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Chapters (54)
  1. Cover
  2. The Summer Queen
  3. Dedication Page
  4. Family Tree of King George III
  5. Family Tree of Queen Victoria
  6. PART ONE
  7. Chapter One
  8. Chapter Two
  9. Chapter Three
  10. Chapter Four
  11. Chapter Five
  12. Chapter Six
  13. Chapter Seven
  14. Chapter Eight
  15. Chapter Nine
  16. Chapter Ten
  17. Chapter Eleven
  18. Chapter Twelve
  19. Chapter Thirteen
  20. PART TWO
  21. Chapter Fourteen
  22. Chapter Fifteen
  23. Chapter Sixteen
  24. Chapter Seventeen
  25. Chapter Eighteen
  26. Chapter Nineteen
  27. Chapter Twenty
  28. Chapter Twenty-One
  29. Chapter Twenty-Two
  30. Chapter Twenty-Three
  31. Chapter Twenty-Four
  32. PART THREE
  33. Chapter Twenty-Five
  34. Chapter Twenty-Six
  35. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  36. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  37. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  38. Chapter Thirty
  39. Chapter Thirty-One
  40. Chapter Thirty-Two
  41. PART FOUR
  42. Chapter Thirty-Three
  43. Chapter Thirty-Four
  44. Chapter Thirty-Five
  45. Chapter Thirty-Six
  46. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  47. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  48. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  49. Chapter Forty
  50. Chapter Forty-One
  51. Acknowledgements
  52. Select Bibliography
  53. The Summer Queen
  54. By Margaret Pemberton

Until now his kisses had been warm and tender, but never passionate. Now, as he looked down at her, there was something new in his eyes; something she had never seen before; something that made her heart begin beating in sharp, slamming little strokes that she could feel even in her fingertips.

‘I think I’ve begun to love you, May,’ he said thickly. ‘Do you think you could possibly begin to feel the same way about me?’

‘I already do.’ She felt as if her heart was about to burst. ‘I have done for longer than you could possibly imagine.’

That she was speaking the truth was evident in her voice, and in her eyes.

Eddy drew in an unsteady breath. No one would ever believe they were a love match. And it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that they knew differently.

Although she was virginal, as a Hussar officer, Eddy was far from being so and this time, when he lowered his head to hers and kissed her, he did so long and slow, and deeply. Holding her close against him, his free hand moved up over the shiny silk of her high-necked gown to cup her breast caressingly.

For May, it was a moment when she recognized in herself emotions and longings that she had never suspected existed; when she knew exactly why Maudie had been unable to resist Frank’s lovemaking; and why, having loved her Albert so passionately, Granny Queen so strongly discouraged long engagements.

Chapter Twenty-Three

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DECEMBER 1891, NEW PALACE, DARMSTADT

Darmstadt was glistening white under a blanket of snow, and en fête in readiness for Christmas. Every stall in the little town’s market place was draped in swathes of holly and colourful paper decorations. Mistletoe was hanging at heights convenient for girls to be kissed beneath; horse-drawn sleighs, not carriages, thronged the narrow streets; and although Christmas Day wasn’t for another two weeks, carol singers were out in full force.

May’s letter to Alicky had taken longer to arrive than usual, because ships carrying mail across the English Channel had been disrupted by bad weather, and it was only now that Alicky, curled up in a wing-chair before a crackling log fire, was eagerly writing back to her:

Dearest Kindred Spirit,

When you wrote me of your engagement to Eddy, I thought at first it was a tease! Papa told me it wasn’t, as at the same time your letter arrived, letters for him, informing him of your engagement, arrived from both Granny Queen and Uncle Bertie. I think it is the most amazing, wonderful news, and I can well imagine how truly happy and over the moon you must be. Eddy is the sweetest person in the world, and I just know that the two of you are going to be incredibly happy together.