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