‘Who was Isabella’s target?’ Harry asks. ‘Her older sister, Philip’s first child,’ Alys says. ‘The favourite. Betrothed to the Holy Roman Emperor, but in love, they say, with a Scottish lord. He was also at the Tour de Nesle that fateful night. The scandal was enough for His Imperial Majesty to break off the betrothal. Philip was furious. He did everything but disinherit her. Within the letter of the law, she was still legally a princess of France, but in spirit? She was cut off. Financially. Socially. She had been as headstrong and wilful as her father, and he ruined her for it.’
