The Widow of Windsor Page 4

  ‘Do you think Frederick should marry again?’

  The King shook his head. ‘Even so, I don’t think there would be a child. We were talking about Louise. She is astute; she is clever.’

  ‘Louise! How could Louise come into this?’

  ‘You are forgetting that as my sister you are in the line of succession. If Frederick should produce no heirs you could be the Queen of Denmark.’

  ‘I! Oh no, impossible! I should not be fitted for the task.’

  ‘I knew you would say that, Charlotte, and that is why I asked you to come here to discuss this plan of mine. I want you to claim the throne. I want you to be recognised as the heir provided Frederick does not produce a son; then I suggest that you pass your claim to Louise. Louise has a husband. He is not exactly brilliant but he is adequate. He is honest, good-looking and capable. With Louise to guide him he would be a good King.’

  ‘Louise and Christian, Queen and King of Denmark!’

  ‘Why not? I should feel much happier if they were next in succession than I do now with Frederick in that position.’

  Charlotte was thoughtful. She had always said that she did not wish her daughter to degenerate into an ordinary hausfrau; as Queen of Denmark she would hardly do that. One might say she would be ruler of Denmark, because it was certain that she would be the one who guided her husband.

  ‘I see,’ said her brother, ‘that you are not displeased with my idea. Good. I will put it before my ministers.’

  * * *

  Prince Christian rode into the courtyard. It was noon; he always came in at precisely the same time. Louise often said that he was obsessed by time. ‘Punctuality is high on the list of good manners,’ he was fond of declaring. ‘One should never be even one minute late.’

  His custom was to take off his uniform, put on a loose jerkin and go to a room which he called the gymnasium. There at precisely twenty minutes past twelve the children must assemble. He would then conduct physical jerks, which he said must be performed every day and were very necessary to good health.

  Louise, who had been waiting for him, saw him arrive and hurried into the bedroom where he was changing his uniform.

  ‘Christian,’ she said, ‘I must speak to you.’

  He looked at his watch. ‘After the exercises,’ he said. ‘There is no time now.’

  ‘This is more important than the exercises, Christian. My mother called this morning. I have had a very serious talk with her. It concerns our future.’

  Christian paused as he was taking off his coat to look at her and an anxious frown furrowed his brow. He was always afraid that they were going to be turned out of the Yellow Palace and such news could very likely come through Louise’s mother.

  Her next words made him feel that there was some foundation for his misgivings. ‘She came from the King, who is convinced that Frederick cannot produce an heir. On his death the throne will go to my mother and she will renounce it in favour of me.’

  ‘Good God!’

  ‘Yes, Christian, and I am to renounce it in favour of you.’

  ‘Me! King of Denmark!’

  ‘That’s what it would appear.’

  ‘Impossible!’

  ‘No, Christian, quite possible.’

  ‘A penniless, obscure member of the family!’

  ‘You would be neither if you were King.’

  ‘I couldn’t do it.’

  ‘Yes, you could, Christian, because I should be there.’

  He looked at her and smiled slowly. ‘I believe you would be capable of anything.’

  ‘Do you think you would be a worse king than Frederick will be?’

  ‘He’s the King’s son. I’m not.’

  ‘There would be wonderful opportunities for the children.’

  The children.’ Christian looked at his watch.

  ‘It’s all right,’ said Louise calmly. ‘You have ten minutes yet. We have four children – two boys and two girls. What do you think their prospects are going to be in our present circumstances?’

  ‘If they are happy that’s all I shall ask.’

  ‘There is no reason why they shouldn’t be happy and well placed. The two can go together and although in some cases poverty doesn’t prevent happiness, everybody is the better for not having to wonder whether they are going to have the roof over their heads suddenly removed.’

  It was a sobering thought. But King! He was not suited for the role. He didn’t want it. He wanted to go on living quietly with his pleasant little family and his clever Louise.

  His spirits lifted. It was a crazy notion. It would never come to pass. Frederick wouldn’t agree. He would marry and produce an heir. There was no need to worry unduly.

  He looked again at his watch.

  ‘You will get there just in time,’ said Louise with a smile, and as he hastily slipped into his sporting clothes she couldn’t help marvelling at his lack of ambition. But it was gratifying in one way. It showed clearly that he had not married her because of her relationship to the King but because he had fallen in love with her. Wasn’t that better than ambition?

  The children were waiting for him – with one exception. Alix.

  He looked at his watch. It was exactly twenty minutes past twelve.

  ‘Where is your sister?’ he asked.

  Willy said she was coming, she really was. Poor Willy, he always made excuses for Alix. But almost immediately Alix was there, breathless and so pretty that her father’s heart lifted with pride at the sight of her.

  He forced himself to look stern. ‘You are one minute late.’

  ‘Yes, Papa.’

  ‘Why should you be one minute late?’

  ‘Well, Papa, I was playing with my doll and I had to put her away and …’

  Christian shook his head sadly. ‘You must learn to be punctual, my child. It’s not the first time this has happened. If it happens again I shall have to punish you.’

  All the children looked suitably horrified, except Alix who could not believe that dear kind Papa could really punish anybody. Mama could be much more stern.

  ‘Well,’ said Christian, ‘we must waste no more time. Take your place.’

  So Alix stood in line and the children lifted their arms, touched the floor, swung this way and that, skipped and jumped; and it was all very exciting. Even Baby Dagmar did her best to follow them.

  Then Christian stood on his hands and turned a somersault. Let them all try and do that. They did. Alix was best at it.

  She stood on her hands, her skirts fallen over her face, her legs in their pantaloons waving in the air.

  ‘Bravo, Alix!’ cried Christian. ‘Now, you boys, you’re not going to let your sister beat you, are you?’

  So the boys turned their somersaults and it was all very exhilarating.

  ‘Stand at ease,’ commanded Christian, and there they stood, little Dagmar imitating the others, a fine little family.

  What did he want with a crown and the anxieties of government which went with it? This was his little world and he loved it.

  No cause for anxiety, he assured himself. It was a crazy notion which would come to nothing. He thought he was right for when the King put his idea of the succession to his ministers it was shrugged aside and the matter rested there.

  * * *

  There was a new King in Denmark. When King Christian had felt that his end was near he had been right. His son Frederick now ruled Denmark.

  ‘What will become of us now?’ said Louise to her husband. ‘Frederick may well turn us out of the Yellow Palace. Where shall we go? We can of course take refuge in my parents’ home, but I do hope, Christian, that it won’t come to that.’

  The country was in a state of great unrest – nor was it the only one. Revolution was sweeping across Europe. The French monarch was deposed; there was trouble in England where the Chartists were in revolt and there had been an occasion when it was thought they were marching on Buckingham Palace.

  Frederick – not the most att
ractive of monarchs – arrived in Copenhagen. He was no blond Scandinavian giant, but short, plump, hook-nosed and swarthy. His father had divorced his mother and there were rumours that Frederick was not in fact Christian’s son – and it seemed not unlikely for Frederick was the complete antithesis of King Christian. Christian had cared passionately for Denmark; Frederick was indifferent. Christian had refused to grant the country the constitution which all countries were seeking from their kings. What of Frederick?

  At his first council meeting he was bland and careless. The people wanted a constitution? Then certainly they must have a constitution. He would not stand in their way. If by any chance they, like the rest of Europe, were tired of kings they had only to say so. He would retire to his estates in the country; he was quite ready to take on the life of an ordinary nobleman which he assured them was far more comfortable than that of a king.

  Would he marry? they wanted to know. No, he would not marry. Would he give up his mistress? No, he would not do that either. If they wished for a conventional king who would give them their constitution and an heir they had only to say so and he would happily abdicate.

  The people were nonplussed. They had been ready to plunge into revolution, to drive the new King from his newly acquired throne, but how could they when he had no desire to retain it and was ready to save them the trouble of revolution by immediate abdication?

  They were amused. He had promised them their constitution. Let them accept it and with it their new King, who was colourful and made them laugh. They quickly discovered that they were content with their King.

  So, much to the surprise of all those who had feared that Frederick’s accession might precipitate the country into revolution, he became in a few days more popular than his father had ever been.

  The people of Denmark wanted no revolution. They had their new constitution and they wanted Frederick as the King, for it was quite clear that he was going to be a very free and easy monarch with the gift of amusing them by his unconventional behaviour.

  Frederick showed no surprise at their attitude. He settled into the Royal Palace with his ex-midinette and they were often seen strolling along the streets of Copenhagen much to the amusement of the people.

  He quickly realised the anxiety of the family at the Yellow Palace and one day in his unceremonious manner he called.

  Christian was in the middle of giving the gymnastic lesson and the King, having told the servant not to announce him, stood at the door watching them.

  ‘I wish I could do that!’ he cried.

  Christian stood on ceremony; the children were very still.

  ‘No need to stand on ceremony,’ said Frederick.

  But Christian signed to them to bow and curtsey.

  ‘His Majesty has honoured us with a visit,’ he said.

  ‘You’d better call me Uncle Frederick,’ replied the King.

  Louise came hurrying in.

  ‘Your Majesty …’

  Frederick smiled. ‘I wanted to have a talk with you,’ he explained.

  ‘Then if you will come into the drawing-room … They should not have let you come in unannounced.’

  ‘Oh, don’t worry. I’m not used yet to being treated like a king.’

  Christian dismissed the children. Alix took Dagmar by the hand and led her away, the boys following.

  ‘Nice little family,’ said the King. ‘Pretty little girls.’

  Christian and Louise exchanged glances. They couldn’t help wondering whether this visit meant they were going to be told they could no longer have the Yellow Palace. But surely if this had been the case someone else would have told them? But how could they be sure with a king as unconventional as Frederick.

  In the drawing-room Frederick sprawled on the sofa as he spoke, pulling at the place there which Louise herself had darned.

  ‘Don’t imagine,’ he said, ‘that my coming to the throne makes any difference as far as this place is concerned. It’s yours while you want it.’

  The relief was too intense to hide.

  ‘My place in the Guards …’ began Christian.

  ‘You don’t think I want to disband my army and lose my best men,’ said Frederick with a grin. ‘There’s a possibility that you will be heir to the throne, you know.’

  ‘Oh no, Your Majesty will have sons.’

  ‘I think that’s hardly likely. I’d have to find a wife first, wouldn’t I? As a matter of fact I’m going to marry Countess Danner.’ He laughed. ‘You look surprised. Perhaps you know her better as Mademoiselle Louise Rasmussen. I’ve just made her a Countess. But of course they’d call that a morganatic marriage, wouldn’t they, and even if we had children they wouldn’t be allowed to inherit.’ He pointed gleefully at Christian. ‘You may well be for it, my boy. So enjoy your freedom from the affairs of state while you can.’

  A very undignified monarch, thought Louise. When her Christian was King – which he might well be – it would be a very different matter. She was secretly elated because her eldest son Frederick could very likely in due course follow his father and be King of Denmark.

  In the meantime there was nothing to worry about. The country was no longer on the edge of revolution and the new King was even more benevolent than the old.

  * * *

  There was tension throughout the Yellow Palace. Fredy knew why. It was war. He whispered it to Alix in the little room which she shared with Dagmar. Funny Uncle Frederick would put on his beautiful coat with all the gold braid and buttons and the medals and march to war. Papa would go with him because he was a soldier.

  ‘Bang, bang,’ said Fredy. ‘Then Uncle Frederick and Papa will come home and all the bands will play and we’ll stand on the balcony and watch.’

  Alix listened wide-eyed to Fredy’s account of what war meant.

  In the privacy of their room Louise tried to conceal her anxiety even from her husband. Christian, with his particular buoyancy and innocent outlook on life, believed that the war would soon be over. Louise, more realistic, was not so sure.

  She tried to assess what would happen to her family if Frederick was defeated. Also she feared for her husband. Christian, good soldier that he was, had no desire to go to war because it meant leaving his family. His idea of being a soldier was to report to the barracks daily and come home to teach gymnastics and bring his children up with the aid of their clever mother. To leave them now was a tragedy. His great consolation was that they would be in the capable hands of their mother.

  ‘It was bound to come sooner or later,’ said Louise. ‘Schleswig-Holstein has always been a source of anxiety to Denmark. It has been boiling for years.’

  ‘And now, of course, with Frederick’s accession, the Holsteiners have used this as an opportunity.’

  Louise nodded. The position of Schleswig-Holstein, lying to the south of Denmark as a border to the German states, was in itself provocative. The trouble was that while Schleswig was content to be under Danish rule, Holstein was not. The Holsteiners preferred to consider themselves Germans, so there was friction and the Holsteiners were constantly attempting to persuade the people of Schleswig to their way of thinking.

  One member of the royal family of Oldenburg, a branch of the royal family, was the Duke of Augustenburg, who had in fact a claim to the Danish throne. With German support he decided to make a bid for it. Hence the war which had broken out.

  ‘If the people of Holstein should win …’ began Louise.

  ‘That’s impossible,’ declared Christian.

  ‘It’s all very well for you to be loyal to your country,’ said Louise rather impatiently, ‘but what if they get help from some of the German states? Could Denmark stand up against that? And what sort of commander is Frederick going to be?’

  Louise could not bear to think of the defeat of the Danish armies. If Duke Christian of Augustenburg defeated Frederick he would most certainly become at least heir to the Danish throne which would mean that Louise’s husband and her son would be passed over. She
realised how dear that project had become to her since it had been suggested to her by her mother through the last King. There was a more immediate problem. If the war were lost what would become of her family? They would most certainly be turned out of the Yellow Palace and Christian would no longer have a post in the Army.

  It was a gloomy prospect.

  ‘Let us pray,’ she said, ‘that this war will soon be over.’

  The children assembled in the music room while Louise sat at the piano and they all sang hymns. The ‘God help us’ kind of hymns, said Alix to Fredy, which meant that people were frightened because they always asked God’s help then in a special sort of way.

  Their father read to them from the Bible and that too was all about God’s helping them in their battles.

  Fredy had made war sound rather glorious but Alix sensed that her parents’ attitude was rather different.

  Shortly afterwards their father left with the Army.

  ‘I’ll soon be back,’ he told them.

  But the war dragged on, and it was three years before it was over.

  Chapter IV

  A DAZZLING PROSPECT

  Life had gone on much as before in the Yellow Palace. Alix and Dagmar shared an attic room which contained two narrow beds, a chest of drawers and very little room for anything else. There were lessons every day with their mother. Music played a very big part in their lives. Louise played her pianoforte with skill and feeling and she was anxious that the children should do the same. Alix was taught to make her own clothes for they were much too expensive to buy; and as soon as Dagmar was old enough she would learn too. In the meantime she was allowed to watch. Alix had developed a skill in dressmaking which was a pleasure to her mother; she could choose the most becoming colours with ease and had a natural artistic bent. She enjoyed making clothes and when they were completed would like to parade up and down before her brothers and little sister while they applauded.