Ferdinand restrained an oath. She had given orders in Catalonia . . . his province!

Again she read his thoughts, and for a moment that old hostility hovered between them.

Then she said: ‘Can you hear what they are shouting? It is “Ferdinand and Isabella. Isabella and Ferdinand . . . for Spain!”’

The irritation vanished from his face and he smiled at her.

‘We have done so much,’ Isabella said gently. ‘There is so much to do. But we shall do it. . . together.’

Crowds had gathered in the streets of Barcelona, to take part in one of the great occasions in Spanish history.

It was April and the sun shone brilliantly as through the streets to the Palace came a brilliant procession.

Nuggets of gold were carried by brown-skinned men in robes decorated with gold ornaments; there were animals such as none had ever seen before.

And in the midst of this procession came the Admiral of the New World, Cristobal Colon, his head held high, his eyes gleaming, because now his dream of discovery had become a reality.

Among the crowd was a woman who held a young boy in her arms that he might see the hero of this occasion.

‘See, Ferdinand,’ Beatriz de Arana whispered with pride, ‘there is your father.’

‘I see, Mother,’ cried the boy excitedly. ‘Mother, I see my father.’

Isabella and Ferdinand were waiting to receive their Admiral, and with them were their family. There was one page, in the service of the Prince of the Asturias, who could scarcely bear to look, so strong was his emotion.

This was Diego, that other son of the explorer, who had waited so many years for the return of his father, first in the monastery of La Rabida, then at the Court.

Cristobal Colon knelt before the Sovereigns, and when Isabella offered him her hand to kiss, she knew that what he was offering her – and Spain – was a New World.

How happy I am in this moment, thought Isabella. Ferdinand has fully recovered his strength. I have all my beloved children with me. I have made not only a united Spain but a Christian Spain.

I have all this. I should be singularly blessed, even were this all.

But it was not all. And here is this adventurer, returned from his long journey with strange tales to tell. Here he comes, to lay a new world at my feet.

Isabella’s smiling gaze embraced her beloved family; but she looked beyond them all into a future when men and women who were gathered together to discuss the greatness of a mighty Empire would say: ‘It was Isabella who made Spain great – Isabella . . . and Ferdinand.’

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