Court life for a queen of France at that time was, however, stultifyingly routine. Eleanor found that she was expected to be no more than a decorative asset to her husband, the mother of his heirs and the arbiter of good taste and modesty.

Until quite recently women's histories were largely overlooked but in the wake of feminism there has been increasing interest in retrieving them.

They inhabited a lost world of splendour and brutality, a world dominated by religious change, in which there were few saints.

God bless our good and gracious King,Whose promise none relies on;Who never said a foolish thing,Nor ever did a wise one.

The king is a saint and cannot rule, and his son is a devil and should not.

Just remember, what the French say. No, probably not the French, they've got a president or something. The Brits, maybe, or the Swedes. You know what I mean?No, Matthew. What do they say?The king is dead, that's what they say. The king is dead. Long live the king.

A cat may look at a king.

Royalty does good and is badly spoken of.