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Chapel, he had seen them there himself.
    He begged King Philip to beware of her; he also reminded him that she was surrounded by men of the worst character and religious beliefs, heretics all of them, or else so besotted with riches garnered from the Dissolution of the Monasteries that they were prepared to forfeit their souls’ salvation to avoid a restoration of Church lands.
    It was also rumoured, so he spitefully wrote to Philip, that Queen Elizabeth’s morals were inherited from her mother. When she was not plotting the destruction of God’s Church, she was spending every spare moment in the company of one of her courtiers, Lord Robert Dudley, the Master of her Horse. Her preference for him had grown so marked, and her familiarities so blatant, during the weeks since her accession, that he was almost certainly her lover.

CHAPTER TWO
    The Queen was at Windsor during the early spring of 1559, and the old grey Castle was transformed with colour and activity; it became the home of her Court, the meeting place of the most talented, rich and powerful men in the kingdom. The roads carried an endless stream of courtiers from the ports and the City, for the business of Government followed the sovereign from place to place, like the Lords of the Council.
    It was a gay Court as well as an active one. Like the woman who ruled it, it was characterized by vigour and despatch. There was always something happening, someone arriving. It was a life in which each member of her household played a part, from Cecil and her Councillors, who found themselves keeping pace with a mistress who never tired of work, to the humble cooks and pantry boys who provided food for over five hundred people twice a day. Elizabeth rose early, attended a service which was neither the Mass nor the plain form of worship favoured by her more Protestant nobles, breakfasted in public, gave audiences, dealt with her vast correspondence, and then usually went hunting before the light failed.
    She had always been an enthusiastic horsewoman; now, with the best mounts in the country at her disposal, she was able to indulge her passion for hunting. She was a magnificent shot: the hart which fell with an arrow through its breast was usually the Queen’s victim. When she did not hunt she hawked, and there were days when she took a small company of a dozen enthusiasts with her and galloped through the Park at Windsor until the horses were tired out. She was known to be restless; she spent most of her time on her feet or on horseback; when the evenings came or the weather precluded outdoor exercise, Elizabeth danced or organized an impromptu masque with her ladies and gentlemen. She had an appetite for work which was fully equalled by her capacity for enjoying herself. The wits, the poets, the best dancers and musicians were sure of a place in her circle of intimates, and the women who attended her, the Countesses of Warwick, Lindsay, Essex, the Ladies Sidney and Dacre, were as cultured and talented as she was herself. She hated bores and fanatics and a rigid mind annoyed her. A lively tongue, a quick wit, and a handsome appearance were requisites without which no one could hope to attract her attention, and Robert Dudley possessed these qualities in abundance.
    Her initial preference for him was innocent enough. She enjoyed his company and found him a pleasant contrast to the sober men with whom she spent the serious part of her life. He was young and full of enthusiasm, and he could talk about their childhood, resurrecting the few happy memories that she had ever known. He never irritated her, or crossed her will; he agreed with her opinions without appearing to flatter, they shared the same irreverent sense of humour and the same tastes. He danced so well that he was a suitable partner when she wished to display her own talent, and he played efficiently enough to accompany her in duets on the virginals. It was all so casual and so natural that she failed to