“Aren’t you excited to be going back to Balmoral? I always love it there,” Alix said, when May had settled onto the seat next to her.
“Actually, this will be my first time there.” May tried to hide her annoyance, and embarrassment, but Alix clearly picked up on it and smiled apologetically.
“I hadn’t realized; you and your parents have traveled so much. You’ve been to Italy, haven’t you? I’ve always longed to go.”
Yes, they had been to Italy. That rain-soaked night at Victoria Station had launched the Tecks on several years of wandering, when they’d made their way through Europe like well-bred beggars. They had stayed with Princess Catherine of Württemberg, with May’s awful uncle Willy—and then, in one of Mary Adelaide’s masterstrokes, they had lived for almost two years in Florence without paying a penny in rent. The owner of the villa had evidently loved the thought ofhosting royals, not realizing how tangential the Tecks’ royal status was.
“We lived in Florence for a year and a half,” May agreed.
Alix sighed at the prospect. “That must have been so lovely. Did you see Botticelli’sVenus?”
“Botticelli’sVenusis one of the few lovely thingsaboutFlorence,” May confessed. “I actually found the city rather trying. It was so dirty.”
“Dirty? Really?”
“The river is rancid, there’s trash in the streets, and the Italians all chain-smoked black cigars. Even the women!”
May had expected to shock Alix, but to her surprise the Hessian princess nodded. “The women in Russia smoke too, though cigarettes, not black cigars. The most high-ranking grand duchesses are the worst offenders! Even the tsarina smokes,” she added in a conspiratorial whisper. “I saw her pulling cigarettes from a monogrammed case as carelessly as you or I might pull out a handkerchief!”
“The tsarina?” May repeated, surprised.
“I know! Before my visit to St.Petersburg, I thought only actresses smoked!”
May was surprised to see a glint of amusement in Alix’s eyes. How unexpected, that Alix of Hesse should have a sense of humor. The shock of it made her bark out a laugh.
Then Alix was laughing too, the two of them giggling like a pair of schoolgirls.
Was it possible that they were having fun?
“Tell me more about Balmoral. I really don’t know what to expect,” May admitted.
Alix eagerly began talking, explaining how “Grandmama”often had breakfast served outside near the garden cottage, while a piper marched back and forth playing the bagpipes. Most days a party would go out hunting, while everyone else stayed at the main castle, walking the grounds or catching up on correspondence.
That didn’t sound very promising, at least not in regard to Prince Eddy. How was May supposed to get any time with him if he was out in the woods with a rifle every day?
“What about the evenings? Does Her Majesty do any entertaining?” May pressed.
“Usually just a small dinner. Though I believe Grandmama is hosting a ball for our final night. You did pack your tartan, didn’t you?” Alix added. “We always wear tartans over our gowns at Balmoral, pinned at the shoulder.”
“My tartan?”
“Surely your mother and father have their own plaid? Most branches of the family have designed one at some point….” Alix trailed off, her blue eyes wide with understanding.
Normally, May hated that look. There was nothing she despised more than being pitied. Yet Alix was so obviously guileless that for once May didn’t feel that resentful; she was just weary.
All her hard work getting here, and she would still look like an outsider because she didn’t have aplaid shawl.
“I didn’t pack a tartan. Will I be terribly out of place without one?”
“You can borrow one!” Alix said hastily. “There are always extras of the Stuart tartan in the linen closet at Balmoral. That’s the classic red print.”
“Is that what Her Majesty wears?”
“No, she wears her own personal print, a gray-and-black pattern. The Waleses will all be in it too.”
Great. Now May would look every inch the poor relation—which she was, of course—wearing some drab old tartan that had been sitting in mothballs for the last thirty years.
Her dismay must have shown on her features, because Alix cleared her throat. “You’re welcome to borrow one of mine, if you don’t mind dressing like the Hessian branch of the family.”
