‘Extraordinary to have all this history under your noses!’ he exclaimed. ‘I love how you have attended to the historical detail, yet you have also added your own stamp.’ He gestured towards the animals the Courtaulds had carved into the ceiling bosses and the initials SC and VC on the wall, alongside those of John Seeley and Paul Paget.

‘I hope you don’t find it irreverent, Your Highness,’ Ginie said, meekly. ‘We wanted to show respect, but also to lighten it with a bit of humour.’

‘I think it’s wonderful,’ he said, with a warm smile. He managed to convey great enthusiasm and understanding in a way that surprised her. He asked Stephen about Eltham’s gardens – both men were keen horticulturalists – and they began to talk about Fort Belvedere, a castellated eighteenth century folly in Windsor Great Park that David had made home.

‘Gardening is a mood,’ he said. ‘And my mood is one of intimacy, not grandeur.’

Wallis turned to Ginie and said in her rasping Baltimore drawl, ‘David’s at his happiest in old clothes, pottering about on his land.’

‘Stephen is exactly the same,’ Ginie said, affectionately.

They grinned at each other. Ginie felt a kinship with Wallis that she hoped was mutual. Wallis was a divorcee with two ex-husbands and like Ginie, she had managed to triumph over her past through a combination of personal magnetism and style. It was partly because of David’s love for Wallis that attitudes to divorce had softened.

Wallis was not classically beautiful; she was small and slight with smoothly-parted dark hair, a wide jaw and deep blue eyes. She was dressed with absolute simplicity, yet her gown was easily the most striking in the room: a column of white bias-cut crepe with a sparkling peacock-blue sash. On her right arm a heavy bracelet glowed, set with sapphires and emeralds and curving like a snail shell.

‘Could I ask you something?’ she said to Ginie.

‘Go ahead.’

‘That marvellous snake on your ankle. What made you choose the design?’ She hesitated and added quickly, ‘I hope you don’t mind my being so inquisitive.’

‘No, not at all! I’m glad you like it. It was inspired by the Snake Goddess in Minoan culture.’

‘Oh, really?’

‘Yes, I liked her mystery and power, not to mention her ability to change her skin.’

‘I love that!’ Wallis exclaimed. ‘I always wanted a tattoo. When I lived in China, I thought of getting a small dragon on my shoulder, but I wasn’t brave enough.’ Her laugh rang out, discordant, yet infectious. She was completely natural. Ginie suspected that was what David loved about her. She was probably the only woman in the world who didn’t feel obliged to behave slightly differently in his presence.