Barbara Cartland: The Lovelight of Apollo

“I asked the Duchess afterwards and she told me that the lady was the Vicar’s wife and she was Greek.”

“Greek?” the Princess exclaimed. “And the girl who looked like me?”

“Her daughter, named Avila, I was informed. I meant to tell you all about it, but I forgot until just now.”

He smiled before he added,

“How can I think of anyone except for you?”

“If she looks like me,” Princess Marigold said, “and, if she has some Greek blood in her, then let us offer to pay her, although, of course, we can put it more politely as a gift, to go to Greece in my place.”

The Prince laughed.

“Now you are Fairy tailing again! I cannot believe for a moment she would be allowed to go or that she could take your place without anyone being aware of it.”

“Then if she takes my place just before I am supposed to step aboard the ship, draped of course in black and her face obscured by a crêpe veil, who is to know?”

“Are you really serious?” Prince Holden asked. “You must be aware that the whole idea is crazy! The Queen would be absolutely furious if she learns of it.”

“ If she learns of it!” the Princess emphasised. “Now, Holden, we have to be clever about this. I know how brilliant you are at organisation. Surely you can organise this for me?”

She paused for a moment before she went on firmly,

“I love you! I love you! To be away from you even for a day is agony. To be gone from you for weeks I think would kill me!”

“My darling, my sweet, how can you say such things?” the Prince asked.

He pulled her close to him.

He would have kissed her again, but the Princess put her fingers over his lips.

“Promise me,” she pleaded, “that you will try really hard to make it possible for me to come with you in your yacht. Promise me.”

The Prince looked down at her and was lost.

Finally he said,

“I promise, but ‒ ”

Whatever he would have said was lost as Princess Marigold was kissing him wildly.

Driving his chaise with Princess Marigold beside him, Prince Holden related,

“We have escaped for the moment and it was just luck that I sat next to the Duchess of Ilchester at dinner last night.”

“I think Fate is on our side,” the Princess replied, “and now we have to persuade this Greek woman that it is advantageous for her daughter to go to Athens in my place.”

The Prince looked serious.

He was thinking privately that it was very unlikely that the Vicar’s wife would agree to anything quite so extraordinary.

What was more, he was certain that their plot would be discovered and Queen Victoria would be furious with them both.

However he knew better than to say so at this particular moment.

As they drove on, Princess Marigold commented,

“It will be wonderful to get away from everything in your yacht. You will have to plan it all out very carefully so that I leave at the same time as the girl goes to Athens.”

Because he was so enjoying being alone with the Princess, Prince Holden did not argue about it and so made no reply.

He had very cleverly arranged that the Lady-in-Waiting should travel in another chaise behind them.

“I am so sorry,” he had said, “but there really is not enough room for three people in the front of this chaise and so I cannot imagine that anyone would want to sit behind us with the groom.”

Because they had left Windsor Castle very early in the morning, there were no Senior Officials about and they had driven off as the Prince had arranged.

The Lady-in-Waiting, Lady Bedstone, came behind them.

The Princess had chosen her carefully because she was old, slightly deaf and delighted to be going to luncheon with the Duke and Duchess of Ilchester.

“I told the Duchess,” the Prince said when he was explaining to the Princess what he had arranged, “that you were longing to see her garden, which I had told you was very beautiful and you also wished to meet and have a talk with the Vicar’s wife if that was at all possible.”

“Was she surprised?” Princess Marigold enquired.

“She was, until I explained that no one in The Castle was Greek and the few who spoke the language did so, in your opinion, very badly.”

“If everything goes the way you have planned it, it will be wonderful!” the Princess said.

She had no idea that Prince Holden had lain awake all through tha night wondering how he could persuade her to change her mind.

He finally decided that he would rely on the Vicar’s wife. He was sure that she would refuse to allow her daughter to take part in a lie by pretending to be the Princess.

Princess Marigold was thrilled, however, at the way everything was going.

She put her hand on the Prince’s knee as she sighed,

“I love you, Holden, and I swear to you that nothing and nobody shall stop us from being married the very day I am out of mourning.”

“If all else fails,” the Prince said blithely, “we will run away together. We can be married in France or anywhere else we go. Then Her Majesty, however important she may be, can do nothing about it whatsoever.”

“I would expect that she will think up some outlandish punishment,” Princess Marigold groaned. “But she will not be able to prevent me from becoming your wife.”

“No one can prevent it!” the Prince asserted.

He was, like Princess Marigold, head-over-heels in love.

He realised, of course, that it would indeed be of tremendous benefit to his Principality to be allied to the British Throne.

He had been attracted by a number of women in the past and they by him.

He had, however, never felt as he felt now. At the same time he was aware that he must keep his head.

He was trying to prevent Princess Marigold from doing something reckless that would incur the legendary wrath of Queen Victoria.

He was well aware that everyone was frightened of Her Majesty and intimidated by her including the Prince of Wales and his siblings.

He had thought at his first interview that she was the most awe-inspiring person he had ever met in the whole of his life.

He knew that his father would be extremely annoyed if the Queen turned her back on him and it would be a catastrophe if he and the Princess were not accepted at Windsor Castle in the future.

But the sun was shining and Princess Marigold loved him!

It seemed impossible at this very moment that the future could be dull and dismal for them both.

They reached the Duke’s house, which was only about six miles from Windsor Castle.

He owned a number of other houses in the London area, but Chester Park was one of the most impressive.

Set in five-thousand acres of land, it had been in the family for centuries and it had been added to by a number of different generations.

As they drove up the drive, Prince Holden thought that it was more of a Palace than a country house.

The Duchess greeted Princess Marigold affectionately, exclaiming as they entered the drawing room,

“It is delightful to see Your Royal Highness and such a lovely surprise.”

“I know your garden is beautiful,” the Princess replied, “and, as I had nothing dull and formal to do today, it was a perfect opportunity to come here with Prince Holden.”

The Prince bowed and then kissed the Duchess’s hand.

When the Duke joined them, they went into the dining room for luncheon.

Half-way through the meal the Duchess declared to Princess Marigold,

“Prince Holden tells me that you wish to speak with Mrs. Grandell, who is Greek.”

“I would love to do so, if it is not too much trouble,” Princess Marigold replied. “I am so frightened that now that Papa and Mama are dead I shall forget my Greek and have to learn it from a book, which is never the same as speaking the language with a native.”