“How so?”

“Prince Andrew, or Andrea, was a commander of an army during the Greco-Turkish war after the Great War. His older brother was the king.”

“The one who died from the monkey bite?”

“What?”

“One of the Greek kings died after being bitten by someone’s pet monkey, or something like that. I remember hearing about it when I was a child, and it always stayed with me. It was such a ridiculous way to die, yet he died nevertheless. I’ve never quite trusted monkeys after that.”

“Maybe the monkey is still plotting against the family,” speculated Iris. “How long do they live?”

“I suppose it depends on the breed. I could ask Ronnie. It’s the sort of thing he would know.”

“Well, let’s rule out the monkey. For now. In any case, a battle was lost, so when the Greek government is overturned and the king flees, which is an annual occurrence there, from what I can determine, a bunch of former prime ministers, cabinet officials, and generals are arrested and given very quick trials and even quicker sentences. Prince Andrea is one of them.”

“Really? What did he do?”

“It’s what he didn’t do. They said that he refused an order to have his army advance, so he became one more scapegoat in a vast herd.”

“What were the consequences?”

“Firing squad for the first lot. But, as you said, there are advantages to being in the aristocracy. Andrea was a cousin to our King George the Fifth, and Alice is Victoria’s great-granddaughter. I suppose that King George was still feeling guilt over not saving the tsar and family, so when he’s confronted with another cousin facing death by revolution, he intervenes somehow. Prince Andrea is convicted, but instead of inhaling a hail of bullets, he’s banished. There’s a British cruiser, the HMS Calypso, conveniently waiting at the dock. Andrea and his wife are escorted to the boat personally by someone in power, and off they go to Brindisi, making one stop along the way to pick up the children and servants.”

“Corfu.”

“Exactly. There are several dispatches detailing their journey from that point. They meet the pope, they arrive in Paris, they come to London.”

“And Talbot?”

“Not mentioned in a single article about the prince in the Times. But this all happened in the last few months of 1922. Andrea is freed by the Greeks in early December, which is why the timing of Talbot’s knighthood ten days later is intriguing. I wonder what role he played in this affair.”

“Assuming he played any. So, back to the British Museum to read some more newspapers?”

“Not the museum,” said Iris. “Have you never done research like this before?”

“Not a lick.”

“Then you’re in for a treat. We shall be spending a lovely afternoon at the British Library facility for newspapers in Colindale. Ever been there?”

“I never even knew it existed. What fun!”

“You say that now,” said Iris.

“What about this former boss of yours? The one Sally mentioned?”