‘This is from the Lack tulip, which I bought for my lord Buckingham in the Low Countries,’ John said, touching one perfect petal with the tip of his finger.

‘Does it grow still?’ the king asked, looking at the petal as if it might hold some memory of its lord.

‘Yes,’ John said gently. ‘It grows still.’

‘I should like to have it,’ the king said. ‘In memory of him.’

John bowed as he gave away a tulip worth a year’s income. ‘Of course, Your Majesty.’

‘And many mechanical things? Do you have mechanical toys?’ the king asked. ‘When I was a boy I had a small army made of lead with cannons which actually fired shot. I planned my campaigns with them, I had part of Richmond laid out as a battlefield and drew my men up in the proper way for an attack.’

‘I have a little model windmill, as they use in the Low Countries for pumping out their ditches,’ John said, crossing to the other side of the room. He moved the sails with his hand and the king could see the pump inside going up and down.

‘And I have a miniature clock, and a model cannon.’ John directed the king to another corner. ‘And a miniature spinning wheel carved in amber.’

‘And what do you have from my lord Buckingham’s collection?’ the king asked.

J, suddenly wary, glanced at his father.

‘Something very dear to me and worth all the rest put together,’ John said. He drew the king to a cabinet under the window and opened one of the drawers.

‘What’s this?’ the king asked.

‘The last letter he ever wrote to me,’ John said. ‘Ordering me to Portsmouth, to meet him for the expedition to Rhé.’

The queen glanced over at them with impatience; even now she did not like to hear Buckingham’s name on the king’s lips. ‘What’s the largest rarity you have?’ she asked J loudly.

‘We have the whole head of an elephant, with its great double teeth,’ J said, pointing up to where they had hung the skull from the roof beams. ‘And a rhinoceros horn and jaw bone.’

The king did not even turn his head, but unfolded the letter. ‘His own hand!’ he cried as soon as he saw the dashed careless style. He read it. ‘And he commands you to go at once,’ he said. ‘Oh, Tradescant, if only everything had been ready at once!’

‘I was there,’ John said. ‘Just as he wished.’

‘But he was late, weeks late,’ the king said, smiling ruefully. ‘Wasn’t that just like him?’

‘And what is your favourite?’ the queen demanded loudly.

‘I think I like the Chinese fan the best,’ J said. ‘It is so delicate and so fine-painted.’

He opened a drawer, took it out and laid it in her hand. ‘Oh! I must have one just like it!’ she exclaimed. ‘Charles! Look!’