‘What a politician you are.’
‘I need to be. Don’t forget we have our own destinies.’
Christian frowned slightly. How much more peaceful if they had been able to go on living at the Yellow Palace and the girls could have married local noblemen. But for Alix to go right away to England and Dagmar to Russia … How could he be pleased about that!
Louise had a quiet talk with Alix in the latter’s new room at the Yellow Palace.
‘You love your room to yourself,’ said Louise with a smile.
‘Oh yes, Mama, I do. It’s not as though Dagmar is far away.’
‘And, my dear, have you thought that soon you may not be needing this room?’
‘You mean I shall go away.’
‘If you go to England and marry.’
Alix blushed.
‘My dearest child, do you love the Prince of Wales?’
‘I … I don’t know.’
‘If I were to tell you you were to prepare to leave for England tomorrow how would you feel?’
‘If he really loved me … I should be happy. I should be miserable, though, if it were arranged … just because it was suitable.’
‘So if he loved you … you could love him.’
‘Yes, Mama.’
That was good enough; Louise could tell Christian that he need have no qualms.
Christian was pleased when he heard this.
‘Nothing should stand in their way, I suppose,’ he said.
But still there was no news from England.
Princess Alice was married to Prince Louis of Hesse-Darmstadt and by all accounts the ceremony had been more like a funeral than a wedding, with the Queen brooding over them all in her widow’s weeds.
The Queen of England, deprived of the presence of that Beloved Being, had no heart for anything but mourning.
But there were forces at work. The world must go on even though the Prince Consort was dead. Leopold of the Belgians who was watching events in Europe, and particularly in England and Prussia, with very special interest, was determined that the match between Alix and Bertie should take place.
He wrote to the Queen and told her that it was necessary for the Prince of Wales to marry and the Princess of Denmark seemed the ideal match. He would arrange a meeting between the Queen on one side and Alix and her parents on the other. And this meeting should take place at Leopold’s Laeken Palace.
The Queen rather reluctantly agreed.
Alix and her parents were to have a little holiday in Belgium and while they were at Ostend they would go to Brussels and perhaps stay for a day or so as the guests of King Leopold at the Laeken Palace.
Alix was warned by her mother. ‘The Queen is on a pilgrimage to Coburg where the Prince Consort was born; she will be at Laeken and is anxious to meet you. You will have to be very careful for they say she is very stricken by the death of the Prince.’
Alix was uneasy because it was clear that her parents were too. She had been surprised that a young man whom she had met only twice could have made such a deep impression on her; she had tried not to think too much of him because she had quickly realised that the marriage had not yet been finally decided on; and the more she thought of it, the more inclined she was to think it might never take place. After all, who was she? The eldest daughter of the heir to the throne of Denmark it was true, but Denmark was a small country and they were poor and had led rather simple lives. She had heard that Bertie was carrying out a tour of the Far East which had been planned before his father had died. ‘The Queen is anxious that everything the Prince planned before his death should be put into effect,’ her mother told her. But her mother was uneasy and she wondered why.
They told her so little. For instance, in the first place they had said they were going on a holiday to Belgium, and Uncle Leopold had invited them to Laeken. They did not say that she was to be there on approval as it were, as the Queen was going to inspect her – for that was what it amounted to.
If the Queen did not like her, then everything would be forgotten. That possibility made her unhappy, which showed that she was in love – or ready to be. When one was young and inexperienced it was difficult to understand one’s feelings entirely.
They spent a few days in Ostend and all the time they were thinking of the trip to Laeken. Alix was right when she guessed that her parents were uneasy. There had been rumours about a certain affair at the Curragh Camp in which the Prince of Wales had been involved. Christian thought that the Prince was perhaps inclined to be immoral.
Louise tried to excuse him. ‘He is young. Most young men indulge in these adventures in their youth. As long as he settles down when he is married all will be well.’
‘As long as he doesn’t make our Alix unhappy,’ agreed Christian.
‘He seemed fond of her.’
‘Perhaps he is fond of all good-looking girls.’
‘Which is natural.’
‘But I fancy she is more fond of him than he of her.’
‘Well, he appears to be a young man who likes a little gaiety. He may not show his feelings as readily as a young and innocent girl does.’
Christian smiled fondly at his wife. ‘Oh, you are a statesman, Louise. More than I shall ever be. You are determined to make the best of this marriage.’
‘Make the best of it! Why, if it came about Alix would have made the most brilliant marriage in Europe.’
‘Only if she were happy,’ reiterated Christian.
And so they talked and the time had come to make the journey to Laeken Palace.
Chapter V
THE QUEEN AND ALIX
Shrouded in her widow’s weeds, the Queen arrived at Laeken.
She threw herself into Leopold’s arms and burst into tears.
‘My dearest Uncle,’ she sobbed, ‘you see the most desolate creature in the world.’
‘My precious child,’ soothed Leopold, ‘I understand. I have suffered myself.’
‘Darling Aunt Louise,’ murmured the Queen, but nothing of course could compare with the loss of That Saint. ‘A year ago he was with us … I had no idea … Oh, Uncle.’
Lenchen whispered: ‘Bear up, Mama,’ and she looked at her sister Louise and sighed. Afterwards she said that she wanted to remind Mama – if it could have been possible to make such an observation, which of course it wasn’t – that they had come to discuss a wedding not a death.
Leopold led the Queen to the room which had been prepared for her and all the time she was weeping and talking of the perfections of her beloved Albert.
The Queen retired to her room and said that she would take her meals there in solitude.
‘The Christians will be here tomorrow for luncheon,’ Leopold reminded her. ‘And they are bringing Alexandra with them.’
The Queen nodded without much interest. ‘I find it hard to consider a wedding at such a time,’ she told Leopold. ‘What a sad occasion Alice’s was! And how different it might have been! As for Bertie … I can scarcely bear to think of him. When I think of that angel’s going to Cambridge in that bitter weather and catching his death …’
The Queen broke down again. But she did brighten up a little when she heard that Walpurga Paget was joining them at Laeken. Walpurga had been loud in her praises of Alexandra and had played quite a large part in bringing Alix to the notice of the British royal family. So it seemed fitting that Walpurga should be present. Moreover the Queen had always liked her. Wally was a born gossip and so at heart was Victoria; it was only because Albert deplored the habit that she had succeeded in hiding her love of it.
The next morning Leopold was eagerly making his preparations. He was very anxious for the marriage to take place and he was delighted that it should be he who had arranged the meeting. He was going to do everything he could to get the betrothal formally settled. It was a little depressing that the Queen made such a show of nursing her grief. A little solemnity yes, a little wiping of the eyes, a very proper expression of grief, all that was permissible, and moreover necessary, but the Queen’s attitude was positively morbid.