‘And a woman’s love is not the same,’ the king remarked. ‘To please a woman you have to try and keep trying, and women are changeable: first one thing pleases them, then another. But a man’s love is easier, s … steadier. When George and I were young men we spent whole days thinking of nothing but hunting and play. The king used to call us his dear l … l … lads.’

John nodded. The king paused and abruptly turned to him. ‘Did you ever see my brother Henry?’

‘Yes,’ John said. ‘I was gardener at Theobalds, and then for my lord Cecil at Hatfield. I saw Prince Henry and King James often; I remember you too, Your Majesty.’

‘Do you think he was like the D … Duke of Buckingham? My brother? In his ways?’

John thought. They had the same arrogance, the same easy smile. They had the same sense that the world was half in love with them and that all they had to do was to accept homage.

‘Yes,’ he said slowly. ‘The prince was like the duke in many ways. But the duke had …’ He broke off.

‘What?’

‘The duke had that shining beauty,’ John said. ‘The prince was a handsome boy, as handsome as any. But the duke was as beautiful as an angel.’

Charles suddenly smiled, his grave face warming. ‘He was, wasn’t he?’ he said. ‘It’s so easy to f … forget. All the portraits I have of him show his beauty, but all p … portraits are beautiful even when the sitters are plain. It’s good to know that you keep a picture of him in your heart, Tradescant.’

‘I do,’ John said simply. ‘I see him night and day. And sometimes I dream of him.’

‘As if he w … w … were alive?’

John nodded. ‘I can never remember in my dreams that he is dead,’ he confessed. ‘And sometimes I wake and think he is calling for me, and I jump from my bed as if I were a young man and in a hurry to go to him.’

‘The queen didn’t l … like him,’ the king said thoughtfully.

Tradescant tactfully said nothing.

‘She was jealous.’

Tradescant gave a little nod. The king glanced at him. ‘Was your wife jealous of your love for your lord?’

Tradescant thought of Elizabeth and her long enmity for the duke and all he stood for: luxury, Popery, waste, and carnal sin.

‘Oh, yes,’ he said with a smile. ‘But women were always besotted with him or his worst enemy, or both.’

The king laughed shortly. ‘It’s true. He was a l … lamentable man with women.’

The gardener and the king smiled at one another, the king looking into Tradescant’s face for the first time.

‘D’you have any of his things at your Ark?’ the king asked.