A Coronation of Love E-Book

Barbara Cartland

• Herausgeber: Barbara Cartland Ebooks Ltd
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Serie: The Eternal Collection
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 170

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

An innocent eighteen-year-old English Beauty Aldrina becomes reluctant Queen of the sun-kissed Aegean land of Saria after an arranged marriage to a dying King… Now her husband's dead, an evil, depraved Prince lusts relentlessly after her Throne – and her body… Fleeing to an isolated "Fairytale Palace" by the sea, she meets a Greek God in human form as she helps him haul his boat ashore. And this impossibly handsome stranger – the Apollo to Aldrina's Aphrodite – changes her life forever…

Leseprobe

Author’s Note

There are millions of Gypsies wandering about the world and they have an important part to play in the history of civilisation.

The Gypsies came originally from India and a great number of words in their language, which is called “Romany” are of Indian origin.

The majority of the Gypsy legends describe them as smiths of various kinds, as well as workers in iron, gold, bronze and precious stones.

I have seen the Kalderash in India, sitting at the sides of the roads with their black tents, the women wearing an enormous number of beautiful bracelets set with jewels as their men hammer away at various metals.

One Gypsiologist said,

“It seems certain that it was the Gypsies who made bronze known in Europe.”

He cites the fact that some excavations along the Baltic have brought to light weapons and pieces of jewellery ornamented with the swastika which is known to be of Indian origin.

According to tradition of the Kalderash Gypsies, some groups of Gypsies, who were smiths responsible for the maintenance of working stock, followed the Tartar armies on their moves from place to place.

One of the legends of this group even specifies that by way of gain, they had the right to collect everything that remained in the villages after a week of pillage.

One of the great authorities, MacMunn, says,

“The Bohemians of Europe, without any doubt, followed the armies of the Huns, Tartars and Seljuks and our own Gypsies who work in metals and grind our knives certainly sharpened swords and blades for the armies who traversed Europe in every sense.

Romany Gypsies, wherever they go, still have the dark hair, the dark eyes, and the slightly dark skin which makes one sure that they came from the East.”

They have been persecuted in almost every European country.

They arrived in England at the time of Henry VIII and at one time they were moved every twenty-four hours by the Police.

This went on until I had the Law changed in 1964 so that every Gypsy child could go to school.

It was a bitter battle that lasted for three years, until in 1964 the Home Secretary, Sir Keith Joseph, wrote to me and said that I had won my battle.

He had issued an edict that every Local Authority must provide camps for their own Gypsies.

Now thousands and thousands of Gypsy children go to school and in my County, which is Hertfordshire, there are fourteen camps and I have my own camp, which I set up for just one family of Romanies the year that the law was altered.

chapter one ~ 1887

Queen Aldrina of Saria wanted to scream.

She had hoped that the almost hour-long dissertation from the Prime Minister had come to an end.

But just as she was hoping she would be able to go out into the sunshine, he started again.

He was talking of matters concerning that of which she had no knowledge.

She had to clench her fingers to prevent herself from stopping him from saying any more.

She thought that no one could be so dull for so long, nor say so much without imparting any information that was of the least interest.

At last the Prime Minister was saying,

“That is my opinion. Your Majesty.”

The Queen was just about to say that this had ended the Privy Council, when the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs rose.

“I think, Your Majesty,” he said, “we should make it quite clear in some way or another, without being aggressive, that we strongly disapprove of the behaviour of Prince Terome of Xanthe.”

“Why?” the Queen asked.

“Because, Your Majesty, the Prince is behaving in the most outrageous fashion and it would be a great mistake for our country to ignore it, or to appear indifferent to the things that are happening in Xanthe.”

“What things?” the Queen asked.

It was the first time anything had been said that morning which sounded in the least bit interesting.

The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs coughed and looked uncomfortable.

“There are things, Your Majesty,” he said, “that are impossible to explain to you.”

“Because I am half-witted?” the Queen asked. “Or merely because I am a woman?”

The Privy Counsellors sat up at the way she spoke and looked at her reproachfully.

She was well aware the majority of them, who were all over fifty, regretted that a woman should be ruling the country.

But there was nothing they could do about it.

The Queen had been sent at the age of eighteen, by Queen Victoria to Saria.

It was considered important by the British Government that any country with a coastline on the Aegean Sea should have British support.

Aldrina had come to be the bride of the King.

She had been very frightened at leaving England and everything that was familiar.

At the same time, it was exciting to think that she would reign in a country, however small.

It was also, she knew, near Greece.

The Greek legends and the history of Ancient Greece had been one of her favourite interests ever since she was small.

But when she reached Saria, she found everything was very different from what she had expected.

First of all, there was no ardent bridegroom to meet her as the battleship docked in the small port that served the whole country.

She was informed by the Prime Minister and other Ministers of State that His Majesty was indisposed.

They hoped, however, that it was only for a short time.

Their hopes were not to be realised.

Because the doctors considered the King to be in a precarious state of health, Aldrina was married to him at his bedside.

Then she was told that she must act as Queen of Saria until he was well enough to take his place at her side.

She was extremely disappointed at not being able to wear her elaborate and very expensive wedding-gown.

It had been provided for her by Queen Victoria because she was Her Majesty’s God-daughter.

The Queen was well aware it would be impossible for Aldrina’s mother, who was very poor, to provide a suitable trousseau for a reigning Queen.

For the first time in her life she had lovely gowns, exquisite under linen, trimmed with lace, and hats she had never dreamed of possessing.

Aldrina had, however, given less thought to the fact that marriage must also involve a bridegroom.

She would have a man to guide, protect and make love to her.

She was not certain what this entailed.

She was very innocent and had no knowledge of men.

She and her mother had lived very quietly in a Grace and Favour apartment in Hampton Court Palace.

The only men she met were aged Ambassadors and retired Generals and Admirals.

But everything became exciting from the moment Queen Victoria told her she was to be married to a King.

There were the shops in Bond Street to visit.

She had in the past only been able to stare at their windows.

They explained to her how she must uphold the importance of Britain in her new country.

Her mother’s few friends sent letters of congratulation and wedding presents.

It was only when Aldrina was sailing through the Mediterranean that she began to wonder seriously what her bridegroom would look like.

She had been told, of course, that he was not a young man.

He had outlived two wives, neither of whom had provided him with an heir to the throne.

She thought that because he was of Greek origin, he would be tall and handsome, with dark hair and dark eyes.

Doubtless he would resemble the Greek Gods who had figured in her dreams ever since she had first read about them.

Reality had been very different.

When she was taken to meet the man she was to marry, she found that he was bald-headed, with just a few white hairs.

His face was deeply lined and he spoke in a gruff, hesitating voice.

He did not apologise for his disability.

He merely ordered his Ministers who had accompanied Aldrina to the bedside to get on with the wedding and be quick about it.

“If you do not hurry,” he said harshly, “you will have that young swine Prince Inigo taking my place and, God knows, you do not want him!”

There was a murmur of assent from the Ministers.

Aldrina was informed that the marriage would take place in two days’ time.

The appearance of her bridegroom was such a shock that she was thankful there was no question of his making love to her.

He merely growled out his responses during the Marriage Ceremony.

He then closed his eyes and said he wanted to go to sleep.

It was three weeks before he died.

Aldrina paid him, every day, a dutiful visit, during which he said very little to her.

She was intelligent enough to realise that the King had wanted another wife only to give him an heir.

As, however, he was now incapable of leaving his bed, she was no longer of any consequence to him.

What she did find frightening was that when he died, she was told she had to reign over Saria in his place.

She had not the slightest idea how to go about it.

It was, however, something that need not have worried her.

From the moment she woke in the morning to the time she went to bed, there were always people to tell her what to do and more people to make sure she did it.

What she had not expected was the way Prince Inigo presented himself.

He demanded to see her the day after the King’s Funeral.

It had been a very impressive ceremony and the streets were lined with mourners.

The Funeral procession was nearly a mile long/ and the flags were at half-mast.

The band played a “Death March” all the way to the Cathedral.

After the long-drawn-out ceremony the King was buried in a Royal vault.

The Queen was driven back to the Palace.

Dressed in her widow’s weeds with a dark veil over her face, she could look out at the people without being noticed.

They were not aware that she was curious.

On her return to the Palace, she was forced to listen to long speeches of condolence.

It was over two hours before she could go to her own apartments.

Even then there were two Ladies-in-Waiting with her.

Both of them sniffled into their handkerchiefs’ because they thought it was expected of them.

It irritated Aldrina to find that the only time she could be alone was when she retired for the night.

It was a surprise and almost a relief when she was told that the Prince Inigo wished to see her.

She had learned that he had attended the Funeral.

But amongst a variety of men in uniform she was unable to pick out which one he was.

Now, as she saw him come into her private sitting room in his ordinary clothes, she was disappointed.

She had been hoping after the King’s remarks about him that he would be somewhat nearer to her own age.

A quick glance told her that the Prince must be almost forty.

Although he was tall and dark, he was by no means handsome, nor had he any resemblance to the Greek Gods of her dreams.

His face was debauched and there were heavy lines under his eyes.

There was a sharpness in the way he spoke that she disliked.

She was also certain that the expression in his eyes was hostile.

However, he bowed to her politely and when she invited him to be seated, he sat in a chair near to hers.

“I suppose, ma’am,” he said, speaking in a hard, quick manner, as if he wished to get on with it, “you have heard about me?”

“Very little,” Aldrina replied, “but then, I have been in Saria only a very short time.”

“It is, of course,” the Prince said, “a grave mistake on my cousin’s part to have married you in that absurd way on his death bed.”

Aldrina thought his manner was somewhat rude and she replied a little hesitatingly,

“I – I am sure His Majesty – did not realise how – ill he was when – he sent his Ambassador – to Queen Victoria to ask – for his Bride.”

The Prince snorted. There was no other word for it.

“Saria does not need the help of the British,” he said firmly. “We are perfectly secure, and it is all nonsense to believe that the Russians, or anyone else, may attack us.”

“I understood,” Aldrina replied, “that they have already invaded countries to the North of us.”

“We are in the South!” the Prince snapped. “I do not believe half the things I hear.”

There seemed to be no answer to that.

Aldrina sat silent until the Prince said,

“You must be aware what is the right thing for you to do now, considering you have come so far to wave the Union Jack.”

“I – I do not – understand,” Aldrina answered.

“I should have thought that the Prime Minister, or one of those stupid old men in the Privy Council, would have informed you that it is your duty to marry me!”

Aldrina stiffened and stared at him in astonishment.

She had thought when he entered the room that he was not a very pleasant man.

Now she was quite certain he was extremely unpleasant, and abominably rude.

For a moment she felt frightened.

Then she remembered that, after all, she was the Queen.

Slowly she rose to her feet.

“I think, Your Royal Highness,” she said, “you have forgotten that I am in mourning for my husband. No question of my remarrying can arise for at least a year.”

With that she walked from the room.

The door opened before she reached it.

An aide-de-camp, who had been waiting outside had undoubtedly, she thought, been listening.

She was certain that their conversation would be relayed immediately to the Prime Minister.

No more than an hour after the Prince had left, the Prime Minister begged an audience with her.

By this time she had recovered her composure from the uncomfortable encounter with the Prince.

She therefore said before he could speak,

“I cannot understand. Prime Minister, why you did not tell me that Prince Inigo wishes to reign in the King’s place.”

It was not difficult to deduce that this was why he was demanding she should marry him.

It had been confirmed when she had enquired of one of her Ladies-in-Waiting, an elderly Baroness, as to what was Prince Inigo’s position in the country.

“He was Heir Presumptive to His Late Majesty, ma’am,” the Baroness explained, “if he did not produce a son or have a wife.”

Aldrina already knew why she had been married with such haste.

Her late husband, who had not even kissed her, had disliked the Prince as much as she did.

There was no doubt either about the Prime Minister’s feelings.

He put it very tactfully.

“His Royal Highness, ma’am, has never been popular with the people and, although I should not speak of it to you, he has been involved in many scandals which upset His Late Majesty. It made him say to me over and over again, ‘Prince Inigo must not be allowed to sit on the throne.”

Aldrina thought that settled the problem of Prince Inigo.

She had, however, reckoned without him.

He called the following day with a bouquet of flowers for her.

He also made a fulsome apology for having upset her.

“I assure you,” he said in an ingratiating tone, “that I had no wish to do so. In fact, I really wanted to tell you that I am overwhelmed by your beauty and charm.”

He smiled and then continued,

“My only desire is to help you as much as I can in ruling over my country, to which I am devoted.”

This was a very different approach, but Aldrina was not deceived.

When she looked into his eyes, she realised they were hard.

There was no doubt in her mind that in the very last days of the King’s life, Prince Inigo had been frustrated in his ambition to succeed him.

It was almost impossible to stop the Prince from wooing her.

The Prime Minister and the Privy Council as well as the other Statesmen might dislike him, yet he was still a member of the Royal Family.

There was nothing, therefore, that anybody could do to stop him from calling at the Palace.

Aldrina tried every possible way to avoid seeing him.

But nothing would stop him from insisting on an audience.

He could invite himself to luncheon or dinner.

He could insist on being present on every State occasion.

The Prime Minister had drawn up for Aldrina a programme that would enable her to get to know the people of the City.

Then there was the country itself.

There were schools and hospitals to visit, speeches to be made in public buildings.

There was a constant stream of deputations asking to be received.

On every occasion, it seemed, Prince Inigo turned up.

He would be magnificently attired in the uniform of a Field Marshal, to which he was not in fact entitled.

Covered in decorations and wearing a plumed hat, he could not be ignored.

He waved to the crowd, although they seemed indifferent.

He managed to stand as near to Aldrina as possible.

Finally, she told the Prime Minister that she found the Prince’s presence intolerable.

Something must be done about it, she insisted.

The Prime Minister, who was an elderly man, made a helpless gesture with his hands.

“I do not have due authority, ma’am.”

“Why not?” Aldrina enquired.

“Because, ma’am, His Royal Highness is not actually doing anything wrong. He says he is helping you, though we all know what the ulterior motive is behind such attention.”

The Prime Minister glanced at the Queen to see if she understood what he insinuated.

“I suppose – Prime Minister,” she said, “you realise that Prince Inigo – is determined to marry me?”

The Prime Minister’s expression was one of relief that he did not have to explain this to her.

“That is very obvious, ma’am,” he replied, “and I only hope you do not think it is something that our people desire – or our country needs.”

“I have told His Royal Highness on frequent occasions that it is wrong and tactless of him to raise such a matter when I am still in mourning for the King. But who can say what will happen before – the year is ended.”

The Prime Minister looked worried.

It flashed through Aldrina’s mind that the consequences were unthinkable.

The Prince might find some method of forcing her to marry him, however hard she tried to prevent it.

After a long pause the Prime Minister said,

“I will consider this matter carefully, Your Majesty, and perhaps I and my colleagues can come up with a solution to the problem.”

Aldrina realised without his saying anymore that he was not very confident there would be one.

She had read a great deal of history.

She could remember occasions when ambitious men had forced themselves upon women who were not strong enough to resist them.

They had been forced to capitulate, in some cases into what was nothing more than a condition of slavery.

‘What – can I do? What can – I do?’ she asked. She was aware that the Prince’s visits were becoming more and more frequent.

She could feel the threat behind the compliment-strewn manner in which he addressed her.

She was thinking of Prince Inigo now when the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs was speaking of Prince Terome.

“What is wrong with the Prince?” she asked bluntly.

The Foreign Secretary hesitated for a moment before he said,

“His Royal Highness does not really concern us, as his country is on the far side of the River Leeka. But there are, I understand, things taking place in Xanthe which might give rise to a revolution.”

He paused and then said,

“This would undoubtedly be brought to the attention of the Russians. It could give them an excuse to invade the country to maintain order.”

Aldrina had heard this argument before.

It was the fear of every small Balkan country that the Russians would invade them, ostensibly to ensure that they governed themselves competently.

“What does the Prince do?” she persisted.

The Foreign Secretary looked helplessly at his colleagues.

“As I have said, ma’am,” he replied, “the country is badly ruled, for the King does not keep a firm hand on what is occurring.”