Just as she was about to casually ask Ella if he was still at Windsor, Ella said, ‘Eddy left for Sandringham yesterday. He wasn’t happy about it, as he is to spend the next couple of months holed up there, cramming in preparation for Trinity College in October.’

That he wasn’t still at Windsor was a body-blow of disappointment. Hiding it, as she did so many of her feelings, May said, ‘Is Trinity an Oxford college?’

‘No, Cambridge. It’s hard to believe, isn’t it? One of the Waleses at university? I’ve never seen any of them with a book in their hands. And that goes for Uncle Wales and Aunt Alix as well.’

That the stylish Prince and Princess of Wales were philistines when it came to the arts, and that their lack of interest in the quality of their children’s education had resulted in their children being seriously under-educated, was something everyone in the family was well aware of. May knew that none of her other cousins would have had to be sent to Lausanne for six months to improve their French, for by the time they were six or seven they had all spoken both French and German fluently, and in many cases – though not hers – Russian as well.

‘Eddy may well begin to enjoy reading, once he’s somewhere that reading isn’t an activity to be scoffed at,’ she said, not seeing why he should be blamed for something that wasn’t his fault. ‘Mama says Eddy and Georgie’s tutor was hopeless and bored them to tears, by only ever giving them things to learn by rote. And although I think Georgie quite enjoyed his years at sea as a naval cadet, I don’t think Eddy did. I think Eddy hated it.’

‘Why? Has he said so?’

‘No. It’s just a feeling I have. I think he’s . . .’ She hesitated, not wanting Ella to laugh. ‘I think he’s a little like my papa. I think he’s artistic.’

‘Then I don’t envy him.’ There was dark humour in Ella’s voice. ‘If he is artistic, he won’t be allowed to give any expression to it at Marlborough House.’ She swung her feet to the floor and changed the subject to one that was troubling her. ‘What did you think of Willy having married plain and pious Dona of Schleswig-Holstein?’

‘It came as a surprise.’ May stood up and slid a hand through the crook of Ella’s arm. ‘Did he do it on the rebound?’