own choosing. He would avoid going into the subject, and put it off whenever it was raised. But it had become impossible for him, now that he was King, to ignore the reality — especially since the King's first duty is to provide the throne with a legitimate heir...

I waited for the day to come that would put an end to my rosy dream, and I refused to believe it, for in my heart of hearts I felt an obscure longing driving me to undertake any task, however hard...

Ernest, meanwhile, had gone off to New York, and I do not deny that he found a woman who took an interest in him; I learned of it through a letter that reached my hands by mistake, when he was the one who was meant to receive it... It became only natural that the outer shell we had built around our marriage should crack... And I began to think of divorcing Ernest, to clear the way for him to build a new life, and so that I might follow the path of my appointed destiny.

I wanted the divorce through legal channels, and I had no friend I trusted more than David; he refused to exert any influence in the matter, and left me to do what I believed to be right.

The divorce was taking its course, and I drew closer and closer to the King's life. Every evening, on his way back to the palace, he would stop at my house and come in to drink a glass, talk a few minutes, and then go on his way... His talk was always of his kingdom, which he loved; he kept thinking of everything that might raise it up and strengthen it, and he wanted

The Prince on the deck of the yacht, taking a sun bath.

to make things new — and was met head-on by reaction and the coldness of tradition.

One day in May of that year, we were walking in the garden of the castle when he mentioned to me that he had invited the Prime Minister to dinner that evening; then he went on to say: The day must come when he makes the acquaintance of my wife... For the first time I heard him give voice to what was in his mind, and with such frankness. For everything under heaven there is a season. And the season of David's

I thought that our life of pleasure together in the open air would end the moment David became King...