“I hope you will be happy in this room,” Maria said, as she looked around her to make sure that everything was in place.

“I have just been thinking as we came upstairs,” Gretna asked. “Did His Royal Highness realise, when he was so kind, who I am?”

“Who you are, dearest! What do you mean?”

“I mean – did he know that Mama ran away with Papa? I did not like to say anything, but perhaps when he realises what happened he will withdraw his kind invitation to Carlton House and feel that perhaps it would be best for me not to go out into Society.”

“Whatever put such a nonsensical idea into your funny little head?” Maria quizzed her.

“But do you not understand? Mama has said so often how, by running away on the very eve of her marriage, she insulted the King and Queen and held the Duke of Avon – who after all was of vast consequence – up to ridicule.”

“A very good thing too if you ask me,” Maria laughed. “He is a pompous, disagreeable old man and, although perhaps your mother was to blame, he is certainly soured with life and takes care that everyone shall know it.”

“But Their Majesties?"

Maria gave a little laugh.

“Dearest, I don’t intend to try and initiate you in a few seconds into all the emotional tangles you will find at Court, but I can assure you that the Prince is a law unto himself and, if the King takes up one attitude, he is almost certain to take the other.”

“They don’t get on well together?” Gretna asked.

“Very badly I am afraid,” Maria replied sadly. “I do my best, but it is not easy for me for me as in particular I am a bone of contention.”

“The Prince loves you very much – does he not?” Gretna asked.

“He is a very wonderful man,” Maria answered with a catch in her voice. “And I love him, Gretna. It may be a mistake, but I love him with all my heart. It is impossible for me to deny it.”

There was so much suffering in her tone that Gretna instinctively put her arms around her.

“Oh, Maria, how hard it must be for you. But he loves you too.”

“Yes, he loves me,” Maria said softly. “Loves me more than anyone knows or imagines. He loves me enough to make sacrifices for my sake that are almost unbelievable.”

She was silent for a moment and then, as if she thrust some hidden thought away from her, she went on in a very different tone,

“I must go and dress for the party tonight. Why do you not change your travelling gown and then come and talk to me? I should like that above all things.”

“But, of course, I will,” Gretna agreed.