The Queen of Hearts E-Book

Barbara Cartland

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

Seitenzahl: 180

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

Zelie and Sola are identical twins. Impossibly beautiful and impossible to tell apart, but only to the eye. Because, while the 'word on the street' is that spoilt, fickle and flirtatious Zelie is a little devil and they say that demure and thoughtful Sola is an angel by comparison. Zelie dreams of marrying a King and the riches that will bring. But Sola only craves the pure and enduring love her mother and father found and always treasured. Just when Zelie's dream comes true, Fate steps in and forces Sola to take her sister's place, at first reluctantly and then wholeheartedly marrying the King of Arramia to save his people from Revolution and bloodshed. But how can Sola ever be happy finding love at such a cost to her twin and under false pretences until death do they part?

Leseprobe

Authors Note

Many of the great inventions in use today date from the reign of Queen Victoria in the nineteenth century.

The first real bicycle was made by Kirkpatrick Macmillan of Dumfriesshire in 1839 and was the first to be propelled without the rider’s feet touching the ground.

But the bicycle became the means of conveyance for millions of people in 1885, when it was manufactured by Starley of Coventry with wheels of equal diameter and pneumatic tyres, supplied by Dunlop.

In 1847 a train ran between London and Birmingham at a top speed of 75 m.p.h. The first typewriter was used in 1867, the telephone in 1876 and the phonograph in 1877.

As early as 1894 there was a device not unlike today’s hang-gliders and it was reported that ‘gliding through the air might become a sport someday comparable with cycling.’

Chapter One ~ 1876

“I have found a King for you,” the Grand Duke Boris announced at the breakfast table.

His daughter, Zelie, looked up at him expectantly.

“Who is it?” she enquired.

“It has not been in any way easy,” her father replied. “As you well know, Kings who are marriageable are rare in this part of the world and I had almost given up any hope of finding one.”

He stopped as if waiting for a round of applause.

Then, as neither of his twin daughters said anything, he went on,

“I have now, however, a letter from the Prime Minister of Arramia saying that King Ivan has agreed to an important strategic marriage to link our two countries together.”

“King Ivan!” Princess Zelie exclaimed. “Who on earth is he?”

Zelie was the Grand Duke’s elder daughter by five minutes. She had been protesting over and over again for the past year that she should be married.

As she sat opposite him at breakfast with her sister, Sola, beside her, any observer would have found it incredible to see two beautiful girls who were so alike.

It was usual for twins to resemble each other, but then the two Princesses were identical in every particular.

That was to say, outwardly.

Inwardly they were the exact opposite of one another.

Princess Zelie had come into the world first and never let her father or her sister forget it.

She was ambitious and very determined that she would be a Queen.

She had made no secret of the fact that she resented her father’s country being very small although it was very beautiful.

On the borders of Romania and Bessarabia, Kessell had kept its independence simply because the Grand Duke was Russian.

An uncle of the previous Czar, he was an excelent if autocratic figure.

He invariably had his own way, except for where his daughter, Zelie, was concerned.

The family always said that it was Zelie who resembled him while Sola was exactly like her mother, who had been English.

The Grand Duchess had died two years before and at first the Grand Duke had been very heartbroken.

Then he had found several charming ladies in the vicinity of The Palace to console him.

He ruled his country with an iron hand in a velvet glove.

The same applied to The Palace and its occupants, except in the case of his daughter Zelie.

“I am nearly twenty, Papa,” she had said not once but almost a dozen times a day, “and it is time you did your duty and found me a very suitable husband.”

“It is not easy, I have told you already, it is not at all easy,” the Grand Duke would say.

“I can hardly remain here an old maid for the rest of my life!” Zelie complained. “There is nothing to do here and the men who you invite to The Palace usually have one foot in the grave.”

This was unfair, but Zelie used any weapon available to attack her father on this subject that was so close to her heart.

The Grand Duke looked wistfully at his daughter, Sola, as he wondered yet again why the twins were so different in every way.

Sola never complained about anything and was in fact perfectly happy.

She rode The Palace horses and her father had a magnificent stableful of thoroughbreds, most of them coming from Hungary.

She was content to wander through the woods and gardens, talking in her soft voice to the people who worked in them.

They adored her, as the Grand Duke was fully aware, in the same way as they had adored her mother.

“I would suppose it is because you have English blood in you that you are happy in the country,” he often said reflectively, “while your sister longs to travel to the Capitals of other Nations.”

“I love being here in The Palace with you, Papa,” Sola would reply.

She too had to listen to her twin sister moaning that they should go to Vienna or visit the King of Rumania on a State Visit.

Alternatively, if her father had any sense, they would visit Paris or St. Petersburg.

“Why should we be stuck in this hole,” Zelie asked furiously, “with nothing to do and no one to admire us?”

There were, in point of fact, quite a number of people who admired them very much.

But Sola knew that her sister wanted men, handsome dashing men, with whom to dance, to pay her compliments and, if they were Royal, to marry her.

The main difficulty was that the Grand Duke did not count as being of much importance amongst the Sovereigns of Europe.

They were very intent on marrying the daughters of neighbouring Kings or, better still, a relative of the all-powerful, all-important Queen Victoria of England.

The Grand Duchess had been a very distant cousin of Queen Victoria and this was why the Grand Duke had been allowed to marry her.

As he had fallen deeply in love with her, he had been determined to do so even if it had meant a morganatic marriage to a commoner.

Fortunately, however, Queen Victoria gave them her blessing.

They were blissfully happy in their small Principality, which was, as Zelie had once said scornfully, no bigger than the Isle of Wight.

Now at last, after so much nagging, the Grand Duke had found a King for Zelie.

“He does not sound very important to me!” Zelie was now saying.

She had her arms on the breakfast table and her face was resting on her hands.

Looking at her the Grand Duke thought that it was impossible for anyone not to think that she was exquisitely lovely.

The King, he thought, should be excessively grateful for having her as his wife.

He was well aware, however, that the dowry that he would give her would not equal that which was expected from Sovereigns of larger and more powerful countries.

“I have never met King Ivan,” he said now, “but I hear he is a handsome and intelligent young man. His Kingdom, as you ought to know, if you have done your geography properly, is small but important as it lies between Albania and Greece and has helped to ensure the independence of both countries.”

“I cannot believe it is very large,” Zelie commented, “or I should easily remember seeing it on the map.”

“Shall I go and fetch one?” Sola asked quietly.

“There is no hurry,” Zelie answered. “Let Papa tell us what else he knows about this obscure King.”

The Grand Duke hesitated.

“The Chancellor,” he said after a moment’s pause, “was in Arramia last year. It was he who discussed with their Prime Minister the possibility of a marriage tie between our two countries.”

“Last year!” Zelie exclaimed, “They have taken a long time in making up their minds!”

Watching her father, Sola felt that he was keeping something back from her sister.

Finally to help him, she came in,

“I have read about Arramia and I believe it is beautiful with high mountains and valleys like Albania, but only on a smaller scale. There was, I believe, at one time talk of there being a Revolution, which was settled when King Ivan came to the Throne.”

The Grand Duke smiled at Sola,

“You are very well-informed, my dear.”

“You know, Papa, I have always been interested in the history of the countries in our part of Europe and I have always been afraid that the smaller ones might be swallowed up either by the Russian Czar or by the Ottoman Empire.”

“You are quite right,” the Grand Duke answered, “and it is most intelligent of you. Zelie must make certain that Arramia retains its independence and its King and Queen take their rightful place among all the other Royalties of Europe.”

“That is exactly what I want to do,” Zelie said, “although I would rather have had a much more significant King to marry!”

She sighed before she went on,

“Why, oh, why did the King of Rumania have to be already married, besides the King of Serbia, the King of Montenegro and the King of Greece?”

The family had heard all this endlessly before and the Grand Duke now declared,

“Well, now you have your King, the next thing you have to do is to go and meet him.”

Zelie sat upright.

“You mean he is not coming here?”

“I am told it is impossible for him to leave his country at the moment. Therefore we will pay him a State Visit and at the end of which it will be announced that you have fallen in love with each other and are to be married.”

As this all sounded impressive, Zelie was for the moment silenced.

Then she stated,

“One thing is certain, I shall need plenty of new clothes.”

“Of course, of course!” her father agreed. “You can send for the best dressmakers from the City.”

“From the City?” Zelie shrieked. “You don’t imagine, Papa, they could possibly make me a trousseau worth having! I shall have to go to Vienna, unless you feel more inclined to send me to Paris for the most fashionable trousseau.”

“There will be no time for either,” the Grand Duke said with satisfaction. “We leave for Arramia in ten days’ time,”

Zelie gave a cry of horror.

“I have to be ready by then? But, Papa, it is just impossible!”

“Then you will just have to tell King Ivan you have changed your mind or have had a better offer,” the Grand Duke suggested impatiently.

He then rose quickly from the breakfast table, as if he had had enough of his daughter’s complaints and moans.

He next put his hand on Sola’s shoulder, saying,

“Come and help me with my orchids, my dear. I think that the new one that comes from Nepal is coming into bud at any moment.”

“Oh, Papa, how exciting!” Sola answered enthusiastically.

She jumped up from the table and was about to follow her father from the room when Zelie called out,

“I need you to help me, Sola, unless I am to go to Arramia half-naked!”

Sola smiled.

“I think that is unlikely. You already have so many lovely gowns and Madame Blanc is very skilful. Her gowns really do have a Parisian style and elegance about them.”

Zelie looked appeased.

“I suppose you are right,” she said. “Mama always thought that she was very expensive, but Papa will have to put up with that.”

“I am sure he will want you to look your loveliest, dearest,” Sola said, “which, of course, you will.”

She was about to follow her father when Zelie said,

“A King is a King, whether he is big or small, so I suppose I shall have to be grateful for small mercies.”

“We have not yet seen him,” Sola pointed out, “but I have always heard that he is very handsome.”

Zelie was looking at herself intensely in one of the long gold-framed mirrors in The Palace ballroom.

“Do you think we will be described in the Press as the ‘Most handsome Royal Couple in the World’?” she asked.

“I am sure that you will be,” Sola said, “and you will look very lovely in your Wedding gown with Mama’s tiara on your veil.”

“Mama’s tiara is all right for a ball,” Zelie retorted, “but it is far too small for a Wedding at which I should imagine I will be crowned the Queen.”

She took another long look at herself in the mirror and then went on,

“If the King has nothing bigger and better in his safe, I shall feel I have been defrauded.”

Sola did not wait to say anything more to her sister.

She hurried after her father. She was as excited as he was at the idea of seeing in bloom a rare orchid that had been sent to him the previous year from his horticulturist friend in Nepal.

She could not help at the same time feeling extremely grateful that at last, after so much complaining and hassle, her sister was to be married. And to a King!

Zelie had talked of nothing else since she was eighteen.

It had been a nightmare last year when she had reiterated over and over again that a King must be found for her.

Sola now hurried into the Orchid House that adjoined the Orangery.

She found her father gazing in delight at the very small bud that had appeared among the orchid’s leaves.

“By tomorrow,” he said as his daughter joined him, “we will know exactly what species of orchid it is and if its name and picture will go into my book.”

“It is thrilling, Papa,” Sola replied, “but I still think it is extraordinary that it was sent to you without a name.”

“It has certainly made us curious, has it not?” the Grand Duke remarked. “Well, that is two good things that have happened today. I wonder what will be the third?”

Sola laughed.

“It was clever of you to find King Ivan for Zelie,” she told him in a low voice.

“I can assure you it was very difficult,” the Grand Duke replied. “Between ourselves, I understand from the Chancellor that His Majesty was determined not to be married and would not listen to his Cabinet, who begged him to do so and produce an heir to his Throne as soon as possible.”

Sola looked at her father in some consternation.

“Are you saying, Papa, that he has no wish to marry Zelie?”

“For Heaven’s sake, don’t tell her so,” the Grand Duke replied, “but I understand that his Prime Minister and the Members of the Cabinet practically had to go down on their knees and beseech him to accept the Chancellor’s suggestion of marriage.”

Sola gave a little sigh.

“Oh, Papa, how can Zelie possibly be happy in such circumstances? Surely it would be better if she waited and you found her somebody else?”

“Do not put that idea into her head,” the Grand Duke exclaimed. “I really have had a desperate time searching the map of the world in order to find a King for your sister and, I assure you that this is the only one available.”

His voice hardened as he added,

“If he is a reluctant bridegroom, it is up to her to make him change his mind.”

Sola did not speak as she knew only too well how difficult her sister could be if she did not always get her own way.

As if the Grand Duke knew what she was thinking, he touched tenderly the soft curls of her fair hair. They were an exact replica of her mother’s.

“You are a great comfort to me, Sola,” he said, “and I cannot help feeling that we will be much happier together without your sister’s copious complaints that she will end up an old maid!”

Sola turned and kissed her father’s hand.

“I love you, Papa,” she said, “and you have been very very good to us both since Mama died.”

The Grand Duke turned away.

It always hurt him to talk about his wife,

Every time he looked at his daughters, they made it impossible for him to forget her.

She had been very lovely and exactly, her admirers always said, like an ‘English Rose’.

She had fair hair, blue eyes and a perfect pink-and-white complexion.

It was rather strange that neither of the girls had taken after their father.

The Grand Duke’s only son, Alexander, was the living image of him.

Alexander, however, although he might look Russian, was in many ways very English.

He had gone to a top English Public School and was now completing his second year of studies at Cambridge University.

His father was justifiably proud of him and both his sisters adored him.

But they had seen little of him this last year since, intent on his exams, he had not come home for the vacations.

“You must write to Alexander about this and tell him the whole story,” Sola suggested.

“Of course,” the Grand Duke agreed. “I am sure he will be pleased. Zelie was beginning to wail about not being married last year when Alexander was at home.”

“Why do you have to go to Arramia in such a hurry?” Sola next asked.

The Grand Duke hesitated for a moment before he told her the truth.

“I do think,” he said, “that the Prime Minister and his Cabinet are terrified that the King will change his mind. Therefore the sooner he has irrevocably committed himself the better.”

What her father said made Sola give a little laugh.

Then, with a change of tone, she said,

“Oh, poor Zelie! It all sounds to me horrible and unnatural. I would not want to marry anyone, Papa, unless I was really over the moon in love with him.”

Her father put his arm round her shoulder.

“Perhaps you will be as fortunate as your mother and I were,” he said. “I fell in love with her at a State Ball in Buckingham Palace. The moment I saw her I said to myself,

‘That is her, the girl I want to marry’.”

He paused as if he was remembering the ecstasy of that moment.

“And when she met me,” he went on, “she said she knew that I was her Fate and she was only desperately afraid that I would come back here and forget her.”

“Instead of which,” Sola said, who knew the story backwards anyway, “you rushed to St. Petersburg to seek permission from the Czar.”

“That was hair-raising, if anything was!” the Grand Duke answered her. “Yet because I emphasised your mother’s connection with Queen Victoria, he consented without any delay.”

“And you have lived happily ever after!” Sola cried. “Oh, Papa, that is what I want too. So please don’t bother to search for a husband for me. If Fate is on my side, we shall meet somehow somewhere and so there will be no need for consultations between Prime Ministers and Officials. We will have found each other.”

She spoke in a dreamy voice that her father very moving.

The Grand Duke stayed still and did not answer.

He merely drew her towards the doors of the Orchid House.

“I have a Deputation upstairs waiting to speak to me,” he said, “and so you had better go and help your sister as she will need you, I suspect, rather urgently.”

“Yes, of course, Papa.”

Sols ran along the Orangery and then back into The Palace.

She knew that Zelie would be in her bedroom, looking at plies of fashionable clothes.

When she arrived, Zelie, as she expected, was already wringing her hands dramatically and saying unoriginally that she had not a thing to wear.

‘Nonsense, my dearest,” Sola said in a practical tone. “You have that lovely gown you bought for that ball at Easter. You also have the two afternoon dresses that Madame Blanc assured us were the very latest models from Paris. You know you look perfectly enchanting in both of them.”

Zelie looked again at them and sounded appeased.

“I suppose they will pass,” she conceded. “Anyway, I don’t suppose that the people in Arramia will know whether anything comes from Paris or from Timbuktu!”

Sola thought it was a mistake to start disparaging the people she was to reign over before she had even met them.

“I am sure that the Arramians will admire you whatever you wear,” she said, “but, if they have not travelled, the King will have, so you must look your most beautiful for him.”

“If you ask me,” Zelie said, “I think I am being duped. If Arramia, as I suspect, is about the size of this country, there will not be very much to reign over.”

“It is larger than that and much more important. Besides, I have always heard that the people are charming, good-looking and very friendly,” Sola tried to appease her.

This was a slight exaggeration for she really knew very little about Arramia.

At the same time she knew that it was essential for Zelie to think that she was going to be happy in this country.

“I tell you what I will do, Zelie,” she said. “I will search through the library to find books on Arramia. While you are fitting the clothes that Madame Blanc will bring here, I will read them to you.”

Zelie did not seem to be very elated by the idea.

“All right,” she said, “but all I want to know is if there are any big Cities in the country and if there are grand theatres and places that I can visit as Queen and if their Palace is large and well-furnished.”

“I think the Chancellor can tell you about that better than I can,” Sola said. “After all he has been there.”

“I don’t think that stupid old man has a single imaginative idea in the whole of his bald head!” Zelie retorted. “If he had anything to tell me, he would take hours to do so and make even Heaven sound a somewhat shabby place!”

Sola laughed.

“Oh, Zelie, you are unkind,” she protested. “I find the old man rather pleasant and he is very kind to his children.”