It has felt at times as if his mother cares more for people in general than for her own family, but Philip is still proud of her.

Frederika catches sight of Philip over Sandra’s shoulder and her eyes widen, but he puts a finger to his lips so he can creep up on Sandra and clap his hands over her eyes, making her shriek.

‘Philip!’ Squealing with delight, Sandra throws her arms around him when she jumps up to see who has startled her. ‘What a lovely surprise! What are you doing here?’

‘Whelp’s on her way to Ceylon to join the Eastern Fleet. We’ve put in to Alexandria to resupply and I thought I’d take the opportunity to run up and see you all.’ Philip moves round to kiss Frederika. ‘Hello Freddie, how are you?’

She lifts her cheek to be kissed. ‘All the better for seeing you. Paul will be pleased – and the King, of course.’

‘Is Uncle Georgie well?’

‘Well enough. It’s not much fun being a royal family in exile, and Georgie feels it particularly.’

‘He must do,’ says Philip. He is fond of George II, who is, in fact, his cousin rather than his uncle. The King is a short, dapper man with an extravagant charm when he chooses to use it and cosmopolitan tastes that Philip suspects would shock the domestic Windsors if they knew all of it.

‘Sit down,’ Freddie urges him. ‘We’ve just had tea. Would you like some, or something stronger?’

‘I’ve been thinking about a beer since I left Alexandria,’ he confesses as he pulls up a chair.

‘Let’s all have a drink.’

‘It was so clever of you to find us,’ says Sandra when the waiter who materialises in response to the Crown Princess’ lifted finger has gone.

‘I was expecting to see you in Alexandria,’ he agrees.

‘We had to move south.’ Freddie shudders. ‘Those awful air raids!’

‘But anyway, it’s super to see you,’ Sandra puts in quickly before Freddie gets upset. ‘How long can you stay?’

‘Not long, I’m afraid. I’ve had a summons to meet Uncle Dickie tomorrow.’

Freddie sat up. ‘Dickie’s here too? We heard he was in Karachi. Isn’t he Commander in South East Asia now?’

‘I believe he’s on his way,’ Philip says carefully. ‘He’s just flying in to Cairo for a few hours.’

‘And he wants to talk to you?’ Sandra quizzed him. ‘What about?’

Philip would quite like to know that too. He flicks Sandra’s nose. ‘None of your business, brat.’

He waits until the drinks have been served. ‘Anyway, it means I get to see you all so I intend to make the most of it.’ Nodding thanks to the waiter, he picks up his glass gratefully and lets the cold beer slip down his parched throat. ‘That’s better,’ he says at last, setting the glass back on the table with a sigh.

‘There’s so much to catch up.’ Freddie leans forward eagerly. ‘We hear you had Christmas at Windsor?’