Had not a second check of the vaults of the palace of Westminster found Guy Fawkes ready to ignite a colossal quantity of gunpowder, the King, the Lords and the Commons would all have been blown sky high in an instant.
The subsequent chaos in England can only be imagined and how defenceless it would have been – 1066 all over again a mere 17 years since the destruction of the Spanish Armada! For the Spaniards, surely still thirsting for revenge, an invasion from their Netherlands possessions (Belgium) would have been easy – if the French had not got there first. In moments the hard-won liberties of the English people would have been swept away and a savage inquisition imposed.
