The letter carrier
I remember sitting listening to my History teacher telling us that the nobles sent a message to William of Orange to come to come to England and be their king instead of James 11 – just like that! This fool of a sailor set out from King James’s London and sailed across the Channel to the Dutch Republic with a letter, a kind of Post Office service. Then this fool has to make his way back to London with the reply. No mention of the danger of the wind turning Northerly and blowing him on to the French shore where the letter would guarantee he’d get a rope for a necktie and a trap door into the devil’s domain. As the wind shifts in the gusts you can hear hi swear – ‘I should never have let them talk me into this. The Missis can weep as much as she likes I’m not doing this to get her a new coat next year.’
It’s not as if arriving in London was certain. When William set sail it was his intention to reach the North East coast but when he landed it was down South in Devon. Imagine how the nobles felt in the days following the letter carrier’s news that he’d delivered the letter and no news came from the north. Did the letter carrier ‘disappear’?
Remember this is not long after the bloodbath of Monmouth’s failed invasion.
Also remember William was James’s son-in-law and might just as easily have had a chat and pushed off back to the Dutch Republic.
Would the nobles want the letter carrier running around?
The canny John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, waited until William had set foot on English soil before defecting from the King’s service.
So many historical story lines about less than royal people.