With Victoria's Blessing Page 4

The opportunity was heaven-sent and Emily found herself confiding everything. It was only when she finished, she realised she perhaps should not have been so forthright.

  ‘Your mama must surely know what is best for you, Emily.’

  ‘Yes, Your Majesty,’ she said dolefully. ‘But I love him so very much.’

  ‘Ah, that is important, I agree.’ She paused. ‘I think I will speak to the countess about her reasons for withholding her consent.’

  ‘They are on the grounds of his inferior rank, Your Majesty.’

  ‘Quite.’ Victoria smiled again. ‘That can be a stumbling block, but the higher in rank one is, the harder it is to find an equal, and I do not think it is as important as some would believe. It depends on the qualities of the gentleman in question and, of course, we cannot know that. He would need someone to speak for him.’

  ‘Yes, Your Majesty.’

  Emily could not believe she was having this conversation or that the queen would be so sympathetic. She wondered what her mother would say when she learned of it. The countess was being kept very busy with the final arrangements and Emily had seen little of her, but it was unlikely the queen would speak to her before Saturday, even if she remembered. And then there was the honeymoon afterwards. It sounded as if Her Majesty was offering her hope, but Emily was realist enough to know that the chances of anything coming from it were slim. But she could still dream.

  Chapter Eight

  Saturday dawned to pouring rain and strong winds, but the crowd were not to be deterred and early that morning began gathering in their thousands all along the route from Buckingham Palace to the garden entrance to St James’s Palace. Unlike previous monarchs who had married at night to avoid the crowds, Victoria relished them and the wedding was set for one o’clock in the afternoon in the Chapel Royal. Those invited to the ceremony took their places long before that.

  The cheers of the crowd grew louder as the carriage containing Prince Albert and his father and brother neared St James’s. The queen had made him a field marshall the day before, and invested him with the Order of the Garter. He arrived dressed in a field marshall’s uniform with white satin bows on his epaulettes and the emblem of the Order across his chest. He was a handsome man, and many were the sighs of envy of the queen. His quiet dignity commended him to the nobility, who were in their places ahead of him, arrayed in all the colours of the rainbow, wearing whatever decorations they were entitled to. He kissed the hand of the queen dowager and took his place at the altar to await the arrival of the bride.

  The queen’s procession left Buckingham Palace at midday, with the queen, her mother and Lady Sutherland, the Mistress of the Wardrobe, in the golden state coach, followed by her attendants in a fleet of carriages. Emily, in one of the last ones with three other maids of honour, remembered the rehearsal she had watched with Richard. Never, in her wildest dreams, had she imagined she would be part of it. All along the route the crowd cheered and waved flags, the cold rain notwithstanding.

  When they arrived the queen’s procession formed up to make its way to the chapel, preceded by trumpeters, members of the royal family and officers of the royal household. At last the speculation about what the bride would wear was answered. There was no cloth of gold, no silver, no crimson velvet or royal purple, no ermine. The tiny figure was all in white. Her gown was of ivory silk-satin trimmed with yards and yards of elaborately designed lace on the skirt and sleeves. It had a V-shaped waist and a full pleated skirt. Her headdress was a simple circlet of orange blossom with a lace veil. She wore the Star of the Order of the Garter. Her jewellery was a diamond necklace, diamond earrings and a beautiful sapphire brooch which Albert had given her as a wedding gift the previous evening. The very simplicity of her attire made her stand out, in spite of her small stature. There was a concerted sigh of admiration from everyone as she moved through the crowded corridors and anterooms to the chapel, followed by her twelve bridesmaids, also in white silk, holding up her train. Behind them came the Ladies of the Bedchamber and, after them, the eight maids of honour.

  The galleries and seats in the chapel were filled with nobility, resplendent and glittering with jewels. Emily was hardly aware of them. She was concentrating on the simple ceremony—a bride and groom being joined in holy matrimony—and she wished she was standing at the altar with Richard by her side, giving the responses as Victoria and Albert were doing. She found her eyes filling with tears and resolutely blinked them away.

  After the ceremony the royal couple went off to sign the register, while the whole procession went into reverse for the journey back to the palace. It was as she was climbing into the carriage that Emily saw Richard. He was standing right in front of the crowd, tall and upright. She could not go to him, could not even acknowledge him, but her joy lit her face when she saw him smiling at her, conveying in the warmth of it that he had not given her up. She sat back in her seat with a sigh, not exactly of happiness, but perhaps of hope. If she could not hope, what was there to live for? Tomorrow she would have another try at persuading her mother. Surely, surely, she would not continue to refuse her daughter’s dearest wish?

  The crowds were still cheering when the royal couple returned to Buckingham Palace for the wedding breakfast, and again hours later when the queen and her new husband set out for Windsor Castle, where they were to spend a few days’ honeymoon. Longer than that the queen would not allow away from affairs of state.

  It was all over; the great day had come and gone and on the whole it had passed off smoothly in spite of the dismal weather. The countess’s tour of duty was over until the next time, and Emily had been given leave while the queen was at Windsor. They were both free to go home. The family carriage was to fetch them next day.

  She lay awake that night going over her arguments again and again, one of which was the queen’s comment: ‘The higher in rank one is, the harder it is to find an equal, and I do not think it is as important as some would believe. It depends on the qualities of the gentleman in question.’ Surely that would sway her mother, especially as she knew very well the queen could and would overrule her if she so chose.

  Her sleepless night meant she slept late and it was her mother’s maid who woke her to tell her she was wanted in the countess’s room and to make haste with her toilette.

  Half an hour later she made her way to her mother’s room and was astonished to find the room full of people, and more astonishing still was that one of them was Richard. It looked very much as if her disobedience had been found out, and not only was she in for a scolding, so was Richard. And it wasn’t his fault. She looked about her, prepared to defend him in spite of the odds stacked against her. Both her parents were standing by the hearth. A portly man with a round red face and a full beard rose from a chair at her entrance, as did another man in clerical clothes, who bore an uncanny likeness to Richard. On the sofa sat a plump, middle-aged woman with bright blue eyes; she turned towards Emily and looked her up and down with undisguised curiosity. Surely this pair must be Richard’s parents?

  ‘Emily,’ her father began. ‘This is Baron Mingen.’ He indicated the man beside him. ‘He is Lieutenant Lawrence’s uncle by marriage. Baron, my daughter, Lady Emily.’

  Emily curtsied and her father went on with the introductions. ‘The Reverend Mr Lawrence and Mrs Lawrence, the lieutenant’s parents.’ Emily curtsied again, wishing they would get on with it. The suspense was making her heart beat uncomfortably fast and she was shaking all over.

  She turned back to her father. ‘They have come because the lieutenant has something particular to ask you,’ he went on. ‘He has requested and been given permission to pay his addresses to you.’

  ‘He has?’ She could hardly believe her ears. ‘But…’ She turned towards Richard. He was grinning foolishly, though he did not speak.

  ‘Yes,’ her father went on. ‘Do you wish to receive him?’

  ‘Oh, yes, yes,’ she said, relaxing at last, though she had no idea how this great change had come abo
ut.

  ‘Then I suggest you go into the next room and listen to what he has to say. We will wait here for you.’

  Richard held out his hand and she moved forward to take it, so that he could lead her into her mother’s dressing room. All her mother’s clothes had been packed away to be taken back to Upper Brook Street and the room had been tidied in readiness for its next occupant. Emily hardly noticed this as he shut the door and turned towards her. She had eyes only for him.

  ‘Richard, how—’ She was stopped from saying more because Richard had taken her in his arms and was kissing her soundly on the mouth. Her queries were set aside in the pleasure of this new sensation and it was some time before both came up for air and then they were laughing delightedly.

  ‘Richard, how did it come about?’ she asked at last. ‘I was forbidden to speak to you or communicate with you in any way and a wedding between us was out of the question according to Mama.’

  ‘I know. It is all down to my German uncle. You remember I told you my aunt Matilda had married a German baron. Well, that is Baron Mingen. He is part of Prince Albert’s entourage and when I was talking to Prince Albert—’

  ‘You were talking to the prince?’ Emily echoed in surprise

  ‘Yes, we had a long conversation while we were crossing the Channel and he asked me all about myself and I told him about you. He sent for Baron Mingen before he left Dover and introduced us and I told him about our dilemma. And so after the royal wedding was over, he spoke to Prince Albert, who spoke to the queen, who gave her consent for us to wed. My parents were already in town to view the wedding procession and they and the baron met the earl and countess.…’

  ‘And all of that changed Mama’s mind. Oh, I cannot believe it is true. Kiss me again, so that I might know it is.’

  He obliged with alacrity. ‘Baron Mingen is standing my sponsor,’ he said when they drew breath. ‘He and my aunt had no children and apparently I am his heir, though I never knew it. And I have been granted the promotion I need and will soon be appointed to my own ship.’ He laughed suddenly. ‘You are looking at Captain Richard Lawrence.’

  ‘It is no more than you deserve.’

  He hugged her to him and kissed her again. And again. And again. ‘So how do you feel about becoming Mrs Richard Lawrence?’ he asked.

  ‘It feels wonderful. Oh, Richard, I can hardly believe it. Yesterday I was so miserable. The queen was having a lovely day and marrying her own choice of husband, so why couldn’t I? And now it has happened. God bless the queen.’

  ‘And Prince Albert.’ He smiled and kissed her forehead and the end of her nose. ‘Shall we go and tell everyone the good news?’

  They returned to the countess’s sitting room, where Emily was hugged and kissed by everyone and a bottle of champagne was opened for a toast. After that they settled down to discuss the wedding arrangements. An Easter wedding, they decided, and Richard’s father would marry them at St George’s. The bride would not go to her wedding in a golden coach with trumpets and fanfares and cheering crowds, but she would travel in an open landau, given away by her father and attended by Constance in pink. As for the gown, Emily thought the queen’s choice of white had been a very happy one and she would wear white too. She was brimming with tearful happiness and could not help constantly looking at her future groom. No one, not even Queen Victoria, could be happier than she was, she decided, smiling at Richard and reaching for his hand.

  Author Note

  When I was asked to write a short story around a royal wedding for this book, I chose that of Victoria and Albert. Before that royal weddings tended to be political affairs, and to some extent so was Victoria’s, but it was also a love match—as is evident from her diaries. Nevertheless, she was well aware of her status as monarch, and Albert had to tread very carefully to stamp his own personality on the reign—which he managed to do very successfully, so that Victoria and Albert have become forever inseparably linked in people’s minds. Theirs was a true love story. Emily and Richard are fictitious characters, but I like to think their love endures as long.

  Mary Nichols

  On April 29th 2011 the world will be waiting with bated breath for Prince William and Kate Middleton to say ‘I do’!

  The bells at Westminster Abbey are chiming, the carriage is waiting and THE dress has finally been unveiled… So join Her Majesty by dusting off your best hat as you prepare for the wedding of the decade!

  To celebrate this historic event, Mills & Boon have created a special ebook collection:

  Royal Weddings

  …through the ages

  Read about the future king’s ancestors and the people who helped bring their special days together.

  7 couples, 7 marriages, 7 stories for you to enjoy!

  What the Duchess Wants by Terri Brisbin

  Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine and Henry of Anjou (future Henry II), 1152

  Lionheart’s Bride by Michelle Willingham

  King Richard and Princess Berengaria, 1191

  Prince Charming in Disguise by Bronwyn Scott

  Prince George and Caroline of Ansbach, 1704

  A Princely Dilemma by Elizabeth Rolls

  George, Prince of Wales (future Prince Regent/George IV) and Princess Caroline of Brunswick, 1795

  The Problem with Josephine by Lucy Ashford

  Napoleon and Archduchess Marie-Louise of Austria, 1810

  Princess Charlotte’s Choice by Ann Lethbridge

  Princess Charlotte and Prince Leopold, 1816

  With Victoria’s Blessing by Mary Nichols

  Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, 1840

  So if you can’t wait until the 29th for your royal wedding fix…download one now!

  Born in Singapore, Mary Nichols came to England when she was three, and has spent most of her life in different parts of East Anglia. She has been a radiographer, school secretary, information officer and industrial editor, as well as a writer. She has three grown-up children, and four grandchildren.

  Look for:

  Lord Portman’s Troublesome Wife*

  April 2011

  Sir Ashley’s Mettlesome Match*

  May 2011

  Available from Harlequin® Historical and

  MARY NICHOLS

  The Incomparable Countess #156

  Lady Lavinia’s Match #163

  A Lady of Consequence #169

  Mistress of Madderlea #177

  The Hemingford Scandal #196

  Marrying Miss Hemingford #199

  Bachelor Duke #204

  Dear Deceiver #213

  An Unusual Bequest #218

  The Reluctant Escort #226

  Talk of the Ton #236

  Working Man, Society Bride #244

  A Desirable Husband #251

  Runaway Miss #262

  Rags-to-Riches Bride #270

  The Earl and the Hoyden #281

  Honorable Doctor, Improper Arrangement #288

  *The Captain’s Mysterious Lady #302

  *The Viscount’s Unconventional Bride #304

  ISBN: 978-1-4592-0421-8

  With Victoria’s Blessing

  Copyright © 2011 by Mary Nichols

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  *The Piccadilly Gentlemen’s Club