This was another wonderful novel to write because I utterly fell in love with Robert Cecil and then with George Villiers.

Robert Cecil
This novel gives an accurate account based on what we know of Robert Cecil who was one of the great players of the court of Elizabeth and whose spying and diplomacy skills were almost second to none. His garden and his buildings were his great pride and joy and some of the descriptions in the book are based on his plans and his accounts.

His affection for John Tradescant is my creation, based on the fact that on the newel post at the heart of his new beautiful house at Hatfield he ordered a carving of his gardener: John Tradescant. I don't think he would have done this extraordinary gesture if he had not felt that Tradescant's contribution to his happiness had been very great.

The account of Robert Cecil's conspiracy and double-dealing around the gunpowder plot is based upon the excellent book by Antonia Fraser which is listed in the book list. He would have had a trusted servant to run errands for him; but we do not know if it was Tradescant.

George Villiers
George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, was a charismatic and powerfully sexual figure. He probably was the lover both of James 1 and his son Charles 1 - certainly he shared a bed with both men, though this is not conclusive evidence of homosexual lovemaking. He had an extraordinary glamorous and successful rise based wholly on his looks and charm. He employed John Tradescant as his gardener but also used him as a trusted and confidential go-between.

The most extraordinary part in this book is the account of Buckingham trying to pawn the crown jewels in Holland. I sometimes read aloud this excerpt at literary festivals as an example of something that sounds like fiction, because it is so extraordinary. In fact, this is based on the historical record. Amazingly, Buckingham did try to pawn the crown jewels, and was also involved in a scandalous love affair with the French Queen, which Alexandre Dumas used as the basis for his historical fictions.

The tragic incompetence of the siege of the Isle du Rhe was as bad as I describe it, and Villiers must have expected to be in terrible trouble when he came home. He did take Tradescant with him, and bring him home again, but whether he turned to him for comfort is not on the record.