a strong port for our allies to send supplies. She has bought up half the armies of Europe, and her brother the king of France will aid us.’
John closed his eyes briefly at the thought of French Papist troops marching against the English Protestant Parliament.
‘She wants us to take Hull for her – and so we will,’ the king said simply. ‘After that you can go home.’
John dropped to one knee. ‘Your Majesty, may I speak freely?’
The king smiled his tender smile. ‘Of course,’ he said. ‘All my people can speak to me freely, and in safety. I am their father, I am their only true friend.’
‘A French army, a Papist army, will not aid your cause,’ John said earnestly. ‘There are many men and women in the country who do not understand the rights and wrongs of this quarrel between you and Parliament; but they will see a French army as their enemy. People will speak ill of the queen if they think she has summoned the French against her own people, English people. Those that love her and love you now will not accept a French army. You will lose their love and trust.’
Charles looked thoughtful as if he had never had such counsel before. ‘You believe this, Gardener Tradescant?’
‘I know these people,’ John urged. ‘They are simple people. They don’t always understand arguments, they often cannot read. But they can see the evidence of their own eyes. If they see a French army marching on the English Parliament they will think we have been invaded and that their right course of action is to fight against the French. My own father went with your friend, the Duke of Buckingham, to make war against the French. They have been our enemies for years. Country people will think that the French have invaded us, and they will take up arms against them.’
‘I had not seen it that way.’ Charles looked undecided. ‘But I must have an army and I must have munitions and H … Hull has the mightiest store of weapons outside of London …’
‘Only if you have to fight a war,’ John said persuasively. ‘You only need arms if you fight. But if you could come to an agreement …’
‘I l … long to come to an agreement,’ the king said. ‘I have sent them m … message after message offering talks and concessions.’
John thought of the queen’s tempestuous demands that the Members of Parliament should be hanged before she would return to her city.
‘I shall take Hull, and then I shall be able to make concessions,’ the king said decisively.
John felt the sense of frustration that all the king’s advisors were learning to endure.
‘If you came to an agreement you would not have to take Hull,’ he pointed out. ‘If you could agree with Parliament, then the country would be at peace and there would be no need for a fort, Hull or any other. There would be no need for a position of strength.’
‘She wants me to take Hull,’ the king said stubbornly. ‘And it is mine own. I am claiming nothing but what is mine by right.’
Tradescant bowed. When the king started speaking of his rights it was difficult to make any headway. By right everything in the four kingdoms was his; but in practice the countries were ruled by all sorts of compromises. Once the king assumed the voice he used in his masques and spoke grandly of his rights nothing could be agreed.
‘When do we go to Hull?’ John asked resignedly.
The king smiled at him, a flash of the old merriment in his eyes. ‘I shall send the P … Prince James in to Hull on a visit,’ he said. ‘They cannot refuse a visit from the prince. He shall g … go with his cousin, the Elector Palatine. And then I shall f … follow him. They cannot separate father and son. And once he is inside he will open the gates to me. And once I am there –’ he snapped his fingers ‘– it is mine! As easily and peacefully as that.’
‘But what if …’
The king shook his head. ‘No. N … No carping, Tradescant,’ he said. ‘The city of Hull is all for me, they will throw open the gates at the sight of Prince James, and then when we are installed we can make what terms we wish with Parliament.’
‘But Your Majesty …’
‘You may go now,’ the king said pleasantly. ‘Ride with me at n … noon tomorrow to Hull.’
They left late, of course, and idled along the road. By the time they finally arrived on a little rise before the town it was getting cold with the sharp coldness of a northern spring afternoon, and growing dark, getting on for dinner time. The king had brought thirty cavalrymen, carrying his standards and pennants, and there were ten young gentlemen riding with him as well as Tradescant and a dozen servants.
As they came towards the city Tradescant saw the great gates swing closed, and his heart sank.
‘What’s this?’ the king demanded.
‘A damned insult!’ one of the young men cried out. ‘Let’s ride at the gates and order them open.’
‘Your Majesty …’ Tradescant said, bringing his horse a little closer. The young courtiers scowled at the gardener riding among them. Tradescant pressed on. ‘Perhaps we should ride by, as if we never intended coming in at all.’
‘What use would that be?’ the king demanded.
‘That way, no-one could ever say that an English town closed its gates to you. It did not close its gates because we were not trying to enter.’
‘Nonsense!’ the king said easily. One or two of the young men laughed aloud. ‘That’s the way to teach them b … boldness. Prince James’s party will open the gates to us if the governor of Hull does not.’
The king took off his hat and rode down towards the town. The sentries on the wall looked down on him and John saw, with a sense of leaden nausea, that they were casually pointing their crossbows towards him, their monarch, as if he were an ordinary highwayman coming towards the city walls.
‘Please God no fool fires by accident,’ John said as he followed.
‘Open the gates to the king of England!’ one of the courtiers shouted up at the sentries.
There was a short undignified scuffle and the governor of Hull, Sir John Hotham himself, appeared on the walls.
‘Your Majesty!’ he exclaimed. ‘I wish we had known of your coming.’
Charles smiled up at him. ‘It does not m … matter, Sir John,’ he said. ‘Open the gates and let us in.’
‘I cannot, Your Majesty,’ Sir John said apologetically. ‘You are too many for my little town to house.’
‘We don’t m … mind,’ the king said. ‘Open the gates, I would see my son.’
‘There are too many of you, it is too large and too warlike a party for me to let in at this late hour,’ Sir John said.
‘We are not warlike!’ Charles exclaimed. ‘Just a small party of pleasure-seekers.’
‘You
