For the loss of Henry VIII's favor, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, Isabelle Walton was all she could do. Although the Earl of Surrey and his father, Duke III of Norfolk, belonged to the Norfolk family, which lasted until 1983 as the 17th Duke of Norfolk, the Norfolk family had lost power and status in the court in the last years of Henry VIII's life.

At the same time, the "newcomers" in the court of the Earl of Surrey were gradually occupying important positions in the court. For example, John Dudley, Viscount of Lyle, was the eldest son of Edmund Dudley, Chancellor of the Exchequer of Henry VII. When his father was executed by Henry VIII, 7-year-old John grew up in the family of his guardian, Sir Edward Guildford, and married his guardian's daughter.

From 1537 to 1547 he held the position of commander in the royal fleet, rising from vice admiral to admiral. During his time as an admiral, he developed the standards for the organization of the new royal fleet. Under the authority of Henry VIII, he was responsible for the establishment of the Commission for Maritime Undertakings, which, for the first time, coordinated the various tasks of maintaining naval functions, thus making British naval management the most effective governing body in Europe. The tactical idea was that squadrons of ships were formed in size and firepower, using coordinated artillery fire. When he became an innovative fleet commander, he developed a keen interest in overseas adventures.

In 1545, when he led the royal fleet against the invasion of France, he hosted a banquet for Henry VIII on his flagship "Henry" (Henri Grace Adiou). After successfully repelling the invading French army, he traveled to France in 1546 on behalf of Henry VIII to negotiate peace with the King of France. Later, Viscount Lyle was honored as a general by Henry VIII and was widely praised in the court. After becoming the king's good friend, he often played card games with the terminally ill king.

In this way, Viscount Lyle, who was favored by Henry VIII in his later years, was favored by the Earl of Essex, the younger brother of Queen Catherine Parr. William Parr, Earl of Essex, grew closer to Viscount Lyle, and strongly supported some of Viscount Lyle's decisions in thought and deed.

Viscount Lyle, who has great political ambitions, is not willing to get the influence and status. When Henry VIII died in January 1547, a member of the Regency Council began a series of conspiracies to force the king's guardian, the Duke of Somerset I, to step down and take control of the court himself. And his close friend, the Earl of Essex, of course, supported his plot and tried to put the Lord of Jane Grey, who had become the daughter-in-law of Viscount Lyle, on the throne of England.

The end of supporting a conspiracy to rebel is usually deplorable. When Henry VIII's daughter Mary Tudor succeeded to the throne, John Dudley, who had already been made Duke of Northumberland, and William Parr, Marquess I of Northampton, were immediately arrested and sentenced to death for treason.

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In March 1545, William Parr, Earl of Essex, a close friend of Admiral Viscount Lyle, was troubled by his marriage. William's first wife, Baroness Boucher VII Anne Boucher (her father died unexpectedly and could not inherit her father's earldom. As an only child, she could only inherit her father's baronial title) when she was 10 years old, her father asked her to marry William. It can be said that William and his wife Anne are an aristocratic couple who do not love each other at all.

Not only did the baroness not love her husband, but she developed an affection for an abbess named John Linfield before she was officially married to her husband-to-be, and bore him an illegitimate child, an illegitimate child. Soon after William and the baroness were married, they discovered that they had a lover and an illegitimate child. Motivated by the need to protect his wife's illegitimate son from inheriting his property in the future, William filed an Act of Parliament with Parliament requesting a divorce from Anne on the grounds that his wife had committed adultery.

Although Henry VIII had been divorced several times, divorce was not possible for his married subjects. However, William's wife was found to have committed adultery, and he, as the legal husband, could divorce his wife. While the act declared Anne's child illegitimate at the same time that Kingdom law forbade William from remarrying.

In other words, William Parr could not divorce his first wife. Even if his wife committed adultery with someone else, he could not remarry. Under the influence of such a terrible fact, Elizabeth Brooke, the unmarried maid of his sister Queen Catherine, came into William's sight.

Elizabeth Brooke, born on June 25, 1526, is 19 years old. At the age of 14, she entered the court as the eldest daughter of Baron IX of Cobham of Kent and served as an unmarried lady-in-waiting to Queen Catherine Howard (cousin of the Earl of Surrey). Soon, she was described by everyone in the court as lively, kind, and one of the most beautiful women in the court.

However, William still has Isabel in his heart in his mind, and he hopes that he can have a real relationship with Isabel before he falls in love with his sister's unmarried maid, although he cannot divorce his first wife at this time. After learning that Isabel had arrived in the City of London with the Duke of Richmond, William planned to have an interview with Isabel.

On the morning of the day after the Earl of Surrey and his wife visited the Duke of Richmond, the Duke of Richmond received a directive from the court: "His Majesty has asked him to enter the palace to accompany His Majesty the King and His Majesty the Queen." ”

The Duke of Richmond, dressed in a duke's gown, said a few words to Isabel and headed out of Whitehall with a large number of duke's guards. Not long after, the valet of the Durham residence informed Isabelle, "Madam, Lord Essex has come to visit you. ”

As the gate to the Durham residence is on the banks of the River Thames, all visitors can only access the house by boat. When William took the ferry to the door of the house, he saw that Isabel Walton, who he had missed for a long time, was already standing inside the door of the house to greet him.

William, dressed in the earl's garb, walked calmly into the door of Durham's residence after the manservant had stopped the ferry. Standing two or three steps away from Isabel, they gazed affectionately at each other. After the two exchanged salutes, William slowly walked up to Isabelle, who was dressed as a baron's daughter, looked at each other, and said softly, "Isabel, I am grateful to God for allowing me to see you again. ”

Isabel smiled reservedly, "Your Excellency, has life in the court made you forget a lot of things?" ”