A Royal Rebuke Page 4

  “It is what my mother told me my father always called the Ladies-in-Waiting who attended the Queen. When we went to Buckingham Palace, they told me what I had to do, exactly as if I was a puppy they were trying to break in!”

  Lord Victor laughed because he could not help it.

  “That is not the sort of thing, ma’am, you should say at Windsor Castle.”

  “I was not so stupid as to say it to the Queen!” the Princess answered. “But you must not forget that my existence had only just come to Her Majesty’s attention. She made it quite clear that she would not have sent me to Zararis except that there was no one older and more responsible.”

  The way the Princess spoke made Lord Victor laugh again.

  In fact he found himself chuckling at almost everything she said.

  She insisted on walking all round the deck and was just like a child with a new toy.

  Lord Victor realised that after living simply in the country there was a fascination for her in everything she saw.

  She asked him innumerable questions about the ship.

  Finally he told her that she would have to ask anything more of the Captain because he had exhausted his knowledge of the subject.

  “It is so much nicer for me that you are here,” she said warmly, “because I was told that there was an elderly man coming to represent Her Majesty who had escorted a number of other Princesses to be married and he knew the protocol from A to Z.”

  This, as Lord Victor knew only too well, was Lord Ludgate, for whom he had been substituted by the Queen.

  When they went down to luncheon, he had begun to think that the voyage was going to be very different from what he had expected.

  The Princess chattered away while they ate a well-cooked meal.

  Listening to her, Lord Victor realised that she had been extremely well educated.

  “I had Governesses and Tutors,” she informed him in answer to his question. “There were dozens of them, but what I enjoyed more than anything else was riding my grandfather’s horses. His sons insisted that he had the very best and, when they were home, they would race me and challenge me to jump higher than they did.”

  Lord Victor thought that this was something he would like to do himself.

  However he decided it would be a mistake to say so.

  He was aware before the luncheon was ended that if the Princess had been surprised that he had been appointed to escort her to Zararis and so were the two Ladies-in-Waiting.

  He was sure when the Princess was talking to him so spontaneously that they were watching and listening with disapproval.

  When the luncheon ended, one of the Baronesses said,

  “I think, Your Royal Highness, that you would be wise to rest after luncheon, otherwise you could well find the journey unnecessarily tiring.”

  “Rest?” the Princess exclaimed. “I have no intention of doing that!”

  “I think it is what you should do, Your Royal Highness,” the other Baroness said in a repressive tone.

  “Quite frankly, I want some exercise,” the Princess insisted, “and I am hoping that Lord Victor will race me round the decks or think of some other way I can tire myself out. Otherwise I shall want to stay up all night!”

  Lord Victor saw the expression of horror on the elderly women’s faces and he realised that the Princess was teasing them.

  At the same time he understood that at eighteen she had no wish to lie down after luncheon.

  “I suspect,” he said, “that Her Royal Highness has never played deck tennis. That is a game I will teach her and it will certainly provide some of the exercise she needs.”

  The two Baronesses sighed with relief, but the Ambassador said with a frown,

  “Somebody should be in attendance upon Her Royal Highness.”

  There was such an expression of consternation on the faces of the Ladies-in-Waiting that Lord Victor said quickly,

  “I will take care of Her Royal Highness and I think that we should agree from the beginning of this voyage that one person in attendance at a time is quite enough.”

  “Yes, of course, Lord Victor,” the Princess said, “and do please all of you remember that I have never had all this attention in the past. I was allowed to ride alone all over my grandfather’s estate and I am finding all this mollycoddling somewhat of a bore.”

  The two Ladies-in-Waiting held up their hands in horror, but the Ambassador said,

  “Of course Your Royal Highness must enjoy yourself while you can. You are well aware that once you reach Zararis, wherever you go and whatever you do, a Lady-in-Waiting must always be with you in attendance.”

  There was a little silence.

  Then the Princess said,

  “My father used to say ‘never jump a fence until you come to it.’ So, as Your Excellency suggests, I will enjoy myself today and not worry for the moment about tomorrow.”

  Lord Victor could not help thinking that she was being rather clever.

  As he rose to his feet, the Ambassador said to the Princess,

  “There is one thing Your Royal Highness must not forget and that is to learn the language that is spoken in Zararis while we have this free time on our hands.”

  “I have not forgotten,” the Princess replied, “and actually I do not think it will be difficult as it is basically Greek.”

  “That is what I heard,” Lord Victor said, “and, as I am anxious to learn the language myself, perhaps we could speak it while we are having meals.”

  “That is an excellent idea!” the Princess cried. “Anyway, I will teach you Greek.”

  “I know a little already,” Lord Victor replied, “but I have not spoken it since I was at Oxford and I am therefore what we might call somewhat rusty.”

  “It will soon come back to you,” the Princess said reassuringly, “and it’s very lucky, is it not, that having a Greek father, I am to go to a country where the language is basically Greek. Her Majesty might have sent me to some place where they spoke only Chinese or some other language of which I would not recognise a single word!”

  “I agree with Your Royal Highness,” Lord Victor said, “and I shall be very grateful if, ma’am, you will revive what I know of the Greek language.”

  He thought as he spoke and looked at her that Greek was the natural language for anyone so lovely.

  He found it fascinating the way that her eyes eloquently expressed every thought that was in her mind, as her golden hair seemed to catch the rays of the sun that came through the portholes.

  “Now all that is decided,” the Princess said, “so let’s go on deck.”

  She deliberately spoke in Greek, but Lord Victor understood and followed her from the cabin.

  Only when they were outside did she whisper,

  “Thank goodness we got away! I had an awful feeling that one of the ‘watchdogs’ would be sent with us.”

  Lord Victor was sure that he ought not to allow her to talk like that, but, as once again she made him laugh, there was nothing he could say.

  He found, as the afternoon progressed, that she quickly learnt the variety of tennis that was played on board ship and they also walked round the deck a dozen times.

  To give him practice she talked mostly in Greek and Lord Victor found the language coming back to him, as it was one of the languages he had been specially commended for when he was at Oxford.

  In fact he had always found foreign languages easy and he was sure that when he came to Zararis he would soon be able to understand the ordinary people.

  This, of course, was essential if he was to obtain the information that the Marquis of Salisbury desired.

  It was almost at the end of the afternoon when he suddenly had an idea.

  The Princess had sat down on the windward side of the Battleship as they were having their last glimpse of the coast of Britain.

  “I suppose you know, ma’am,” Lord Victor said, “that the Russians have been causing a great deal of trouble in the Balkans?”

&
nbsp; He expected her to look surprised, but instead she replied,

  “Yes, my grandfather told me how they were trying to stir up trouble in a number of States and he warned me that it was something I must try to counteract when I am the Queen of Zararis.”

  “I have just thought,” Lord Victor went on, “that it would be very helpful if you learnt Russian.”

  The Princess turned towards him eagerly.

  “Do you know,” she said, “I thought of that myself and actually I looked in Grandpapa’s library and found several books on Russian, which I have brought with me.”

  “That should be very useful, ma’am, and I will ask the Captain if there is anyone aboard who speaks that extremely difficult language.”

  Impulsively, as she did everything else, the Princess suggested,

  “Let’s go and ask him at once. Of course I should know Russian, otherwise all sorts of terrible things may be happening behind my back.”

  She did not wait for Lord Victor to agree, but set off towards the bridge where they found the Captain.

  The Princess explained what she wanted and the Captain answered her slowly,

  “That is a sensible idea, Your Royal Highness, and I can tell you the Russians are everywhere! When we were in the Eastern Mediterranean last year, I bumped into them wherever I went, and I found it essential to have someone aboard who could speak their language.”

  “Is there anyone like that with you now?” the Princess enquired.

  “There is, ma’am, but I doubt if he speaks the sort of Russian you would find in their Palaces!”

  Lord Victor did not say anything.

  He was, however, aware that in the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg the Czar and his family, like all the Russian Nobility spoke French.

  In fact it was a standing joke among the diplomats, for, having taken the trouble to learn Russian before they left home, they found that they had to go into the servants’ quarters or into the streets to find anybody they could speak it to.

  “I want to spend an hour or so every day learning Russian from the man you have on board,” the Princess asked positively.

  “He will be very honoured, ma’am,” the Captain said, “but I am not sure if His Excellency will approve.”

  “I have given my approval,” Lord Victor said, “for I am sure that Her Majesty Queen Victoria, whom I represent, would think it an excellent idea. Her Royal Highness should be able to understand and converse in any language that is used in the country that she is to rule over.”

  He spoke rather pompously and the Captain responded quickly,

  “Yes, yes, of course, my Lord, I agree with you. I will send for Alexander, as he calls himself. But I rather fancy that he has adopted the Czar’s name to make himself seem more important.”

  Later when they left the bridge they found Alexander waiting for them.

  He had obviously washed, brushed his hair and made himself presentable.

  A few questions told Lord Victor that the man was in fact half-Russian. He had been conceived when his English father’s ship had been in Port at Odessa and afterwards he was orphaned and brought up by some Missionaries in Russia.

  At twenty he had gone to England where he joined the British Navy.

  He was intelligent and used his knowledge of Russian to bring him more money than he would otherwise have earned.

  Lord Victor arranged that he and the Princess would take lessons from him every morning while they were at sea.

  He asked if the Stewards could turn one of the cabins not being used into a sitting room where they could learn in private.

  The Captain promised to arrange this and the Princess said approvingly,

  “That was clever of you, my Lord. We do not want the watchdogs sitting with us. I am quite certain that they would disapprove of my speaking any language not their own, especially one they will not understand.”

  “I agree with you, ma’am,” Lord Victor said. “At the same time, I think it would be a mistake for us to upset your Ladies-in-Waiting.”

  “I try not to,” the Princess expostulated, “but they gave me a long lecture this morning before breakfast which amounted to saying that I was not to be too familiar with you.”

  Lord Victor laughed.

  “That is something I was afraid they might do,” he said.

  “They would be much happier,” the Princess said, “if you had a long white beard and walked about on two sticks!”

  “Then I must disappoint them, because that is something that will not happen to me for a long time!”

  The Princess gave a little jump for joy.

  “It is wonderful for me having you with me,” she said. “I cannot imagine the old gentleman who should have been in your place playing deck tennis with me or taking me down to the engine room, where I intend to go now.”

  “Who said you could do that?” Lord Victor asked.

  “The Captain,” the Princess replied. “If you don’t want to come, you can stay behind, but I think it will be fascinating!”

  “I am sure, ma’am, it will be very good for my education,” Lord Victor said in an exaggeratedly humble tone.

  The Princess laughed.

  “What I would like to do,” she said, “is to stop at all the countries we will be passing before we reach our destination. Then you and I could explore places like Tangier, Tunis, Malta and Crete. Think how exciting that would be!”

  “It would indeed,” Lord Victor replied, “but the Queen is anxious that we should reach Zararis as quickly as possible, so I fear there is little chance of our stopping anywhere on the way.”

  He was thinking as he spoke that it would have been delightful.

  And he had to admit to himself that, having been anxious in the first place to get the voyage over as quickly as possible and return home, he was now enjoying being with the Princess.

  ‘It will not last,’ he told himself. ‘Equally she is certainly beautiful and different from any other woman I have ever met before.’

  She had a way with her that he had not expected in anyone so young.

  When they descended several steep flights of stairs to the engine room, she shook hands with the Chief Engineer Officer and talked to all the others, including the stokers.

  She was so charming as she did so that Lord Victor knew they were completely captivated by her.

  Because she was so young she was unaware of her beauty and behaved naturally and unselfconsciously.

  He was used to women arranging themselves in seductive poses and moving with an artificial grace, as they thought out every move they made in order to attract the men who watched them.

  But the Princess really enjoyed meeting the stokers in the boiler room as much as she would have enjoyed talking with the Diplomats at Windsor Castle.

  Or even, Lord Victor thought, his own contemporaries on a ballroom floor.

  ‘One thing is quite certain,’ he thought before he went to sleep that night, ‘she will make an excellent Queen and I only hope that King Stephan is worthy of her.’

  *

  The following day they started their lessons in Russian and they spoke Greek at breakfast and luncheon.

  And after only one day of learning the game, the Princess beat Lord Victor at deck tennis.

  “I have won! I have won!” she claimed with the delight of a child.

  “I must be getting old!” Lord Victor murmured.

  “What you are is a very good teacher!” she answered. “Now we can really fight on equal terms!”

  “And have a prize at the end of the game,” he added. “I wonder what that should be?”

  There was a little pause.

  He knew that any other woman of his acquaintance would make it clear by the expression in her eyes what she would offer if she was defeated.

  But the Princess merely smiled,

  “I can think of something I could give you that would be really useful.”

  “What would that be, ma’am?” Lord Victor enquired.


  “There are so many presents one receives at Christmas and on birthdays that are quite useless. Mama used to put them in a special drawer so that we could give them to the bazaars for charity or to relatives we did not particularly like.”

  Lord Victor chuckled.

  “Is that what I am going to get?”

  “I am not certain,” the Princess said, “that it would not be easier to let you beat me. Then you would have to give me a present!”

  “In that case, you will have to tell me what you would like, ma’am.”

  They were sitting in the sunshine as they were talking and now the Princess looked across the sea to the distant horizon.

  Lord Victor was aware of how exquisite her profile was and almost exactly like a statue of Venus that he remembered seeing in Rome.

  Her hair had become a little loose while she had been so energetic and was lying against her cheeks.

  Lord Victor thought that, if he touched it, it would feel silky in his hands.

  Then he told himself sharply that that was not the way he should be thinking about the Princess.

  “You have not answered my question,” he said. “What would you like to have more than anything else?”

  Slowly, in a soft voice, the Princess replied a little hesitantly,

  “I first started to think – two or three years ago that one day – I would be married and – I thought that like Papa and Mama – I would fall very much – in love.”

  “I suppose every young girl dreams that Prince Charming will come unexpectantly into her life,” Lord Victor said, “and then they will marry and live happily ever after.”

  “That is – what I thought would – happen,” the Princess said, “but now – I have to marry a man I have – never even – s-seen – ”

  Her voice died away.

  Suddenly in a quite different tone she asked,

  “What can I do if I – hate him? Supposing I cannot bear to let him – touch me?”

  Lord Victor drew in his breath.

  Seeing how young she was, it was a burning issue that he had already thought of himself.

  Now she was looking at him directly. Her eyes were very expressive and he saw the fear in them.

  “I think you have to realise,” he said quietly, “that as a Royal Personage you have to accept that your marriage, when it does take place, is a political event and not an emotional one, as it is with ordinary people.”