King Henry

Chapter 27 - Taking a Vote

***** King Henry's Point of View *****

Lord Viscount stood up and said, "I have a question for her."

Henry had known Lord Viscount since he was a baby. At thirty nine, he was one of the youngest member of the King's council but he was wise beyond his years and he was often the first one to speak up and come up with solutions for problems. Henry respected his opinion a great deal.

"Yes Lord Viscount. Please proceed," Henry said.

The Lord turned to Eleanor and said, "I have a scenario for you. Let's say that we approve of your union with King Henry and allow this wedding to take place, but then the people of England are outraged and refuse to accept you as their Queen because you're a commoner. They lead a revolt through the streets demanding your removal as Queen. They bring torches and pitchforks and burn houses along the way in protest and slaughter those who would stand against them. They make their way all the way up to the castle gates and demand to speak with you. You walk out to the gates. What would you say to them?"

Henry watched with nervous anticipation, looking over and wondering what Eleanor would say to this. She cleared her throat and folded her hands in front of her. She looked more confident than he thought she would be. Maybe she had forgotten that she was talking to the twenty most powerful men in England right now or maybe she was just good at faking confidence like he was.

"Lord Viscount, I would walk up to the gate and ask them if they have ever had anyone in the castle in a position of power that understood what it was like to be them, someone who understood the struggles that the common people of England face, like illness, poverty, lack of clean drinking water, limited education, no access to books, food shortages. The list could go on and on. I would tell them they should be rejoicing that there is a poor commoner on the throne because I understand their struggles firsthand and what needs to be done to fix them, much more than a wealthy courtier or a princess from another country would."

Lord Viscount nodded his head and raised his eyebrows like he was impressed. Henry looked around at the others' faces and they were nodding and looking impressed too as they whispered to each other.

"That's quite a good answer Eleanor. I think you just won the people of England over."

"Thank you my Lord," Eleanor said with a bow of her head and Lord Viscount sat back down.

Henry was so impressed with Eleanor. When he looked over at her she gave him a warm smile. He remembered how shy and timid she had been when they first met and how Thomas Fletcher had her scared to even speak. Seeing her like this now made Henry proud.

Father Winslow, the head priest of the largest Catholic church in London stood up and said, "I have a question for you too Eleanor."

This man made Henry the most nervous out of all twenty members of the King's Council. He was stubborn and set in his ways and was always the hardest to convince when anyone had a new law they wanted passed. He would be the first to tell you why your idea couldn't work and he could be very negative and skeptical at times. The worst part was,  he was also very influential and powerful, so whichever way his vote went, the rest of the council usually tended to follow. It was very important for Eleanor to convince him, but it wasn't going to be easy.

"Yes Father Winslow. Please proceed with your question," Henry said.

"I actually have a two part question Eleanor. First, what is your religion?"

"I'm Roman Catholic sir," she said and Father Winslow looked pleased to hear that.

"Let's say you two are married and King Henry decided one day to switch the religion of the Kingdom over to Protestantism, but you disagree with this decision. What would you say to him?"