Seeing her bewilderment, her father said helpfully, ‘Ernst Gunther is the Kaiser’s brother-in-law. It is a very suitable match, Pussy-cat.’

‘And he is a nephew of Uncle Christian’s,’ her mother said. ‘Dolly tells me you danced with him at Marie-Louise’s birthday party.’

As fast as they had been raised, May’s hopes crashed and died. She now knew who Ernst Gunther was. He was the uninspiring dance partner who had spoken not a word to her, and who had smelled unpleasantly of pear drops. If she accepted his proposal, she would no longer be an outsider in the royal European family circle, for she would become an integral part of Kindred Spirit Willy’s family life. Empress Dona would be her sister-in-law. She would have a home of her own, probably several of them. Her financial future – and her parents’ financial future – would be secure. In all likelihood she would have children.

But for all of these blessings she would pay a very high price. She would live out her life with a partner she didn’t love. There would be marital intimacies to be endured with a man she found repellent.

She remembered the passion in Hélène’s voice when she had said that she and Eddy loved each other so very much they were willing to do anything – anything at all – in order that they could marry.

It was how she wanted to feel some day about someone; and she wasn’t going to settle for anything less. She pushed her chair away from the table and rose unsteadily to her feet. ‘Please thank Prince Ernst for his proposal, Papa, and tell him it is one I will not be accepting.’

And ignoring her parents’ stunned disbelief, well aware that she had turned down the only marriage proposal she was ever likely to receive, May walked from the room, her only consolation being her certainty that she had made the right decision.

Chapter Eighteen

JUNE 1891, WINDSOR

‘I want to know everything that happened in detail, right from when, having acted on your suggestion, Eddy and Hélène spoke to Granny Queen themselves.’

Alicky and May were seated in a quiet corner of Windsor Castle’s gardens. It had been a long time since they’d had the opportunity to exchange news and gossip face-to-face and even though they had kept in touch with each other regularly by letter, Alicky wanted a verbal account of Eddy and Hélène’s year-long battle to be able to marry.

‘But why?’ May was mystified. ‘You already know the final outcome.’

‘Yes, and you’ve been very good at keeping me up to date on all the family news, but it’s a lot different being told what happened, from simply reading about what happened. What was it Eddy and Hélène said that changed Granny Queen’s mind?’