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Excerpt from The Trials of Five Queens: Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Mary Queen of Scots, Marie Antoinette and Caroline of Brunswick Asithe manner of; tlie'itime was, a treaty of marriage was early set afoot. Indeed, Henry VII. Of England, almost as soon as a son was born heir to the joint pretensions of York and Lan caster, approached Ferdinand and Isabella with proposals for the espousals of Arthur and Katherine. The prospective bridegroom was then a year and eight months Old the prospective bride just over four years. The proposal was acceptable to the Spanish sovereigns, and the marriage was agreed to; though not without a good deal of sharp bargaining between the wily Ferdinand and the equally astute Henry Tudor. Seldom have royal diplomatists been SO equally matched. I doubt if Henry had any equal among the crowned heads of Europe except Ferdinand; and I doubt also if Ferdinand could not easily outwit and delude any of his brother rulers except Henry. The records of the time reveal both monarchs to us as greedy, grasping, not to say avaricious men. When, therefore, they came to settle the question of dowry, the bargaining was close and keen. Very few Yorkshire horse copers could give much start to either of the royal fathers when it came to the point Of beating down the price. At last it was settled that the princess Should marry the Prince of Wales at the earliest possible date; and that her dowry should be scudos in hard cash - half on Katherine's arrival and the other half two years afterwards. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

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Justin Vovk's In Destiny's Hands is the heartbreaking story of five children of Austria's iconic empress, Maria Theresa, who watched as their royal worlds were ripped apart by tragedy and epic misfortunes. These are the stories of Joseph, whose disastrous reign forced Austria to the brink of civil war; Amalia, the brazen and scandalous duchess who married a boy-prince and died exiled and forgotten; Leopold, Maria Theresa's unassuming second son, who was the envy of Europe until his tumultuous reign was cut tragically short; Maria Carolina, the very Austrian queen of Naples, who ended her days fighting Napoleon with her dying breath; and Marie Antoinette, the legendary teenage bride, who was hated and reviled as Queen of France and met her ultimate fate on the guillotine, a testimony to her mother's vain ambition. Painstakingly researched and masterfully crafted, In Destiny's Hands brings to vivid life the world of eighteenth century like never before. "Readers will find many fascinating details in Vovk's In Destiny's Hands. Vovk has shed... light on these individuals and provided a much needed new work on Maria Theresa's progeny." -Julia P. Gelardi, author of the critically acclaimed Born to Rule: Five Reigning Consorts, Granddaughters of Queen Victoria and In Triumph's Wake: Royal Mothers, Tragic Daughters, and the Price They Paid For Glory "Be prepared for heart break, smiles, and most of all, a roller coaster of enlightenment... you will not be able to it down." -David Antunes, M.A., author of Napoleon's Way: How One Little Man Changed the World