‘I’m sure I would have found him daunting too.’

‘You?’ She turns to him. ‘I doubt it. I can’t imagine you being daunted by anybody. You’re so sure of yourself. You’re not frightened of anything.’

‘You haven’t seen me quaking in front of Queen Mary,’ Philip says.

Elizabeth laughs. ‘Granny’s bark is worse than her bite. She’s a bit stiff but very kind really.’

‘A bit stiff?’ Sitting up, he pulls an expression of exaggerated incredulity. ‘In the same way that the South Pole is a bit chilly?’

She laughs again and bumps her shoulder against his. ‘Your turn. When did you realise you were a prince and not like everyone else?’

He doesn’t answer immediately. ‘It wasn’t the same for me,’ he says eventually. ‘I didn’t have a surname at school, but apart from that … I suppose the truth is, I am like everyone else.’

Elizabeth’s happy mood dims a little. ‘You know that will change, Philip?’

‘I know,’ he says. He takes her chin and turns her gently to force her to look at him. ‘Elizabeth, are you sure want to do this?’

‘I’m sure.’

There is something reckless in the smile that blazes in Philip’s face as he jumps off the boulder. ‘Then let’s go back and face the music!’ He holds up a hand to help her down. ‘We’re going to come under a lot of pressure, but if we can hold firm, we’ll make it through.’

She is brushing off the odd bits of lichen clinging to her skirt, but at that she looks up at him and smiles. ‘We will,’ she promises him. ‘We’re in this together.’

***

Elizabeth is standing at the window in the drawing room, gazing unseeingly at the hills and twisting her pearls.

Philip requested an interview with the King as soon as they got back and he is in with her father now.

‘Perhaps I should come with you?’ Elizabeth said when the message came that the King would see Philip. ‘He’s not going to be pleased that you’ve gone directly against his wishes.’

Her father’s violent outbursts of temper are familiar to all of them, but Philip didn’t appear at all nervous about the interview.

‘I should see your father alone,’ he said. ‘It’s the right thing to do, and he’ll think even less of me if I go in hiding behind your skirts.’

She bit her lip. ‘He can get so angry.’

‘Let him be angry,’ was all Philip said before he left. ‘He can’t eat me, no matter how much he might want to.’ He cast a quick glance to check they were alone and then pulled her close for a quick, fierce kiss. ‘We’re holding firm, remember?’

Now a discreet cough behind her makes Elizabeth start and swing round. Group Captain Townsend is in the doorway. ‘Your Royal Highness? The King has asked if you would join him in his study.’

‘Thank you, Peter.’ Outwardly calm, Elizabeth follows her father’s equerry along the corridor and waits for him to open the door for her.