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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

Georgie was not remotely in the same category of handsomeness as Thaddeus and Eddy. Both of them had been tall and slim. Georgie was an inch or so shorter than she was – a difference that became apparent when she was wearing heeled shoes – and he had knock-knees and was slightly built. In looks he was, as the Queen had said so descriptively, ‘homely’. He had no education to speak of – but then Eddy hadn’t had any, either. Georgie also had a loud, abrasive voice, which she assumed was born out of having to bellow orders in rough, tempestuous seas. On the other side of the coin, he was dutiful, straightforward and it was impossible to imagine him ever being anything other than a faithful husband.

Most of all, though, as she looked into his very anxious face, she knew how much Georgie needed her. If she accepted his proposal, she would always be there for him, and she would always have a role in life; a role she suddenly felt had always been waiting for her; a role she was destined for.

‘Yes,’ she heard herself say. ‘Yes, dear Georgie. Of course I will marry you.’

Chapter Twenty-Six

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JUNE 1893, WHITE LODGE

May’s engagement to Georgie held no similarity to her engagement to Eddy. There was no laughter. No sense of ease and closeness. No animated conversations about how they would decorate their future home. No companionable choosing of fabric and wallpaper and visits to see popular musicals. With his proposal to her made – and her acceptance of it – it was as if Georgie felt he had done all that could be expected of him.

The companionship that had sprung up between the two of them in the days when she had been engaged to Eddy, and Georgie thought he was going to be her brother-in-law, was a thing of the past. He was stiff and shy with her and, because he was, May’s own shyness and sense of awkwardness were crippling.

Almost immediately after the announcement of their engagement, and with no consultation with either May or Georgie, it was announced that their wedding would take place on 6 July.

‘But that’s only eight weeks away!’ she had said in panic to her mother.

Her mother, for whom the wedding couldn’t come soon enough, had gleefully replied that there was no time to be lost and they must immediately set about organizing her wedding gown and buying her trousseau.

So much had to be crammed into the eight weeks of their engagement that there was no time for her to be alone with Georgie – something May sensed Georgie was grateful for, and which only added to her pre-wedding nerves.