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| By anonymous, British School. - RoyalCollection.org.uk |
… has set feee one of the characters
from her book Kindred Spirits: Royal Mile It is with great
pleasure that I can introduce you to, David Rizzio. Thanks for being here David
and why don't you tell me a little about your story
DR
It’s a strange thing, to label a man as
a good friend, when he was once part of a plot which resulted in your
murder. Even stranger though, that an
Italian musician somehow became somebody seen as important enough to need
murdering. But there we are.
AW I see… I think!
DR I should introduce myself
properly.
AW Yes please… I am a little confused
to say the least!
DR My name is David Rizzio, and I was
of noble birth, not what you might have thought, for a man who started his
courtly life in Scotland as a lowly musician.
I was a good musician mind, and finding no particular means for
improvement in my position in Italy or France, I asked a friend for some
guidance. James Melville it was, and he
got me a position in the court of Mary, Queen of Scots. She was a fine woman, and an excellent
queen, just, perhaps not the best chooser of husbands. But more on that later. Well, I’m a good man as well as a good
musician, and I can make myself useful.
After only a couple of years, I found myself promoted to the Queen’s
Secretary, with a healthy salary to go with it. Alright, I might have over-reached myself and my powers once or
twice, but I was a man Her Grace could rely on, somebody who wanted only to
help her.
AW But you mentioned murder…
DR The rumours started. I suppose it
is only natural, when a young man begins to give advice to a beautiful young
queen; people love a scandal, especially when it concerns affairs of the
heart. I loved Queen Mary, but as her
servant, and employee, not an actual lover.
And she returned these feelings, platonically. She still does, I am proud to say.
AW Go on…
DR Back to the murderer/friend thing
though. As I say, people got jealous,
and angry, especially her husband, Lord Darnley. Nothing but a wastrel if you ask me. Then and now. He decided
I was a threat to his position and power, and that I needed to be removed. Oh, how I was removed… They burst into one
of the smallest rooms in Holyrood Palace, whilst Her Grace was dining with a
small group of us, and they, well, how could they do this – they held a pistol
to her pregnant stomach as they dragged me out of the room. I’m not ashamed to say I was terrified. I hid behind her, even tried to cling to her
skirts as they pulled me away. It was
no use. Over fifty stab wounds, I
endured. All that blood.
It only took a few minutes to work out
that I’d become a ghost. I was looking
down on my own body, the way poor Queen Mary sobbed over me, the way those
cowards had run away, it was somehow hard to turn away. So I didn’t. I stayed with her until the end. Another two decades of following
her progress, and being there as much as I could do. Then of course she joined
me on this side of the divide.
AW And then what?
DR I never imagined I could go back to
the way things were, but somehow, that is exactly what has happened. Of course, I don’t stray too far from
Edinburgh these days, not like her, always off adventuring, but when she is in
the city, myself, Janet (Lady Glamis) and Sir William Kirkcaldy serve her as an
inner circle of sorts. And that brings
me back to the start. Sir William was an accessory to my own murder. Meeting him again in this life was a
strange, strange thing, but he had returned to serving my queen by the time he
died, another man who gave his life for this poor woman, and we have reached an
arrangement. After all, with so many
centuries now passed, there is plenty else we can discuss. Such as how to deal with Darnley, when that
wretch turns up in the city. Something
will have to be done, that’s for sure; the way he torments me and the queen is
quite unfair.
In truth, things are just as busy in
Edinburgh as they ever were. His Grace
King James V is still about, although granted not as outgoing as his
daughter. And Queens Marie of Guise and
Madeleine of Valois are incredibly nice ladies, albeit quieter than Queen Mary.
That’s me and my current situation
then. In truth, I have more friends in
death than I did in life, and from so many walks of life. It is true that it can get a bit rowdy from
time to time, when the likes of Boots starts haunting the punters of those
ghost tours they do, but most of the time the haunting is calmer. We are quite a noble clan up here, after
all. You should come and say ‘hello’ – we’re a friendly lot, most of the
time. If you want to read more about
our adventures, then Jennifer has, at least, found time to write those
down. And she hasn’t done too bad a job
in capturing us, to be fair.
AW Well, David, thanks for the
invitation to come and join you. I'm
rather hoping that I won't need to take you up on that for quite some time yet. But before you go, can you tell us a little
about the books?
DR Her best book (i.e. the one with
me in it) is Kindred Spirits: Royal Mile, released in June 2017, but there was one before that
too, Kindred Spirits: Tower of London. That one’s
alright. All about Richard III and Anne
Boleyn, from what I can tell. There’s a
third one, Kindred Spirits: Westminster Abbey, coming out this June. My beloved Queen Mary is featured in that
one, so it must be good. Jennifer has
also self-published a historical timeslip romance, The Last Plantagenet?
AW Lastly, can I just say thank you
for being here today… David? Where did he... Jennifer… Are you there Jennifer? Is there anybody there?
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