of the blood of the Plantagenet family, if his family sits on the throne, then this blood is a blessing from God, otherwise it is a curse from the devil, You must understand this." The king stared intently at the old face of the cardinal, the ravines on it could be interpreted as a symbol of wisdom, or marks of suffering. "And you openly called on enemy countries to invade your homeland and openly opposed my father. Your actions turned them from pretenders to the throne into potential threats. From a certain point of view, their blood on your hands is more important than My father's is not far behind."

The cardinal's face finally turned livid, and his lips trembled slightly.

"Since His Majesty the Pope wants you to show goodwill, then I accept this goodwill, and I welcome you to England. But if you, or His Majesty the Pope in Rome, or Emperor Charles V have any other ideas , then I'm afraid I'll have to do something I don't want to do." The king rang the bell, the door opened, and Robert entered the room.

"I wish you all the best in England." The king nodded to the cardinal, apparently seeing off his guests.

The cardinal bowed and left the room without a word, and Princess Mary followed closely behind him, like the shadow of the bishop.