Although many people have heard nothing of this rumored high-level deception, it is a subject that more people may soon become aware of because noted author, Steve Berry, has worked it into the plot of his controversial new novel The King's Deception. The book is part of Berry's Cotton Malone series.
From the Amazon sales page:
"Cotton Malone and his fifteen-year-old son, Gary, are headed to Europe. As a favor to his former boss at the Justice Department, Malone agrees to escort a teenage fugitive back to England. But after he is greeted at gunpoint in London, both the fugitive and Gary disappear, and Malone learns that he’s stumbled into a high-stakes diplomatic showdown—an international incident fueled by geopolitical gamesmanship and shocking Tudor secrets."
Berry is not the only writer to have been aware of this rumor. Dracula author, Bram Stoker was aware of it as well, and was so convinced of its credibility that that he included the story in the final chapter of his lesser-known work Imposters.
But what is this story that Stoker found so convincing, and has now inspired Berry's new novel?
Apparently Henry VIII sent his young daughter to a manor house in the Cotswold village of Bisley, not for a holiday, but as a precautionary measure because he was afraid that she, like so many Londoners, would fall victim to the plague. This much is known is an historical fact, subsequent events are, however, harder to prove, but this is the story . . .
The King's sensible precaution proved to be a futile because Elizabeth caught a fever and died, a terrible turn of events that would surely have entailed terrible consequences for those who had been assigned to protect her, so the whole matter was hushed up. Elizabeth was buried in secret and a substitute was sought in the village. Unfortunately the only substitute that could be found was a young boy and, with the king's imminent arrival at Bisley there was no time to find a better option.
The two people who manufactured this incredible deception—if deception it was—were Lady Kat Ashley (her governess) and Thomas Parry (her guardian) and, fortunately for them, certain circumstances worked to their advantage. The King had rarely spent time with his daughter and even when he did so she was such a quiet child that he was used to her sitting in silence; so in the dim light of the manor, the King had no reason to suspect that anyone other than his daughter stood before him. Opportunity for a better replacement was never forthcoming, so the boy was taught to be a princess, while the real Elizabeth was buried in the manor's grounds.
It is this clandestine burial that proved to be of particular interest to Stoker, who heard persistent rumors that a coffin had been unearthed at Bisley, during the 1800s, that contained the remains of a young girl, fully garbed in Tudor finery with precious gems sewn into the fabric.
Stoker could easily see how such a deception explained the Virgin Queen's failure to marry, even though one of her most important duties was to provide an heir, and her refusal to give her hand to the Prince of Spain provoked a war.
Berry believes that when the Queen said she had the heart of a man she was telling the truth. Stoker believed it too, so much of this story is heresay; the rest is a mix of heresy and history, while the truth of the matter remains a matter of personal opinion. Queen of the Realm, or drag Queen King? Maybe this is one piece of history that is better forgotten.
More at the Mail Online
