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Back The Summer Queen
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

‘No,’ Ducky rummaged in the small beaded purse that hung from the waistband of her skirt and withdrew a slim silver cigarette case. ‘My feelings for Kyril have never changed, May. They never will.’ She held out the case so that May could take a Russian Sobranie. ‘He’s always had a pash for me as well, although it’s only since I’ve been married to Ernie that he’s admitted it.’ She lit their cigarettes and blew a plume of smoke skywards. ‘And if he had been quicker off the mark, it really wouldn’t have made much difference – not when the Romanov ban on first-cousin marriage still holds.’

Ever practical, May said, ‘And so what difference would a divorce from Ernie make?’

‘We could marry, if we did so without Nicky’s consent – which he would never give in a million years – and if we did so in a country where first-cousin marriage is allowed, and if we lived as exiles afterwards.’

‘But, Ducky darling, even if you were able to get a divorce without her consent, Granny Queen would never agree to you marrying again!’

‘Perhaps not, but she’s seventy-eight and it can’t be long before Uncle Bertie succeeds her and is King-Emperor. And with Uncle Bertie’s long history of marital infidelity, he’s bound to look at my situation sympathetically. And when he does – and when I have my divorce – Kyril won’t waste his breath asking Nicky if he can marry me. He’ll leave Russia and we will marry in Paris and live happily ever after.’

She stubbed out her cigarette. ‘It’s time I showed my face at Sandringham House – but only because I’d like to catch up with Maudie, who I’m assuming will by now have arrived there from Denmark, in readiness for the Jubilee celebrations.’ Ducky rose to her feet. ‘Is her marriage to Carl of Denmark a happy one? It would be nice to have one cousin – other than yourself, of course – who is happily married, and as her marriage to Carl wasn’t one of Granny Queen’s arranged marriages, I’m assuming it was a love match.’

‘It was. It is. They share the same Danish grandparents, so there has never been a time when they haven’t known each other.’

She began walking Ducky back to York Cottage and the path leading to Sandringham House, vividly remembering Maudie’s happiness when she had confided in her that Cousin Carl had asked for her hand in marriage.