The King Without a Heart (7 page)

This made Sophie think about her appearance.

Titania was made to unpack a great number of different hats and dresses as now Sophie was determined to look outstanding when she arrived at the port.

It was planned that the ship should appear at exactly eleven o'clock. Allowing time for it to dock and the gangways to be let down, the welcome should commence at half past eleven.

The Duchess was equally concerned with her own appearance and made nearly as much fuss about it as Sophie.

Nobody gave a thought to what Titania would be wearing for the occasion, but she was thankful that Nanny had insisted on her buying a few pretty and expensive dresses from London.

“First impressions are always important,” her mother had once told her.

Titania therefore put on her best afternoon gown and her prettiest hat trimmed with flowers.

“Do I look alright, Martha?” she asked the Duchess's maid, knowing no one else would be in the slightest interested.

“If you asks me,” replied Martha, “you look too pretty, Miss Titania, for it to please her Ladyship.”

Titania smiled.

“She is quite safe, Martha. I am certainly not in a position to steal her thunder!”

“Now you try and enjoy yourself,” said Martha in a motherly tone, “now you're in a new country. It's a real shame the way they treats you at the Hall and I promised Nanny I'd look after you. So if you're in trouble, you come to me.”

Titania was very touched as she had never thought that Martha took any notice of her. She was always in attendance on her aunt and she had hardly ever spoken to her.

“That is most kind of you, Martha, and as you can guess, I miss Nanny terribly.”

“I knows she'll be missing you too, but equally she'll want you to have a good time. You're too young to be bothering about other people's importance and the way they grab at everything for themselves. It's something your father and mother never did.”

“Thank you for all you have said, Martha. I shall be sorry when you go back to England with Aunt Louise.”

“Well you remember what I've said to you,” continued Martha, “and don't you go making yourself too unhappy because you're in a strange country. It's something your father always enjoyed, although His Grace had a lot of disagreeable things to say about him, because he was travelling round the world instead of staying at home with them lot.”

“To Papa it was always an adventure,” admitted Titania, “and that was what Nanny said I was to make it.”

“Well you never knows what might turn up. Perhaps, although you don't think so now, it'll prove to be a blessing in disguise.”

“I do hope so and thank you for saying all those kind words to me.”

She left the cabin and had no idea that when she was gone Martha shook her head.

‘It's a crying shame,' she said to herself, ‘the way His Grace and her Ladyship treats Miss Titania. But with her looks she should find someone special to comfort her.'

The next morning everyone was up early making ready for their arrival.

The Duchess was giving her daughter instructions as well as finding fault with Titania simply because she felt disagreeable at being out of bed.

Sophie changed her hat half a dozen times.

“I am sure everyone will think you look wonderful,”

Titania told her to cheer her up.

“It's Frederick I am worrying about,” answered Sophie. “After all there must have been dozens of other women longing to marry him and, as Papa says, there are not many young and handsome Crown Princes lying about! Actually, I am rather lucky to have found one.”

Titania had heard stories at Starbrooke that Prince Frederick had originally asked Queen Victoria for an English Princess and the Queen had thought it somewhat presumptuous of him.

“I find it difficult,” she had said to the Duke, who was in attendance, “to find enough Princesses for reigning Monarchs in Europe and a Crown Prince cannot expect, when his brother is so young, ever to be King.”

“That is perfectly true, ma'am,” commented the Duke.

He had then paused before he had added somewhat nervously,

“May I remind you, ma'am, that my daughter Sophie is eighteen and is to be presented to Your Majesty this Season.”

The Queen had stared at him,

“But of course, Duke, you are absolutely right. Prince Frederick would be very lucky to marry into your family, which is one of the oldest in England and I hear that your daughter is very attractive.”

Titania had learnt what had been said from Nanny, who had been told it by Martha as she had heard the Duke telling his wife the story when he returned home.

They had forgotten that Martha was in the room, or what was more likely, Titania thought, had imagined as so many employers did that their servants were blind, deaf and dumb.

The story had of course quickly gone round all the senior servants of the household, who thought that Lady Sophie was very fortunate to make such a brilliant marriage.

Only Titania thought that it was rather sad with Sophie being just second fiddle for a Crown Prince who could not catch a Princess.

Prince Frederick, dressed in a spectacular uniform covered in medals, was waiting for them when the ship came into port.

He was the first person to step aboard and Sophie was waiting for him in the Saloon.

For a few minutes they were allowed to be alone and then they were joined by the Minister of State, the Ladies-in-Waiting and Darius.

The Duchess made an almost dramatic appearance just before they were to go ashore and Titania was allowed to walk behind her.

Prince Frederick kissed the Duchess's hand and gave Titania a slight nod as she curtsied to him.

Then he helped Sophie down the gangway to where the Prime Minister and other dignitaries were waiting to greet her. Only they were allowed near the dais where Sophie was being received.

When they started to drive towards the Palace in open carriages, Titania could see a little of the City for the first time and the people who lived in it.

It was as beautiful as had she expected and the streets were lined with trees in blossom.

The crowds around them were waving the flags of Velidos and the Union Jack and there were children with posies of flowers who ran to give them to Sophie. When the carriages did not move slowly enough, they threw their flowers after them.

The procession was led by a troop of Cavalry and a band on horseback.

It was certainly all very dramatic and Titania was certain it had all been carefully arranged by Prince Frederick himself.

She expected the Palace to look attractive, but it was in fact outstandingly beautiful. It was situated on one side of the City halfway up a small hill and there was a long flight of steps up to it with fountains on either side.

What Titania had not expected but could now see in the distance were lofty mountains, their peaks still white with the snows of winter.

She did not know why, but she had expected Velidos to be a flat country and now she could see the mountains, she realised the country would be even more appealing than she had anticipated.

There was also a profusion of flowers in the Palace gardens and as the trees on the route were in blossom it made the whole drive seem enchanting, especially with the music coming softly from the band riding ahead.

Sophie was in the first carriage with the Crown Prince, the Prime Minister and the Lord Chamberlain, while the Duchess travelled in the second carriage with two dignitaries and the Minister of State who had travelled with them from England.

Titania was left with Darius and the two Ladies-in-Waiting.

“Now,” said Darius to her, “you are seeing Velidos at its best. There are, I am afraid to say, very much poorer parts of the City and the people find it hard to scrape a living.”

“Surely there are products that you make here which could be sold to other countries,” asked Titania.

“It is difficult for us to think what our people can do and nothing grows that is easy to export.”

Darius spoke as if it worried him and then added quickly,

“But of course there is nothing you can do about it, Miss Brooke, and I should not be troubling you or your cousin with such matters.”

By the way he spoke, Titania knew he was thinking it would be quite useless to discuss this subject with Sophie.

She had been aware when Sophie appeared after her seasickness that Darius had looked at her eagerly and had even gone out of his way to talk to her whenever he had an opportunity, but he soon learned that Sophie never listened to anyone unless they were talking about her and her own concerns.

After three or four attempts to tell her about the country where she was to live, Darius had given up.

The procession moved slowly on and Titania could see that many of the children lining the route were poorly dressed. Some wore no shoes and were bare-footed and others had torn and ragged clothes which hardly covered them.

“Are you a poor country?” she asked Darius, thinking it was a question that she should have asked him earlier.

“We never seem to have enough money for our needs, but it is not anything that can be easily changed. I have talked to the King about the problem, but like everyone else he cannot think of anything we can export. We can only just manage to feed ourselves.”

‘There must be something,' Titania thought and wished her father was with her.

She remembered how he had made suggestions to countries they visited about improving their wealth and prosperity and often they had followed his ideas and found them very successful.

She thought that the Crown Prince with German blood in him would be ambitious enough to want Velidos to stand out amongst the other small Balkan States.

However she had gained the distinct impression that he was too busy enjoying himself to worry about the poor and unemployed.

‘Perhaps I am being uncharitable,' she corrected herself, ‘but I fear that Sophie will find him a very self-centred man who will not trouble unduly about anyone except himself.'

At last they reached the Palace and Prince Frederick led Sophie up the long flight of marble steps covered in a bright red carpet with the rest of the procession following closely behind.

Titania found the fountains enchanting and the flowers growing around them were more colourful than anything that could be seen in an English garden.

But when they entered the Palace, Titania was somewhat disappointed.

It had been cleverly sited with a magnificent view over the City and the mountains in the distance, but the furnishings were rather dull and ordinary. There were not the many beautiful pictures and treasures of china and silver that she had anticipated.

She had been in quite a number of Palaces one way or another and most of them, especially those in India, had been filled with treasures that thrilled the eye and which she had often longed to possess.

In contrast this Palace seemed almost austere and then she remembered that the last Queen had been German.

Now she understood that everything she was seeing fulfilled all necessities, but there were no frills or furbelows to delight the mind and the imagination.

The party proceeded to the Throne Room, where a large number of guests had gathered to greet the Royal party.

Prince Frederick took Sophie onto the raised platform in the middle of the room and when everyone was seated, he made a long speech of welcome.

There was nothing very original in what he said, Titania thought. He made it quite plain how clever he had been to win such an important bride from England with the approval and blessing of Her Majesty Queen Victoria.

He next added many flattering words about the Duchess and her aristocratic family and indeed it would have been more appropriate if he had not made it quite so clear that it was he who was bringing them to Velidos. In fact he was expecting Velidos to be very grateful to him.

It was a long speech and, as he droned on and on,

Titania thought he was being extremely tedious, but it was worse still for Sophie who did not understand a word of what he was saying.

It was not surprising that her cousin looked bored and started to fidget towards the end of the speech.

Finally Prince Frederick brought the account of his achievements to an end and he bowed delightedly to the polite applause from his captive audience.

Next the Prime Minister made his speech of welcome and he was followed by several other dignitaries. By this time Titania was feeling really sorry for her cousin.

They were all speaking in a language of which she had only learned two words and these she had already uttered when the child had presented her with a bouquet.

Titania, however, was delighted to find that she could understand everything being said. Even so she considered that the speeches were too solemn and certainly far too long.

At last the interminable speeches came to an end and Titania was wondering what would happen next.

Then there was a fanfare of trumpets, a door opened at the end of the Throne Room and two Equerries appeared.

It was obvious from the fanfare that the King was coming to receive his brother's future wife.

Titania watched eagerly for his appearance.

From the way Darius that had talked about him pouring over his books and having withdrawn himself into a world of his own, she had believed he would be small and rather insignificant.

To her surprise the King was tall, broad-shouldered and very good-looking.

He was dressed in quite a plain uniform in contrast to the Crown Prince's, wearing a white jacket with just two glittering diamond stars on one side of his chest.

As he processed into the Throne Room, the men bowed and the women curtsied and then he stepped up onto the platform.

Prince Frederick introduced him first to Sophie and next to the Duchess, but there was no question of Titania being presented. She was left sitting in the background beside the two elderly Ladies-in-Waiting.