Henry VIII could barely control his anger. How dare those wretched Scots refuse his offer to marry off his own dear son, Edward, to their Princess Mary? Where do they think they will get a better offer. No doubt it is her mother, Marie de Guise, who is behind their refusal. A French woman at the head of the Scottish Court! This calls for a firm hand. “Send the army north and let them wreak havoc.”

But it was a chastened English army that returned to Berwick in 1549. Over a thousand of their number would never return. Eighteen months they had endured behind fortress walls. They had found they were fighting not only the Scots but the French army in their thousands as well. Nor had they achieved their objective of capturing Mary. Instead she was safely landed in France, poised to marry the Dauphin.