#fancis

Aleiah always kept her head down as she went around and cleaned the various rooms of the members of the French court. She was always quiet and never made any trouble about anything. She served the nobles and lords and ladies and the queen, but she knew that one day the truth of her lineage would come to light. She knew on that day her quiet happiness would be ruined by the ambitious king of France…

Let us begin at the beginning…

Catherine of Aragon did not know she was pregnant at the time of her annulment of her marriage from Henry VIII. She did not realize she still had the ability to get pregnant when she had tried to convince her husband one last time to stay married to her. Of course it had not worked, but there was a blessing that had come from it. Her eldest, Mary, was not normal. Her youngest and newborn babe, Aleiah, had a certain air around her. She was a quiet babe, but Catherine could tell that her youngest would be the future of England. Catherine made the hardest choice of writing multiple letters - one to her daughter when she was of age, one to Catherine de’ Medici for forgiveness for having sent her daughter to France, and another to the cousin of her own head maid to raise Aleiah as her own - and sending Aleiah off to France not knowing if she would live to see the letters or take her place on the throne of England.

As a result Aleiah had come to France as a babe being hidden in the servants quarters and being raised by the staff without the knowledge of the King. Her mother had sent her away before her father found out that she had been born at all. Queen Catherine was shocked to say the least, especially since she and her husband were about to solidify the engagement of her son, Francis, and Princess Mary of Scots. The queen allowed Aleiah to be raised in the castle and over the years gave her instructions to watch how those at court act. Queen Catherine knew her husband would eventually try to go after the English Throne. She also knew that if she had Aleiah here in the castle, she might be able to get rid of her husband’s bastard son.

Aleiah was taught how to clean and how to treat the nobles and royalty in the castle. She was taught to be a diverse servant on Queen Catherine’s orders, so she could observe how they acted and learn from their mistakes and from their achievements. All of that - however - seemed so much harder to do because she was the only female her age after Mary of Scots was sent to the Convent.