Winter of the World

London was preparing for war. Barrage balloons floated over the city at a height of two thousand feet, to impede bombers. In case that failed, sandbags were stacked outside important buildings. Alternate kerbstones had been painted white, for the benefit of drivers in the blackout, which had begun yesterday. There were white stripes on large trees, street statues, and other obstacles that might cause accidents.

Princess Bea welcomed Boy and Daisy. In her fifties she was quite fat, but she still dressed like a girl. Tonight she wore a pink gown embroidered with beads and sequins. She never spoke about the story Daisy’s father had told at the wedding, but she had stopped hinting that Daisy was socially inferior, and now always spoke to Daisy with courtesy, if not warmth. Daisy was cautiously friendly, and treated Bea like a slightly dotty aunt.

Boy’s younger brother, Andy, was there. He and May had two children and May looked, to Daisy’s interested eye, as if she might be expecting a third.

Boy wanted a son, of course, to be heir to the Fitzherbert title and fortune, but so far Daisy had failed to get pregnant. It was a sore point, and the evident fecundity of Andy and May made it worse. Daisy would have had a better chance if Boy spent more nights at home.

She was delighted to see her friend Eva Murray there – but without her husband: Jimmy Murray, now a captain, was with his unit and had not been able to get away, for most troops were in barracks and their officers were with them. Eva was family, now, because Jimmy was May’s brother and therefore an in-law. So Boy had been forced to overcome his prejudice against Jews and be polite to Eva.

Eva adored Jimmy as much now as she had three years ago when she had married him. They, too, had produced two children in three years. But Eva looked worried tonight, and Daisy could guess why. ‘How are your parents?’ she said.

‘They can’t get out of Germany,’ Eva said miserably. ‘The government won’t give them exit visas.’

‘Can’t Fitz help?’

‘He’s tried.’

‘What have they done to deserve this?’

‘It’s not them, particularly. There are thousands of German Jews in the same position. Only a few get visas.’

‘I’m so sorry.’ Daisy was more than sorry. She squirmed with embarrassment when she recalled how she and Boy had supported the Fascists in the early days. Her doubts had grown rapidly as the brutality of Fascism at home and abroad had become more and more obvious, and in the end she had been relieved when Fitz had complained that they were embarrassing him and had begged them to leave Mosley’s party. Now Daisy felt she had been an utter fool ever to have joined in the first place.

Boy was not quite so repentant. He still thought that upper-class white Europeans formed a superior species, chosen by God to rule the earth. But he no longer believed that was a practical political philosophy. He was often infuriated by British democracy, but he did not advocate abolishing it.

They sat down to dinner early. ‘Neville is making a statement in the House of Commons at half past seven,’ Fitz said. Neville Chamberlain was Prime Minister. ‘I want to see it – I shall sit in the Peers’ Gallery. I may have to leave you before dessert.’

Andy said: ‘What do you think will happen, Papa?’

‘I really don’t know,’ Fitz said with a touch of exasperation. ‘Of course we would all like to avoid a war, but it’s important not to give an impression of indecision.’

Daisy was surprised: Fitz believed in loyalty and rarely criticized his government colleagues, even as obliquely as this.

Princess Bea said: ‘If there is a war, I shall go and live in Tŷ Gwyn.’

Fitz shook his head. ‘If there is a war, the government will ask owners of large country houses to put them at the disposal of the military for the duration. As a member of the government, I must set an example. I shall have to lend Tŷ Gwyn to the Welsh Rifles for use as a training centre, or possibly a hospital.’

Bea was outraged. ‘But it is my country house!’

‘We may reserve a small part of the premises for private use.’

‘I don’t choose to live in a small part of the premises – I am a princess!’

‘It might be cosy. We could use the butler’s pantry as a kitchen, and the breakfast room as a dining room, plus three or four of the smaller bedrooms.’

‘Cosy!’ Bea looked disgusted, as if something unpleasant had been set before her, but she said no more.

Andy said: ‘Presumably Boy and I will have to join the Welsh Rifles.’

May made a noise in her throat like a sob.

Boy said: ‘I shall join the Air Force.’

Fitz was shocked. ‘But you can’t. The Viscount Aberowen has always been in the Welsh Rifles.’

‘They haven’t got any planes. The next war will be an air war. The RAF will be desperate for pilots. And I’ve been flying for years.’

Fitz was about to argue, but the butler came in and said: ‘The car is ready, my lord.’