My uncle leans forwards, his mouth to my ear. ‘Listen, fool. So that he makes you his wife, his own wife, the next Queen of England.’

My exclamation of surprise is silenced by Lady Rochford, who pinches the back of my hand sharply. ‘Ow!’

‘Listen to your uncle,’ she says. ‘And keep your voice down.’

‘But he is married to the queen,’ I mutter.

‘He can still fall in love with you,’ my uncle says. ‘Stranger things have happened. And he has to know that you are a virgin untouched, a little rose, that you are a good enough girl to be Queen of England.’

I glance back towards the woman who already is the Queen of England. She is smiling down at the Lady Elizabeth, who is doing a little hopping dance in time to the music. The king is tapping his good foot in time to the beat, even Princess Mary looks happy.

‘Perhaps not this year, perhaps not next,’ my uncle says. ‘But you must keep the king interested and you must lead him into honourable love. Anne Boleyn led him on and held him off, and kept him coming on for six years, and she started when he was in love with his wife. This is not the work of a day, this is a masterpiece, it will be your life’s work. You are not to give him the least idea that he could make you his mistress. He has to honour you, Katherine, as if you were a young lady fit only for marriage. Can you do that?’

‘I don’t know,’ I say. ‘He is king. Doesn’t he know everybody’s thoughts anyway? Doesn’t God tell him?’

‘God help us, the girl is an idiot,’ my uncle mutters. ‘Katherine, he is a man like any other, only now, in his old age, more suspicious and more vindictive than most. He has enjoyed an easier life than most, he has been idle for all his days. He has had kindness everywhere he has ever gone, no-one has said “no” to him since he got rid of Katherine of Aragon. He is used to having his own way in everything. This is the man you have to delight, a man brought up to indulgence. You have to make him think you are special, he is surrounded by women who pretend to adore him. You have to do something special. You have to make him aroused and yet keep his hands off you. This is what I am asking you to do. You can have new gowns and Lady Rochford’s help but this is what I want. Can you do it?’

‘I can try,’ I say doubtfully. ‘But what happens then? When he is in love and aroused but trusting? What happens then? I can hardly tell him that I am hoping to be queen while I serve the queen.’

‘You leave that to me,’ he says. ‘You do your part and I will do mine. But you have to do your part. Just as you are: but a little more, a little more warmly. I want you to bring him on.’