Читать книгу Gone With the Windsors - Laurie Graham - Страница 145

Wally says The Cedars wasn’t her idea. She got dragged along by Thelma and Connie but is glad she went, because she feels greatly rejuvenated. She described the weekend as low-key and cozy. She’d met some new people, the Bernie Cavetts from New Jersey, Humphrey Butler, who equerries for fun-loving Prince George, and the Perry Brownlows, who have a house near Thelma’s. And the Prince of Wales had joined her by the fireside and chatted to her for half an hour at least. She says she wasn’t a bit nervous.

She said, “I didn’t even think about it. I was just myself, Maybell. I just treated him like I would any other interesting man.”

I bet she didn’t.

She said, “Strictly between you and me, I think he finds Thelma rather limited. She’s sweet, but she doesn’t have any conversation, and His Royal Highness has a wide-ranging mind. He wants to know about the lives of ordinary people, and who better to enlighten him on that subject than me.”

She’d even told him about her mother’s boardinghouse.

She said, “He was fascinated. He’s never met anyone like me before, not socially. He found it refreshing.”

Perhaps so, but I don’t think Ernest will thank her for making such a feature of her regrettable background.

Philip Sassoon’s sister has invited me to a musical soiree.