Georgiana sat in her carriage, watching the crowds outside the window. Mechelen was pronounced Malines in french. Before the sixteenth century, it had been the capital of Flanders. In the sixteenth century, many government offices moved to Brussels, and the city's political influence declined considerably.
The highly profitable wool trade had brought immense wealth in the late Middle Ages, making Flanders a prosperous region coveted by England, France, and other countries. Now that the center of the cotton textile industry lay in England, its influence as an industrial hub had also declined sharply.
The only thing Mechelen retained was religious authority. That seemed to explain the sparse pedestrians in its streets and their coldness. Although the seminary the Frenchmen had demolished was in Leuven, Ghent had at least put on a welcoming market, allowing the visitors to see Ghent's specialties.
She withdrew her gaze and looked at the Fire Opal Ring on her hand. She had actually noticed it already: at banquets and balls alike, many people paid particular attention to it, then compared it with the ring on Bonaparte's hand. It was obvious that they were not a matching pair.
The more something was forbidden, the more people wanted to try it. To marry Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII changed England's state religion so that he would not have to wait for the Pope's consent to divorce his former wife and marry Anne Boleyn.
But once Anne truly became his lawful wife, his passion for her quickly faded. It eased only after she bore him Elizabeth I, yet Anne Boleyn still failed to escape imprisonment and beheading, because Henry VIII wanted a male heir.
The king accused her of adultery. She had also once been accused of witchcraft, though that charge did not stand.
A hated woman, even if she