Queen Of Four Kingdoms, The by HRH Princess Michael of Kent

marriage, during the autumn of 1403, enjoying the weather, picking wild flowers amid the scent of lavender and the delicious aroma of the ripe harvest in the fields, that Yolande tells her husband she is expecting their first child. Louis surprises her with his enthusiasm. ‘Oh my darling wife – this is the best possible news! Of course the baby will be a boy, I know it! And he must be named Louis, yes, Louis III. My darling, clever, beautiful wife!’ And on and on he goes, describing his plans for his son’s first ten years.
    Yolande never expected her husband to be such a keen father-to-be, and they delight in her pregnancy. Perhaps they both thought she would conceive sooner, but God chooses his time and she considers herself fortunate – she is strong and healthy, and she feels no sickness. Much as she would love her mother to be with her and share the excitement of the baby’s birth, Aragon’s queen is nursing a badly broken leg and unable to travel. Her letters full of maternal advice fill Yolande with expectation, and Juana is with her, which comforts them both.
    It is during her pregnancy in Provence that they hear Queen Isabeau has given birth to her eleventh child, a son. Since his brother’s madness began, Louis d’Orléans’ unstinting support of the queen has been remarked upon, somewhat insidiously, by some courtiers. Inevitably, malicious tongues wag about the paternity of this new royal birth, but since the boy is the queen’s third surviving son, he is too distant from the throne for the gossip to be of importance. Both Carlo and Vincenzo have been fully trained by Yolande to listen to the staff of the many visitors to Anjou and Provence. From them Yolande has heard all the gossip of the royal court, possibly more even than Louis, since he is more interested in the government.
    During the past two years, Yolande’s friend Valentina d’Orléans has visited her twice in Anjou, and now she is coming to Provence with two of her little ones to escape the cold of the north. Yolande rejoices in her friendship – they have no secrets, no qualms about exchanging any apprehensions – and Valentina’s servants have become good friends of her own house staff, especially Juana and Valentina’s principal maid, Eduarda. Much useful information has been absorbed by Carlo and Vincenzo from the others.
    After they are settled, and she and her hostess have sat down to refreshments, Valentina says: ‘No doubt the gossip from the king’s court has reached you? No, please don’t disappoint me by looking so bland. You must have heard about Isabeau’s new son?’
    ‘Oh yes, that – but I paid it no mind. With a wife like you, no man could look at our sadly obese queen, certainly not your dashing Louis! And I expect him, in his kindness, to console her – as much as he decently can in her tragic situation. I really admire Isabeau for continuing to give Charles children, especially since she never knows when a new fit will start.’
    ‘Yolande, you are so strange sometimes! I know my Louis has a mistress, though it is not the queen. Yes, don’t look so surprised! Like the people of Aragon,’ she smiles at Yolande, ‘we of Milan also have our agents, and they are quite as good as yours.’
    ‘Valentina – listen to me, please. We are friends. You believe that, do you not? Then I can tell you that my people – and yes, I do have two reliable agents at the court – have assured me that your Louis is
not
the father of this latest of the queen’s children – or indeed of any of them. He is too loyal a brother, and I know that to be true. In our many conversations together, the thing that has struck me the most is his devotion and sense of honour where the king is concerned. That is why I paid this silly gossip no mind.’
    ‘Dearest Yolande. Yes, you are a good friend, but do not count on his sense of honour to me! I know that his mistress – a pretty, decent young lady from what I hear – has recently