Dominic Sandbrook

I think this is a gesture of contempt for him, probably by the Almagristas.

And there are kind of archaeologists who go on a- Indiana Jones type, yes, exactly.

Yeah, I mean, it's perfectly possible.

There is not, I think, straight away, but I think in subsequent decades, there starts to be this kind of cult of Atahualpa and a belief that maybe he might come back from the dead.

Pedro Pizarro records a very weird scene.

Basically, two of Atahualpa's sisters got into Pizarro's apartment.

The really interesting thing, though, is the reaction of the Spanish themselves.

Remember I said that they'd sent off Hernando de Soto to look for this northern army?

Soto gets back and he says...

There's no northern army.

I mean, it's been made up.

There's no Inca troops advancing on the town.

And then he discovers they've killed Atahualpa, and he goes absolutely ballistic.

And he says, how could you do this behind my back when I was gone?

I'm meant to be the number two man in this expedition.

You've killed this guy who was our chief hostage and one of our biggest assets.

Now, meanwhile, Pizarro

One of his secretaries writes a report for him to Charles V saying, I have executed a monarch, but I'm just going to explain exactly why I've done it.

And the reaction in Spain was that Pizarro had behaved badly.

Not that Pizarro had done the right thing, but that Pizarro had let Spain down.