Berkhamsted Castle Revisited

England's Berkhamsted Castle is a major setting in She Serves the Realm, the fourth novel in the No Man is Her Master series, Although the castle lies in ruin today it was a formidable fortress in 1311 when King Edward II dispatches Sir Frederick Kohl there to become castellan.

At her first glimpse of the castle, Christina exclaims:

Sweet Jesus, she thought with abrupt self-doubt, what am I to do to defend all of this?

Suddenly, the men who had seemed so numerous before they left Westminster, seemed paltry in comparison to the task of defending such an expanse of walls.

Even in its current state, Berkhamsted Castle is well worth the short excursion from London, which is only a 35 minute trip by train from Euston Station.