For a moment she felt a sense of panic.
Then, just as she had on Delos, she felt the Light of Apollo pulsating through her.
There was no need to be afraid.
After the Blessing the bride and bridegroom rose to their feet.
It was then that the Lord Chamberlain stepped into the front of the Chancel and a fanfare of trumpets sounded.
When the trumpets died away, he began to address the congregation.
“It is with deep regret that I bring you the news that His Majesty King Phidias of Larissa has died. We commit his soul to God and pray he will find peace in Heaven.”
There was an audible gasp from the assembly as he spoke.
Then whilst the choir sang a long ‘amen’, there was a movement amongst all those sitting in the pews.
They whispered to each other in astonishment.
Once again there was a fanfare of trumpets and the Lord Chamberlain in a stentorian voice proclaimed,
“The King is dead. Long live the King.”
As he spoke he held up his right hand.
The aristocrats in the front pews understood what they should do.
They rose in a body to their feet and the rest of the congregation hurriedly followed them.
Everybody raised their right hands.
“The King!” they all shouted.
Then they cheered and another ‘amen’ was sung by the choir.
Next along the Chancel came a procession of the Chief Officers of State bearing the Crown, the Orb, the Sceptre and the Sword of State.
They were followed by three Bishops, who had not appeared before, carrying the Paten, the Chalice and the Bible.
As they were slowly proceeding, the new King was helped into his Robe of State – it was of crimson velvet, decorated with ermine and gold lace.
Valona removed her tiara and a robe ornamented with golden eagles was placed over her shoulders.
Two thrones that she had not noticed at the side of the Chancel were pushed forward in front of the altar.
The King took an oath to maintain the Church and the laws of Larissa.
After that, both the King and Valona were anointed with oil and when they were seated on the two thrones, they received the rest of the Royal regalia.
Then the King was crowned by the Archbishop.
A long burst of silver trumpets sounded out and the Archbishop presented their King to his people by turning him to the East, West, South and North.
When he had done so, Valona knelt in front of the King and he crowned her Queen of Larissa.
After this, the trumpets sounded out again and the King and Queen sat on their thrones.
King Ajax now held the Orb in his left hand and the Sceptre in his right and there was a short anthem sung very movingly by the Choir.
Then with another fanfare of trumpets the King and Queen started to process from the Chancel down the aisle to the West door.
As they did so, the whole congregation curtsied and bowed to them.
It was all extremely impressive.
Valona was sure it was King Ajax who had insisted on the Service being cut short – the very long drawn-out Coronation which Queen Victoria had to endure when she came to the throne had taken over five hours.
They reached the West door.
Then, as the huge crowd in the Square had their first glimpse of their new King and Queen, the cheers rang out.
They were so loud that they seemed even to drown the trumpets, but the long salute of guns which followed was loud enough to shake the walls of the Cathedral itself.
For some minutes the King and Queen stood in the West door listening to the cheers below them and then they began to majestically descend the steps one by one.
They had not moved far when a small boy of about three years old squeezed past the soldiers lining the steps.
He then ran towards Valona holding out a rose, but before he could reach her he tripped and fell down.
Before anyone could move, Valona stepped forward and picked him up. He was crying but stopped to look up at her when she held him in her arms.
“You were bringing me a beautiful flower,” Valona said to him in his own language. “It is most kind of you, thank you very much.”
She hugged the little boy and he pointed up at her crown and stammered,
“Pretty – hat.”
“Very pretty,” agreed Valona, “and if you come to the Palace tomorrow, I will find a pretty present for you.”
Whilst she was holding the boy and talking to him, the King had stopped and the whole crowd were staring at what was happening.
King Ajax looked around.
“Where is the mother or father of this small boy?”
Two soldiers parted to allow a woman through.
She was obviously poor but she had a clean smiling face.
The King held out his hand to her and as she took it, she made a rather clumsy curtsy.
“What is your little boy’s name?” he asked.
“Norhis – Your Majesty,” she managed to say.
The King turned towards Valona and took the little boy from her arms.
He held him up high and called out in a loud voice, which the people below could hear,
“This little boy is Norhis and he signifies in himself everything the Queen and I intend to do for our country. We want for Norhis and all Larissian children like him to be given a better education, more comfortable houses and above all peace. But we need your help and if you help us, I am sure with God’s will, we shall be successful.”
He held Norhis up a little higher and whispered,
“Wave to them! Wave to the people.”
Norhis did as he was told.
Then he was put back safely into his mother’s arms.
“Bring him to the Palace tomorrow and the Queen and I will have a present for him and you too.”
The woman could only gabble her thanks.
The King took Valona’s hand and they proceeded down the steps to their carriage.
By this time the crowd were aware that they had seen something unusual and exciting and were cheering wildly.
As the King was helping Valona into the carriage, he stood for a moment waving to his people.
The horses drove off and they continued cheering.
Flowers were thrown through the windows that the King had opened.
“Do you think it is safe to do that?” asked Valona.
He smiled at her.
“He would be a very brave Russian who would dare to hurt us after what you have just achieved. The whole of Larissa will be talking about it tomorrow.”
“You mean picking up the little boy?”
“You have just showed me, Valona, how to reach the hearts of my people. I was wondering how it could be done and you have shown me the way so cleverly without words.”
Valona was looking surprised and he explained,
“My father was not very popular with the people, because he appeared only on important State occasions and had no personal contact with them. I was wondering how I could make them realise I intend to reign in a very different way. You have shown me exactly what I have to do.”
“By looking after the children?”
“That will reach their hearts quicker than anything else. I am sure you will find that the schools are inefficient, there are not enough doctors and nurses for ill children and the hospital is only available to those who can afford it.”
“Why has nothing been done before?”
“Because my father would not let me interfere and that is why I have travelled and why I insisted on going to Oxford. I was not wanted at home and was never allowed to take part in the ruling of the country.”
Valona smiled.
“That is just what the Prince of Wales complains about in England. His mother will not even allow him to see the State papers!”
“I can quite understand what he is feeling.”
“And I am afraid that you will be an
gry if what I want done does not coincide with what you want.”
“We will wait and see,” replied the King. “I have a feeling that we both desire the same things – prosperity for my country, security against the Russians and the love of those over whom we rule.”
Valona drew in her breath.
She had never expected King Ajax to speak to her in such a way.
She had expected because he was an older man that he would be very set in his ways.
She did not think he would listen to any suggestion she might make nor to anything she particularly wanted to do.
“I do want to help you, Ajax, I want to very much. But you must be aware that I am so terrified of making a mistake.”
“I think it is impossible that you would ever do so,” he replied.
She looked at him questioningly.
By now they had arrived back at the Palace and as the horses came to a standstill, the King said,
“You realise that it is now essential for us to give a banquet at which I have to make a speech. Do not be too critical, because it is something I have never done before.”
Valona was surprised.
Equally she and her mother had often discussed the position of the Prince of Wales – the majority of the Social world in England believed that he was very badly treated.
“Are you surprised,” she had heard one woman say to her mother, “that His Royal Highness pursues one pretty girl after another? He is not allowed to do anything serious and I am told he is continually complaining to his friends that he is not even allowed to attend Her Majesty’s audiences with foreign diplomats.”
“I think it is very unkind,” her mother had replied. “After all His Royal Highness is getting on in years and it must be very frustrating to know he will have to wait until he is an old man before he may rule the Empire.”
“They make a fuss of him in France,” her mother’s friend continued, “which is why he likes going there. But I contend that it is unfair when people refer to him as being of no political consequence.”
“I agree with you, but unfortunately there is nothing we can do about it.”
“Nothing,” her friend agreed. “And he will be kept outside Her Majesty’s confidence until she dies.”
At the time Valona had felt extremely sorry for the Prince of Wales and she now sympathised with how King Ajax must have felt.
She could understand him being totally determined to change a great many things in Larissa.
But she knew everything still depended on keeping the Russians away.
They could attack now when the Army was weak and the country had no fleet.
The King could be driven out of his Palace, as her father had been and he would become nothing more than an encumbrance on England or some other country.
‘We must somehow find a way of ridding ourselves of those ghastly Russians for ever,’ Valona decided as they walked into the Palace.
*
The State banquet was held in the ballroom and there were nearly five hundred people present.
A delicious luncheon was provided for the guests and while they ate soft music was played by a Regimental band, which had been told on no account to drown out the voices of the guests.
There were many tables with the King sitting at the head of one of them, the Queen at another.
Valona had a distinguished elder Statesman placed on either side of her and they paid her compliments, but at the same time she still managed to learn quite a number of facts she needed to know about the country, especially the way it had been ruled in the past.
She thought that the King was likely to gain a great deal of support for the innovations he wanted to introduce.
Yet some of the older Cabinet members would fight hard against anything new or different from the way it had been for years.
When King Ajax rose to make his speech, there was loud applause.
Listening to him Valona realised how intelligent he was.
He did not frighten his guests with too many new ideas, which to some of them might seem revolutionary.
Instead he thanked and complimented them on the way they had served his father and told them frankly that he realised, because he had been abroad so much, that he himself had a great deal to learn.
“I do need your help,” he professed, “and I need it desperately. I know you will understand that we have to work speedily and be prepared to defend ourselves as we have never done in the past.”
There was a murmur of agreement from the audience.
“It will be no use saying later,” the King went on, “if anything untoward does happen, that we were just taken by surprise. We have to act now and that is why I need your support, your experience and above all your devotion to Larissa to help me.”
There was loud applause as he finished his speech and Valona knew that he had captivated the majority of his audience.
‘He is clever, very clever,’ she said to herself, ‘and I must help him in every way I can.’
The banquet took a long time and ended up with the whole company singing the traditional songs of Larissa.
Some were very ancient songs and they brought a suspicion of tears to the more elderly of the guests.
The party finished with the singing of the Larissian equivalent of ‘God Save the King.’
Everyone present cheered and clapped loudly and drank the King’s health.
The King and Queen shook hands with their guests when they left very late in the afternoon.
Almost all of them told the King, as they bade him goodbye, that they would help in any way he required.
When the last guest had departed, the Lord Chamberlain said,
“I do congratulate Your Majesty on giving the best party I have ever known. I think it extraordinarily astute of you to have managed to obtain a promise of help from such a large number of the guests, who I would have expected to oppose anything which had not been tried out for at least half a century!”
The King laughed.
“Let us hope, when they think it over more soberly tomorrow, they don’t back out.”
“No, I think having given their word they will keep it,” the Lord Chamberlain responded.
He bowed low as the King and Queen left for their private State rooms.
As she had seen little of the Palace so far, Valona was interested to see as much as she could.
She thought that the furniture was on the whole attractive, but the rooms needed only a touch of colour here and there to make them look more impressive.
“Are you being critical, Valona?” the King asked unexpectedly.
“Are you trying to read my thoughts?”
“I find it so much easier to look into your eyes to know what you are thinking.”
“You mean that when I don’t want you to read my thoughts, I will either have to walk about in dark spectacles or close my eyes!”
“But I want to read your thoughts, especially when they concern me!”
He spoke so earnestly that Valona felt a little shy and she wondered how she should answer him.
At that very moment the door opened and an aide-de-camp entered, bowing to the King.
“Your Majesty asked me to remind you,” he said, “that you are having dinner early tonight.”
“Oh, yes, of course. I must therefore take the Queen up to change. Please tell the chef we will be ready in three quarters of an hour.”
The aide-de-camp withdrew and the King turned to Valona,
“I guessed that you would be tired after such a long day of ceremony and so, if we dined early and had a good night’s sleep, you would care to ride tomorrow morning.”
Valona’s eyes lit up.
“That would be a wonderful way to see some of the countryside.”
“I thought that we would ride along the sands and I can show you how important the sea is to us. But we can put it to much better use than we are at the moment.”
“I would love to.”
“I thought you would, Valona.”
They walked upstairs and she found that the maids had already arranged her bath in front of the fireplace.
She had been told that her room had been changed, but she was on the same corridor as she had been before.
The room was larger and grander than the one she had slept in last night.
She wanted to ask if it was the Queen’s room and yet she thought that must be in another wing of the Palace where King Phidias had died.
Although it was closed, there was a communicating door between her bedroom and the one next door.
Valona put on one of the pretty gowns her mother had bought for her in Bond Street.
When she was ready, she found there was an aide-de-camp waiting outside to take her to another State room.
“I do not know whether His Majesty has told you, ma’am,” he said, “but the Royal Suite on the other side of the Palace is to be redecorated. Therefore these rooms are, for the moment, the private wing for you and His Majesty to use.”
“I am quite content, thank you, and the rooms are very beautiful.”
They looked out over the garden and Valona could see a lake at the far end as well as three fountains nearer to the Palace.
They were throwing jets of water high into the air and it was falling like a flood of rainbows into the carved basins below.
“It is so lovely!” Valona exclaimed more to herself than to the aide-de-camp.
“Your Majesty will find the garden very beautiful at this time of year,” he told her. “And the flowers in this room were brought in especially for you, ma’am, because Your Majesty is English.”
Valona looked at him in surprise.
“Why, because I am English?”
“Because, ma’am, the late King did not like flowers in the Palace, but we were all quite sure that being English, Your Majesty would need them.”
Valona smiled.
“You are right. As long as I am Queen I would like every room to be filled with flowers. Not just because they look so lovely, but because they will scent the air.”
“That is what I thought Your Majesty would want,” the aide-de-camp grinned with satisfaction.
The way he spoke made Valona feel sure that there had been some degree of controversy over her flowers, and she thought that she would make it clear from the beginning that in her eyes no room could ever look graceful unless it contained flowers.
Love and Apollo Page 11