I opened my mouth to tell him that he had met Harri and not long ago but suddenly had second thoughts. I decided it would not be wise to suggest that when they had come to court at Westminster he had mistaken Harri for his own son and Lady Margaret for his wife. He might not believe me, and it might even make him angry. He was still head of the House of Lancaster but more than ever I realized that he was an unreliable and unpredictable head. He might be capable of signing an edict but he was not capable of generating its content, just as he was not capable of remembering quite recent events.

‘I will go now and fetch him, sire,’ I said. ‘He is not far away.’

Henry’s squire was waiting outside the door and after he had told me where Harri had gone with Sir Richard Tunstall I sent him back in to attend the king. However, by the time I returned with Harri the opportunity for introducing him to his uncle had passed. King Henry was once more kneeling before a crucifix, praying to the only consistent being in his world.

‘We will come again in the New Year, Harri,’ I said to the puzzled boy. ‘Perhaps the king will meet you then. But I have something else I want you to do while we are here. We are going to look for your grandmother.’

‘Lady Welles?’ he asked, becoming even more perplexed. ‘Is she here at Windsor?’

‘No, not your mother’s mother but Queen Catherine de Valois, the French Princess who was King Henry’s mother and also mother to your father and me. Her father was King of France and she was queen to King Henry the Fifth, the conquering Lancastrian. I have just discovered that her portrait is hanging somewhere here in St George’s Hall and I would like to find it before we leave.’

Harri’s eyes were round with surprise. ‘Mistress Jane told me about Queen Catherine. She said her mother had been one of her ladies in waiting.’

‘Yes, Harri, and she was apparently very beautiful so she should not be hard to find.’