The duke nodded agreement. ‘Yes, Pembroke, take his grace for treatment. The monks will know where to go but my men will escort you.’ He signalled to a sturdy knight who was hovering nearby and gave him whispered instructions. Monks were already beginning to emerge nervously from the abbey with offers to assist the wounded and it was one of them who led us, unarmed and surrounded by a considerable Yorkist escort, to a tanner’s workshop, assuring us that it would have the tools necessary to remove the arrowhead without causing more damage. And God be praised, the monk was right; King Henry’s injury proved to be only a flesh wound, which was successfully treated and bandaged. The arrow had missed any vital blood vessels but I was greatly impressed by the courage and stoicism Henry displayed as the brawny tanner wielded his hefty pincers so close to a vulnerable area.

Meanwhile the Duke of York had been making hasty arrangements for dealing with the other casualties. By the time we returned to the Market Square Buckingham had been taken away for treatment and my men had been relieved of their arms and corralled together in a dejected group in one corner. York bowed punctiliously to King Henry and informed him that he and Warwick would escort him back to London. No mention was made at that time of the death of Somerset.

‘But I wish to go to Kenilworth with the queen,’ Henry protested, gripping my arm tightly as if fearful he might be wrenched away from me. ‘Tell him, Jasper – we are going to the Midlands. I do not like residing at Westminster or the Tower.’

‘The queen and the prince may go north if they wish,’ said the duke firmly, ‘but the people expect their king to be in London. We will make sure that you are comfortably accommodated, sire, have no fear.’

Henry turned beseeching eyes on me but I shook my head. There was no future in arguing at the point of a sword. And so the royal family was separated, apparently with the worthiest of motives. The king rode into London beside York, while Warwick led the procession, bearing aloft the Sword of State in hands which only hours before had sent the Duke of Somerset into the hereafter. The people who cheered them through the streets were in no doubt as to who was now in control of the kingdom.