Alice-Miranda at the Palace 11 (8 page)

Alice-Miranda and her friends ran around to the east lawn, where the guests were gathering outside a large open marquee, which was set up with drinks stations and snacks. Although the tent had no exterior walls, it boasted a silk-lined ceiling and crystal chandelier, and long tables laid with crisp linen cloths and fine china.

‘It's a bit better than the tuckshop at our sports days, don't you think?' Millie grinned as she scanned the cupcakes and finger sandwiches on offer.

Alice-Miranda nodded. ‘Everything's so beautiful.'

‘Hello darling,' Cecelia Highton-Smith called to her daughter, beckoning her and the other children over.

‘Hello Mummy. Do you know which team we're on?' Alice-Miranda asked.

Cecelia nodded. ‘Aunty Gee has nabbed Jacinta, Lawrence and Lucas, and you're with Daddy, me and Millie. Sloane and Sep are with Ambrosia and Granny. Charlotte's gone back to feed the babies and have a nap before the ball tonight. The poor girl's exhausted.'

‘Wow!' Millie exclaimed as she surveyed the badminton courts, the croquet and boules greens and the area that had been set aside for French cricket. ‘It does sort of look like the school oval on games day but with way better grass.'

‘And a few dozen priceless statues,' Sloane added.

It seemed the palace staff had also undergone a costume change. They were now dressed in white polo shirts, white shorts and tennis shoes, and each had a whistle around their neck.

Alice-Miranda grinned. ‘Daddy wasn't kidding when he said that Aunty Gee takes the games seriously.'

Mr Langley was now marching about with a clipboard and loudhailer, directing the partygoers to their first contests. He also had a whistle slung around his neck and looked as if there were a million things he would rather have been doing.

Alice-Miranda smiled at Jacinta. ‘I think our teams are playing each other in boules.'

‘You'd better be careful, Jacinta,' Millie warned. ‘You know what happened last time.'

The child pulled a face. ‘Don't remind me – a broken toe and a trip to hospital in Paris.'

‘And missing out on gymnastics for six weeks,' Lucas added.

‘Where's Aunty Gee?' Alice-Miranda asked as her group assembled.

The competition was a round robin and it appeared that Mr Balfour was in charge of time-keeping. He was standing beside a giant clock, which had been wheeled onto the lawn beside the marquee. But unlike the rest of the staff, he was still dressed in his formal work clothes. He blew a shiny silver whistle to commence the games.

‘There she is.' Hugh grinned as he spotted Her Majesty striding towards them wearing long casual pants, a collared shirt and a sunhat
with a peacock-patterned scarf tied around its crown.

‘Sorry, darlings,' the woman puffed. ‘Just some urgent dinner arrangements to attend to.'

Hugh frowned. ‘Did someone burn the pudding?'

‘I jolly well hope not,' Aunty Gee said. ‘I've got Venetia Baldini in charge of the kitchens tonight. It's costing me the annual budget of a small country, so I hope she doesn't mess it up.'

Hugh chuckled. ‘The woman's a genius. We hired her for a corporate do recently and I have to say that she produced one of the best menus I've ever tasted.'

‘Pity about her daughter,' Millie muttered under her breath.

‘I wonder where those grandsons of mine have got to.' The Queen frowned, looking around the park. ‘They were supposed to be playing on Freddy and Elsa's team.'

‘They ran off into the garden ages ago,' Millie said. ‘I don't think they liked us at all. They were trying to start a fight so that Jacinta would have a tantrum.'

Alice-Miranda nudged her friend. ‘I'm sure they weren't really going to start a fight.'

‘Darling girl, there's no need to shield me from
the truth,' Aunty Gee said with a sigh. ‘They are just about the worst-behaved children in the world, and I blame myself for that.'

‘But it can't be your fault that the twins are naughty,' Alice-Miranda replied.

‘I'm afraid it is. You see, Leopold and I indulged their father, letting him get away with far too much, and now he's utterly hopeless with his own brood. The girls are thoroughly spoilt and the twins are horrid. Of course I still love them, even though they drive me to distraction whenever they're about. I can only hope that they may grow out if it at some stage.'

‘Of course they will, Aunty Gee. Freddy didn't turn out too bad, did he?' Hugh said.

Just as the man spoke, a loud shout rang out from the other side of the lawn.

‘I need my sunglasses, Elsa,' Freddy spat. ‘How am I supposed to play properly without them? The glare is in my eyes.'

Millie thought he sounded like a spoilt five-year-old, not the man who was next in line to the throne.

Queen Georgiana sighed and shook her head. ‘What were you saying, Hugh?'

‘His heart's in the right place, Gee. He just needs to toughen up a bit and take some more responsibility.'

‘Perhaps you're right. I haven't really given him a chance to show what he can do,' Gee replied. ‘I  probably should think about retiring sometime soon. I don't want to be forgetting things and spilling my tea, like I did all over the American President last time he popped in for a visit. Poor President Grayson was terribly gracious about it, but I felt a right clod. At least if I'm still alive when Freddy becomes King I can have a guiding influence for a while.'

‘I don't think you need to give up the reins anytime soon, Aunty Gee. Why don't you try delegating Freddy a project or two?' Hugh suggested.

Aunty Gee nodded. ‘You may be onto something, dear. Why don't you do the honours and roll the jack?'

‘Don't we have an umpire?' Millie asked, looking around.

‘We should have. I wonder who's meant to be with us.' The Queen waved to a bald man standing a little way off.

The man hurried over. ‘Yes, Ma'am,' he said uncertainly.

‘Right, you can umpire, Mr …?' Queen Georgiana wondered if she
was
losing her marbles. She
knew all of her staff by name and was horrified to be drawing a blank on this man.

‘Bunyan, Ma'am,' the fellow replied quietly. ‘Frank Bunyan.'

Her Majesty sighed. ‘Oh, that's a relief. Jolly good.'

Alice-Miranda recognised him as the man she'd seen leaving the grotto earlier.

‘Okay, teams, this is Bunyan and he's our umpire for the match,' Queen Georgiana hastily introduced the man.

At the mention of the fellow's name Millie began to giggle.

As always, Jacinta was much less subtle. ‘Bunyan!' she blurted. ‘Is that really your name?'

‘Jacinta!' Alice-Miranda admonished.

‘Sorry,' Jacinta said, suddenly sheepish. ‘It's just that I've never heard anyone called that before and it made me think of Granny's feet.'

Hugh and Lawrence looked at each other and bit back grins.

‘Charming,' Frank Bunyan said tightly. The man turned his attention back to Her Majesty and cleared his throat. ‘Excuse me, Ma'am, have you decided which team is going first?'

‘Hugh was about to roll the jack,' Her Majesty replied.

‘And I presume everyone is familiar with the rules,' Bunyan said.

The group nodded.

‘Well, may the best team win,' Bunyan said with a twitch of his nose.

Hugh picked up the small red ball and bowled it underarm down the pitch. Jacinta waited until it came to a halt, then lined up with a silver ball and readied herself to roll it towards the little red jack.

No one noticed the twins and Caprice hiding behind a large statue of the Venus de Milo on the edge of the lawn.

‘I thought you said we were going to play some games,' Caprice whined.

‘Who'd want to play boring old boules?' Edgar said.

‘Me!' Caprice retorted.

‘We've got something much more fun than that,' Louis said.

‘Yeah, watch this,' Edgar said with a grin. He had hold of a remote control unit which looked as if it operated a toy helicopter.

‘What are you doing?' Caprice asked, poking her head out and looking across the lawn to where the games were taking place.

The boy waggled his eyebrows. ‘You'll see.'

Jacinta lunged forward and rolled the first silver ball. It curved inwards and stopped about a metre from the red jack.

Her Majesty clapped. ‘Well done, dear.'

Jacinta spun around and grinned widely.

‘Great work,' Lucas and his father both said at the same time. ‘Snap!'

The handsome pair smiled and sent hearts fluttering all over the garden.

It was Alice-Miranda's turn next. Her ball headed right for the jack when, all of a sudden, the little red orb seemed to develop a mind of its own and rolled off to the left, away from the target.

Millie squinted. ‘I didn't think you hit that.'

Alice-Miranda shrugged. ‘I must have.'

Frank Bunyan, who was keeping a close eye on the proceedings, scratched his head.

Lawrence Ridley was up next. ‘Aunty Gee, I know you have high expectations but I'm not an expert at this,' the man said as he leaned forward and released the ball.

It wobbled down the pitch and came to rest between Jacinta and Alice-Miranda's balls. Just as Hugh was about to congratulate his brother-in-law on a good first effort, the jack rolled away to the right.

‘What?' Hugh frowned. ‘How did that happen?'

Lawrence grinned. ‘The pitch must have some run on it.'

‘I'd be surprised about that. Mr Budd prides himself on his level lawns,' Aunty Gee said.

A loud snort of laughter rang out from somewhere close by.

‘Aunty Gee, it's your turn,' Alice-Miranda said, but Her Majesty seemed lost in her own thoughts. ‘Aunty Gee?'

The old woman jerked back to reality. ‘Sorry, dear, what's that?'

‘Are you all right, Aunty Gee? You look a bit pale,' Cecelia said with concern. ‘Would you like me to organise a cup of tea?'

‘Sorry, dear,' the Queen replied. ‘There's something I wanted to ask you.'

‘Of course, what is it?' Cecelia said.

‘I've been thinking it's a little bit … stingy of me to invite the children to stay for less than two days. There's so much more to see and do, so if I may, I'd love to keep them for another week. Perhaps longer?'

The girls' eyes grew wide.

‘Oh, Aunty Gee, that's terribly kind but we don't want to put you out,' Cecelia said, glancing uncertainly at Hugh. This all seemed rather out of the blue. ‘And I'm not sure what everyone has planned for the holidays.'

‘Nothing!' Millie piped up. ‘Nothing at all. Daddy's busy on the farm and Mummy's got loads of work to do, so I'm sure they wouldn't mind if we stayed another week.'

Alice-Miranda jigged up and down on the spot. ‘I'd love to stay if it's all right with Mummy and Daddy.'

‘Are you sure, Aunty Gee?' Hugh asked. ‘You do realise that you could end up with all six of them here with you?'

‘Hugh, look at the place. I wouldn't mind if I
had an extra sixty people here,' Her Majesty replied. ‘Besides, we have excellent security and loads of helpers to look out for the children.'

‘Security?' Hugh repeated. ‘Is there a problem, Aunty Gee?'

‘Oh, silly me. I meant to say “staff” – like Bunyan here. I'm afraid I don't know where my brain is today,' Her Majesty said, shaking her head.

Frank Bunyan's lip twitched and he gave Her Majesty the slightest of nods.

‘We'll have to call the children's parents,' Cecelia said, ‘but I can't imagine they'd say no.'

Alice-Miranda leapt into the air and hugged Millie tightly. ‘We'll get to see the hunting tower after all!'

‘Well, that's settled.' Queen Georgiana breathed a loud sigh and her cheeks took on a rosy glow. ‘Why don't you go and check with Ambrosia and call Sloane and Sep's parents so I can have everything sorted?'