Aunt Louise was seated at one side of the bed and May sat down on the other side, trying hard not to be reminded of the nightmare hours she had spent sitting beside Eddy when he had been dying.

May didn’t know Louise well, for Louise, a talented sculptress, kept herself very much to herself.

Rising to her feet, Louise said, ‘If you want to say a few last words to Mama, it’s no use hoping for a time when her eyes open. My advice is to seize the moment and hope that you get a response when she hears your voice. The nurse will have to stay here with you, but other than that, I’m going to leave you on your own with her for five minutes.’

She left the room and, grateful for Louise’s thoughtfulness, May took one of the Queen’s hands in hers. ‘It’s May, Granny Queen,’ she said, hoping her naturally low-pitched voice would be loud enough to rouse her. ‘I want you to know how very grateful I am for all the things you have done for me, and that I will always strive to live up to your expectations of me.’

There was a long silence and then the Queen said weakly and uncertainly, ‘Is that May Teck?’

‘Yes, Granny. It is.’

The Queen’s eyes fluttered open. ‘Dear May.’ She gave her hand a feeble squeeze. ‘I have been thinking about you while I have been so ill.’ She paused and then said with great effort, her once-silvery voice barely audible, ‘I’ve been thinking how strange it is, our having being born in the same room at Kensington Palace, and in the same bed. It is a connection between us – and I do so believe in mystic connections.’ She paused again and then said, her voice growing fainter, her eyes closing, ‘I am so glad I have been able to tell you how satisfying it is to me that you will one day be Queen.’

Moments later Louise entered the room, ‘Did Mama not wake? Never mind. If she had, she probably wouldn’t have recognized you. There are times when she doesn’t recognize either me or Lenchen.’

May rose to her feet. ‘She did wake. And she did recognize me. All I wanted to say was said, and all she wanted to say to me was said, too.’

When Willy arrived – dressed in the uniform of a British admiral, an honorary position that he took very seriously – he was on his best behaviour. Even the Princess of Wales, who disliked him intensely, could find no fault in him after he had said that he would keep out of everyone’s way, his only wish being to see his grandmother before she died.