‘I’ll tell you what, Alix,’ he said, ‘you come and watch us. The fresh air will do you good.’
How gay Bertie was! He had forgotten all about the troubles of Schleswig-Holstein. Alix wished that she could throw off her troubles as easily as he could – although of course Schleswig-Holstein was not exactly his trouble, although she was terribly afraid that all was not going well for Denmark.
Bertie was calling wildly to his friends as he slid across the ice. She longed to join them but she was beginning to feel rather sick.
She did not want to spoil Bertie’s game by leaving the scene, so she stood there smiling and applauding and suddenly she was in pain.
She turned to one of the women and said: ‘I think I’ll go back to Frogmore now. It’s a little cold.’
At a break in the game Bertie came to her and composing her features she said that she thought she would return to Frogmore because it was rather cold.
‘It’s beautifully warm,’ said Bertie, glowing from the game; and she smiled at him.
‘It’s colder standing about. I should have been on the ice.’
‘I’m sorry you couldn’t be,’ said Bertie tenderly, but she could see he was longing to join his friends, so she left promptly and went back to the house.
It was fortunate that she did for no sooner had she entered than she was in great pain.
Lady Macclesfield came running to her.
‘Good heavens,’ she cried. ‘It can’t be. It’s two months too soon.’
But it was.
It was fortunate that a sensible woman like Lady Macclesfield was in charge. Her first act was to get Alix to bed and send to the town of Windsor for Dr Brown, a doctor who, because his practice was there, had served the royal family on other occasions. He had become well known because of this and had a good reputation.
At the same time she sent an equerry to the Castle to inform the Queen of what was happening and gave orders that a special train should leave for London to tell the Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Palmerston and the Lord Chamberlain of the baby’s imminent arrival.
Then she went back to Alix, who was in great pain. There was no doubt that the child was about to be born and there was nothing ready for it.
Dr Brown arrived immediately and even so he was only just in time, and he and Lady Macclesfield between them delivered the child. A boy.
There were no clothes ready so Lady Macclesfield took off the flannel petticoat she was wearing, because of the intense cold, and wrapped the little boy in it. Alix was exhausted and the seven-months’ child was naturally rather feeble and would need special care.
It was fortunate that Lord Granville, a member of the Cabinet, happened to be staying at Frogmore, so that Lady Macclesfield was able to present the new baby – wrapped in her petticoat – to him. He was not the Archbishop of Canterbury nor the Prime Minister nor the Lord Chamberlain, whom custom asked should be present at a royal birth, but the circumstances of a seven-months’ child were extenuating and it was decided that Lord Granville would do on this occasion.
The Queen came hurrying over to Frogmore to see her new grandson. Such a feeble little thing, but then she had never liked little babies. And dear sweet Alix, who had had so much anxiety about her parents and that dreadful Schleswig-Holstein affair, was very weak.
Alix began to recover in a few days and holding her baby in her arms she was able to forget for a while the tragic happenings in Denmark.
Vicky wrote from Berlin, very excited by the news. She criticised the parents of the newly born child, though, and hinted that they had brought on the premature birth by their conduct. Bertie’s gay life was talked of freely and it was really rather embarrassing, she pitied poor dear Alix. But Alix herself had not taken proper care; she had kept late nights too and not rested enough. Why, on the very occasion of the birth she had been out skating.
The Queen replied she was pleased to have a grandson and it was amazing that the birth had been all over in an hour. Good Dr Brown from Windsor had done very well and they must be grateful to Lady Macclesfield who, the dear good soul, had done everything that the nurses were trained to do. It was necessary to take the utmost care of the child and keep him in cotton wool. Seven-months’ children were naturally more difficult to rear than those who had enjoyed the full period of gestation. She thought this would be a lesson to Alix and Bertie to take greater care in future.
Settled in at Frogmore the Queen thought longingly of Osborne. She disliked births but felt it her duty to be present. She told Vicky she would have liked to be with her at the birth of her children. She fancied she could be a little comfort to them and it was pleasant to be of some use in the family now that Dearest Papa was no longer there to need her.
She forgot her annoyance with Alix over Schleswig-Holstein because the dear girl looked so pretty in bed and she could always feel lenient towards people at whom it was pleasant to look.
The question of the child’s name arose.
Bertie wanted to call him Victor. It will be a change in the family, he said.
Alix liked it, too.
‘It should be Albert Victor,’ declared the Queen. ‘His grandfather would have been so proud of him, and the least we can do is to keep green the memory of that Dear Being.’
‘Albert Victor,’ said Bertie trying it out.
‘It’s very good,’ said the Queen. ‘And when you are King, Bertie, I wish you to be known as King Albert Edward.’
‘It’s departure from precedent,’ Bertie pointed out, which was irritating because on so many occasions that was just what he was always trying to do.
‘All the same,’ said the Queen, ‘it is what I wish. I want Papa’s name to be perpetuated; and it is a way of reminding people of everything he has done for this country.’
Bertie did not pursue the question. It would probably be a matter for the government to decide when the time came.
In the meantime there was the christening of Albert Victor to be performed. This was to take place at St George’s Chapel with the necessary ceremony due to one who could one day be the King of England. The Queen planted a small evergreen tree at Frogmore in memory of his birth; and so he was christened Albert Victor Christian Edward.
They should have been happy days for Alix, although she was not allowed to see much of her son who was too fragile to lead the life of an ordinary newly born baby. He was small and delicate naturally but he was beautifully and perfectly formed; the doctors said it would only be a matter of time before he caught up on those two months by which he had made his premature appearance. The Queen told her that Vicky wanted to know if he had any hair and nails and what ministers were present at the birth.
‘I could happily tell her,’ the Queen confided to Alix, ‘that he is an adorable little fellow with such beautiful features and pretty ears and hands and that Lord Granville was present.’
Alix felt triumphant. She was not very fond of Vicky, whom she regarded as an enemy; her country was fighting against Denmark and Alix was afraid to ask what was happening for fear it should be too depressing. In any case the Queen had given orders that no one was to mention that dreadful war to Alix while she was lying in.
‘I don’t really care for Mrs Innocent,’ said the Queen, referring to one of the nurses. ‘Dear Lady Macclesfield tells me she is becoming a continual nuisance with her high and mighty airs and seems to think that she should run the nursery. If she continues to behave badly she shall be sent away. But Mrs Clark is good, I believe.’