‘Indeed he did – and I come here now to seek the saint’s intercession for that son. Even though you do call him Harri, if I cannot have custody of my Henry I pray for you, his uncle, to restore your brother to his throne and regain wardship of my son.’ She laid her hand urgently on my arm. ‘And I have reason to think that day may not be far off.’

‘You have a great deal of faith in a long dead Irish saint, Margaret.’ Irony had not left me.

She laughed. ‘I do not rely solely on St Aedan. In fact I put much of my trust in a more worldly champion; the Earl of Warwick.’

‘Warwick!’ Now I was incredulous. ‘He boasts that he put Edward on the throne in the first place! Why on earth should he want him off it now?’

‘You are out of touch, Jasper. The cub king has become a lion and no longer does Warwick’s bidding. First Edward made a commoner his queen and let her appropriate all the best manors and marriages for her kin and now he offends even further by refusing to allow Warwick’s daughter to marry the Duke of Clarence.’

‘Is everyone building dynasties around the Yorkist throne?’ My mind was racing.

Margaret pursed her lips. ‘Not if Edward can help it. That is why Warwick will be lured to our cause. We need to conjure a meeting between him and Queen Marguerite.’

My reaction to this notion was utter disbelief. ‘Impossible! Marguerite hates, no loathes, the Earl of Warwick – has done for years. They will never be allies.’

‘It seems unlikely, I agree, but consider this; Warwick is on the verge of rebelling against Edward and Marguerite is desperate for her son to sit on the throne of England. All it would take is an alliance between them to achieve what they both want. It will not happen overnight but I want you to go to Marguerite in France and start a process of gentle persuasion. She listens to you. And I will work on Warwick.’

The sheer audacity of her idea amazed me. I thought it through. The great Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, who had risked his life and fortune to put his cousin Edward of York on the throne of England, was now considering rebelling against him and Margaret honestly thought he could be brought to kneel at the old queen’s feet? I was not so sure; if Warwick wished to marry his daughter to Edward’s brother George of Clarence, was it not more likely that he really wanted to put George on the throne and make his daughter queen? Warwick did not call himself ‘Kingmaker’ for nothing.