The Queen Wins Read online

  “So you enjoyed being a student?” asked Tarena.

  “Very much. I became friends with a young man who was younger than me, but who happened to be in the same College and we shared a set of rooms. His name was Ivan and he came from the Balkans.”

  Tarena was listening to him intently and she did not interrupt.

  “Ivan’s surname was Sazon,” her uncle continued. “Although a foreigner, he was soon accepted at Oxford for his athletic abilities. As he spoke excellent English, people soon forgot that he was of a different nationality.”

  Tarena wondered why her uncle was telling her all this, but she did not make any comment.

  He went on,

  “After I had received my degree and was ordained, I was asked to stay and help in the Cathedral. My father thought it was an excellent idea. He was well aware that, once I took over a Parish Church on the estate, I would have very little time for anything else. ‘Enjoy yourself, my boy,’ he used to say when I first went up to Oxford. ‘If you don’t play cricket well or row in the Boat Race, I will be most annoyed with you’! ”

  He gave a little laugh.

  “Ivan and I were almost partners. He was very good at cricket, became Captain of the College team and then played for the University.”

  “And you did too, Uncle Richard?” “I could not let Ivan beat me and I was exceedingly proud that we both managed to be in the University cricket team and we beat Cambridge by five wickets!”

  Tarena had heard all this before and she noticed a little elation in her uncle’s voice.

  “Then, when I was ordained, I was offered a small house to live in.”

  Tarena knew all this too, but she did not say so.

  “Because I had a house, your mother, who was then eighteen and finding it rather boring in Northumberland, came to live with me. She was, of course, a huge success with all the undergraduates because she was so beautiful and so talented. She sang at their Concerts and danced better than any girl they had ever met.”

  He paused for a moment as if he was looking back into the past.

  “Naturally, as Ivan was my very best friend, he was regularly a guest in my house, and not unnaturally he fell deeply in love with my sister, Elizabeth, and she fell head over heels in love with him.”

  He sighed before he added in a moving way,

  “I have never known two people to be so incredibly happy together.”

  “So then you married them,” Tarena came in as if she was anticipating the end of the story.

  “Yes, I married them and although Ivan was too old to be a student, he managed to stay on by offering to coach the cricket team.”

  “But they lived with you – ” “As I was out and about so much, I did not interfere with them. Your mother, young though she was, ran the house brilliantly with the help of only two servants and we entertained a great deal. At the same time I realised that they were happiest when they could be alone together.”

  He was now speaking very slowly.

  Tarena felt that he was looking back into the past and seeing it all happening again in his mind.

  Equally she was becoming anxious for him to tell her something she did not already know, as he had always been so evasive when she had asked him more penetrating questions.

  “It was after they had been married for nearly two years,” her uncle went on, “that you were born. I have never seen two people more thrilled with their baby.”

  “I am glad they liked me,” Tarena remarked softly.

  “They really adored you, Tarena. You were such a beautiful baby that Ivan always said that you were an angel come down from Heaven and he was especially blessed by having you.”

  “Do tell me more,” she begged. “I have never been able to discover very much about my father.”

  “That is just what I am about to do, Tarena, but it’s not that easy.”

  Tarena stopped herself from asking him why.

  After a moment or two he continued,

  “You were only four years of age when what was a sublime dream of happiness between two delightful young people became a disaster.”

  “Disaster? What happened, Uncle Richard?”

  “I had learnt secretly and he begged me not to tell anyone, that Ivan was in fact not just Ivan Sazon, as he had told everyone, but His Royal Highness the Prince Ivan of Karlova in the Balkans.”

  “His Royal Highness! You mean his father was a King!” exclaimed Tarena.

  “Exactly. But his father was comparatively young and was therefore expected to reign for many more years. It was only when the Prime Minister of Karlova contacted Ivan did he realise that the situation was far more serious.”

  “What happened? Do tell me.” “We had known for some time that the Russians were trying to infiltrate into the Balkans and were moving forward steadily into Asia, in the process adding thousands of square miles to their already huge Empire.”

  He paused to see if Tarena was following him.

  “Here in England Queen Victoria had appreciated the political situation far better than anyone else. She had then with the greatest difficulty persuaded Mr. Gladstone’s Government, as it was in those days, that everything must be done to keep the Russians out of the Mediterranean.”

  “So what did my father do about it?” Tarena asked in a small voice.

  “The officials who came to tell him that his father had died so unexpectedly, informed him of the impending danger from Russia. They were already infiltrating not just into Karlova, but also into Dubnik, another small country on their borders – it is in fact nearer to the Aegean Sea than Karlova.”

  “I really – don’t understand,” Tarena admitted.

  “What they were really asking was that Ivan should go back to Karlova as King to save his own country, as well as the one adjacent to it, by marrying Princess Catrina of Dubnik. After her father’s death, she had been left the Ruler of that country.”

  “But how could he – ” Her uncle held up his hand.

  “Let me tell it my way, Tarena. As it is difficult to understand. What I actually knew and no one else was aware of, was that Ivan’s marriage to my sister had never been announced. Ivan was anxious not to appear Royal in any way and thus be treated differently from his friends at Oxford. “He had been so secretive about it that even his Ambassador in London had no idea that he was not single and therefore not free to marry Princess Catrina as they now wished.”

  He lowered his voice before he continued,

  “They were very afraid that he would refuse and so they made it abundantly clear that, unless he did as they asked, the Russians would undoubtedly take over Dubnik, and then Karlova, without any difficulty and the people of the two countries could do nothing because they had no strong leader.”

  “I can understand that – part,” she whispered, “but what – did he do?”

  “When the officials left us, and, of course, they did not meet your mother, we talked for a long time. But Ivan knew where his duty lay. There was no one else to take his place and no one but him to save his people – and they were his people – unless he returned to Karlova and did as his Prime Minister asked of him.”

  “You mean he married the Princess – while he was still married to Mama?” Tarena asked in a horrified voice.

  “There was nothing else he could do. Naturally it broke his heart and your mother’s that they must part. But they had enjoyed six years of such perfect and wonderful happiness, which is much more than many people are able to claim in their whole lives.”

  “I can hardly believe it,” murmured Tarena.

  “That is just what I felt when it happened, but Ivan either had to sacrifice his own and Elizabeth’s happiness or allow the two independent countries to pass into the hands of the Russians. That would have been disastrous not only for them but for the rest of the Balkans.”

  “So – he went away.”

  “It was agony for your mother and for him, but he swore that as soon as it was possible he would ret
urn or else ask her to join him. He did not know how it could be arranged, but he swore that he could not live without her.” There was a poignant silence, before Tarena added in a whisper,

  “And then Mama died.”

  “She died not only because her heart was broken, but she did catch a very nasty cold that winter and did not take as much care of herself as she should have done.”

  “I think perhaps she was too unhappy – ” Her uncle nodded.

  “I have often thought that myself. Perhaps people do really die of a broken heart and your mother without your father was indeed a very different woman from my sister, who had been so happy and who had made everyone around her happy too.”

  “So Mama died and what happened to my father?”

  “He most certainly saved his own country as well as Dubnik by marrying the Princess Catrina. The Russians were not strong enough at that particular time to face the combined countries ready to fight them under their new leader, King Ivan, for their freedom and independence.”

  “So he really did save Karlova?” “He most surely did and Princess Catrina’s country as well.”

  “But he acted a lie in marrying her when he was already married to my mother,” asserted Tarena.

  “No one was aware of it except myself. When Ivan Sazon disappeared from Oxford, there was soon someone else to take his place on the cricket field. People had no idea that he was now King Ivan of Karlova and that he was admired and respected in another part of the world.”

  “And no one cared?” Tarena asked him.

  “To be honest with you Ivan Sazon was very soon forgotten as younger men arrived. Of course, the students who took their degrees in his time left Oxford and a new generation peopled the cloisters.”

  “But I was still here,” Tarena countered almost aggressively.

  “Of course you were. I managed to convince any of our relatives who were at all curious, that your mother was now a widow. Her husband had died unexpectedly and had been buried without there being an official family funeral for them to attend.”

  “It must have been so very difficult for you, Uncle Richard – to lie as you had to.” “I have prayed to God to forgive me. At the same time I knew that it was the right thing for Ivan to do to be loyal to his own people and not to sacrifice them for his own happiness.”

  “So poor Mama – died too,” Tarena replied with a sob. “I am very glad that I could stay with you.”

  “And I have loved having you, Tarena, and I have deliberately not arranged for you to meet too many of my family, because I did not wish you to feel embarrassed or to be asked questions you did not know the answers to.”

  “I am trying – to understand, but you can imagine, Uncle Richard, this is all – rather a shock to me.”

  “I am afraid that you will be even more shocked by what I have to suggest now – ” “What – can that be?” Tarena asked him nervously.

  “At my father’s funeral, as I have already told you, one of those attending was the Marquis of Salisbury, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. He informed me that my friend, Ivan, your father, had a dreadful accident some years ago when out riding. Although he continued to rule, he has been a sick man for the last two years.”

  “Really – ill?” “He died a month ago. As he and Princess Catrina had no children, a distant relative of hers has now offered himself to succeed Ivan.”

  “And you think he will be able to keep the Russians away?” Tarena enquired.

  “It is the right question to ask. The Marquis has assured me it is only possible if, as has happened in so many other of the Balkan States, Queen Victoria gives him the protection of Britain by providing him with a British wife.”

  “I do know that, as I have been reading about it in the newspapers.”

  “The Marquis also told me that a Headquarters has been set up in the Russian Legation at Bucharest, presided over by a man called Hitrovo. He is a formidable operator who has made trouble for Prince Alexander of Battenberg.”

  “I do remember the story about Prince Alexander!” Tarena exclaimed.

  ”Now, and this is a secret, the Department of the Russian Foreign Office that deals with all Balkan countries has provided Hitrovo with three million roubles to pursue his campaign.”

  He paused as if to see that his niece was listening and then continued,

  “His task is to find dissident Bulgarians who will organise a revolution to thrust Bulgaria into the Russian orbit.”

  “Has anyone tried to stop him?” “They have a formidable opponent in a man called Stambulov, the thirty-two year old Co-Regent of Bulgaria. The Marquis met him and said he knows every weapon in the Russian Armoury. Even so the situation is extremely dangerous. The Queen herself is very worried as to what will happen unless the Bulgarians themselves are greatly strengthened by their Rulers.

  “There have been a number of warning incidents that have scared the weak-hearted in Bulgaria and made it absolutely clear to the Queen that whatever happens we must not allow Russia to take over the whole of that part of the world as they so obviously wish to do.”

  “No! No! Of course not,” Tarena cried.

  “The Marquis also informed me that London is at the moment swept by a new wave of anti-Russian feeling. The Russians have indeed failed dismally in their attempt to capture Constantinople. The Marquis told me secretly that General Gorchakov had said to Mr. Disraeli, ‘we have sacrificed a hundred thousand men and a hundred million roubles for an illusion’.”

  “How ghastly,” Tarena murmured.

  “He apparently said this, but the Marquis told me the Russian standing in the Balkans is stronger than it has ever been before. We must somehow prevent them going any further without actually resorting to war.”

  “That seems extremely difficult, when it is all so far away. If they are infiltrating into Bulgaria, how are we in England to stop them? We will not know about it until they are actually there.”

  “That is a very sensible remark, Tarena. That is why, my dearest, we have to support the Bulgarians. Not by fighting with guns, but by a more subtle means. One thing we are quite convinced of is that the Russians dare not face open war with England. At the same time they are determined to take over what countries they can before it is too late for us to stop them.”

  “So what can we do, Uncle Richard?”

  “It is to have the Union Jack flying high wherever possible. That is why I am going to ask a great sacrifice of you, but it would save Karlova and Dubnik from being lost to the Russians.”

  Tarena’s eyes seemed to open until they filled her whole face.

  “Me! I don’t – understand what you are saying.” “I have told the Marquis that you are in fact not only the niece of the Earl of Grandbrooke but also Princess Tarena of Karlova.”

  Tarena stared at him.

  Once again she mumbled in a voice that did not sound like her own,

  “I don’t know – what you are saying – or what you are suggesting, Uncle Richard.”

  “What the Marquis is suggesting, and I believe that it will save Karlova, is that you marry Prince Igor, who is taking over after your father’s death, with the blessing of Queen Victoria and the protection of the Union Jack. And the Russians would then not dare to interfere or infiltrate into either Karlova or Dubnik.”

  “But how can I – do it? How will the people accept me when they know that their King – who ruled them for so long was still married – to my mother at the same time as – he was married to Princess Catrina?”

  She stumbled over the words as if it was virtually impossible for her to say them.

  There was a sympathetic expression in her uncle’s eyes as he gazed at her.

  “Let me make it very clear,” he said, “that no one knew that your father was still married when he married Princess Catrina. What I have assured the Marquis and what he fully believes, is that your mother died the year after you were born and so your father was therefore a widower when he married again.”r />
  “But that is a lie!” “I realise that and I am very ashamed of myself for having to lie. But it is a lie to save the lives of thousands of people from the Russian menace. I do feel that, if your mother was still alive, she would be willing to tell such a small lie for the sake of the country that the man she loved so much belonged to.”

  “I suppose two years one way or another – does not matter much,” Tarena agreed. “Equally must I really go – to Karlova to marry a man whom I have never even seen – and who will certainly not want to marry me?”

  “He has already, through the Prime Minister and the Ambassador of Karlova asked Queen Victoria to send him a bride. Her Majesty was, the Marquis has told me, in despair because there was no one suitable available. She has already provided many English brides for her relations on the Continent.”

  He paused for a moment before he carried on,

  “The Marquis was absolutely certain that the Queen would be delighted if you would do as they ask and take, in your own person, a weapon to Karlova, which will frighten away the Russians more effectively than any gun or Army of trained soldiers.”

  Tarena was silenced.

  She could hardly believe that this was not part of a dream and she felt that she would soon wake up and find it was all untrue.

  Never could she have imagined that anything like this would be asked of her.

  Because she had always been told how happy her father and mother were together, she had hoped that one day she herself would fall in love.

  A wonderful man would love her just for herself and they would live happily ever after.

  Was it possible that her kind and loving uncle was asking her to travel to an unknown far-off country that was in danger?

  She would then save it, as apparently her father had done by deserting her mother and marrying some woman he had never even seen.

  ‘How can I do it?’ she asked herself desperately. ‘How can I?’

  She became aware that her uncle was watching her with an expression on his face she had never seen before.

  “How can I, Uncle Richard?” she asked aloud.