I saw her grip on the back of her chair tighten. ‘It is a mere six months since I rode into London from Framlingham,’ she said. ‘The people wanted me as queen then.’

‘You were their choice in preference to the Duke of Northumberland with Queen Jane as his puppet,’ he brutally reminded her. ‘Not instead of Elizabeth. The people want the Protestant religion and the Protestant princess. Indeed, they may be prepared to die for it. They won’t have you with Prince Philip of Spain as king.’

‘I won’t leave London,’ she said. ‘I have waited all my life for my mother’s throne, I shan’t abandon it now.’

‘You have no choice,’ he warned her. ‘They will be at the gates of the city within days.’

‘I will wait till that moment.’

‘Your Grace,’ Bishop Gardiner said. ‘You could withdraw to Windsor at least . . .’

Queen Mary rounded on him. ‘Not to Windsor, not to the Tower, not to anywhere but here! I am England’s princess and I will stay here in my palace until they tell me that they want me as England’s princess no more. Don’t speak to me of leaving, my lords, for I will not consider it.’

The bishop retreated from her passion. ‘As you wish, Your Grace. But these are troubled times and you are risking your life . . .’

‘The times may be troubled, but I am not troubled,’ she said fiercely.

‘You are gambling with your life as well as your throne,’ the duke almost shouted at her.

‘I know that!’ she exclaimed.

He took a breath. ‘Do I have your command to muster the royal guard, and the city’s trained bands and lead them out against Wyatt in Kent?’ he asked.

‘Yes,’ she said. ‘But there must be no sieges of towns and no sacking of villages.’

‘It cannot be done!’ he protested. ‘In battle, one cannot protect the battle ground.’

‘These are your orders,’ she insisted icily. ‘I will not have a civil war fought over my wheat fields, especially in these starving times. These rebels must be put down like vermin. I won’t have innocent people hurt by the hunt.’

For a moment he looked as if he would argue. Then she leaned towards him. ‘Trust me in this,’ she said persuasively. ‘I know. I am a virgin queen, my only children are my people. They have to see that I love them and care for them. I cannot get married on a tide of their innocent blood. This has to be gently done, and firmly done, and done only once. Can you do it for me?’

He shook his head. ‘No,’ he said. He was too afraid to waste time in flattery. ‘Nobody can do it. They are gathering in their hundreds, in their thousands. These people understand only one thing and that is force. They understand gibbets at the cross-roads and heads on pikes. You cannot rule Englishmen and be merciful, Your Grace.’

‘You are mistaken,’ she said, going head to head with him, as determined as he was. ‘I came to this throne by a miracle and God does not change his mind. We will win these men back by the love of God. You have to do it as I command. It has to be done as God would have it, or His miracle cannot take place.’