“I expect you wonder why I asked you to come to luncheon today, Georgiana,” the queen said. I held my breath again. Doom will strike any moment, I thought. But she seemed jovial enough. “How about a glass of sherry?”

Usually I find sherry delightful, but the mere thought of alcohol made my stomach lurch. “Not for me, thank you, ma’am.”

“Very wise in the middle of the day,” the queen said. “I like to keep a clear head myself.” Oh, Lord, if she knew how unclear my head felt at the moment.

“Why don’t we go through and eat, then,” she said. “It’s so much easier to discuss things over food, don’t you agree?”

Personally I thought it was absolutely the opposite. I have never found it easy to make conversation and eat at the same time. I always seem to have a mouthful at the wrong moment or drop my fork when under stress. The queen rang a little bell and a maid appeared from nowhere.

“Lady Georgiana and I are ready for our luncheon,” the queen said. “Come along, my dear. We need good nourishing food in weather like this.”

We went next door to a family dining room. No hundred-foot-long tables here, but a small table, set for two. I took my place as indicated, and the first course was brought in. It was my nemesis—half a grapefruit in a tall cut glass. I always seem to get the half in which the segments are imperfectly cut. I looked at it with horror, took a deep breath and picked up my spoon.

“Ah, grapefruit,” the queen said, smiling at me. “So refreshing during the winter months, don’t you think?” And she spooned out a perfectly cut segment. Hope arose that this time the kitchen staff had done their job. I dug into the grapefruit. It slipped sideways in the glass, almost shooting out onto the tablecloth. I retrieved it at the last moment and had to use a surreptitious finger to balance it as I dug again. The first piece came free without too much effort. No such luck with the second. I held on to that grapefruit, dug and tugged. This time two segments were joined together. I attempted to separate them and juice squirted straight up into my eye. It stung and I waited until the queen was busy before dabbing at my eye with my napkin. At least I hadn’t squirted grapefruit juice at HM.