Acknowledgements

My hearty thanks to Blair Worden, my tutor at Oxford many moons ago, when this era was my special subject. We met again for lunch at the beginning of this labour, and I’m grateful for his unnecessary kindness, his unparalleled knowledge – and his wise disdain for historical fiction. To Jack D. Jones for his detailed information about Charles’ stay at Carisbrooke; to John Fox for his ground-breaking research into the life of Jane Whorwood; to Karl French, my excellent editor; to Simon Jenkins, Paul Carter, Shellie Wright and Elizabeth Spradbery, who kindly read and commented on various sections of the manuscript; and to Alison Barr at Marylebone House for her entrepreneurial sense that here was a very good story that really should be published. I hope, in time, you agree with her.