The Other Henry VIII

Ambition and Distraction

As Summer turned to Autumn, Sophia carefully watched Diana. She hated the way the girl danced about with her gypsy hair flying out and she batted her eyelids at every man who glanced at her.
Henry was indifferent, but all the other men at court certainly weren't and many fell under her spell. Sophia couldn't deny that Diana was beautiful, but the beauty was like the beauty of an iceberg: dangerous. The Queen was 19, and Diana was 18, and they should have been friends, but the former despised the latter for behaving so childishly and the latter hated the former for acting so maturely when she wasn't even 20.
There was bad blood.

It didn't seem like 2 years since Sophia had become Queen Consort, but it had been and many a night she went to sleep alone, wondering who's bed her husband was sleeping in while she lay.

11 December 1513
It was nearly Christmastide, but Sophia missed it all. She stay in her room in confinement, perhaps reading above her swollen belly or sewing something useless, but always thinking of Diana. It was snowing outside, which saddened Sophia. It took her back to the years before, running in the snow with Henry, or hugging Clara wrapped in fur.

In Diana's chamber....
Diana had many admirers, she knew. It felt so good to dance and flirt with men then leave them for another. It made her feel....secure.
But Diana had plans. She had her eyes set on attracting the King and leading him into making her his mistress. That would favour her family, certainly. But there was one flaw: she had swore an oath to be faithful to the Queen and as much Diana hated it, Sophia was a nice person.
Dian thought about the Queen. She had a beautiful face, eyes the colour of diamonds and silver and thick straight auburn hair; and of course she had that ability to make anyone she met trust her. It was maddening, but the entire kingdom loved her and her daughter.
Clara.
She was a flaw too. An obstacle. She was the oldest child of the King, and that status would remain. Nothing could change that, but Diana's real problem was the unborn child.
Waiting to be born any minute.
If I give the King a son, will he love me?
That was what Diana has asked her father before she had left her home. He had replied:
He will have to love you to give you a son, sweetheart.
It was aggravating, but it was the truth.

In Henry's meeting room....
"I will not tolerate this!"shouted Henry, and his subjects flinched. They were supposed to be having a meeting about the new crisis, the rebels in Cornwall. Yes, more rebels.
"You told me that we were safe! You told me there would be no more trouble with bloody rebels. You said! But you know what? You were wrong!" Henry knew he sounded like a spoilt child promised a treat and not given it, but all the same, the other men looked terrified.
That was when it happened.

A messenger sprinted into the room and before Henry could retaliate, he had cried out desperately "Her Majesty has gone into labour!"
That ended the meeting rather abruptly.