From Fitzroy's Private Diary (Extract 139)

It’s sometimes my duty not to think like an English Gentleman. I admit, I may be less inhibited in my philosophy when it comes to the fairer sex, and the arts of the bedchamber, but this isn’t, for once, what I’m referring to.

I believe that, generally, subjects of the British empire who encounter me will find me to be a genial sort of chap. However, I’m the kind of man who can contemplate the foulest things. I think about murder, mayhem, plots, and assassinations. I’m the kind of man who can slit the throat of a guard during a mission, quietly, skilfully, and without emotional response. Yes, that’s part and parcel of my training (and my duty) but only certain people can be trained to behave like this. Those who know me as well as Euphemia (or perhaps not quite as well) know that I try do everything in my power to prevent the taking of a life, human or animal. Perhaps I am slightly more conscious of this when it comes to animals, after all, they are innocent, and what grown man can truly say that of himself? Regardless, I know that I’ve killed people that others will have loved, and I take no pride in that at all.

No, I find I must consider the most vulgar and dastardly plots for reasons beyond how to fulfil my own missions. We are a proud and wealthy empire that others look upon with jealous eyes.

The greatest mistake the intelligence services of the British Empire make are always - always - thinking that enemy will behave like an English gentleman would. This is the very worst of both hubris and stupidity. Others will simply not act like we might in their place for they are not us. They have different backgrounds, cultures, customs, experiences, and above all, motivations. Sometimes their way of thinking may feel quite alien to us, sometimes quite abhorrent.

There are those who become desperate, who are prepared to risk all because they have nothing to lose. There are those who become indoctrinated in fanatical political ideologies. In such circumstances, a man, or a country, may contemplate the most hideous of schemes, even ones that may end in the destruction of many of their own. When an enemy considers their current position untenable, then all bets are off. You must be prepared for them to do the unthinkable, and it’s my job to think those unthinkable thoughts.

If you want to predict someone’s actions (this goes for countries as well as individuals), you must be able to put yourselves in their shoes and think like them. I don’t know whether I should be proud or fearful that I excel in doing this.