Her reply was astonishing. ‘They don’t like me, so I don’t need to like them.’

Poor Mr Baldwin is, like me, very fond of the Yorks, and was horrified, but he said nothing.

The upshot of all this is that Mr Baldwin has called for a meeting this weekend, in an attempt to seek some order in this chaos.

I can’t help thinking that if we could simply remove the King and Mrs S and replace them with the Yorks, the monarchy would be in very safe hands. They have a stable marriage and two charming little girls. Of course the Duke’s stammer would need to be addressed, and the Princess Elizabeth would need to accept to bear the weight of being a future Queen, but it would be much the easiest solution.

I know I needn’t tell you that this is all strictly confidential and I should not be letting you know the situation. It’s all rather shocking and I would be in a frightful pickle if anyone but you read this letter.

I miss you dreadfully. How about you come up to town next week? I need to take my wife to lunch!

Your

Tommy

145 Piccadilly, mid-September 1936

Marion was in a state of agitated excitement. George was arriving that evening and she was to meet him at the Lyons’ Corner House at Leicester Square. It was now three weeks since he had taken her to the nice pub that served Pimms, and she was still taken aback by what he had had to say.

He had carried the tray with the jug and glasses out into the beer garden. There was a small wooden table in a secluded corner, with a bower of peach roses hung above it. Their scent on the cooling evening air settled around them.

‘Are you comfortable, Marion? Would you like my jacket?’ he had asked.

Marion looked over the fields towards the purple hills beyond. She knew she would look back on this in the years to come as the most perfect moment in her life. ‘Yes. Thank you,’ she said.

They sat in peaceful silence sipping their drinks, while George gathered his words.

‘Marion.’

She took a breath. ‘Yes?’

He ran a finger over each side of his moustache. ‘I don’t have much in the way of savings, and so I am thinking of looking for a new job. I have decided to look for work in London.’

Her heart skipped for a moment. He wanted to come to her, so that she need not return to Scotland? Her prayers were being answered.

‘Why?’ she asked.

‘I need a decent income, and I have applied for a post in a bank.’

‘A bank!’ Her mother would be satisfied.

‘Yes. I have an interview in September. And I wondered if you might know anywhere I could stay?’

She smiled. ‘There are plenty of affordable guest houses.’

‘Oh, that’s good. Could you look one out for me? I mean, you actually being in situ, you would be better placed.’