Under One Sceptre, or Mortimer's Mission: The Story of the Lord of the Marches

Born on a crisp September day in 1373, two infants entered the world side by side in the town of Usk, yet their lives could not have been more different. One swaddled in velvet, cradled in a castle and given a golden spoon, is destined to inherit the powerful Earldom of the March. The other emerges in a muddy hovel, clutching a rusted iron spoon, cared for only by an older sister and a reluctant parish priest. Their opposite upbringings immediately set the stage for a clash of privilege and poverty, ambition and survival.

The narrative follows these contrasting boys as they grow into men whose paths inevitably cross amid the turbulence of medieval politics and war. Their early experiences shape a fierce drive—one to protect a legacy, the other to escape oppression—that fuels a quest as daring as it is perilous. Listeners will be drawn into a world of castles, battlefields, and the restless yearning for a freedom that may reshape a nation.