If Willy was riding high on a wave of elation, the same was true for May. George rarely travelled abroad. As a sailor, he had seen enough of foreign lands to last him a lifetime, but even he had been happy to cross the Channel for Sissy’s wedding. May relished any opportunity for a change of scene – and this change of scene was a very special occasion, for it would be an opportunity to meet lots of family she either rarely saw or hadn’t seen for some time.

Even before she stepped inside the palace she was greeted by more than a dozen of her German relatives, who came chattering and laughing down the palace steps and into the courtyard to greet her carriage. There were Mecklenburg-Strelitz cousins, Württemberg cousins and even a barely remembered Schleswig-Holstein cousin, and there was much kissing on the cheeks and heel-clicking.

That evening at dinner she and George were seated centrally on the top table with Willy and Dona. All in all, it was a dazzling array of European monarchy, and May’s satisfaction at being such a very prominent member of it was deep. It was at moments like this that she remembered how, for her, it could all have been so very, very different.

Willy, who was much enjoying having May seated next to him, dug her in the ribs with his good arm, saying jovially in German, the language they always spoke together, ‘I think we should have a toast to Kindred Spiritship, May.’

‘I quite agree.’ She shot him a warm smile. She had always had a weakness for a handsome man and, for all his faults, Willy was very handsome. As well as his magnificent up-twirling moustaches, his strong, regular features and his still-thick dark hair tamed by Macassar oil, he had a forceful vigour that, when he was at his best, as now, was very attractive.

Nicky’s arrival the next day completed the two-hundred-and-fifty-strong family guest list, and Willy almost immediately took the opportunity for a private conversation with him in regard to the situation in the Balkans. Nicky listened to him with resigned passivity, saying only what he thought Willy wanted to hear. A little later Willy had a similar conversation with Georgie; and afterwards, when Georgie had managed to escape from him, Georgie was able to tell Nicky that Willy believed all three of them were now in complete agreement regarding the Balkan states.

Nicky said that if they were, it was news to him; and the two of them moseyed off to enjoy a game of billiards together and chat about nothing more controversial than whether or not Nicky and his family would be attending the Cowes Regatta in August, aboard their imperial yacht, the Standart.