Princes and Princesses: Favourite Royal Romances Read online

  There were usually not many of these.

  At the same time there were bills and demands for charity, which Angelina either paid or answered if they were urgent without waiting for Miss Musgrove.

  She was an elderly secretary her grandmother had employed for years, who came in on Fridays to pay the household wages and do all the other clerical jobs that seemed to accumulate unless they were attended to regularly.

  At last Ruston came into the dining room carrying a tray on which reposed a silver coffee pot, a silver cream jug and a covered dish, which contained a poached egg and two slices of bacon that Angelina was expected to eat for breakfast.

  There was also a toast rack with four slices of toast and it took him a long time setting everything down on the table.

  This had already been laid with a silver tray, a cup and saucer, plates, a pat of golden butter, a fresh comb of honey and a glass jar containing marmalade.

  Everything was in its place as it had been for years and would continue to be in the years ahead, Angelina thought.

  She wondered, in fact, how many years she would have to wait before the Prince paid another visit to England?

  Would he come for the Wedding of one of the Princesses? Or perhaps for the funeral of the new King?

  She felt almost ashamed of thinking that the King might die and yet he had not come to the throne until he was sixty-five and there was no reason to anticipate, considering the way he indulged himself, that he would live as long as his mother, Queen Victoria, had done.

  She should not want to see the Prince in such sad circumstances, Angelina chided herself.

  Then she thought that whatever the circumstances, she would want to see him, but she might still have to wait years and years to do so.

  It was a depressing thought and Angelina remembered that she herself had suggested that they should live in the present and try to ignore the future.

  ‘It is the only thing we can do,’ she thought, knowing that otherwise they would tear themselves to pieces emotionally when they had to say ‘goodbye’.

  Already at the thought, deep within herself, a voice was crying,

  ‘How can I bear it? How can I bear it?’ but she would not listen.

  She ate what she could of the breakfast just to please Ruston.

  Then she ran up the stairs followed by Twi-Twi, who had been sitting under the table while she ate, to her grandmother’s room.

  “You are very early, dearest,” Lady Medwin said. “And how pretty you look this morning!”

  “Thank you, Grandmama. Did you have a good night?”

  “A very good night as it happens,” Lady Medwin answered. “It must have been because I had a rest yesterday afternoon. Dear Sir William always knows what is best for me and I must try to do the same today.”

  “Yes, of course, Grandmama,” Angelina agreed. “And if I look pretty, so do you!”

  Lady Medwin smiled.

  She never slept very late in the morning and already she had on a bed jacket of pink satin trimmed with frills of lace and she wore one of her becoming little caps, this one threaded with coral pink ribbons that was quite coquettish.

  “Only two boring letters this morning,” Lady Medwin said, looking at them where they lay on her bed, “so tell me if there is any excitement in the newspapers. Then you must take Twi-Twi into the garden.”

  With an effort Angelina found the few headlines that interested her grandmother and then because she could bear it no longer she said,

  “I really think Twi-Twi should go out, Grandmama.”

  “Then take him,” Lady Medwin said, “and, when you come back, I want you to see if there is a description of the ball at Devonshire House last night. It sounded as if it was going to be very impressive and I expect our young neighbour, Prince Xenos, was there.”

  Angelina could not remember anything she had read to her grandmother yesterday morning and, because the mere sound of the Prince’s name brought the blood rushing to her cheeks, she said a little incoherently,

  “Why – should you think the – Prince was there – Grandmama?”

  “Because the ball was obviously given for all the Royalty who had arrived for the Coronation,’ Lady Medwin said, a note of reproof in her voice, as if she thought that Angelina was being rather stupid.

  “Yes – yes – of course.”

  “Anyway, we will find his name amongst the list of guests when you come back,” Lady Medwin said. “I feel that I have been rather remiss in not calling at the Ministry next door, but it is only one of the many things I have been unable to do since I have been ill.”

  “You will soon be well, Grandmama,” Angelina said optimistically, “and the first thing we will do will be to call at the Cephalonian Ministry.”

  She reached the door as she spoke and turned back to say,

  “As it is so near, we shall not need the carriage to carry us there.”

  “Not need the carriage?” Lady Medwin exclaimed. “I never heard of such a thing! Of course we will call properly. The Minister would think it very strange if we arrived on foot.”

  Angelina did not reply, but she was smiling as she went downstairs at such a speed that Twi-Twi could hardly keep up with her.

  It was so like her grandmother, she thought, to do everything in the conventional and prescribed manner.

  Then she wondered what Lady Medwin would say if she knew how unconventional her granddaughter had been in dining alone with a man last night and the Prince at that and was hurrying now to meet him in the garden.

  ‘Please God,’ she prayed, ‘let Grandmama never find out.’

  She had left her hat in the hall when she came down to breakfast and now she put it on her head, having a quick glance at herself in the gilt-framed mirror that stood above the table on which there was a silver salver waiting to hold the cards of those who called.

  There were only a few cards there now, which were looking rather dilapidated because they had been there for so long.

  Almost for the first time as she looked at it, Angelina did not regret that her grandmother was ill and therefore, as they could make no calls in return, very few people called on them.

  It seemed unkind, but if Lady Medwin had been well, she would never have met the Prince as she did and certainly not have been able to be with him last night.

  It had all been so marvellous and so unlike anything that she had ever imagined would happen to her and certainly something that should not have happened.

  But that was what made it such an adventure and that, Angelina thought, was perhaps why she must pay for such enchantment with a broken heart.

  Ruston handed her the key of the garden, asking her, as usual, if she was going out.

  Then she was speeding across the road to let herself in through the gate.

  She had not expected the Prince to be there so early, but even so, her heart sank because the garden was empty.

  She walked slowly across the lawn, willing him to come and join her, willing him to be aware that she was waiting for him and wanting him.

  Twi-Twi was frisking around as he usually did first thing in the morning and Angelina sat down on the wooden seat under the trees in the centre of the garden and waited.

  ‘If I close my eyes,’ she told herself, ‘and then open them quickly, I shall see him coming towards me.’

  She felt the excitement rise within her at the thought and it seemed like the little flame of last night that rose in her throat rose now into her lips.

  She knew it was part of the divine power of love that she had read about, but never thought to experience.

  She had not really understood what the words meant until last night, when the sensation had been there and the ecstasy and rapture she had found when the Prince kissed her.

  ‘I love you! I love you!’ she said in her heart and then opened her eyes, feeling that he must be coming towards her.

  But there was only the sunshine and Twi-Twi.

  Otherwise the garden w
as empty –

  Chapter Five

  It was childish to be so disappointed, Angelina told herself, but all through the morning there was a heavy stone in her breast, which would not move away.

  When she went back later into the garden with Twi-Twi, she knew that the Prince had said he had meetings all day and so it would be impossible for him to join her.

  Equally nothing could prevent her eyes from turning in the direction of the gate, just in case he should come walking in.

  At luncheon she ate alone as usual and then, after her grandmother had settled herself for her long rest, Angelina once again went rather forlornly into the garden.

  It seemed strange that today the sunshine was not so golden and she did not want to play with Twi-Twi or do anything but sit on the seat and think about last night.

  She deliberately recaptured the magic of the Prince’s kiss and the emotions he had evoked in her, which made her feel that they were no longer human, but Gods.

  And yet as she did so, she had the terrifying feeling that even the memory of what she had then experienced was slipping away into the past. In time it would grow dim and like a faded photograph would arouse no sensation but that of wistful nostalgia.

  Yet, as she thought it through, she knew that her imagination was once again running riot and that she could not control it.

  She wanted the Prince so acutely and she longed for him with an urgency that in its very violence seemed to leave her weak and limp.

  She found herself calculating how many hours and minutes there were not only before this evening when she would see him again but before he left England.

  She knew however much he might wish to stay on at the Ministry, it would cause comment for him to do so when there were difficulties in his own country and doubtless a thousand decisions awaiting his return.

  She was well aware, because it had been reported in the newspapers, that most of the other Kings and Queens who were attending the Coronation would leave immediately it was over.

  There was nothing, she told herself with a little wry smile, more boring than a guest who would not depart.

  So the Prince would return to his own country and there would only be the flag outside the Cephalonian Ministry to remind her of him.

  “I love him! I love him!” she cried.

  As she left the garden, she looked up the street at the impressive front door and the six white steps down which the Prince would walk when he left the Ministry.

  She wondered if he was thinking of her and felt somehow that their thoughts of each other met between the two houses.

  “I love you!” she whispered again, thinking that perhaps the soft breeze that had just stirred the flag might carry her words to him in the Council Chamber or wherever he was sitting.

  Her grandmother was waiting for her, looking refreshed, having slept the prescribed two hours.

  “And today,” she told Angelina proudly, “without taking Sir William’s soothing draught.”

  “You look very pretty, Grandmama!” Angelina said, picking up The Times and turning to the social column.

  She had just found the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire’s name above the long list of distinguished guests, when there was a knock on the door and old Ruston entered the room.

  He was breathless from the stairs, but he managed to announce,

  “Lady Hewlett, my Lady!”

  Angelina rose to her feet.

  Lady Hewlett was a very old friend of her grandmother’s and Lady Medwin was always talking about her.

  She too had been very good-looking in her youth, but now tried to recapture the years she had lost by dyeing her hair and wearing a very obvious amount of powder and rouge.

  This would have been considered outrageous and very fast in anyone younger or less distinguished, but Lord Hewlett had been the British Ambassador in some of the important Capitals of Europe and Lady Hewlett was a law unto herself.

  “Lily, dearest,” she said now, to Lady Medwin, holding out both her hands and rustling towards her, exuding the fragrance of expensive French perfume.

  “Daisy, what a surprise!” Lady Medwin exclaimed. “I saw in the newspapers that you were in England, but did not expect you to have time to call and see me, until after the Coronation.”

  “I found I had a few hours to spare this afternoon, so I have been calling on my old friends,” Lady Hewlett explained, “but why are you in bed?”

  “I have not been well for some months,” Lady Medwin replied, “and it has been very tiresome of me to be ill this summer of all summers when I should have been presenting Angelina and taking her to all the fashionable balls.”

  “I heard that Angelina had not yet made her curtsey at Buckingham Palace,” Lady Hewlett said, “but why did you not let me know, Lily? I would have presented her myself.”

  Lady Medwin made a sound that was curiously like a groan.

  “Why did I not think of that?” she exclaimed. “But quite frankly, Daisy, I did not expect you to be in England.”

  “I have no intention of missing the Coronation,” Lady Hewlett said, “and neither has Arthur, and of course, we have a special place in the Abbey where we shall see everything beautifully!”

  “How I envy you,” Lady Medwin sighed.

  Lady Hewlett seated herself in the chair near the bed and looked at Angelina who picked up the newspapers and was preparing to leave the room.

  Her shrewd eyes missed nothing, and after a moment she said,

  “You have grown very pretty, Angelina. Very pretty indeed! You must come and stay with me in Paris and I know that all the glamorous young Frenchmen will go into ecstasies over you.”

  “It is – very kind of you to think of it,” Angelina replied.

  She was sure in her own mind, that Lady Hewlett would forget the invitation once she had left England.

  “That reminds me,” Lady Hewlett said, “I am giving a party I had intended, Lily, to invite both you and Angelina to, but if you cannot come, you must allow your granddaughter to come alone. I will look after her.”

  Angelina drew in her breath.

  If Lady Hewlett’s party was for tonight, she could not go.

  But, she thought frantically, how could she say so? How could she possibly explain that she had another engagement?

  She held her breath in sheer terror as Lady Hewlett went on,

  “It is only a small party, about thirty people to dinner and about the same number coming in afterwards, but I thought it would be amusing to have a band so that we could dance.”

  She gave Lady Medwin what was almost a coy look as she added,

  “I thought until I went to Paris that my dancing days were over, but the French persuaded me otherwise.”

  “Your party sounds delightful!” Lady Medwin said, “But I know that my doctors would not hear of my attempting anything so strenuous.”

  “Then your pretty Angelina must come without you,” Lady Hewlett answered. “I will send the carriage for her and a maid to accompany her, if you do not like her to drive alone.”

  “You are very kind!” Lady Medwin smiled, “and Angelina has some very charming gowns, so you will not be ashamed of her appearance.”

  “She will be the belle of the evening!” Lady Hewlett said, “and I must think where else I can take her while I am in London.”

  “Daisy, you are kindness itself!” Lady Medwin enthused. “I have always told you, Angelina, have I not, that there is no one with such a warm heart as my girlhood friend, Daisy Hewlett!”

  It was with difficulty that Angelina found her voice, realising that both the ladies were expecting her to speak.

  “It is – very – very kind of you,” she said, but the words did not sound like her own.

  Then hardly above a whisper she managed to ask,

  “When is – your party?”

  “What night would you expect it to be?” Lady Hewlett said. “Tomorrow, of course!”

  Angelina felt a wave of relief sweep over her a
nd she hardly heard Lady Hewlett’s voice as she continued,

  “You may think it strange, Lily, that we will not be at Buckingham Palace, but I expect you have already learned that, as the King has been so ill, the invitations to the banquet that should have taken place in June, have been considerably reduced.”

  “No, I had not heard that,” Lady Medwin replied.

  “The King and Queen will now entertain only their relations and Heaven knows, there are enough of those! And of course, other Royalty.”

  “I think they are wise,” Lady Medwin said. “I should have thought after all those exhausting hours in the Abbey, it would have been sensible for the King to rest.”

  “He will have an hour or so to lie down between the Ceremony and the banquet,” Lady Hewlett said, “but I agree with you, it is madness to overtax his strength after all he has been through.”

  “Yes, indeed,” Lady Medwin agreed.

  “In France they did not think he had a chance of survival,” Lady Hewlett went on, “but as I said at the time, and my words have been proven true, no country in the world has better surgeons than we have in England.”

  Angelina could not wait to hear any more.

  She left her grandmother’s room knowing that the two old ladies would want to gossip to each other and went up to her own bedroom.

  There she sat down on the bed, feeling as if her legs could no longer carry her.

  The most terrifying moments she had ever experienced had been when she thought that she might have had to let the Prince know that she could not see him tonight.

  A week ago she would have been wild with excitement at the thought of going to a party at Lady Hewlett’s.

  The Ambassadress had always been kind to her when she had first come to live with her grandmother, but she had been abroad for the last nine months.

  Angelina knew that her parties were always filled with intelligent and distinguished people and she, being so young, was extremely lucky to be included in one of them.

  But, if in fact it had been for tonight, she knew that she would have hated every minute, when she was prevented from being with the Prince.

  Tomorrow was different. Tomorrow, he would be at Buckingham Palace and she could go to Lady Hewlett’s without feeling that there might have been a chance of being with him.