Lily
Welcome, Maximilian and Mary, it’s great to have you here fresh from my telling of your wonderfully romantic love story. You certainly lived in turbulent times.
Maximilian
Thank you for having us, our story has been told many times but I think yours is perhaps the most detailed when it comes to our relationship.
Lily
It is? I hope you like it.
Maximilian
Yes, very much, and you certainly didn’t skimp on the…er…intimate scenes.
Lily
Well I felt readers wanted to know the real you, the couple, get a sense of your passion and love.
Mary
*giggles* I’ll admit I was a little shocked, Lily, but we really did have a wonderful time together *she reaches for Maximilian’s hand* and I was very fortunate to have a kind and patient husband who stood up to the bishop and councillors when they wanted to intrude on us.
Maximilian
Oh yes, I remember that, the morning of our first full day being wed. *shakes his head* I think they got the message though, realised who they were dealing with and who was in charge.
Lily
I agree! You certainly took control of the situation within and outside of the castle walls. But how did you feel arriving in a strange land to marry someone you’d never met?
Maximilian
I’ll admit, I was irked at having the lifestyle I’d become accustomed to disrupted. But it was my duty to marry well and produce heirs. My father, was after all, the Holy Roman Emperor.
Mary
Meaning you had lots of fun with all those festivals, jousting contests, sparring and pretty girls when you were in Austria?
Maximilian
Pretty girls! Perhaps I once thought they were pretty, but none of them compared to Mary *kisses the back of her hand* you are the most beautiful of them all, utterly perfect, and my one and only true love.
Mary
As you are mine.
Lily
*clears throat* Can I offer you some snacks?
Maximilian
Yes, thank you.
Mary
My husband is always hungry. Right now I think he’d enjoy stuffed figs, apfelstrudel, hazelnuts and some sliced ham if you have it.
Maximilian
Sounds good, but no blueberries. I’m not partial to them anymore.
Lily
I'm not surprised, that whole experience must have been awful. Being poisoned on such a special day as your son’s Christening. How did Philip and Lars, your friends, catch the French culprit?
Mary
I’m so glad they did. He’d have tried again, I’m sure. Likely had instructions to keep trying until he was successful and my husband six feet under.
Maximilian
My loyal friends would always have found vengeance, whether I had lived or died. As it turned out he was easy to find. He’d been loitering near the kitchen and several servants had spotted him, so when he slipped away after setting down the poisoned berries, one member of quick thinking staff followed him. As it happened, a guest also noticed him, and took chase knowing he’d been the one to start the vicious and untrue rumour about baby Philip being a girl. A rumour that was disproven by Mary’s stepmother, Margaret, for all to see.
Lily
Rumours can be very dangerous, though a nicer one is that you see your stepmother as very much a mother figure, Mary. Is that true?
Mary
Yes, I adore her. Not that I didn’t love my mother dearly, but I lost her at such a young age and when father married Margaret of York, the King of England’s sister, we hit it off straight away. I liked her straight talking and her kindness. She never became cross with me and always encouraged me to be strong as well as humble. Not an easy thing to achieve.
Lily
She was heartbroken when your father, Charles the Bold, died, yet they didn’t have a close marriage, did they?
Mary
*sighs* No, I always got the impression once it was obvious she wasn’t going to give him a son he lost interest, or rather, didn’t lose interest but became more interested in other things like battles and politics and expanding his territories.
Maximilian
But the fact that neither of our parents’ marriages were loving made us all the more determined to be the opposite. We wanted a truly loving, supportive marriage. Mary is well educated and with a great mind for politics, her input is always important to me and I see her as an equal.
Lily
You are a modern thinker for a man of the medieval ages, Maximilian.
Maximilian
Something I pride myself in, and also give thanks to God for. Though I live in a time when the great thinkers of Milan and Venice and Florence are shining a light on dark, stilted times. The ideas they have, the art, the new discoveries, fascinate me utterly even though at times they can seem dangerous.
Mary
Ideas he spends a great many hours discussing with the scholars he brought from Italy. Always broadening his mind, asking the questions other people don’t think to ask. No wonder you drove your poor tutor crazy as a child.
Maximilian
He was a nasty bit of work, the tutor my father employed. He thought cruelty would make me clever, it just drove me to other pursuits, away from him.
Lily
Talking of other pursuits, your armour is some of the finest examples of what a knight wore to battle in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
Maximilian
As it should be, it was not cheap *smiles* but who can put a price on the thing between you and the blow of a sword, the end of a joust, or an arrow heading your way? At that moment, you'd pay all the gold you had to know it was the strongest and most skilfully made.
Mary
My husband has always been a little…inconsistent with financial matters, but his armour is one thing I do not complain he spends money on. For when I am home, awaiting his safe return from battle, it gives me strength to know he is coated in fine steel from head to foot.
Lily
And tell me, now that you have two children, Philip and baby Margaret, what are your hopes for the future for them?
Mary
*smiles and touches the cross that sits around her neck* We want them to grow up in a happy secure home, no sieges like the one Maximilian had to endure as a child, and no loss in the manner I had to endure when my mother died.
Maximilian
Philip already shows signs of being an excellent rider, even at a young age, and he can wield a wooden sword with apparent talent. He is very easy of nature, something we are grateful for.
Mary
I hope he goes on to love the way we have, I hope that for both of my children. A life full of beauty that fills the heart, a life spent with the person who completes your soul, a person who makes you feel safe and heard and content. That is what I wish for both of my dear beautiful children.
Lily
It is a wish that echoes through the times.
Maximilian
And now, Lily, may I ask you a question?
Lily
*surprised* Of course.
Maximilian
What made you want to write our story? When did the idea come to you?
Lily
Gosh that is a good question, and I’ll tell you exactly how it happened. I was up late, or rather in the early hours of the morning, nursing a sick pet, when a show came on about the Habsburgs, a documentary centered in Vienna. I left it on because Mr H and I had not long since visited the city and I was keen to see if I recognised any of the locations, which of course I did. But soon I was fascinated with the tale of the Habsburg marriages, and how rather than fighting wars for territory, the Habsburgs gained power through very astute marriages. I loved that idea, a peaceful rise to Imperial glory rather than a bloody one. I just knew there would be romance threaded through it, passion and desire, love and heartbreak, and I was right, there is, lots of it.
Mary
Well I for one am glad you wrote our story, from me sending Jeanne to check my future groom for his suitability to creating our happy family--
Maximilian
Though you could have left out the bit about ice-skating.
Lily
Sorry about that. *hides a smile*
Mary
Oh dear husband of mine, you can’t be good at everything and if you’d tried a little longer…
Maximilian
I was very busy attending to political matters and fending off France's invasion if you recall. Too busy to spend my time doing something of no value whatsoever. How would skating around a lake defeat our foes?
Lily
But you enjoyed the retelling of your first tournament in Ghent?
Maximilian
Oh yes, though I do know I was a bit of a…how would you say it in modern times…jerk with Philip. He’d wound me up like a clock spring. And then…well let’s just say it was a good job we were evenly matched when it came to jousting.
Mary
Please don’t dwell on that, it was a wonderful day, and you and Cousin Philip are so close now. He’s a loyal friend and astute council too.
Maximilian
That he is. I am very fond of him and glad to know him.
Lily
As an outsider looking in it seems you were both blessed with good friends, something to always be thankful for. And I would like to thank you both for talking to me today, I’ve missed hanging out with you. It took four months of solid work, burning the candle at both ends, to get your story written down.
Maximilian
It’s a pleasure, thank you. And now, if you’ll excuse us *stands and takes Mary’s hand* my wife and I are going to ride a carriage down to the river, we might even take some of those snacks you mentioned for an al fresco meal.
Mary
Oh, really, is that what we’re doing? Going to our special place? *blushes*
Lily
*laughs* It’s okay, Mary, remember, I know all about that special place on the river bank. In fact, I feel like I have actually been there.
Welcome, Maximilian and Mary, it’s great to have you here fresh from my telling of your wonderfully romantic love story. You certainly lived in turbulent times.
Maximilian
Thank you for having us, our story has been told many times but I think yours is perhaps the most detailed when it comes to our relationship.
Lily
It is? I hope you like it.
Maximilian
Yes, very much, and you certainly didn’t skimp on the…er…intimate scenes.
Lily
Well I felt readers wanted to know the real you, the couple, get a sense of your passion and love.
Mary
*giggles* I’ll admit I was a little shocked, Lily, but we really did have a wonderful time together *she reaches for Maximilian’s hand* and I was very fortunate to have a kind and patient husband who stood up to the bishop and councillors when they wanted to intrude on us.
Maximilian
Oh yes, I remember that, the morning of our first full day being wed. *shakes his head* I think they got the message though, realised who they were dealing with and who was in charge.
Lily
I agree! You certainly took control of the situation within and outside of the castle walls. But how did you feel arriving in a strange land to marry someone you’d never met?
Maximilian
I’ll admit, I was irked at having the lifestyle I’d become accustomed to disrupted. But it was my duty to marry well and produce heirs. My father, was after all, the Holy Roman Emperor.
Mary
Meaning you had lots of fun with all those festivals, jousting contests, sparring and pretty girls when you were in Austria?
Maximilian
Pretty girls! Perhaps I once thought they were pretty, but none of them compared to Mary *kisses the back of her hand* you are the most beautiful of them all, utterly perfect, and my one and only true love.
Mary
As you are mine.
Lily
*clears throat* Can I offer you some snacks?
Maximilian
Yes, thank you.
Mary
My husband is always hungry. Right now I think he’d enjoy stuffed figs, apfelstrudel, hazelnuts and some sliced ham if you have it.
Maximilian
Sounds good, but no blueberries. I’m not partial to them anymore.
Lily
I'm not surprised, that whole experience must have been awful. Being poisoned on such a special day as your son’s Christening. How did Philip and Lars, your friends, catch the French culprit?
Mary
I’m so glad they did. He’d have tried again, I’m sure. Likely had instructions to keep trying until he was successful and my husband six feet under.
Maximilian
My loyal friends would always have found vengeance, whether I had lived or died. As it turned out he was easy to find. He’d been loitering near the kitchen and several servants had spotted him, so when he slipped away after setting down the poisoned berries, one member of quick thinking staff followed him. As it happened, a guest also noticed him, and took chase knowing he’d been the one to start the vicious and untrue rumour about baby Philip being a girl. A rumour that was disproven by Mary’s stepmother, Margaret, for all to see.
Lily
Rumours can be very dangerous, though a nicer one is that you see your stepmother as very much a mother figure, Mary. Is that true?
Mary
Yes, I adore her. Not that I didn’t love my mother dearly, but I lost her at such a young age and when father married Margaret of York, the King of England’s sister, we hit it off straight away. I liked her straight talking and her kindness. She never became cross with me and always encouraged me to be strong as well as humble. Not an easy thing to achieve.
Lily
She was heartbroken when your father, Charles the Bold, died, yet they didn’t have a close marriage, did they?
Mary
*sighs* No, I always got the impression once it was obvious she wasn’t going to give him a son he lost interest, or rather, didn’t lose interest but became more interested in other things like battles and politics and expanding his territories.
Maximilian
But the fact that neither of our parents’ marriages were loving made us all the more determined to be the opposite. We wanted a truly loving, supportive marriage. Mary is well educated and with a great mind for politics, her input is always important to me and I see her as an equal.
Lily
You are a modern thinker for a man of the medieval ages, Maximilian.
Maximilian
Something I pride myself in, and also give thanks to God for. Though I live in a time when the great thinkers of Milan and Venice and Florence are shining a light on dark, stilted times. The ideas they have, the art, the new discoveries, fascinate me utterly even though at times they can seem dangerous.
Mary
Ideas he spends a great many hours discussing with the scholars he brought from Italy. Always broadening his mind, asking the questions other people don’t think to ask. No wonder you drove your poor tutor crazy as a child.
Maximilian
He was a nasty bit of work, the tutor my father employed. He thought cruelty would make me clever, it just drove me to other pursuits, away from him.
Lily
Talking of other pursuits, your armour is some of the finest examples of what a knight wore to battle in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
Maximilian
As it should be, it was not cheap *smiles* but who can put a price on the thing between you and the blow of a sword, the end of a joust, or an arrow heading your way? At that moment, you'd pay all the gold you had to know it was the strongest and most skilfully made.
Mary
My husband has always been a little…inconsistent with financial matters, but his armour is one thing I do not complain he spends money on. For when I am home, awaiting his safe return from battle, it gives me strength to know he is coated in fine steel from head to foot.
Lily
And tell me, now that you have two children, Philip and baby Margaret, what are your hopes for the future for them?
Mary
*smiles and touches the cross that sits around her neck* We want them to grow up in a happy secure home, no sieges like the one Maximilian had to endure as a child, and no loss in the manner I had to endure when my mother died.
Maximilian
Philip already shows signs of being an excellent rider, even at a young age, and he can wield a wooden sword with apparent talent. He is very easy of nature, something we are grateful for.
Mary
I hope he goes on to love the way we have, I hope that for both of my children. A life full of beauty that fills the heart, a life spent with the person who completes your soul, a person who makes you feel safe and heard and content. That is what I wish for both of my dear beautiful children.
Lily
It is a wish that echoes through the times.
Maximilian
And now, Lily, may I ask you a question?
Lily
*surprised* Of course.
Maximilian
What made you want to write our story? When did the idea come to you?
Lily
Gosh that is a good question, and I’ll tell you exactly how it happened. I was up late, or rather in the early hours of the morning, nursing a sick pet, when a show came on about the Habsburgs, a documentary centered in Vienna. I left it on because Mr H and I had not long since visited the city and I was keen to see if I recognised any of the locations, which of course I did. But soon I was fascinated with the tale of the Habsburg marriages, and how rather than fighting wars for territory, the Habsburgs gained power through very astute marriages. I loved that idea, a peaceful rise to Imperial glory rather than a bloody one. I just knew there would be romance threaded through it, passion and desire, love and heartbreak, and I was right, there is, lots of it.
Mary
Well I for one am glad you wrote our story, from me sending Jeanne to check my future groom for his suitability to creating our happy family--
Maximilian
Though you could have left out the bit about ice-skating.
Lily
Sorry about that. *hides a smile*
Mary
Oh dear husband of mine, you can’t be good at everything and if you’d tried a little longer…
Maximilian
I was very busy attending to political matters and fending off France's invasion if you recall. Too busy to spend my time doing something of no value whatsoever. How would skating around a lake defeat our foes?
Lily
But you enjoyed the retelling of your first tournament in Ghent?
Maximilian
Oh yes, though I do know I was a bit of a…how would you say it in modern times…jerk with Philip. He’d wound me up like a clock spring. And then…well let’s just say it was a good job we were evenly matched when it came to jousting.
Mary
Please don’t dwell on that, it was a wonderful day, and you and Cousin Philip are so close now. He’s a loyal friend and astute council too.
Maximilian
That he is. I am very fond of him and glad to know him.
Lily
As an outsider looking in it seems you were both blessed with good friends, something to always be thankful for. And I would like to thank you both for talking to me today, I’ve missed hanging out with you. It took four months of solid work, burning the candle at both ends, to get your story written down.
Maximilian
It’s a pleasure, thank you. And now, if you’ll excuse us *stands and takes Mary’s hand* my wife and I are going to ride a carriage down to the river, we might even take some of those snacks you mentioned for an al fresco meal.
Mary
Oh, really, is that what we’re doing? Going to our special place? *blushes*
Lily
*laughs* It’s okay, Mary, remember, I know all about that special place on the river bank. In fact, I feel like I have actually been there.
Now Available to Pre-Oder - Books #2 & #3
