Romy laughed. ‘Indeed! Geli told me they found him holding court in a cell that was like an upper-class hotel room – certainly a great deal more comfortable than their own shabby apartment in Vienna. It was a hot June afternoon and Uncle Alf – that’s what she called him – was wearing his leather shorts, which he always loved in those days. He was surrounded by men who treated him like a king. Even the jailers saluted him – can you imagine? He was charm itself with his long lost sister – and formed an instant rapport with Geli, who was fifteen or sixteen. She made him laugh and clap his hands with delight. She could always make herself attractive to men – and her uncle was as smitten as the rest.’

‘And she told you all about it?’

‘Everything. She always told me everything apart from the most intimate details of her life. And if she was away she wrote me letters or telephoned, right up until her death. Anyway, back then, I think she was immediately besotted by Hitler, even though he was twenty years older than her. Her mother had built him up so much in her mind, you see.

‘A few months later she went to Munich on a school trip and was desperate to see Uncle Alf again. He greeted her, of course, but couldn’t spend any time with her and got one of his men to show her the sights. She was very disappointed and told me that she had been wrong, that her uncle wasn’t interested in her after all. She was miserable for weeks.

‘But everything changed in March 1927. I remember, because that was when I became fully qualified as a midwife. Hitler rented a house in the Bavarian Alps – at a village called Obersalzberg – and asked Frau Raubal to be his housekeeper. She jumped at the chance – it would be a far more comfortable job than cooking kosher food for a load of students for a pittance. Geli couldn’t go with her straight away, however – she had to stay on in Vienna until she had finished her school certificate. During those months we spent a lot of time together. I helped her with her studies and made sure she was eating properly.’

‘And then she joined her mother?’