The Queen's Cipher by David Taylor Page B

over.
    Hesitantly at first but with increasing assurance he converted numbers into letters: 19(B) 40 (Y) 25 (H) 22 (E) 34 (R).
    “That’s amazing,” he whooped, startling the pensioners in the next banquette. “Standen is saying Essex was cheerfully welcomed ‘by her’ – the Queen. You’ve cracked it!”
    But he had spoken too soon. The cipher was full of complexities. It took several hours and three cups of tea to complete the task. The light was fading outside before she was ready to show him what she had printed in her notebook. “These numerical cipher keys are a thing of beauty,” she said.
     
    THE QUEEN’S CIPHER
     
11: A
12: E
13: I
14: O
15: U
18: A
19: B
20: C
21: D
22: E
23: F
24: G
25: H
26: I/J
27: K
28: L
29: M
30: N
31: O
32: P
33: Q
34: R
35: S
36: T
37: U/V
38: W
39: X
40: Y
41: Z
44: ST
45: TH
46: SH
48: AND
49: ALL
50: BUT
52: FOR
58: HIS
62: OUR
64: THAT
65: THE
66: THAT
67: WITH
68: YOU
69: YOUR
     
    The cipher key offered two sets of numbers for the five vowels, separate numbers for short words and syllables, plus a hieroglyphic 9 to signify repetition of the previous letter.
    “How did you work this out?” he asked.
    “Oh, I used frequency analysis – which letters appear most often in the English language and how that might relate to the frequency with which certain numbers appear in the cipher text – and when that didn’t work, I simply had a guess. It’s mostly trial and error.”
    “You’ve given the cipher a name I see.”
    “Sure, I’ve called it the Queen’s Cipher because some of the encrypted stuff is about Elizabeth. Standen is describing how the Queen’s welcome for Essex was overseen by two courtiers called Greville and Williams who were skulking around in the palace corridors. Not that I know anything about them.”
    Freddie had studied Tudor history at school. “I can help you with that,” he said eagerly. “Sir Fulke Greville was a kinsman of the Earl of Essex, a typical Elizabethan courtier, while Sir Roger Williams was a rather boastful Welsh warrior for whom the Queen had a soft spot.”
    Sam gave him a knowing smile. “I guess you want to know what they saw that was of such a nature that it needed to be encrypted.”
    “Yes please,” he said.
    She picked up the photocopy of the spy’s report and read off the numbers for Freddie to jot down and turn into numbers.
     
    44113021223435194035183822183211403412142319153591235
    STANDERS/BY/SAWE/A/PAYRE/OF/BUSSES
     
    Greville and Williams had witnessed ‘a pair of busses changed in such a sweet and amorous manner as it was a content to behold’ and the queen had scolded them for behaving like peeping toms.
    “I don’t see why a couple of kisses should matter that much,” Sam sounded disappointed.
    “Because they’re not ordinary kisses,” Freddie replied. “A ‘buss’ is pretty full on.”
    The literature of the period contained many references to the ‘lewd practice’ of bussing. Robert Herrick had drawn a sharp distinction between it and a normal caress. ‘Kissing and bussing differ both in this, we buss our wantons, but our wives we kiss.’
    Sam wrinkled up her nose. The image of a young earl with his tongue down an old queen’s throat was less than appealing. “Elizabeth was a bit old for French kissing. She must have been sixty if she was a day.”
    “Honour is due, Sam. You were right to call Elizabeth a ‘cock-teaser’ in your Verona lecture.”
    He thought about the prissy historians for whom Elizabeth was Essex’s ‘indulgent aunt’ and wanted to laugh. Here was proof of what they’d talked about in Verona. A little piece of history had suddenly floated to the surface. It made Freddie want to do some bussing of his own.
    Unaware of the effect she was having on him, Sam began to scowl. “We can’t be sure Standen was telling the truth. He was a spy so deception came naturally to him.”
    “Why lie in cipher? It doesn’t make sense.”
    “I suppose you’re right,” she