Queen Mary’s visits to Highnam
Was Queen Mary ever going to arrive? My vigil seemed endless: it was subsequently accounted for by a visit to the Cathedral en route and the long drive from Badminton where the Queen had taken up her residence for the duration of the war. At long last I heard the sound of scrunching gravel, along the drive, heralding the approach of a car. A few moments later a vast old fashioned Daimler drew up at the front door where I stood ready to receive the occupants.
From it descended, first the Queen, then her niece, the Duchess of Beaufort and lastly Lady Cynthia Colville, her lady in waiting. Both the last two, by the way, had been here before: Lady Cynthia for a Gloucester Festival before the First World War and the Duchess quite recently, escorted by my cousin, Evelyn, to spy out the land, so to speak. No airs and graces about her, let me tell you, so on that previous occasion I was not in the least surprised to see her in the dogs cemetery go down on her knees in the soaking wet grass to read their epitaph one after another. Although I was quite unaware of the fact at the time, her afternoon call in August had been paid with one sole object in view: to see if Highnam and its treasures would be likely to interest her aunt. (see inside for full story)
