"People," she said, "are very uneasy about Popery.

I believe that many of the army will do the same." [523] And now the King, greatly disturbed, called together the principal officers who were still in London.

Churchill, who was about this time promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General, made his appearance with that bland serenity which neither peril nor infamy could ever disturb.
The meeting was attended by Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Grafton, whose audacity and activity made him conspicuous among the natural children of Charles the Second.

Grafton was colonel of the first regiment of Foot Guards.

He seems to have been at this time completely under Churchill's influence, and was prepared to desert the royal standard as soon as the favourable moment should arrive.