‘What is going to happen?’ I ask the queen, who is striding back and forth in her rooms, the long train of her gown swishing like the tail of an angry cat.

‘I will not allow him to face the charges. He will not be demeaned by such charges. His Grace the king has saved him. He has ruled that he, the king, shall be judge and jury of his friend William.’

I hesitate. After all this is not my country, but I really don’t think the king can just step in like this. ‘Your Grace, I think he cannot. A nobleman has to be tried by his peers. The House of Lords will have to examine him. The king may not intervene.’

‘I say that no good friend of mine will be questioned in public like that. It is an insult to him, it is an insult to me. I have demanded that we protect our friends and the king agrees with me. William will not go before parliament. He is coming to my rooms tonight, in secret.’

‘Your Grace, this is not the English way. You should not meet any man alone, and certainly not in secret.’

‘You will be there,’ she says. ‘So they can say nothing vile about our meeting. Though, God knows, they say enough vile things already. But we have to meet in secret. The has become mad with jealousy, and now they are calling for his death. I cannot rule this kingdom without William de la Pole. I have to see him and decide what we should do.’

‘The king . . .’

‘The king cannot rule without him. The king cannot choose a course and hold to it on his own. You know what the king is like. I have to have William de la Pole at the side of the king; he cannot be steady without William to hold him to a course. We have to have William at our side. We have to have his advice.’

At midnight, the queen orders me to let William de la Pole in through the little door that connects the two royal apartments. The duke strides through, ducking his head under the stone lintel, and then, to my amazement, the king comes in quietly behind him, like his pageboy. ‘Your Grace,’ I whisper and sink down.

He does not even see me, he is shaking with distress. ‘I am forced! I am abused!’ he says at once to Margaret. ‘They dare to insult me. They want to rule me! William – tell her!’

She looks at once to de la Pole as if only he can explain. ‘The lords are refusing to accept that the king can examine me alone, as you wanted,’ he explains. ‘They are demanding that I am tried by my peers for treason. They deny the king’s right to judge on his own. I am accused of betraying our interests in France. Of course, I have only ever done what you commanded. And the peace treaty demanded the return of Maine and Anjou. This is an attack on you, Your Grace, on you, and on me, and on the king’s authority.’