Not until they had covered the short distance to where there was a glimpse of the cairn marking the marriage of Aunt Queen’s fourth daughter, Louise, did the Queen say, ‘Then, on reflection and considering your unfortunate position as a Serene Highness and your consequent lack of any previous royal marriage proposals, I think you showed great strength of character, May. And strength of character is always commendable.’

Once again there was no comment that May could suitably make, and she was deeply grateful when the Queen changed the subject and asked her what it was she had enjoyed best about her years of living in Florence.

‘And it was then that the dear girl absolutely blossomed,’ the Queen said later that evening to Beatrice. ‘There was such enthusiasm in May’s voice as she spoke of her visits to the Uffizi and the art-history classes she had attended, and she spoke of her preference for Donatello over Michelangelo in a way that has almost led me to think like her. As well as being clear-headed, sensible and possessing beautiful natural dignity, May is highly educated, has experience of living in a continental country – something I think is so important – and, above all, she is cultured. It is no wonder her dear mama praises her so highly.’

Beatrice laid her embroidery in her lap. ‘So I take it your tentative wedding plans for her are tentative no longer, Mama?’

‘Absolutely not. And if, when I pass on my opinion to the prospective bridegroom, he accepts my judgement, then I see no reason why dear May’s engagement should not take place at the very latest by Christmas, and the wedding by Easter.’

Chapter Twenty-One

NOVEMBER 1891, LUTON HOO

‘I wonder,’ Dolly said, as their train steamed across the border into England, ‘if we are likely to find Max of Baden waiting for us at Euston.’

May made a dismissive motion with her hand. Such a speculation was highly unlikely – and one she didn’t even want to think about.

As it turned out, the only people waiting to greet them were their parents and their brother Alge, who, now seventeen, had just been accepted at the Royal Military College and looked, all of a sudden, enormously self-assured and grown-up.

Back home at White Lodge, May gave her parents a detailed account of what had happened at Balmoral and, like Dolly, her father immediately seized on the fact that the very eligible Max of Baden was currently in London.

‘It is a very interesting coincidence, nicht wahr?’

‘I don’t think so, Papa.’ May was tired from the journey, and tired of the subject. ‘Aunt Queen may well have Max in mind for me, but if she has, I doubt if Max is aware of it. And if I’m wrong about that, then I’m not interested in a suitor who has spoken to Aunt Queen about his interest in me and yet has still not troubled to meet me.’