It didn’t matter. There was so much to make life exciting. Bernstorff was wonderful and it was always an adventure to be there. It was some ten miles from Copenhagen and set in a beautiful park. Here they could ride every day, and Alix loved being in the saddle; they could play all sorts of games and the entire family were very good at inventing them. There were lessons every day; Papa continued with the physical exercises and it was no unusual sight to see him with the children – including Dagmar – turning somersaults on the lawns of Bernstorff.
A new sister had arrived. She was called Thyra and for a while the whole family could talk of nothing else but this wonderful child; then Thyra ceased to be a baby and in due course she was there in the schoolroom and in the gymnasium. And the happy life continued.
There were trips to Rumpenheim to be enjoyed each year and best of all was the reunion with aunts and cousins, and relatives of all kinds.
There were picnics and dancing, riding and endless conversation; there were games of all kinds; and there was Cousin Mary of Cambridge. Each year they met and their friendship had grown. It was true that Mary was ten years older than Alix but as the years passed the difference seemed less.
As they walked through the avenues of trees and sometimes planned the next day’s excursion, Mary would talk about her home in England. She lived in Cambridge Lodge on Kew Green, that part of the world which was made famous by King George III, the mad King of England, and his severe wife Queen Charlotte from whom Mary was directly descended. Mary occasionally saw Queen Victoria, who was really very kind but could be a little forbidding; she sometimes met the Queen’s children. The eldest, Vicky, was much younger than Mary, being only four years older than Alix, and a year younger was Bertie who was reputed to be rather naughty and was the Prince of Wales. They weren’t allowed to mix with other children very much and, it was said, in the family Prince Albert was very severe. The family did not like Prince Albert very much because he was German, but the Queen thought he was perfect, which was right really since she was his wife.
There was so much to talk about. For one thing how the Queen had been shot at on Constitution Hill, which was near Buckingham Palace, and the Great Exhibition which had been set up in Hyde Park. A great Crystal Palace, said Mary. It had to be seen to be believed. And they had removed it all and set it up in a place called Sydenham.
Alix could not hear enough about England.
Then one day Mary said: ‘I don’t see why you shouldn’t pay us a visit. I’ll ask Mama to invite you.’
Alix was very excited and Mary was true to her word. There came an invitation for Alix to visit the Duchess of Cambridge at Kew.
Alix had become a very important person. Her brothers and sisters were envious of her since she had been selected for a great adventure; and it was all due to the interest Cousin Mary had shown in her. She was to go and stay with them at Cambridge Lodge.
Louise said that she must have some new clothes; they would not be elaborate and she would probably meet people who were very splendidly dressed, but if she carried herself well and continued with the exercises Papa had taught her, she could make the plainest of dresses seem elegant. Alix was well aware of this. She delighted in clothes and this was obvious as soon as she put on any garment. So it was a challenge that she should have so few clothes and that none was elaborate.
The great day came when she left Denmark in the company of the Cambridges and how exciting it was to travel! The Channel was far from smooth but what seemed to cause discomfort to some people delighted Alix; and it was wonderful to stand beside Mary while she pointed out the land which was the coastline of England.
Cambridge Lodge was grand by Danish standards, but there was more splendour to come.
She and Mary rode out together in the Cambridge carriage through the village of Kew – ‘Dear little Kew’ as the family often referred to it, quoting George III and Queen Charlotte who had talked of it thus long ago. They went to London and it was all so much bigger than Copenhagen, everything seemed so grand and on a larger scale; but there was another side to it. There were more beggars than in Copenhagen; there were more street vendors, more poor people, more everything.
One day Mary was very excited because she had arranged a party and the Queen had given her permission for the Princess Royal and the Prince of Wales, Prince Alfred and Princess Alice to visit Cambridge Lodge.
Mary told her they were about her age … at least Alfred was exactly the same, Alice a year older, the Prince of Wales a little more than a year older than Alice, and Vicky, the Princess Royal, a year older than he was.
Alix felt a little nervous.
‘Oh, you needn’t be,’ said Mary. ‘They are only children, and they haven’t played half the games that you have!’ Alix wore a white muslin dress which her mother had said would be the right thing for a special party. She supposed it was special since she was to meet these important people even if they were only children.
She reminded herself that she herself was a princess and her father was heir to the throne; so her rank was as high as these children’s.
Mary introduced them.
The Princess Royal was the important one. She came first and said in German with a very assured manner: ‘Hello, Alix. How do you like England?’
Vicky was a little terrifying; she seemed to know everything, and what was worse was fully aware that she did.
‘This is Bertie, Alice and Alfred,’ said Vicky.
Alix bowed her head; she couldn’t very well curtsey to children of her own age, although she fancied Vicky expected it.
Bertie eyed her with slight interest and Alice smiled in a friendly way. She warmed to Alice immediately. Alfred was friendly too.
‘We could play some games,’ said Mary in her role of elder cousin eager to have the children amuse themselves.
‘What games do you play in Denmark?’ asked Vicky.
‘We play hoops and with tops and letting rooms.’
‘What’s letting rooms?’ asked Vicky.
‘Well, some people have a house and the others come and look for rooms.’
‘How odd!’ said Vicky. ‘Why should they come to look for rooms?’
‘People do,’ put in Mary helpfully, ‘when they haven’t a house and want somewhere to live.’
‘Oh, the poor,’ said Vicky.
‘Sometimes we play guessing games. We are rivers going through the country and we say all the towns through which we pass. If you miss one there’s a forfeit.’
Vicky felt that she might score at that and was interested.
‘We do music too,’ said Alix; ‘and we do gymnastics. We turn somersaults.’
‘You mean over and over?’
Alix nodded.
All the children were interested now, and Alix was about to show them when Mary said: ‘Not in the drawing-room, Alix.’
Vicky said, very well, they would play the river game and she would choose the river which was the Thames and she was very soon reeling off the list of towns and winning the game.
Bertie was not interested and strolled off with Alfred who seemed like his shadow. Alice remained and said very quietly that perhaps they should have a Danish river because that would be more fair for Alix.
But by that time Vicky was tired of the river game and it was tea-time.
So those were the royal children.