She stood quietly for a few moments as her court halted aimlessly behind her, looking from her to me and wondering what fresh bad news I had brought. Then I saw her stiffen, and her hand went to her eyes, as if she had a sudden pain. ‘Unless he does not wait for my death,’ she said quietly.

A quick glance at my white face told her the rest of the story. She shook her head. ‘No, never,’ she whispered. ‘Not this. He would never divorce me? Not as my father did to my mother? With no grounds except lust for another woman? And she a whore, and the daughter of a whore?’

I said nothing.

She did not cry. She was Queen Mary who had been Princess Mary, who had learned as a little girl to keep her head up and her tears back and if her lips were bitten to ribbons and her mouth was filled with blood then what did it matter, as long as she did not cry where anyone could see her?

She just nodded, as if she had taken a hard knock to the head. Then she beckoned to Will Somers and he came forward, Daniel at his side, and gently took her outstretched hand.

‘You know, Will,’ she said softly, ‘it’s a funny thing, worthy of your wit, but it seems to me that the greatest terror of my life, which I would have done anything to avoid, would have been to end my life as my mother ended hers: abandoned by my husband, childless, and with a whore in my place.’ She looked at him and smiled though her eyes were dark with tears. ‘And now look, Will, isn’t it ridiculous? Here I am, and it has come to me. Can you make a joke about that?’

Will shook his head. ‘No,’ he said shortly. ‘I can find no joke in that. Some things are not funny.’

She nodded.

‘And, in any case, women have no sense of humour,’ he said staunchly.

She could not hear him. I could see that she was still taking in the horror that her nightmare had come true. She would be like her mother, abandoned by the king, living out her life in heartbreak.

‘I suppose one can see why that might be,’ Will remarked. ‘Women’s lack of humour. Given the present circumstances.’

The queen released him and turned to me. ‘I am sorry I was unkind about your boy,’ she said. ‘He is a fine boy, I am sure. What is his name?’

Will Somers took Daniel’s hand and drew him towards her.

‘Daniel Carpenter, Your Grace.’ I could see she was holding herself together by a thread of will.

‘Daniel.’ She smiled at him. ‘You be a good boy when you grow up and a faithful man.’ Her voice quavered for only a moment. She rested her beringed hand on his head. ‘God bless you,’ she said gently.

* * *

That night as I waited for Danny to fall asleep I took a page of pressed notepaper and wrote to his father.