With the new year, the Duke remembered another prophecy.

In 1820, a fortune-teller had told him, two members of the Royal Family would die.

Who would they be?
He speculated on the various possibilities: The King, it was plain, could not live much longer; and the Duchess of York had been attacked by a mortal disease.
Probably it would be the King and the Duchess of York; or perhaps the King and the Duke of York; or the King and the Regent.

He himself was one of the healthiest men in England.

"My brothers," he declared, "are not so strong as I am; I have lived a regular life.