THE WENDY HUT

Taranaki Daily News, 6 December 1930, Page 8 (Supplement)

THE WENDY HUT

: ; GIRLS OF LONG AGO. ' ISABELLA, THE CHILD QUEEN. /'■-.V'-V-. •... : ■' '■ ■■■'; Isabella, daughter .of Charles, . King of France, stood ' listening attentively, to her mother and. the court ladies. She*' was eight years, old, and, although the rich jewels on her robe . : and ..neck weighed heavily upon her, she smiled with nappy ■ . •■excitement. She was to be. married’ ip King Richard the , { Second of England, a,nd tjre idea pleased her! - _ ’ ' ' ■ ' ; . 1 . . For 'political..'reasons, the two kings had decided that, ..•7 although Isabella was but a child, it would be better for ner to go to England immediately, and there wait till she was . • • grown up before taking her royal position as queen. • With great dignity, Isabella talked .to-the. banqueting • ’ hall where the King of England was being entertained, and ,- '?'Richard rose tb greet 'her, He wag’a'very handsome youpg r • : •manqf .about; and so kindly did he smile at the • little.girl that, when .He-asked her if she would like to be • l-QUeen of England, ; she clapped her hands with delight. . . '■ ■ Next morning, with a great retinue of her own, Isaoella ~ ' sit out with Richard for Calais, where-they were married by / . ‘ ■ the Archbishop of 'Canterbury/ Then/ they’ proceeded to Eng- - land. When the Child Queen entered the city of London, dense . ' - : . thronged the harrow streets to see her,” and the beauty " • of .her charming little face, coupled with the magnificence of . • her jewels,Captured,>ll :,hea#s. ~ Gifts >ere showered upon her'from‘rich and poor, . and, after spending al short time at - ' Westminster, be. educated/ r' ■ -She did not.see‘ Richard q.ftefi* and sometimes: she would; git at her window,- watching£the toad' to; London, and wonder; ing. if the;'kinikingi whqjbrpught her toys and sweetmeats “/■,. would .ride- by.; • : I-//' - v _ - ' • Isabella, was eleven years old when Richard arrived un- ’ ■ . expectedly at Windsor, and told her he had come to say S' ; good-bye. Before, setting out for battle. The little maiden •'»«»; ■- '- - with him to ChurcEj'.and'at the dbof she wished-him fatewell. 1 ' ' But from that' moment the life of the Child Queen chang- ; ed'' Every>ay *she asked for news of the King, but she heard- > nothing. All her servants were changed, and she was sent . i from one castle to another to liye amongst strangers ,whpitold :1' her, 'that'they kneW' hbthing of King Richard. Everyone lovedi’ her, but nobody-would'tell her that Richard the Second was . no more, and that his cousin, Henry Bolingbroke, had . seized •S ■ the. throne. . . . ■.■ .Ay.; ‘ But IsoEella learnt the truth, and, when she was thirteen, . . the King of.. France//sent, to' fetch his daughter home. With; • • .. . great .pomp, she .was welcomed back to her own country, but; .'" the lovely girl who had been called Queen of England for five years never forgot the king who had been so kind to her. -