In 1037, however, when Harold Harefoot became sole king, she was banished; she went to Flanders, returning to England with Hardicanute in 1040.
He was then chaplain to Canute and afterwards to his son, Harold Harefoot, and after the death of the former king appears to have acted as the chief adviser of his widow, Emma.
On the death of Canute in 1035 he joined with Queen Emma in supporting the claim of Hardicanute, the son of Canute and Emma, to the crown of his father, in opposition to Leofric and the northern party who supported Harold Harefoot (see Hardicanute).