‘Yes. I understand.’ Her mouth was dry, her heart thumping with shock. A world without Granny Queen was unimaginable. Her indomitable presence and loving concern had been a comfort to her for as long as she could remember. Even when, eighteen years ago, Victoria had insisted that her parents leave the country in order to live more cheaply abroad, it had been a banishment made out of loving concern.

Hard on the heels of the grief she knew she would soon be feeling came the realization of how much change would come, if Granny Queen really was dying. For on her death, Bertie would become King; he and Motherdear would move from Marlborough House into Buckingham Palace; and George would be the heir apparent.

The biggest change of all, however, would be becoming accustomed to a world in which there would no longer be a short, squat figure in black silk tapping with her stick down royal corridors, and ruling an empire and a family that straddled every European royal court, and to whom she, May, owed everything. Without Granny Queen having taken an interest in her, she would still be an unmarriageable Serene Highness, facing a future of Needlework Guild charity work and being an aunt to Dolly and Margaret’s children, and any children Frank and Alge might one day have.

The Queen had transformed her life by seeing qualities in her that no one else had seen. Identifying May’s potential, she had decided that she would one day be England’s Queen Consort.

From behind his desk George stumbled to his feet, distraught. ‘How will the family manage without her, May? His protuberant blue eyes were full of tears. ‘How will the country manage? How will the Empire manage?’

It was bitterly cold crossing the Solent, and by the time they arrived at Osborne House, snow was falling.

‘She’s still with us, thank God,’ Louis of Battenberg said to George as he and May stepped into the house, ‘but the doctors say there is little hope. Aunt Lenchen and Aunt Louise have been supervising her care over the last few days and are with her now. Aunt Vicky has been informed, but she’s so ill she can’t possibly travel all the way from Germany. My Vicky is here, of course. Alicky has been informed, but because she’s pregnant she can’t travel. Uncle Arthur Connaught was in Berlin, attending an anniversary celebration of the Prussian Crown, but left immediately he was telegrammed and is expected to arrive soon, which means that five out of six of Granny Queen’s surviving children will be with her before the end. Willy is also on his way – much to your father’s exasperation. It means he’s going to have to leave Osborne and return to London in order to greet him.’