His mother’s greeting was far more relaxed. ‘Dearest May,’ the Princess of Wales said, taking both her hands in hers. ‘I can’t tell you how happy it makes me that the person I am losing my darling boy to is yourself, and not some foreign princess.’

As May was well aware that Eddy’s mother had been fervently in favour of Eddy being allowed to marry Hélène, it occurred to her that she shouldn’t believe everything her charming mother-in-law-to-be said.

Where Eddy’s father was concerned, May had, like her mother, always been wary of him, not liking his unkind and embarrassing ‘chaffing’. On this occasion he was, though, on his best behaviour and seemed sincerely pleased that the long-standing question of Eddy’s marriage had finally been satisfactorily resolved.

‘Though you must keep Eddy up to the mark,’ he said, as if Eddy wasn’t present. ‘He’s been in need of a good, sensible young woman for a long time, and the country is going to expect a great deal from both of you.’

Eddy’s face was expressionless, and for the first time May became uncomfortably aware that there were underlying tensions between him and his father. She had been a regular visitor to Marlborough House ever since she had been a child, but she had always been there as a playmate for Looloo, Toria and Maudie. Until now, her interaction with his parents had been limited to a polite ‘hello’ or ‘goodbye’ at large family parties. She had never before dined with the family on such intimate terms and although, to her relief, her future father-in-law was being pleasant towards her, he was constantly disparaging whenever he spoke to Eddy.

Her Aunt Alix’s attitude towards her son was entirely different, but even more unsettling. As they walked into the dining room, she lifted Eddy’s arm and placed it so that it rested around her neck. Throughout lunch she frequently laid her hand on his. Whenever she spoke his name it was preceded, or followed, by a lavish endearment.

Eddy neither looked comfortable nor uncomfortable at such excessive physical attention from his mother. Instead his expression remained unreadable; almost disinterested. Whatever the Waleses’ private family life was like, before lunch was over, May was certain it was nothing at all like the uncomplicated, affectionate, happy-go-lucky family dynamic that she had grown up with at White Lodge.

Hard on the heels of lunch at Marlborough House had come a summons for them to make their way to Windsor, where the Queen wished to congratulate them on their engagement.

Again, there was no opportunity for May and Eddy to be on their own, for her parents accompanied them.