Guardian of the Realm

Bound by deep loyalties to the House of Anjou, William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, stands by the despotic King John as he is driven out of his hereditary lands on the continent by Philippe of France and is compelled to yield to the demands of the Barons at Runnymead in 1215. Repudiating Magna Carta, John’s disastrous reign reaches its climax as he loses his Crown and Treasure in the Wash and dies at Newark, leaving his nine year-old son Henry as King. There is only one man who can save the realm from anarchy as the Barons sense their moment has come and invite Prince Louis of France to invade and take the throne.

Ever faithful, William Marshal takes on the burden. As Guardian of the Realm and at the age of seventy-two he charges into Lincoln and hurls the French out of the city in an epic pell-mell battle, driving Louis across the Channel in a war of cut and thrust, securing the throne for Henry III. Guardian of the Realm is the concluding part of the epic series chronicling the story of William Marshal, England's ‘Greatest Knight’.