In 1554, Mary I locked her half-sister Elizabeth up in the Tower along with Edward Courtenay, who had fallen from Mary’s graces. A three-year-old boy, son of an employee, had the run of the Tower and carried flowers and messages between Edward and Elizabeth, but Mary’s minders were unable to get the boy to reveal what passed between them.

Growing angry, Mary’s Lord Chamberlain had the Lieutenant of the Tower summon the boy’s father and demand that he no longer play go-between for Elizabeth and Edward. The boy, however, managed to warn Elizabeth of what was afoot, which prompted the Lord Chamberlain, brushing aside the protests of the agonised father, to insist on the boy’s permanent banishment from home.

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