He left Alix in a state of great anxiety.
When the Prince heard what was happening he was furious. What angered him most was not the fact that the letters might be published but that Churchill had dared to go to Alix and inflict such agonies upon her. He knew how she would feel and he hated himself for having become involved with Lady Aylesford. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt Alix.
He raved to his friend Lord Charles Beresford.
‘I’ll never speak to Churchill again. I’ll see him hounded out of society. I’ll challenge him to a duel.’
‘Your Highness couldn’t do that,’ put in Beresford.
‘What do you mean I couldn’t do it? I will do it. I’ll have his blood for this.’
‘It would be treason, Your Highness.’
‘Treason. I’d like to see him in the Tower. I’d like to have him before a firing squad. And if I decide to challenge him to a duel I’ll do so, Beresford, remember that.’
The Prince, usually mild-mannered and good-tempered, had inherited a spark of the Queen’s hot temper; and when it was aroused – though it rarely was – it could be alarming.
Lord Charles knew that he had no alternative but to carry the challenge to Churchill.
When he received it Lord Randolph replied that it was absurd. He could not of course accept the challenge. At the same time he had no intention of changing his course of action. If there were divorce proceedings the letters the Prince of Wales had written to Lady Aylesford would be published.
The Queen of course had been informed. As usual when the family was in real trouble she stood firmly behind it. Bertie was the victim of unscrupulous people, she said.
Mr Disraeli was naturally her great comfort.
‘Bertie assures me,’ she told him, ‘that the letters are innocent.’
‘I am sure they are, M’am, but the wrong construction can be put on innocent matters, and people are inclined to believe the worst. His Highness is quite right not to attempt to interfere in Lord Aylesford’s private affairs.’
‘I shall let the Prince know that I believe he has acted rightly, by not allowing this man Churchill to blackmail him – for that’s what it is.’
‘That’s what it is, M’am,’ agreed Disraeli.
‘Perhaps he should delay his return until the unfortunate affair has blown over.’
Disraeli thought that if Aylesford decided to divorce his wife it might be a long time before it blew over; and although it was not right for the Prince to persuade Lord Aylesford not to take divorce proceedings, it might be suitable for someone to do so other than the Prince.
The Queen waited for Disraeli to suggest a name.
‘The Earl of Hardwicke could, I think, be very persuasive.’
The Queen smiled. She could trust her Prime Minister to do everything that was possible.
When Disraeli explained to Lord Hardwicke how important the Aylesford affair was to the Prince of Wales, Hardwicke promised to do his utmost to persuade Aylesford that to continue with the divorce would mean the loss of the Prince’s favour.
The Queen wrote to Bertie that dear Mr Disraeli was dealing with the matter so that he could be assured that the affair was in the best possible hands.
Bertie, however, did not like Disraeli. The Prime Minister was one of those clever fellows, erudite as Bertie could never be, of a literary turn of mind, making constant allusions to classics of which Bertie – who rarely opened a book – was ignorant. Bertie felt he had more in common, oddly enough, with Mr Gladstone.
And now, he supposed, Disraeli was smiling to himself at the thought of the Prince in another scrape.
On his journey home he had heard that the Queen had been proclaimed Empress of India and he considered it a great slight that he had had to discover this through newspapers when he would have thought it would have been the duty of the Cabinet to inform the Prince of Wales before making the news public.
Disraeli had need of all his clever diplomacy to placate the Prince on this issue; and he worked persistently on the Earl of Hardwicke.
Bertie’s feelings on nearing home were apprehensive. He had to face his wife and his mother; strangely enough it was meeting with Alix which alarmed him most.
He wrote to her that he wanted to see her before he saw anyone else and he wanted to see her alone. He must talk to her.
Several members of the royal family had gone to Portsmouth to meet him and Alix arranged that they should all stay behind while she went out and boarded the yacht as it lay off the Needles.
She was greeted fervently by Bertie. He had forgotten how beautiful she was, he told her; he wanted her to know how he had missed her; it was wonderful to be home.
He embraced her almost furtively while he wondered how much she knew about the Aylesford affair.
Alix was so delighted to see him that she could not hide her joy.
‘Bertie, it has been so long! The children are almost wild with joy. They wanted to come out with me but you said come alone.’
‘Yes, Alix. It’s this fellow Churchill. I’ll swear I’ll never speak to him again. I challenged him to a duel, I was so angry. Making insinuations about me. All the time I was thinking of you. I am accustomed to having lies told about me. It’s the effect it has on you that bothers me. That scoundrel came to see you … talking the most ridiculous nonsense.’
Alix sighed, then she was smiling happily. It was so comforting to believe it was nonsense. So she did not ask Bertie the questions he so clearly did not wish to be asked. She could not have this reunion spoiled for anything in the world.
The children were so excited when they went ashore. They jumped all round him, demanding stories about tigers and elephants.
‘Later, later!’ cried Bertie, beaming bonhomie and happiness. How could anyone have wanted to make him anxious when there was so much in life that he enjoyed!
Shortly after his return the Earl of Hardwicke was able to report to the Prime Minister that Lord Aylesford had decided not to divorce his wife. Everyone was relieved – the Prince of Wales more than anyone else. But he refused to receive Randolph Churchill; and as the latter could not be invited to any gathering which the Prince honoured with his presence, and as only such gatherings were considered worth attending, Randolph and his beautiful wife were outcasts.
She was an American so they decided to travel in America for a while; but the Queen did not think this was enough and because the affair had to some extent become public knowledge, it seemed necessary that Churchill should offer a formal apology to the Prince of Wales.
Although the Prince accepted the apology he made it clear, when the Churchills returned to England, that he had no desire for their company.
Chapter XIX
‘THE KISS OF DEATH’
Mr Gladstone was making himself a nuisance to the government. But then didn’t opposition leaders always criticise those who were in power? The Queen would have thought Mr Gladstone would have had more principle; it would have been some compensation for his lack of charm. Mr Disraeli, on whom she was relying more and more, and who never failed to amuse and please her however awkward the matter with which they had to deal, cared passionately for the prestige of England and was determined not only to maintain but increase it. How proud he had been when he had had her proclaimed Empress of India. ‘Victoria Regina et Imperatrix,’ he had announced, making her a sweeping bow; and she could not have been more delighted than he was.