The White Princess

Elizabeth: Previously on the white Princess...

"For seven years support has grown in Europe"

"for prince Richard."

"Soon he will be ready to come against Henry."

The duchess of burgundy has invited me to be a guest at her court.

I shall send you in my stead.

Richard was my brother.

And I miss him every day. But that boy is not him.

My son, prince Richard,

who is alive and well in burgundy...

God makes you sick as punishment for your lies.

Proof of treachery from their own hands.

Sir William Stanley.

I am loyal to the rightful king!

Richard of York!

The princes. One of them got away.

You killed them. I did not!

You ordered it.

I cannot know for certain if it was carried out.

Jasper: Henry needs to know what is done in his name.

Help me, lord.

Before I die...

You are not a king, nor fit to be one.

England rots beneath you.

Men weep.

So, kill me.

And you will kill many others after me.

Men who will line up to say,

"long live the true, able

"king...

Richard."

Arthur.

You will never wear the crown if you cannot watch a traitor die.

If the man who won the field at Bosworth for me

could betray me, then... The rest are loyal.

Are they?

Are you? Of course I am.

I saw your face.

The day of Harry's ennobling banquet.

When your mother said your brother Richard lives.

You couldn't look at me.

As you can't now.

Henry, we...

We...

I wanted to tell you. Oh, god.

Please.

What my mother said,

there was some truth in it!

We put a servant boy in the tower in my brother Richard's place

and we sent him off to safety.

When you sent soldiers to bring me to westminster as your wife,

my brother was with us.

We hid him when your men arrived.

Then you have lied to me. For years. No.

We have heard nothing from him since.

My mother wrote to half of Europe searching for him.

Anywhere he could have gone she begged for word,

and nobody knew anything.

He'd vanished.

Then we learned that the soldiers tore our house apart.

Slaughtered every boy they found.

And then we understood the silence.

That is how I know the boy in burgundy is just another fraud.

My brother is dead.

Dead?

Dead.

Yet you have never told me this before.

When we first wed, I was full of malice.

Then my reasons for not telling you changed.

I convinced myself I was shielding you.

From what?

Fear.

So the boy is not Richard.

No.

Then who is he?

Because his marriage to the Scottish girl is underway.

And when the wedding feast is done,

whoever he may be,

he wants my kingdom.

Not just king James of Scotland.

There are faces from every royal house in Europe.

Apart from Spain.

They're busy with their newfound world and wealth.

They would not trouble themselves with our small lives.

Perhaps they're more inclined to tudor's side?

What can tudor offer them?

Amen.

Thank you. Thank you.

You are very beautiful.

I'm very lucky.

It was hard to leave her.

Her peace as she lies sleeping.

Her beauty will look even better on the throne of england.

And peace comes after war.

Has king James of Scotland said he will support me?

There is no surety of it.

Your cause is your own affair

and waging war on england may seem to him

too high a cost in gold and men.

You must rejoin the celebrations.

Work hard with him,

and the other heads of state.

But we must have Scotland or we'll fail before we start.

Elizabeth sends funds.

Your mother.

And I shall furnish you with ecus from my own gold stores.

It is a start.

I miss him too.

I wish that he were here to share his wisdom with me.

I'm lost without him.

But three months have passed and...

I cannot bear to...

I cannot lose you and my uncle.

Please.

She feels Jasper's death quite keenly. Mmm.

This has come for you, your grace.

From burgundy.

Ah.

My men in burgundy have unmasked him.

The boy is the son of a boatman from tournai

and his name is perkin warbeck.

Writing my letter to Scotland will be a joy.

Let's see how it pleases king James to learn that he has shamed his cousin

by marrying her to sir no one from nowhere.

Scotland will throw him back to where he came from

and Europe will deny they ever met with him.

What is it?

My mother writes to me again.

Bids me visit.

You are good, Maggie,

to come to me when even my own daughter won't.

We were coming to London to visit Teddy anyway.

You saw him.

Didn't you?

My son, prince Richard.

Has he grown very fair?

We saw a pretender, your grace. Nothing more.

I fear that I shall die before I lay my own eyes on him.

Or see my Lizzie again.

Please. Bid her come to me.

Lizzie.

We have not had a chance to speak in private since my trip to burgundy.

What would we speak of, Maggie?

Traitors to my husband's reign?

The nightmares that my son has had

since he witnessed the beheading of a man he loved?

I'm told you've been to see my mother once again.

She wants to see you, Lizzie.

She's unwell.

I suppose she is still writing to my aunt in burgundy?

We have abandoned our attempts to stop it.

Better that we let her do it and have the monks make copies

so we know what web she weaves.

She did show me a letter she had just received.

Everyone in Europe has accepted him.

They all came to the wedding.

Apart from Spain.

Your aunt writes, "Isabella is so lofty

"with her newfound wealth

and self-importance..." Spain did not attend?

You are certain of it?

It was in the letter.

So will you visit her then? Lizzie?

We must settle Arthur's betrothal.

To the Princess Catherine of aragon.

Alone of all of Europe, Spain refused to meet the boy.

Perhaps they have no interest with their new vast lands and riches but...

You've always said that Arthur is too young

and that he will choose his wife for love.

Well, now I am saying he is old enough.

She is reputed to be beautiful.

Mmm.

It would give him something good to dwell on

and ally us with the strongest force in Europe.

If Europe backed the boy,

they would've matched him with a far more powerful wife

than third cousin-to-the-left of the ruler of the poorest land in christendom.

There simply isn't a threat.

Mm. The queen is right.

If we can come to terms with Isabella of castile, then

none would dare to wake that sleeping giant, now, or in the future.

It would be the best deterrent.

And the dowry would be significant.

We will not leave it to a letter.

We will go there in person.

Bless me, cardinal Morton...

For I have sinned.

You are the most devout

of our savior's subjects.

God... He hates me.

He has deserted me.

I went to Jasper.

He was dying.

I could not...

You couldn't save him, no.

But you tried to. I did not try.

But it is god

who calls us mortal men

to heaven when he chooses.

No act of ours can change that.