The old lady grabbed the prince by the hand, so he was standing right next to her at the library fireplace. Before Alfred could ask Nanny what she was doing, she turned the little hand of the gold carriage clock on top of the fireplace anticlockwise.

WHIRR!

As if by magic, the pair were spun into another room.

WHOOSH!

“I never knew this room was here,” hissed Alfred.

“SHUSH!” shushed Nanny. “They still might hear us.”

They listened out for voices in the library next door, as they stood in a tiny windowless room full of junk.

There was a rusty metal bath, a broken bicycle, a dog-chewed cricket bat, a weather-beaten picnic basket, a mouldy croquet set and a battered old Victorian pram with a wonky wheel. Alfred had been all over the palace, but he had never been in here. Hardly surprising, as the room had no door.

“Is this a secret room?” he whispered.

“SHUSH!” shushed Nanny.

There were a couple of old, chipped cut-glass tumblers on a side table. Nanny picked one up and passed the other to the boy. She then placed the top of the tumbler to the wall, and the bottom to her ear. Alfred followed suit. Next door they could hear someone pacing around the library.

Who was it? What were they looking for?

Whoever it was, and whatever they were looking for, at last it sounded as if they’d found it. After a short while, the pair heard the library door close. They were safe. For now.

“In answer to your question, my little prince,” began Nanny, “legend has it that there are many secret rooms and passages all over Buckingham Palace. I know of just a few.”

“They must have been built here during World War Two!”

“Yes! For the royal family back then, in case that stinker Hitler invaded.”

“King George the Sixth!”

“Oh, my little prince, you’ve been reading all those books piled up in your bedroom.”

“History books are my favourite.”

“I know!”

“George the Sixth had a wife and two daughters,” continued the boy. “The elder one became Elizabeth the Second.”

“Full marks, clever clogs! Elizabeth the Second. What a ruler she was. We’ll never see her like again.”

Prince Alfred, who was next in line to the throne, nodded his head sorrowfully. He knew more than anyone of his failings. If only he could be more like the great kings and queens of the past. But nature had played him a cruel trick. He was a sickly child.

All of a sudden, Alfred thought he saw something move under an old dustsheet.

With his eyes, he indicated the pile.

Nanny mimed, “What?”

Whatever it was moved again.

Nanny nodded and began tiptoeing over to the sheet. The boy stayed close behind, holding on to her cardigan for dear life.

The sheet rose into the air. It looked like a ghost. Alfred wanted to scream, but didn’t dare make a sound.

The thing stretched out its arms.

Nanny reached out her hand and closed her eyes. She couldn’t bear it either. With one hand, she

      whipped off

             the sheet to reveal...