- Margaret Beaufort: Henry! He is here, Henry. Prince Arthur. Henry! No, you cannot go to her! She is in confinement!
- Princess Elizabeth: Henry. Come in and see him. He is a boy.
- Henry VII: There's no mistake?
- Princess Elizabeth: No.
- Henry VII: He is perfect. And you are radiant. May I take him?
- [holds Arthur]
- Henry VII: I'm a father. Thank you. For your efforts I am in your debt.
- Princess Elizabeth: Will you send my mother to see me now?
- Henry VII: Yeah. Here. Feed him until he is strong. Why aren't the bells ringing? They should be ringing out the news. And light the bonfires!
- Dowager Queen Elizabeth: Did they hurt you? I tried to come to you.
- Princess Elizabeth: Mother. Look.
- Dowager Queen Elizabeth: A boy. God's ways are strange indeed but He answers Lady Margaret's prayer.
- Princess Elizabeth: He answers mine. He is my own dear boy.
- Dowager Queen Elizabeth: He is perfect.
- Cecily of York: Did you hear how loudly she screamed? I thought she would split open.
- Dowager Queen Elizabeth: Cecily, would you fetch me some wine, my throat is dry. And Lizzie sounds rather hoarse as well.
- [Cecily goes out]
- Dowager Queen Elizabeth: Guard your heart, my Lizzie. The child is not your own. He belongs to the Throne. And never forget what the red in that rose stands for. Your family's blood. Your lover's blood.
- Princess Elizabeth: Richard is gone now, Mother. All that there is now is Arthur.
- Dowager Queen Elizabeth: Arthur. Wel... A new royal name at last.
- Dowager Queen Elizabeth: Perhaps now we have the boy who will bring back peace to England. Half York, half Tudor.
- Margaret Beaufort: He is only Tudor. And he is not just a boy. He is my son's heir and heir to the throne of England. Of that there is no doubt.
- Dowager Queen Elizabeth: There is always doubt, Lady Margaret. For once I had two boys who were destined there themselves. Nothing is ever certain. Or can you read the future?
- Princess Elizabeth: Why must it be Winchester? For the christening? I cannot be so many days away from him.
- Henry VII: I have said your mother may come with us. She is godmother. This time she is really going, Lizzie.
- Princess Elizabeth: And I am not.
- Henry VII: I have commissioned his own badge gor him. The red rose and the white combined. A sign of our new unity. I'd hoped for your approval.
- Princess Elizabeth: Our mothers will not give it. I think they like the war between them.
- Henry VII: But you do not?
- Princess Elizabeth: Now that I have given you a son, will you release Teddy?
- Henry VII: I cannot while I am away from London.
- Princess Elizabeth: Then when you return? Please, Henry, he's terrified.
- Henry VII: I will consider it.
- Princess Elizabeth: He is a child. You would not wish it on Arthur.
- Henry VII: I said I will consider it. And take a view.
- Jasper Tudor: Duchess.
- Margaret of Burgundy: [to ladies] Leave us.
- Jasper Tudor: Your court is very beautiful. I thought when I returned to England I'd be happy to leave Europe well behind me. I miss the light.
- Margaret of Burgundy: But the light is not why you are here. Enough playacting. Please relay your message from your king.
- Jasper Tudor: King Henry sent a gift. As a token of his friendship. A sovereign. A coin of solid gold and the King himself is rendered on the front.
- Margaret of Burgundy: Perhaps he fears his reign will be so short, he must have permanence?
- Jasper Tudor: The King feels most confident in his reign and would have peace with Burgundy. He wishes to return your trading rights. And forge new alliances between our nations.
- Margaret of Burgundy: So, now it hurts him to lose his gold and ships, he finds it in his heart to be our ally?
- Jasper Tudor: When Henry was in exile, you tried to hand him to your brother for execution. You cannot be surprised that when he won the throne he sought to punish you.
- Margaret of Burgundy: Not, not surprised. He spent his life in brothels and in cow-sheds. What would he know of politics? Or pain. Who has he lost? I have lost three brothers and a father and a husband. This war has cost him nothing.
- Margaret of Burgundy: Tell me, Jasper. What yould you have done with all those years, had you not been at war or out in exile?
- Jasper Tudor: Who knows? Another life.
- Margaret of Burgundy: You have regrets. You would have liked to marry.
- Jasper Tudor: It didn't seem to be God's plan for me.
- Margaret of Burgundy: Of course there are whore-houses, but a true companion, someone you can trust and grow with...
- Jasper Tudor: There was someone I loved. But it wasn't meant to be.
- Margaret of Burgundy: You surprise me, Jasper Tudor. You are not who I thought you'd be. There's still time. You are a handsome man. There is still life ahead. Perhaps a York and Tudor union might grow to be a fashion.
- Princess Elizabeth: Henry.
- Henry VII: He cried throughout. I suppose that's what they do.
- Princess Elizabeth: It is. Where is my mother?
- Henry VII: She is locked up in a dungeon. My mother proved she was behind the Lovell plot to kill me. She wanted Teddy on the throne and for that reason, I cannot set him free. My enemies require a figurehead. He would be snatched and made to be that symbol.
- Princess Elizabeth: You said that you would release him. You promised me you would.
- Henry VII: I said I would consider it and take a view. You must listen far more carefully to what people say if you wish to be a queen.
- Princess Elizabeth: You will not leave her in a dungeon. I forbid it. If she is to be kept away from me then house her in an abbey. Put her in retirement if you must. Let it be Bermondsey Abbey, at least there is a garden.
- Henry VII: Prepare for your coronation. I have ordered it.
- Margaret of Burgundy: You should have told me that your friend is such a marvelous court jester.
- Jasper Tudor: He is no friend of mine. But then, I think you know that. I'm sorry for my clumsiness. I did not mean to cause you pain.
- Margaret of Burgundy: Will you walk? I thought you would be celebrating. My spies tell me Henry has a son.
- Jasper Tudor: So, you know, then, that Henry's position is much stronger. There will be alliances, a betrother for the Prince. And should we choose a French princess and make our peace with them?
- Margaret of Burgundy: And France is the enemy on our doorstep, and so you would wage war on us with them. But if we are already fighting you, what difference does it make?
- Jasper Tudor: You are decided then?
- Margaret of Burgundy: I have no love of war. But I cannot like your King.
- Jasper Tudor: You do not know him. And you have too strang mind to let the past or old scores sway you. Henry won at Bosworth fairly. In fact, he was the outside chance.
- Margaret of Burgundy: I think that he has you to thank for that.
- Jasper Tudor: I was by his side throughout the battle and since he was a child. I am heart and soul for Henry. I would give my life for him.
- Margaret of Burgundy: What does he do to inspire such loyalty?
- Jasper Tudor: When he has a goal he does not waiver. He was brave in exile, he is strong. He has greater loyalty than any man I've ever known.
- Margaret of Burgundy: Then he would make someone a very fine dog.
- Jasper Tudor: Duchess. I know that you gave Europe on your side and that you do not need England. I'm not a politician, or a lawyer. I don't have clever words. I am a man of war, and while I have not lost my kin to it, I've lost my life. The good years when I should have...
- Margaret of Burgundy: What?
- Jasper Tudor: I cannot bring your brothers back. But if we strike out for peace, then we can see that no one else you love is stolen from you.
- Princess Elizabeth: You sent for me?
- Henry VII: Yes.
- Princess Elizabeth: I am not yet recovered from my child-bed.
- Henry VII: I... You are thankful? For the coronation? That I shall take you as my queen?
- Princess Elizabeth: I would be thankful if you freed my cousin from the Tower and let my mother be with me.
- Henry VII: I have said why I cannot.
- Princess Elizabeth: Then you cannot ask me to be thankful. What will be my role when I am queen?
- Henry VII: Your role?
- Princess Elizabeth: And what will I do for you?
- Henry VII: It is a test. You mean to prove you know more than I do how to rule.
- Princess Elizabeth: It is a question.
- Henry VII: It is a jibe. You compare my efforts to your father's or the old York king, your lover. Everywhere I look around me, nobles conspire against me. Servants slip each other notes. They smile into my face and then behind me draw their knives.
- Princess Elizabeth: Well, that is what it is to be king. My father had the same thing, as did Richard, from you and Lancaster. And those who killed my brothers in the Tower.
- Henry VII: Well, it is more than I can bear each day. Waiting, wondering if I'll live till supper. Wondering if our son will live.
- Princess Elizabeth: Well, why did you slaughter Richard if you do not wish to be king?
- Henry VII: Because I had been trained to do it all my life. There was no other life for me. No other choice. My life had been decided from the moment I was born. You must have heard my mother speak of it. She felt I had a destiny from the moment that she had me. I was to be the king for her because she dreamed of power. Perhaps you cannot understand being told your whole life what you are, with never any chance to think about it for yourself. I sometimes wonder what I would have been. What I would have chosen had my life been ordinary.
- Princess Elizabeth: That is what my life has been as well. A puppet for my mother's own ambition. It was her who craved the throne for me. I would have settled for a man...
- Henry VII: A man you loved. I don't ask that you love me in the way that you loved him. But I had hoped you may have come to have a tenderness. At least. A kindness, even.
- Princess Elizabeth: And would that be enough for you? You don't want someone who burns to be with you, who would ride across the battlefield just to hear your voice?
- Henry VII: I... Do not know. I've never had it.
- Princess Elizabeth: What have they done to us? We are their creatures.
- Henry VII: At least your sister will be happy. John Welles is a good man.
- Princess Elizabeth: What can we do, Henry? What can we do?
- Henry VII: I know you cannot love me. I know it is beyond what you can give. I only ask that you do not plot against my life. At least spare me that humiliation. But of course, you cannot even promise that.
- Margaret Beaufort: There's very little York about him.
- Princess Elizabeth: I think he has my mother's eyes.
- Margaret Beaufort: I'm glad we can be friends at last. Now that you have Arthur, you are joined with us. And any threat against Henry is a threat against our boy as well. And I can see how much you care for him. And tomorrow, you will be Queen of England.
- Henry VII: You are the Queen of England now. Do you feel different?
- Princess Elizabeth: I feel as though I've aged a thousand years.
- Henry VII: [Servant brings Baby Arthur] I wonder if he'll feel the same. If he does succeed me to the throne. My enemies may see to it that he does not.
- Princess Elizabeth: Don't say it. Never say it, Henry.
- Dowager Queen Elizabeth: Damn them. They have my Cecily. And now they take my Lizzie, too? Is this your work? I will not have it. Don't. No. Damn them all to hell!
- Francis Lovell: You must stand with Elizabeth and fight them. You cannot sit back any longer, Duchess.
- Margaret of Burgundy: Cannot, Francis? So you would tell me what to do now, just as England seeks to? Just because you failed to kill the King while you were standing right beside him.
- Margaret Beaufort: When I gave birth to Henry, I was just a girl. I thought I would die from the pain. But I knew it was my destiny and my child, if he would live would be King of England because God wished it.
- Princess Elizabeth: My boy will die.
- Margaret Beaufort: Do not say that. The child will live. Do you hear me? You will give us the heir that Henry needs to save him from his enemies. Do you understand?
- Margaret Plantagenet: Cousin Lizzie will be queen soon. And she has told the King that you shouldn't be here. Because it's a mistake. And when you are free, we shall go and live together somewhere quiet. In a little house far away from kings and castles. Well, you'll be home soon, Teddy. I promise. I love you, sweetheart, I love you.
- Edward Plantagenet aka Teddy: Take me home. Please, take me home, Maggie.
- Dowager Queen Elizabeth: This is to be our home?
- Bishop Morton: King Henry shows mercy on you. You will pray for four hours a day and see no visitors.
- Dowager Queen Elizabeth: What about my daughter, Princess Elizabeth?
- Bishop Morton: She is no longer your daughter, but King Henry's queen on Sunday.
- Margaret Plantagenet: I don't think you should go, Lizzie.
- Princess Elizabeth: But if I don't, when will I see my mother? Will I ever see her again?
- Jasper Tudor: I am sorry for your loss.
- Margaret of Burgundy: You said no one else would die.
- Jasper Tudor: If there's anything I can do...
- Margaret of Burgundy: Get out. You're not welcome here. I said get out!
- Margaret Beaufort: The christening must take place at once. Whatever doubts the people have will be forgotten when they see God smiles on you.
- Henry VII: They cannot wait till Lizzie's been churched?
- Margaret Beaufort: It is not the custom. And she has no function at the service. What is important is that England knows you have an heir. And your enemies will find much stonier ground in which to seed dissent.
- Henry VII: I will consult with Lizzie.
- Margaret Beaufort: You are taking counsel from your wife?
- Henry VII: From somebody who knows the will of England. She is mother to the child. Unless I am mistaken.