‘British army. Grenadier guards.’

‘You must be very proud.’

‘Indeed.’ He managed a smile. ‘He’s a good chap.’

Crawfie wanted to lean over and take his hand, but he was not the sort of man one could do that to. ‘It must be very hard on her,’ she said.

‘I am more worried that Joan will have adored her single life and is dreading the thought of living with me and the children again.’ He finished the last of his tea and looked at his watch. ‘Well now, somewhere in the world it is after six o’clock, so how would you like a small whisky?’

The ‘small one’ was not very small and was followed by several larger ones.

Tommy was not the sort of man to reveal secrets when in his cups, but something had been bothering him all day, irritating him, so that he felt the need to share it.

‘May I run something past you? Something a little delicate. I would value your opinion.’

‘Of course, but please don’t tell me any state secrets.’ She grinned. ‘I do not wish to carry that sort of burden.’

‘Nothing like that. No, no, it’s a little problem I have with two American journalists who are unable to take no for an answer.’

‘American? What do they want?’

‘In short, they want the Queen to spill her heart all over the pages of their ghastly magazine, telling tales of life with the King and their daughters – in short, of life as a monarch.’

Crawfie scoffed. ‘But she would never do that.’

‘Quite so, but try telling that to Mr and Mrs Gould. Today I received a message from them, opining that King George VI and Queen Elizabeth need a professional public relations team. Can you imagine? My whole life with the royal family has been devoting to keeping their private life private – and here I am being told to do the exact opposite.’

‘Don’t worry,’ Crawfie told him. ‘Our royal family would never stoop so low.’

‘No, they won’t, but certain people around them – housemaids, footmen, stable lads – may not have our scruples. In 1924 I was in Long Island with the then Prince of Wales – now Duke of Windsor – when a rodent of a journalist offered me a brand-new Lincoln motor car in return for “anonymously written articles about HRH’s private life”.’

Crawfie was shocked. ‘What did you tell them?

‘I laughed in their faces.’

‘Good. I cannot understand how anyone could betray the royal family. I never would, even if they did offer me a big car.’

‘Not even if it meant you and George could finally get married?’

Marion was taken aback by this unusually personal remark; Tommy usually circumvented anything emotional.

‘Honestly, a wedding seems a long way off at the moment,’ she said solemnly. ‘We can’t do anything until this war is over and the Princesses’ education finished.’

‘The Queen has told you that?’

‘Not in so many words. In truth, I think I would like to postpone our marriage until the girls are independent.’