In 1700 the people of England were recovering from one of the most unsettled periods in their history. The Civil War of the 1640s had resulted in the beheading of King Charles I and an eleven-year period of republican rule, first under Oliver Cromwell and, later, his son Richard. The monarchy had been restored when Charles II ascended the throne in 1660, but in 1688 his Catholic successor, James II, had been deposed by anti-Catholic activists in the “Glorious Revolution”, and the throne taken by the Protestant William of Orange and his wife, King James’s daughter, Mary.
When this story opens, King William was a widower, Queen Mary having died in 1694. There was still great hostility between Catholics and Protestants and society was racked by corruption and distrust. No one, however wealthy or influential, was safe in a world where intrigue was a way of life. And nowhere was this more evident than in London. By far the largest city in England, it was so crowded and unregulated that anyone, should they so desire, could slip away, disappear down a back street and become someone else.