‘The Serpent Queen’ Season 2 Episode 7 Recap: Did King Charles IX Meet Sister Edith?

Episode six of the second season of The Serpent Queen ended with the jousting between Anjou and his brother King Charles IX, as planned by Queen Elizabeth to play with the emotions of her betrothed and understand his temperament. King Charles did not walk away from the challenge even though he was asked to by Anjou, Montmorency, and his mother. Anjou let him win, but King Charles fainted after exhaustion, which could have been an aftereffect of the fall he had a while back. The Queen was not ready to let anyone know about her son’s ailment so that it did not affect the impending nuptials between King Charles and Queen Elizabeth. 

Spoilers Ahead

Was King Charles sick?

King Charles was indeed sick. The palace-appointed doctor was confronted by Queen Catherine, who wanted to get to the bottom of her son’s health issues. The doctor revealed Charles showed symptoms of consumption, which was another name for tuberculosis. Since back then there was no awareness of or cure for it, the disease was considered fatal. She made sure the doctor kept his mouth shut about her son’s failing health, and threatened to hang him on charges of treason if he let this secret leave the room. 

Why was Catherine livid at Anjou?

Catherine was livid at Anjou, as she believed he’d made two big mistakes in a short span of time, both of which endangered his own brothers. This was a reference to his younger brother Hercule’s death, followed by the joust he was forced to agree to with his older brother King Charles. Anjou was regretful of his actions, but his mother had to punish him for his deed. She had to force him to give up his queer habits and concentrate on his work in the council for the betterment of his family and the country. Anjou was not happy, but he had to fix things so that the kingdom did not slip away into a civil war, as he knew he was not suitable to be the next monarch of France. 

Did Elizabeth agree to marry Anjou?

Queen Catherine announced she had a change of plan regarding who would marry her sons. Since the country was on the brink of war, she chose to marry her son King Charles IX to the grandniece of the Holy Roman Emperor to secure the Catholic community. King Charles was not happy, but he was content with the reason his mother gave, which was that he needed a consort who would take care of him and the rest of the palace matters, by working from the shadows. He did not need  a Queen, who had another kingdom to run.

Queen Catherine shared the same news with Queen Elizabeth of England and offered her younger son Prince Anjou as her Prince Consort. This was a fair deal, and Queen Elizabeth was smart enough to conclude that Charles had consumption. However, she agreed to the match with Anjou and insisted on meeting him in person. On reaching Anjou’s chambers, Elizabeth and Throckmorton were none too shocked to find him in the company of men in a compromising position. Catherine could not believe her son had betrayed her again when she’d asked him to clean up his act.

Was Francoise forced to marry Princess Margot?

Francoise was confronted by his mother and the Catholic League of France, who were against Queen Elizabeth being entertained in the court. Duchess Antoinette was under the impression the King and his mother were weak and they would agree to any match to safeguard their throne and the country. Antoinette and the Catholic League planned to marry off Francoise to Princess Margot. Princess Margot would be accepted by the people of the country, and as a result, the marriage would make Francoise the King of France. This would essentially remove the Valois family from the court and place the Guise family in the line of succession. Francoise was not happy with his mother plotting behind his back and was not ready to get married to a woman. He was fond of Princess Margot, which was why he let her know the marriage could never happen. 

Why did Queen Elizabeth leave France?

Queen Elizabeth found a reason to leave France and abandon the marriage alliance and trade deal on learning about Anjou and his sexuality. This was just an excuse for Elizabeth to get away from France and fuel the tensions between the Catholics and Protestants on the continent. Catherine reasoned, the marriage between Elizabeth and Anjou was only of convenience, as is every political marriage, the Queen of England was not convinced, and left the palace with her entourage. Just before exiting the French palace, she handed out a secret deal signed between herself and the Bourbon brothers, confirming Catherine’s doubts about their betrayal.

Did the Bourbon brothers leave the French Palace as well?

The Bourbon brothers were quick to learn Elizabeth had left the palace. They knew she would not leave before creating a further rift in the French council to weaken the Kingdom further. Antoine and Louis Bourbon quickly left the palace as well and joined Sister Edith’s camp to protect themselves from any attack. Sister Edith would not trust them as their betrayal had been exposed, which made it obvious the brothers would do anything to stay in power. 

Did Rahima betray Catherine?

Rahima was not in the palace on the morning Queen Elizabeth left France. Catherine was surprised to find her absent and not informing her about the big movement happening under her nose. Catherine found Rahima with the Duke of Florence and was shocked to find her conspiring against her. Rahima was slowly falling for the manipulative Alessandro, who claimed he wanted to take her with him to explore the new world. 

Alessandro also revealed he had spoken to Queen Elizabeth, funding the plans to expand his business to the New World after Catherine rejected his offer. Catherine was upset, but she had to put her plans in motion to put Rahima and Alessandro on the back foot so that it did not affect her power in the court and on the continent. 

Rahima came back to Catherine, apologizing for her absence from the court on the day Elizabeth disappeared. Catherine was in no position to trust her lady-in-waiting anymore, who now claimed there were no discrepancies in the budget-related paperwork submitted by Alessandro, Duke of Florence. Catherine quietly agreed to it as she knew Rahima had betrayed her for the sake of the power the Duke of Florence promised her. 

Was someone going to betray Queen Catherine?

Catherine’s fortune teller was back in her life, and claimed there would be six traitors that would betray her. The Guises, the Bourbons, Rahima, Montmorency, and Alessandro. The fortune teller let her know the sixth traitor would be a baby. There was no way to find out whose baby would be the person that would go behind Catherine’s back to betray her, but she had to be careful from this point on and would have to keep her eyes open. 

Was Princess Margot keen on marrying Francoise de Guise?

Princess Margot was dismissed by Francoise De Guise himself as a marriage between them was proposed. Duchess Antoinette de Guise took advantage of a meek Margot and chose to use her to pressure Queen Catherine to agree to the match. Queen Catherine agreed to the match only if King  Charles approved it, yet she was sure there was some planning happening behind the curtains to put her on the backfoot. 

How did Catherine know of the planned coup?

Catherine confessed to Cardinal Charles about her son being sick, and wanting to pray for him. However, she assigned a spy to tail the chief of the Catholic League of France. Catherine hired a prostitute to lure the old man and find out what the actual plan was. She learnt that the Duchess Antoinette and the Catholic League of France were planning to carry out a coup to put Francoise on the throne with Princess Margot as his wife to dethrone the Valois family. Catherine had to put her plan in motion before matters got out of hand. 

What was the council’s decision?

Catherine had a word with her son Anjou, whose support she wanted to save their family from being dethroned from France. At the council, she replaced Anjou and agreed to King Charles’ plan to convert to Protestantism at the hands of Sister Edith herself. Cardinal Charles was elated by the idea, but Francoise was not sure if this was the right way, as the Catholic population would be enraged. Francoise was still speaking the language of his mother and the Catholic League, who did not want to become powerless as the Protestant faith was gaining momentum. 

Even though the Catholic representation had gone down in the council, Catherine only fueled King Charles’ plan so that everyone who had joined Sister Edith’s camp were given an impression they had the King of France under their thumb. The civil war seemed to have ended before it started, and by the looks of it, the Protestant faith may have won it thanks to the power gained by Sister Edith over a period of time, and neither Elizabeth nor Catherine could ignore the young woman anymore. Despite King Charles’ marriage to a person of Catholic faith, the conversion had to take place to pacify the Protestants. 

Did King Charles IX meet Sister Edith?

The episode ended with King Charles’ entourage, including his mother, Queen Catherine, reaching Sister Edith’s camp. Queen Catherine wanted to have a word with Sister Edith before the baptism. She may want to understand the intel Edith might have from the court before revealing her plans to the priestess. Sister Edith demanded to have wanted something in return for the peace offering between the Kingdom of France and the leader of the Protestant faith in the country. Sister Edith revealed she’d learned King Charles may not have that long to live in this world, which means his second baptism is of no use to her. This proves Cardinal Charles shared the secret of Charles’ ill health with her, and therefore it led Catherine to realize who was the mole. 

Catherine also suggested that after Charles’ passing, she would recommend Antoine Bourbon’s son Henri to be the next in the line to the throne, who would be married to her daughter Princess Margot of the Catholic line. Catherine was playing a double game here by putting her daughter’s life at stake. Only time will tell what she had in mind for her daughter, Princess Margot, who was very clear about not wanting to have any political marriage. Catherine could be bluffing as she wanted Sister Edith on her side, which would put Montmorency and the Bourbon brothers on the backfoot.

Catherine also offered the regency to Sister Edith right after Henri and Margot consummated their marriage. This was her way of offering power to Sister Edith. Sister Edith agreed to the plan, which again indicated she was in need of power as well and her dedication to God had become secondary. She did not refuse the regency for the sake of her commitment towards herself. This was indeed a smart plan to keep the most powerful woman on her side for the time being. The last scene of the episode had Sister Edith performing a second baptism on King Charles IX of France in the presence of her followers, which included Montmorency, the Bourbon Brothers, and Aabis. Queen Catherine also attended the holy ceremony that sealed the deal between her and Sister Edith.