Grace Cromwell

Thomas Cromwell's daughter

Child of Thomas Cromwell and Liz Wykys.

The story so far…

Week 2: At Austin Friars / Visitation

We learn of Cromwell’s daughters, Anne and Grace, through the letter Gregory sends his parents from Cambridge.

Week 3: An Occult History of Britain (Part 1)

She does not understand what is happening, that night in 1527. Why is her father here? She almost never sees him. She falls asleep in his arms, and Anne goes to bed with her to keep her warm. Their mother’s last words were to tell Thomas to look after them.

This section ends with these lines:

The small child Grace wakes in the night and says that she sees her mother in her shroud. She does not cry like a child, noisy and hiccupping, but like a grown woman, weeping tears of dread.
‘All the rivers run into the sea, but the seas are not yet full.’

Week 4: An Occult History of Britain (Part 2)

When the Williamson family move into Austin Friars, Grace is confused about how everyone is related. Anne says she is “slow”, but really she is just young.

In 1529, we learn that Grace was to be called Henry or Katherine. But when she was born, a different name occurred to Cromwell: “We cannot earn grace. We do not merit it.” That summer, she dies in her father’s arms. “I never knew her, he thinks; I never knew I had her.”

Week 5: Make or Mar / Three-Card Trick

“The year that Grace was an angel, she had wings made of peacock feathers. He himself contrived it.” If she had lived, she would “have wanted a title”. Lady Grace. He remembers her keeping the wings on as she went up to say her prayers. “He followed her, afraid for her, afraid of fire and some other danger, but he did not know what.”

Week 7: Entirely Beloved Cromwell (Part 2)

“Grace was vain of her hair and used to state that she had wings, this was a lie.” Her cousin Alice decides that Grace must endure more time in Purgatory for her sins.