A saga of England?s first Empire ? not in America, Africa or India, but in the lands of her nearest neighbour, France. After Henry V?s victory at Agincourt, England?s fifteen-year occupation of Paris began. It was an object lesson in Empire building ? empire losing. England?s burning of Joan of Arc lost them their first overseas empire. Henry?s untimely death left the succession open. Into it stepped Henry?s widow, Queen Catherine of Valois, and her Welsh squire, Owen Tudor, bearer of the dragon of Wales. Out of his secret union came one of the most moving love stories in European history. The lovers, beset by murder, treason and betrayal on all sides, finally ushered in the Welsh line of kings, the Tudors, but at a terrible cost to themselves. The long reign of the dragon culminated in the glorious rule of the last of the family, the Welsh speaking Queen Elizabeth Tudor, patron of Shakespeare, hammer of the Spanish. The Dragon had traveled a long way.