In the summer, during the Council debate over the appointment of the next military commander for Ireland, Essex turned his back on the Queen, and she lost her temper, striking him across the head. He laid his hand on the hilt of his sword, but was held back by the Lord Admiral. Before leaving the chamber Essex (again, according to Camden) said, ""he neither could nor would put up so great an affront and indignity, neither would he have taken it at King Henry the Eighth his hands"". Tradition has it that he also called the Queen, ""as crooked in her disposition as in her carcass"".