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was fighting against France. The queen agreed to help her husband, but all she got in return was the devastating loss of Calais, the last of England’s once numerous territories in France. Philip had broken her heart, but, she said, they would find Calais lying upon it when they opened her up after her death.
    Bitter and abandoned, with all her hopes for a Catholic dynasty in ruins, Queen Mary I was finally forced to endure the inescapable fact that her hated half sister, Elizabeth, would be the one to succeed her.
    * Jane was given the opportunity to save her life if she would convert to Catholicism, but the girl who had been so shocked by the last-minute conversion of her father-in-law, the Duke of Northumberland, resolutely maintained her own strong Protestant faith. On the scaffold, before she laid her head on the block, she reiterated that she looked to be saved “by none other mean, but only by the mercy of God in the merits of the blood of his only son Jesus Christ.”
    † It is possible that Queen Mary had a rare condition known as pseudocyesis, or false pregnancy. Not only do those who suffer from the disorder fervently believe they are pregnant, but they have a variety of symptoms to make it seem so, such as cessation of menstruation, abdominal enlargement, nausea and vomiting, breast enlargement, and food cravings. The condition baffles scientists, but some have suggested that pseudocyesis occurs in patients who desperately want to become pregnant. This would certainly fit Mary Tudor, who fervently prayed for an heir to maintain the Catholic restoration.

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Elizabeth I (1558–1603): Perils of a Princess
    My Lord, these are shameful slanders.
    —P RINCESS E LIZABETH, LATER Q UEEN E LIZABETH I
    She was Gloriana, perhaps the greatest of all England’s kings and queens. But before Elizabeth I came to the throne and presided over that magnificent era bearing her name, she was a princess in almost constant peril. It was only with her formidable intelligence, and a little luck, that the young Elizabeth managed to survive—barely
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    In one of fate’s odd twists, Elizabeth Tudor enjoyed the most security of her early life during the reign of her father, Henry VIII. Sure, he was a monster who had her legally declared a bastard after beheading her mother, Anne Boleyn, but mostly the king ignored his precocious redheaded daughter and left her to her books. That kind of benign neglect had its benefits in those dangerous times, and Elizabeth grew up to revere her “matchless and most benevolent” father. After his death in 1547, though, she came under much more intense scrutiny, which nearly proved lethal.
    The orphaned princess, just thirteen, was sent to live in the household of her fourth and final stepmother, Katherine Parr, who, after she managed to survive her marriage to Henry VIII,wed the man she had always wanted: the dashing Thomas Seymour, Lord High Admiral of England and uncle to the new king, Edward VI.
    Queen Katherine had always treated Elizabeth with loving kindness, but her new husband’s interest in the girl might generously be described as predatory. Half-dressed, Seymour would steal into Elizabeth’s bedchamber first thing in the morning, rouse the teenager with tickles, slap her rear end, and attempt to kiss her. The princess was at first flattered by the attentions of the older, extremely charismatic man. But adolescent infatuation gave way to probity. To avoid being vulnerable, Elizabeth was forced to wake up earlier and dress fully before Seymour burst into her room. Still, he persisted, and with Katherine Parr’s apparent acquiescence. In one bizarre incident, the queen even held Elizabeth down while Seymour cut her dress to shreds.
    Perhaps Katherine genuinely believed that her husband was being playfully paternal with their young charge. He was, after all, gregarious by nature. But her attitude changed abruptly after she reportedly discovered her husband and stepdaughter in an embrace.