Murder Most Royal

It was always difficult to remain cross with Margaret when she herself was smiling and sunny. The Queen wondered if this girl had a similar effect on her long-suffering family.

At Estimate’s stall, the retired racing champion was grateful for a Polo mint. The Queen spent a little while congratulating her on her new life as a mother. But she hadn’t forgotten the recent exposition of her own family’s iniquities. The young groom hung back wretchedly. She felt sorry for him.

‘Was that your sister?’ she asked.

He hung his head. ‘Yes, ma’am. Her name’s Ivy.’

‘I see. I thought you looked alike. What a spirited girl.’

‘Yeah, kind of. Did you hear much of what she was on about?’

‘I think I got the gist of it,’ the Queen told him. ‘She’s not a royalist, I take it.’

‘Not as such.’ Arthur twisted his limbs in paroxysms of embarrassment. ‘She dun’t mean it. I mean, she does, but she’s seventeen. She’s like that about everything, ma’am, a bit over the top. It gets her into trouble. It’s why she hangs around with the horses even though she’s not supposed to.

But she’s so good with them, it’s like . . . it’s like telepathy or something. And it’s the only thing that de-stresses her. She’s been kind of wound up since our auntie’s accident. And then she found that hand.’

The Queen stared at him. ‘It was your sister who found it?’

‘Yes. On the beach. She thought it was a starfish or something but . . .’

‘Poor girl. What a shock.’

He winced at the memory. ‘Yeah, it was.

She was pretty freaked out all day. She locked herself in her room for hours. She would’ve gone to our auntie’s, but she can’t.’ He looked hopeless and frustrated. The absence of the aunt was obviously causing problems.

‘Did you say your aunt had an accident?’ the Queen asked gently.

‘Yeah. Her name’s Judy, ma’am. Judy Raspberry. She’s the treasurer at the Women’s Institute. You’ve met her a few times.’

The Queen’s annual trip to the WI in West Newton, a nearby village on the estate, was one of the highlights of each winter visit.

‘Yes, of course I know Mrs Raspberry. What happened?’

The groom ran a distracted hand through his hair.

‘Hit-and-run, the week before Christmas. It happened in Dersingham, where she lives. She was lying in the road for ages before someone found her.’

‘How bad was it?’ the Queen asked anxiously. She was very fond of Judy Raspberry, who was one of the lynchpins of the WI and much else besides.