The Queen Wins Read online

  The Prime Minister murmured the names, that she had difficulty in hearing, of the members of the deputation and who bowed individually as he did so.

  It was obvious that Prince Igor was not there and she gave a little sigh of relief.

  She was then invited to sit down, followed by the rest of the official party.

  The Prime Minister then went into a long address welcoming her to the country as their Queen.

  The Prime Minister’s speech was most flattering about her father and fortunately she was able to understand most of it.

  He spoke of their deep gratitude to her that she had taken up the position he had left empty – and that now, in their eyes, she was already the Queen of Karlova.

  He prophesied that she would live to be a great age and provide the country with heirs to the throne that had sadly been lacking in the recent past. When he finally came to a close, the men on the platform applauded.

  However, Tarena was well aware that none of the crowd listening and watching made any movement.

  It was then that she took a deep breath and looked round quickly to see if Count Vladimir was beside her.

  She faced, not the Prime Minister and the officials with him, but the people on the quayside who were staring at her in what she felt was a somewhat hostile manner and she could not help feeling that they were not really all that pleased to see her.

  They were perhaps thinking that because she was a woman, even though she was her father’s daughter, that she would be a failure and unable to protect them.

  She had learnt by heart an ingratiating and effusive speech that had been put together for her by the Count and he had rehearsed every word with her over and over again, so that she was word perfect.

  She was to say how much she was looking forward to taking her father’s place on the throne of Karlova.

  How she promised to carry on everything he had achieved during his reign.

  And how she sincerely hoped that Karlova would be an example to the other countries of the Balkans.

  Instead she gazed at the assembly of men staring at her somewhat morosely. Suddenly Tarena felt a surging wave of confidence and determination sweep through her body as if she was being directed from another world.

  She threw both her arms into the air in a dramatic gesture and began to speak in strong firm voice,

  “Fellow Karlovans! I need your help! I have come here because, as I know, my father reigned here in peace and happiness and loved you all as you loved him. But I have always lived in England, and I am very worried that I may fail you, and may not rule the country as you want it ruled. “So you have to help me. I know I am a woman, but I have my father’s blood in my veins and I knew when they first asked me to come here that he was guiding me, as he is indeed guiding me now.”

  Her voice rang out so that everyone could hear her clearly and to her great surprise her Karlovan was fluent and without any hesitation.

  She felt as if the men watching her came alive and began to respond to her words.

  “The future is not going to be easy for any of us,” she went on. “You know better than I do what a dangerous situation this country is in. But we have to save it and we can only do so if you and I work closely together.”

  She looked round at them and continued,

  “You must tell me what you think and what you want, and make it very clear from the beginning. It is you who are important and it is you who are this wonderful country. We must fight not only with our bodies but with our brains to keep Karlova independent and free.”

  Now there was a distant murmur from the crowd and Tarena could only pray that it was one of approval.

  She threw out her arms again,

  “Help me! Help me! Come to me individually and speak to me in the Palace and tell me what you think. I would rather hear from you than from anyone else, because it is you I represent, you who will place the Crown on my head and you who will make me your Queen. Only if we work together can we remain, as we are now, an example to the Balkans and even to the world beyond.”

  As Tarena finished, she bowed to them.

  After a moment’s astonished pause, a man in the crowd shouted out,

  “I knew your father and fine man he were too.”

  He was standing close to the platform with only a few men in front of him.

  To everyone’s amazement Tarena jumped down on to the quayside and walked purposively towards the man.

  As she reached him, she held out her hand saying,

  “You knew my father? Tell me about him and how much he meant to you and what did he do for you?”

  The man who was obviously a workman, took her hand in his and said,

  “I said he were a fine man and you be fine for a woman. We’ll try to help you, if that’s what you wants.”

  “It is what I want and what I pray you will give me,” Tarena replied.

  She next turned to the men around her and held out her hand.

  She shook the hands of dozens of them, as those at the back tried to push up to the front to get closer to her.

  She did not look back, but the Prime Minister and all on the platform were watching her with astonishment.

  Some of them were muttering that nothing like this had ever been done before in Karlova.

  Only the Count had followed her.

  Behind him were two soldiers, the others were still on guard round the platform.

  In half-an-hour Tarena had shaken hands with most of the crowd and talked to those who wanted to speak to her about her father.

  It was then she heard the Count’s voice saying,

  “The carriage is a little way ahead of you, Your Royal Highness, and I think you should now go to it.”

  “Very well, Count Vladimir,” Tarena replied.

  Then she stopped to speak to one of the few women who had come to the quayside.

  She had two small boys with her and Tarena bent down to pat their cheeks and told their mother what good-looking children they were.

  “We never expected you to be quite like this,” the woman said, “and perhaps like your father you’ll bring us peace and quiet.”

  “That is what I intend to do,” Tarena told her. “Ask the other women to come to the Palace and tell me what they want done for themselves and their children.”

  The woman’s eyes lit up.

  “We need some better schools for one thing,” she said, “and we has to walk ten miles to go to a hospital.”

  “Then what we must do is to build a hospital here in the City. And I will see if I can improve the schools.”

  The woman gave a shriek of delight.

  It was then that Tarena felt the Count touch her arm and move her swiftly towards the carriage.

  It was an open one, drawn by four white horses and the coachman and footman on the box wore an attractive and bright livery.

  When she stepped into the carriage, she found to her delight her uncle was already sitting there.

  There was a surge forward by the crowd that had followed her up the quayside until she reached the carriage and she could see, as she looked back, most of the officials on the platform were already in carriages behind her.

  The Count climbed in just before the horses moved off to sit with his back to them.

  As the carriage moved away, the crowd cheered and Tarena waved until they were out of sight.

  Then she gave a little sigh and sat back onto the upholstered eat as she looked towards her uncle.

  “Was I alright?” she asked a little apprehensively.

  “You were brilliant, absolutely brilliant,” the Count exclaimed before the Earl could speak. “Never before has any Royal walked as you did into the crowd, shaking them by the hand and being as one might say familiar. This really does open up a new chapter for Kings and Queens.”

  The Count looked at the Earl and asked,

  “Am I not right in saying that, my Lord?”

  “I had no idea that Tarena would do such a thing, but it wa
s certainly very effective. I had a feeling when we stepped ashore that the majority of the men there were hostile towards us.”

  “You are quite right. The Russians have been very busy among the men who work in the Port. As you may have seen, there were practically no women there.”

  “I noticed that,” the Earl replied. “I thought myself until Tarena went down amongst them that they intended to give us a very cold reception.”

  “I feel from what I heard, as I was following her, that they intended to start a hostile demonstration of their dislike of being ruled by a woman – in fact of being ruled at all.”

  Tarena drew in her breath, as the Count carried on,

  “I will learn more later from my men who have been here all the time I was away. I knew when I saw the crowd at the quayside that we might be in for trouble.”

  The horses were now gathering speed.

  Although there were a good number of people in the streets watching them as they passed, there were not the masses the Count had hoped for.

  Tarena knew from the expressions on their faces that both her uncle and the Count were worried.

  *

  The Palace was even more beautiful than she had expected.

  It was at the far end of the City and had been built on slightly higher ground and, when the horses came to a standstill, there was a flight of white marble steps leading up to the Palace which itself was dazzling white.

  With the sun shining onto the windows it looked more like a Fairy Palace than Tarena had anticipated.

  There were huge fountains playing on either side of the marble steps and there was a profusion of blossom on the shrubs that bordered the gardens.

  “It is so lovely,” Tarena sighed in a somewhat awed voice to her uncle.

  “I am admiring it too,” he replied.

  “I have been thinking that it is a perfect background for you,” the Count said to Tarena. “And may I say once again that you have made your début in a most unusual and surprising fashion, which I am quite certain, will change the whole mood of the City.”

  As he spoke, he turned and looked back and Tarena asked him quickly,

  “What can you see?”

  “I should not be surprised if we are now being followed by a number of the men who were on the quay and many others who have been told of your unexpected behaviour on arrival.”

  Tarena laughed.

  “You make it sound awful.” “It was so clever of you,” the Count cried. “I only wish I had thought of it myself.”

  He was not just paying her compliments to reassure her and she knew by the expression in his eyes that he was telling her the truth.

  He was simply delighted at the entrance she had made into Karlova.

  Next they climbed up the marble steps and Tarena wondered if Prince Igor would be waiting at the top.

  Instead there was only the Lord Chamberlain, who introduced himself, and there were many equerries.

  They too were a little surprised when she shook each of them by the hand.

  Then the Lord Chamberlain announced that there were refreshments waiting for them in the dining room.

  “I am certainly very thirsty!” Tarena exclaimed. “I would also like to wash my hands after having had them shaken by so many rather dirty ones.”

  The Lord Chamberlain stared at her.

  “Dirty hands! How could you have encountered those, Your Royal Highness?”

  There was a twinkle in the Count’s eyes as he said,

  “Her Royal Highness insisted on meeting all the people on the quayside who were there to welcome her. She must have spoken to at least two or three hundred of them and shaken them by the hand.”

  “Spoken to them,” the Lord Chamberlain repeated as if he had not understood what the Count was saying.

  “Unless I am very much mistaken, the City will be talking of nothing else tonight. In fact I think, my Lord, you should be prepared for a great number of visitors in the next hour or so who will want to see Her Royal Highness again to be absolutely certain they were not dreaming!”

  “I think I am doing the dreaming, if I understand what you are saying,” the Lord Chamberlain replied.

  Count Vladimir chuckled.

  Then the Prime Minister and his party arrived.

  They went into the dining room where there were a number of others who had come earlier. Many of them were the wives of Members of the Cabinet.

  It was impossible for the time being for Tarena to leave, as so many wanted to be introduced to her. Finally, because she was hot and there seemed no end to those coming into the room, she took off her hat.

  She put it down on a chair and pushed her curls into place and she had no idea that she was doing anything wrong or unusual.

  Every woman in the room was wearing a hat and they were staring at Tarena in disbelief.

  The Count’s eyes were twinkling as he realised how surprised some of them were.

  There were refreshments of every sort on the table and, as it was impossible to serve everyone crowding into the Palace, the guests were asked to help themselves.

  The servants were wearing, Tarena thought, a very attractive livery and they poured out champagne.

  The Count brought her a glass.

  “It’s no use going away to tidy up,” he said. “If you disappear, everyone will merely think you were part of a dream and they will go home disappointed!”

  Tarena knew that he was teasing her.

  She laughed and taking the champagne from him, she declared,

  “I am certainly thirsty, but I am so glad you are not angry with me for not using the speech you wrote for me.”

  “Only you could have thought of anything quite so brilliant and so brave,” he replied “and which has never been done before.”

  “Is that really true?” Tarena asked him.

  “You could hardly expect to see Queen Victoria shaking hands in a crowd like you have just enchanted.” They both laughed.

  It was impossible to say more because the Prime Minister brought up yet another distinguished personage to meet their new Queen.

  It was an hour later when the Count came to say,

  “There is a huge crowd gathering outside who want to see you. Are you brave enough to go down and wave to them?”

  “Of course, Count Vladimir. But you and Uncle Richard had better come along with me, unless you think I should take the Prime Minister.”

  “I think the Prime Minister is astonished enough about what is happening. As I have no idea what you will do or say, I think if your uncle and I walk on either side of you, we can keep you in order!”

  Tarena giggled.

  When she moved towards the door, the Earl, as if he was aware of what was happening, followed her.

  It was only when they went outside the front door of the Palace and looked down that they saw hundreds of people outside the gates.

  It was only because sentries were on guard that they did not burst through them.

  Without her hat or gloves, Tarena started to walk down the marble steps with the two men on either side.

  When she reached the bottom step, she saw that the people were already cheering and waving outside the gates.

  She could now see that there were a good number of small children and their mothers with them.

  The men on the whole, she thought, looked slightly better dressed than those who had been waiting for her on the quay.

  The soldiers presented arms at her appearance and the Officer in charge looked at her as if for instructions.

  “Open the gates,” Tarena ordered bravely.

  “Open the gates, Your Royal Highness?” queried the Officer as if he could not have heard her correctly.

  “I want the people to see me, which they cannot do where they are. And I want to talk to them.”

  Neither her uncle nor the Count made any protest and the Officer ordered his soldiers to open the gates.

  Tarena was standing a little higher than the people outsi
de and she began to address them,

  “Thank you for coming to see me. I think perhaps you would like to shake me by the hand and give me your good wishes. As I have already told the people on the quay when I arrived, I need your help, everyone of you, to make our country not only happy but prosperous and free. I can only do it if every man, woman and child, helps me.”

  She paused before she added,

  “So please give me not only your help, but your love. I can do nothing without it.”

  They all cheered at these words.

  “As I want to meet as many of you as possible, will you please come in and shake me by the hand and then come further in and sit down on the grass.”

  There was a startled gasp from the Officer.

  Tarena bent forward to shake hands with an elderly man, who piped up,

  “You be a chip off the old block and that’s what we needs here in Karlova.”

  “Thank you, kind sir. Now sit down on the grass, that I am sure is quite dry, then the others will understand that is what they have to do as well.”

  The old man and two others understood.

  They shook her by the hand, each of them saying something pleasant and then passed by and moved onto the grass on either side of the steps and sat down.

  In quite a short time the lawns were packed with people and the children were delighted with the fountains.

  There was still a crowd coming up the road to take part in this unprecedented scene.

  It was the Count who finally suggested,

  “I think Your Royal Highness has done enough. I therefore propose that you walk up the steps and when you reach the top, just disappear, then the people will gradually disperse and go home.”

  “There is hardly room for any more anyway. And my hand, because they will squeeze it so hard, is almost falling off!”

  “I was afraid it would be, but you have been so magnificent, utterly and completely magnificent. It will change the whole thinking of the City.”

  “What were they thinking before?” asked Tarena.

  “I have a suspicion that the Russians have been busy while I was away,” the Count said in a whisper. “But we will talk more about it later.”

  Tarena felt he was quite right that where they were was not the right place for a private conversation.