Murder Most Royal

Sir Simon stood respectfully to attention. The Queen, sitting at a card table in the drawing room at Sandringham, sipped at a restorative brandy. It had been impossible to continue her journey to Newmarket after what had happened. Sir Simon was merely confirming what she already knew.

‘Was it instant, did they say?’

‘Yes, ma’am. Massive head trauma.’ Sir Simon shrugged helplessly. He was so super-smooth most of the time that it was easy to forget that his professional manner hid a sensitive soul.

‘And the horse?’ the Queen asked.

‘The horse is fine. Uninjured, as far as I know.’

‘Oh, good.’ The Queen didn’t want to be heartless, but the animal hadn’t killed anyone – or not deliberately, anyway. She had been worried about the horse.

‘What I don’t understand is why Lord Mundy was there at all. Shouldn’t he have been under arrest?’ she asked. ‘Or at least under some sort of police supervision?’

‘But wasn’t he a suspected murderer by then?’

‘They didn’t want to make the same mistake as they did with Jack Lions.

They were waiting to see if they really would recover a body, and if they did, they weren’t absolutely sure which member of the family to arrest. An excess of caution, ma’am. The chief constable is extremely apologetic.’

‘He does have rather a habit of landing me in it.’

‘I think he realises that. When I rang to find out what the hell had happened, he offered to resign.’

‘Oh, for goodness’ sake,’ the Queen said, sipping her brandy, ‘he’s a good policeman. It’s always the good ones who offer to resign and the bad ones who don’t.

Anyway, they have the body now. I’ll expect his report when he’s ready.’

Sir Simon promised she would have it. After the day he had just had, he was looking forward to a drink himself.

Missing aristocrat recovered by police after lifetime feud with family member who was friend of the Royals, killed in freak horse-riding accident

By Ollie Knight, Royal reporter

The body of Edward St Cyr, the landowner whose severed hand was sensationally recognised by the Queen, was recovered yesterday by police divers from the moat of his ancestral home.

Ladybridge Hall, where the victim grew up, is owned by his cousin, Lord Mundy, who died yesterday in a riding accident. Police believe Mr St Cyr was killed as the result of a long-running family feud.

Ladybridge Hall and its estate, worth over £20 million at today’s market prices, is a popular Norfolk attraction for its picturesque gardens and Elizabethan architecture.