Lloyd Lancaster-Brown raced through the rear entrance foyer at the palace and shot straight upstairs, where he was met by Marjorie. ‘Darling, what’s going on?’ he asked, grabbing the woman’s arms.

‘Quickly, Lloyd, we need to get to Her Majesty and she can explain everything.’

The pair rushed to Queen Georgiana’s study.

‘Gee, what’s happening?’ Lloyd greeted the woman with a hug, then looked at the array of official documents that were spread across the table.

‘Lloyd, I know this is going to come as a huge shock, but please don’t interrupt me until I’ve explained the situation,’ Her Majesty began. Within a minute Queen Georgiana had blurted the entire sorry tale. ‘We need to get downstairs to the throne room,’ the woman said.

Lloyd shook his head violently. ‘I can’t possibly do this. It’s not right. I don’t want to be King.’

Queen Georgiana drew in a deep breath. ‘And I don’t particularly want that either, Lloyd, but you can see we have no choice in the matter, and besides, it should have been you this entire time.’

‘But Marjorie and I need to be married first,’ Lloyd said. ‘We don’t know anyone who could do that at such short notice, do we?’

Marjorie flinched. She hadn’t mentioned that part yet and neither had Her Majesty.

‘Well, Thripp has just surprised me with the news that he’s an ordained minister and a marriage celebrant; apparently he’s completed both qualifications quite recently – so that won’t be a problem.’ Queen Georgiana placed a hand on Marjorie’s arm. ‘I realise this is probably not the way you imagined your wedding, but let’s just get the formalities sorted now so the children get back home safe and sound. I can make an announcement to the country that I’m stepping down and we can go through the proper pomp and ceremony at a later date.’

‘Are you sure about this, Your Majesty?’ Marjorie was feeling dizzy and short of breath.

‘We have no choice,’ Queen Georgiana replied, looking at the clock on the mantelpiece.

‘Excuse me, Mrs Marmalade,’ Alice-Miranda called as she skidded into the back entrance hall with the rest of the children, Mr Balfour and Lydie behind her.

‘Alice-Miranda!’ the old woman exclaimed. ‘Thank heavens you’re safe.’

Marian Marmalade wrapped her arms tightly around the child and wept tears of sheer relief. After a lingering moment she released the girl and reached into her pocket for a handkerchief. Marian looked up and, through hazy eyes, noticed the rest of the party standing behind the girl.

‘Lydie, darling, what on earth are you doing here?’ She raced over to her goddaughter and embraced her too.

‘I’m sorry, Aunt Marian,’ Lydie said quietly.

‘Please, Mrs Marmalade, we need to find Aunty Gee and Mr Langley immediately,’ Alice-Miranda said. ‘Have you seen them?’

‘But I don’t understand. Where have you been?’ Marian took a step back and looked at the group.

Alice-Miranda shook her head. ‘We haven’t got time to explain.’

‘I sent Mr Langley to run the Prime Minister’s bath a while ago but I haven’t seen Her Majesty since –’

‘Excuse me, miss,’ the young footman who had announced dinner at the ball had been attending to some pot plants in the rear hall and overheard their conversation.

Mrs Marmalade gave the fellow a blistering look but he pressed on.

‘I just passed Her Majesty with Miss Plunkett and Mr Lancaster-Brown. They were heading along the downstairs corridor past the ballroom,’ he replied.

‘They’re going to the throne room!’ Braxton exclaimed.

‘Is there anything I can do?’ the young man said.

‘No, but thank you for offering,’ Alice-Miranda said. The footman gave a small bow and walked up the back stairs. ‘Right,’ the child said, ‘we need to split up.’

‘You can’t go after Langley,’ Braxton said. ‘He locked you all in the tower. We don’t know what part he’s playing in this, but the man might be dangerous. What about if I round him up?’

‘Langley? Locked the children in the tower?’ Marian Marmalade was incredulous. ‘Just wait until I get my hands on him.’

Braxton looked at Lydie, who seemed terribly out of breath and shaky. ‘Lydie, perhaps you should wait in the small sitting room,’ he suggested.

Marian nodded. ‘I think that’s best. I’ll take you, dear.’

‘It’s all right,’ Lydie said. ‘I know the way.’ The corners of her eyes wrinkled into a smile. ‘I can’t believe it. I’m starting to remember.’

‘Lydie, that’s wonderful,’ Braxton said, squeezing her hard. ‘Now, go to the sitting room and rest. I’ll come for you as soon as I can.’

‘Don’t worry, Balfour, I’ll look after her,’ Marian said, taking Lydie by the hand. ‘You go and do whatever you need to – you can tell us all about it later. I’m just glad you’re all back.’

Marian Marmalade and Lydie hurried away.

Braxton turned his attention to Alice-Miranda and her friends. ‘I’ll go and find Langley. You lot get to the throne room and make sure that Her Majesty hasn’t done anything silly,’ he instructed.

The children took off along the corridor while Braxton ran downstairs into the labyrinth of kitchens and storerooms. He hoped Mr Langley would be in his office, but at that time of night the man could have been anywhere.

‘Where have you been?’ Vincent growled. Braxton turned around to face the man. Langley’s shoes were filthy and the bottoms of his trousers were covered in mud.

‘What happened to you?’ Braxton asked.

‘The better question is, what happened to you? Where have you been? I had to go over to the shop myself and then the car got a flat just as I was crossing the causeway. I had to push it through the mud to be able to change the tyre. I’ll be telling Her Majesty that you can’t be trusted. She needs to send you back to Brackenhurst and as far as I’m concerned you’ll be demoted back to footman, if you retain your job at all.’

Braxton took a deep breath and drew himself up to his full height. ‘I don’t think that will happen. Not after Her Majesty hears what you did to the children.’

‘The children? What are you talking about?’ Langley exploded. ‘I haven’t seen them since this morning, and they’d jolly well better be back by now or they won’t be getting any supper at all.’

Braxton Balfour flinched. ‘But you knew exactly where they were. You locked them in the tower.’

‘I did no such thing,’ Langley sputtered.

‘But they saw you,’ Braxton said. ‘You followed them to the tower and nailed the window shut.’

‘I never!’ Langley shouted.

‘Well, if you didn’t do it, who did?’ Braxton looked at the man. ‘Come on, we need to get to the throne room before it’s too late.’

‘Too late for what?’ Langley demanded.

‘Never mind, I’ll explain on the way,’ Braxton said as he charged upstairs with Langley hot on his heels.