[The following took place during the divorce proceedings of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, his first wife. Catherine was certainly the underdog in this story, and often felt that she needed witnesses during official interactions with men who served her husband.]
The two cardinals surprised the Queen in her apartments. She came out to greet them, making courteous apology for their unceremonious reception, with a skein of white silk, with which she had been sewing, draped about her neck, and the ladies among whom she had been working pushing after her in a curious little crowd.
”If it please you go into your privy chamber,” said Wolsey, “we will show you the cause of our coming.”
”My lord,” she answered, instantly on her guard, “if you have anything to say, speak it openly before all these folks; for I fear nothing that ye can say or allege against me, but that I would all the world should both see and hear it.”
Wolsey, with a glance at the surrounding women, began to speak in Latin.
”Nay, my lord,” she cut him off, “speak to me in English I beseech you. Although,” – with gentle irony, - “I understand Latin.”
Source:
Mattingly, Garrett. “Part III: The Divorce of Henry VIII (1527-1536); Chapter Two, Section iv” Catherine of Aragon. New York: Quality Paperback , 1990. 290. Print.
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