Non Mudera…I won’t change…The motto of a shrewd woman,a twice crowned Queen of France,and mother of two remarkable women I had the chance to enjoy the company of… France,where it all began,along with the Netherlands, where it all started. I am a dutch woman lady when it comes to music and books, and a French Lady when it comes to fashion… Or at least I was,cause death is nothing but departure of self-centered thoughts in my head… Death doesn’t care, it takes, no matter how high handed you might be…Yet I shall not suffer anyone’s death,for I have been a Queen, and by dying like one, I shall always be remembered as one, even centuries after my death…My head held high, I do not see an end to my life, but an end to my suffering and a continuity to all that happened in my life…I am lucky, for I know what has been, what is and what will be…I don’t have to expect, I know what will happen to me…I am on the threshold of my doom…It stands just in front of me, about three or four feet high…The one thing that shall see my blood being spent…You can’t escape destiny: Outstanding qualities become fatal flaws, a head held high on a throne becomes one to be cut off on a scaffold…But I am not afraid. It is time, time for my last words to be heard .

“Good Christian people, I have come here to die. I am about to receive death’s blow and merrily, instead of afraid and full of sorrow, I will welcome it, with my arms wide open, my spirit free of remorse and sin, and with my neck bare. I have tamed Death and Death has tamed me. I shall die dignified, not intemperate, for I shall leave this world soon and only those staying would suffer from my regal insolence and pride.”

At that moment, I thought of my daughter, my dear Elizabeth, for she was the one who would have suffered the most from my intemperateness, the one who already is to be motherless. Maybe the disgrace of her mother will bring her, in a way, good fortune, for away from the storm of double-edged knives of the court, she could live happily, in peace. I only wish her the best and from Heaven, I shall do my best to ensure her happiness….

“Since I can no longer be a most happy Queen on Earth, I shall become one in Heaven, for God knows the truth and shall welcome those unjustly condemned to die and let them live an endless life together. And I rejoice alrealdy with the thought of joining them. I am prepared to die and shall wait no longer to do so. I will only ask of you to pray for the life of the King, May he reign over you all for a long time, and also to pray for my soul who is to leave you all now. May God bless you all.”

I kneel, but not to be anointed like I have once been,but to receive death itself. Prepared to die, I had heard many stories of how, for a few seconds after the blow, the head still lives, so that the expression on the face changes…I continue to pray…

“Boy fetch my sword” I still have some moments left…I hear but I cannot see…Darkness has always been a part of my life. I have been called a dark, somewhat beguiling beauty, for I had overshadowed so many fair-faced ladies to get to the gilded and dangerous world of Queenship…But here it comes. I feel it, it comes…O’ Death…