Recently, Mary and Elizabeth had marriage or looking-for-marriage troubles. And maybe Catherine has finally become the good person fans have been doubtful about.
Putting a finger on that for a moment because that thought maybe shortlived thanks to Narcisse.
Narcisse has been trying his best to remove Catherine from any royal situations and has gone so far as to banishing Mary from the castle which prevents her from receiving suitors to save her country.
Narcisse is in full-force implenting his plans and that does not exclude Claude. She is set to marry a wealthy Duke who can help alleviate France from severe debt inherited from the Scottish-English wars.
What makes it worse is that Charles - the future king - has agreed to this. It seems Claude, Catherine and Mary is in dire trouble.
And that's where it all happened. The gold from the Duke's marriage, supposedly given to Narcisse, was now gone and Mary finds it in her chambers.
Mary confronts Catherine but the old queen denies any of it. Narcisse accuses both ladies to be the conspirators and is now hunting for clues to its whereabouts.
On the other side of the kingdom, Claude who is now married, was struck down by the Duke but being trained well by Leith, she fired back several punches and ran away. She makes her way back to the castle where Charles finds her bruised. Seething with rage, he interrupts a privy council where he was uninvited and forces the council to install his mother as regent - with a friendly reminder that he will remember who voted against him and for him when he becomes king.
How did this all happen? You might have already guessed it. Catherine planned it all. She paid the Duke off with his own gold and a few extra lands to hit Claude, forcing Charles to see the error of his ways and install her as regent. This move saves Mary (for the meantime) from leaving the castle and pushes Narcisse out of the picture.
In England, Queen Elizabeth was poisoned by tea and had a miscarriage. Sensing that this is not a ploy from the Scots, but from her own English people, she decided to leave her selfish needs for love behind and act as a queen should act.
