‘So you can choose your freedom and we’ll cancel the wedding – somehow – or you can step up to the position you said you wanted, and if you’re going to do that, at least do it properly.’

She looks around for the dog who is snuffling in the undergrowth. ‘Susan, come!’ she commands and something in her voice has the corgi scrambling smartly back to the path.

Elizabeth looks back at Philip. ‘Have a think and let me know what you decide,’ she says, amazed at her own control, and she turns and walks deliberately away from him, leaving Philip gaping after her.

Chapter 47

London, November 1947

Philip’s sense of grievance runs white hot for several days after being dismissed – yes, dismissed! – by Elizabeth. He has never seen her angry before and that glimpse of fire, usually so carefully banked down, has shaken him more than he cares to admit.

A lark that got out of hand, that was all it was, but they have all reacted as if he has committed some crime against the state! He’s used to disapproval from the King and his advisers, but Elizabeth’s reaction … no, he didn’t like that. She has always been so gentle and supportive that he is still stinging from her rebuff.

There was no call for her to be so … cold.

I thought we had an agreement, she said. They did have an agreement. He has always been completely honest with her, Philip tells himself, aggrieved. Of course he didn’t pretend to be madly in love with her. She would have seen through that in an instant! And it isn’t as if Elizabeth has ever given him any indication she wants or expects any mawkish sentimentality from him. She made it clear from the start that an agreement was what it was, was what she wanted.

Still, he can’t stop hearing her voice, can’t stop seeing the shuttered expression in her eyes. I know you don’t love me. The memory squats inside him, a heavy stone in his chest.

Would she have preferred him to act a part? Philip can’t believe that, but round and round her words go in his head: I know you don’t want to marry me. You wanted the position. We’ll cancel the wedding.

They can’t cancel the wedding. What a ridiculous thing to suggest! It is barely two weeks away. But Philip has no doubt that if Elizabeth says she would ensure something was worked out, something would be. She is not given to making promises she cannot keep. She has held open the door of the cage, and there is a part of Philip that is uneasily aware he can have his freedom if that is what he really wants.

And he is tempted. He would be the most reviled man in the world for a while, true, but he has his career. He could make a decent life for himself without all the protocol and the starchy traditions and the trappings of royalty. What a relief that would be!