[00:05.807]With the ruthless Despenser at his side,
[00:08.279]Edward had found a way to eradicate all opposition
[00:11.135]by turning his rule into a grasping and paranoid tyranny.
[00:16.183]Isabella had done everything she could to be the perfect queen,
[00:19.317]but now, to her horror,
[00:21.009]she found that she too would be a victim of the new regime.
[00:28.763]And it was Isabella's French heritage which left her acutely vulnerable.
[00:33.978]In the summer of 1324 a crisis erupted between England and France.
[00:42.900]England still held Gascony in the south of the country
[00:45.980]but Isabella's brother, the French King, was threatening to take it.
[00:50.226]It seemed war with France was imminent.
[00:56.100]Edward would order
[00:56.876]that all French men and women living in England should be arrested as enemy aliens.
[01:03.469]And his favourite, Despenser, seized on the opportunity
[01:06.937]to take Isabella's possessions,
[01:08.593]intern her French servants
[01:11.155]and separate her from her children.