The King's Assassin by Benjamin Woolley

Author:Benjamin Woolley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pan Macmillan UK

Hobgoblins

Life for the Spanish embassy staff was miserable. As well as having to endure mockery and even physical attacks, their mission had stalled. Serious negotiations over the match had all but ceased, access to James had become limited, and well-paid informants and supporters, scared off by the growing mood of hostility, had begun to slope away.

Yet, despite the setbacks and provocations, they had not only refused to break off relations, but had increased their diplomatic activity.

For what the British had not realized was that Spain was terrified of war. Philip’s treasury was in an even more parlous state than James’s. Expert as well as popular opinion imagined that the royal coffers were bursting with bullion, annually replenished by an inexhaustible stream of silver coming from the New World. But working depleted mines, administering unruly colonies and protecting the fabled flota, or treasure fleet, was proving to be increasingly costly, while inflation was eating away at the value of the bounty. As a result, the annual amount delivered from South America to Cádiz had more than halved in value since the beginning of the century to below 1 million ducats, and was continuing to fall. Meanwhile, the annual cost of maintaining the opulence that had so impressed George and Charles in Madrid had risen to as much as 9 million ducats.

So, the embassy staff were under strict orders to keep the talks with James going. In the game of diplomatic chess, they needed to secure not checkmate so much as stalemate. And to do that it became clear that they needed to remove one particular piece from the board: the White Duke, George Villiers.

Their first attempt had come soon after Parliament had been summoned in the spring of 1624. Despite efforts by Charles and George to limit the Spaniards’ access to the king, they managed to slip him a note. It requested a private audience with the latest member of the embassy staff, François de Carondelet. Known to the English as Don Francesco, Carondelet was Archdeacon of Cambrai, a well-known outpost of English Catholic agitation. A man of great charm as well as guile, he had been brought in by the Spanish as a special envoy specifically to turn James against the favourite.

Don Francesco was invited to Theobalds while Charles and George were distracted by the parliamentary negotiations in London. The envoy arrived late in the evening on the appointed day, but James, fearful of staff loyal to the prince and duke getting wind of the meeting, would not receive him, and he was told to spend the night in the guest quarters.

A Catholic servant woke Francesco at dawn the following day, before the rest of the staff had risen, and escorted him via the back passages of the mansion to James’s apartment. There he was received by the king’s ever-loyal Scottish servant Thomas Erskine, who showed him into the royal bedchamber, then took up position outside the door to prevent eavesdropping.

Given the risk both were running in meeting in secret,

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