The winds, though, were against him and as Easter was upon them the King commanded him to join the festivities at Winchester so that the original intention of all being together could be carried out.

Thus the King had his four sons with him which pleased him well. He had advice to give Richard and Geoffrey, and he looked forward to having young John with him – the only one of Eleanor’s sons in whom he could hope to breed affection. He had come to the conclusion that he must allow young Henry a certain freedom or the young man would break out and rebel. It was for this reason that he had agreed to send him to Normandy, but while he was there a stern watch should be kept on him that he did not get into any mischief.

What pleasure it would have given him to have discussed his affairs with them, with no reservations because there need be none. If they had been loyal sons that should have been the case. Now, although they feigned friendship, suspicion was there.

Richard was the most frank of them all. He said what he meant without subterfuge and what he wanted was help in Aquitaine. He was not as popular with the people as he would like to have been.

‘The fact that you and I are friends,’ he said bluntly, ‘turns them against me. They think that I am my mother’s enemy.’

‘They surely know that not to be the case.’

‘They reason that if I am your friend I cannot be hers. I have a request to make.’

Henry felt a fearful apprehension. Now he was going to ask to see Alice and demand when his marriage was to take place.

But he was wrong. What Richard said was: ‘I want to see my mother.’

‘Your mother is at Salisbury Castle.’

‘We are all gathered here. She should be with us.’

‘You forget that she has been a traitor to me.’

‘Could you not say that of your sons?’

‘I could – to my misfortune.’

‘Yet you have forgiven us. Why should you not forgive her?’

‘Because she it was who turned you from me. She fed you slander against me with her mother’s milk. But for her there would not have been these troubles. I should have been a father with good and loyal sons.’

‘She did not change our natures.’

‘What mean you by that?’

‘We rose against you because you gave us titles and then refused to make them meaningful. My mother had nothing to do with that.’

‘You may go to Salisbury to see your mother but you shall not be alone with her.’

‘Nay,’ said Richard. ‘She must come here. If you invite her here and she comes, then in Aquitaine they will know that it was I who demanded to see her and that I am her friend. Only then will they receive me.’

The King was thoughtful.

‘Let my mother return to Aquitaine with me,’ went on Richard.

‘Never,’ said the King.

‘I should go back with her and my bride.’

The King’s lips tightened. He said suddenly: ‘Your mother shall come here to Winchester. She shall stay for a few days and then be returned to Salisbury. The people of Aquitaine will then see that she has been brought here because you pleaded for her. They cannot then say that you are not her friend.’

Richard bowed his head.

‘There is the matter of my bride,’ he went on.

‘Subdue Aquitaine,’ said the King, ‘and then it will be time for you to think of marriage.’

‘I would see the Princess Alice. She will be of marriageable age now. My brother Henry tells me that the King of France is asking why the marriage has been so long delayed.’

‘The Princess is touring in the North. If she returns while you are here of a certainty you shall meet. Settle your affairs in Aquitaine and then we shall see whether there shall be a marriage. In the meantime I promise you this: You shall see your mother and it shall be here at Winchester.’


* * *

Eleanor laughed aloud when she heard that she was to travel to Winchester. What joy to see her beloved Richard! She would be pleased to see Henry and Geoffrey too, and perhaps young John. Best of all perhaps would be meeting her husband. Already vituperations were forming in her mind. She longed to tell him what she thought of him, to have one of those verbal battles which had always excited her.

She sent for her seamstresses. It was her good fortune that she lacked none of the amenities of life here in Salisbury; if she was a prisoner she was a queenly one. There was little to do in her prison and her attendants made gowns for her and as she had always been noted for her elegance she doubted anything at the King’s court could compare with garments of her designing.

In high spirits she set out on the journey from Salisbury to Winchester surrounded by the King’s guards. She was exultant when she saw the towers of the palace and as she rode forward she laughed aloud in her triumph.

The King received her and for a few moments they regarded each other appraisingly. She tilted her head and laughed.

‘So at last we meet, my lord,’ she said.

The King waved a hand to those who stood in his chamber. ‘Leave us,’ he commanded.

‘Well, we are alone,’ she said. ‘By God, Henry, I see grey hairs and deep lines on your countenance.’

‘I have had much to concern me as you well know.’

‘I know that your sons do not love you.’

‘Their thoughts having been poisoned by their mother.’

She lifted her shoulders. ‘It is their father’s own actions which have turned them from him. Why did you allow me to come here?’

‘That you might see your sons.’

‘So indulgent! Come, Henry, there is a reason other than the love you bear them … or me.’

‘I bear none to you.’

‘I feared it,’ she mocked.

‘But you are the mother of my sons and they have asked to see you.’

‘So we shall meet. I rejoice. And you brought me here to please my subjects of Aquitaine, did you not? If they learn that I am here this Eastertide they will hate you the less and realise that Richard is my friend. That is statecraft, Henry, my husband, and I will say that you are very crafty at it.’

‘Thank you.’

‘And now that Richard is here we have a matter to discuss ...he, I and perhaps you.’

‘And that matter?’

‘His marriage of course.’ She was studying him closely. ‘And where is our dear little Princess? I confess I expected to find her here.’

‘She is gone to the North … for her health.’

The Queen raised her eyebrows. ‘She is sick then? Not sick of love … for Richard? But she has not seen him in the prime of his youth, has she?’

‘She had already departed when he arrived.’

‘Churlish of her! Is she not eager to see her bridegroom?’

‘I should have thought that after your seclusion you would have had other matters to discuss than this betrothal of Richard’s.’

‘I might ask for my freedom. Would you be prepared to give it?’

‘If I did, how should I know that you did not plot against me as you did before?’

‘It is something you could never be sure of.’

‘Then you see why you must remain my prisoner.’

‘I thought we might strike a bargain.’

‘Why should I bargain with a prisoner?’

‘You want a divorce.’

‘Who tells you this?’

‘There are rumours.’

‘You should not trust rumours.’

‘Oh, it depends on the source. And suppose I agree to a divorce, would you release me?’

He said: ‘There is to be no divorce.’

‘I have heard that you have already decided on your next Queen.’

‘Tell me who gave you such news? I’ll cut out their tongues for I’ll not suffer such lies to be told of me.’

‘So ’tis true, is it not?’

‘If it were true that I wanted a divorce why should I not bargain with you as you suggest?’

‘I doubt not you have your reasons.’

‘Nay,’ he said. ‘I have not asked for a divorce.’

‘You presented Cardinal Huguzon with rich gifts. Was this merely to settle the dispute between York and Canterbury?’

‘I did not bring you here to discuss my actions with you.’

‘Nay. I know full well why you did that. You act always out of ambition. It is necessary for Richard to show my people that he is my friend and not yours. So you allow it to be known that he has prevailed upon you to let us meet here. Do not think that I am not aware of your ways, Henry Plantagenet.’

Henry shrugged his shoulders. ‘I would have you know that if you do aught to harm me here you shall be sent back to even more rigorous imprisonment.’

She nodded slowly. ‘What do you plan to do to me, husband? To murder me? That would leave the way clear without complications, would it not? But you must wait of course until Aquitaine is subdued and accepts Richard as the Duke. Then if you can keep him as your vassal – which I doubt – Aquitaine will be yours as you always intended it to be. It is a long time to wait and time is important to you. What do you hope to do? To get an heir by her? You have your heirs, Henry, and look you, what trouble they have brought.’

‘You talk nonsense,’ he said.

‘Nay, nay, good sense and you like it not. What think you the King of France will say when he hears his daughter has been debauched?’

‘What is this?’

‘Such ignorance! Poor child. Scarce out of the cradle. But they say ageing men whose senses are satiated look for new excitements. Children, is it?’

He advanced towards her, his hand upraised.

‘That is it, Henry. Strike me. That will be good hearing for Aquitaine. I will let it be known that I goaded you, taunted you with seducing the daughter of the King of France.’