Far from being overjoyed by my new importance, I was terrified, because it made what Tom and I had done even more reprehensible. I did not have long to fret, however. Someone betrayed us to the King. I’m not sure who it was, but they knew about our precontract. It could not have happened at a worse time because my uncle was not well disposed towards the Howards in the wake of the Boleyn’s fall, and they were decidedly out of favour.

I still wonder if Mary Howard confided in her father, the Duke of Norfolk, and if it was he who betrayed us. Did he do so to demonstrate his loyalty to his sovereign? Mary had been my confidante and accomplice, and Norfolk would have wanted to deflect the King’s wrath from her – and himself.

The King was much incensed by my folly and enraged at Tom’s presumption. I imagine he was bitterly disappointed in me, having cherished such a high opinion of me. But that was the least of it. When I was being questioned, it became horrifyingly clear that the King suspected Tom of traitorously coveting the crown. It was believed that he had precontracted himself to me only to gain a throne. What hurt most was that my accusers kept referring to me as baseborn. My uncle was making it plain that there was now no question of my deserving a place in the English succession.

Looking back, I suppose he had good reason for suspecting Tom’s motives, because our precontract was made after the Princess Elizabeth had been pronounced a bastard. Tom could have realised then that I had realistic hopes of the succession. He could also have seen our marriage as a means of restoring the Howards to power and reviving the Roman faith; the Howards, I might add, are Papists in all but name. I still sometimes wonder if these possibilities had occurred to Tom, but I doubt it. I know in my heart that our betrothal was founded upon love.

Tom was imprisoned in the Tower. I was hysterical when they told me. Only hours later, they came for me and, trembling with fright, I was conveyed along the Thames in a covered barge towards the brooding fortress where my lover lay. I grew quite light-headed worrying about what they would do to me. The fate of the Boleyn was at the forefront of my mind. I was shaking uncontrollably when I disembarked and was taken under guard to the royal apartments she had occupied.