A Death in Diamonds полностью

He was a confident politician who had settled quickly into the job. According to Sir Hugh, he had a note pinned to the door of the Cabinet Room in 10 Downing Street, saying ‘Quiet, calm deliberation / Disentangles every knot’. It was a quotation from The Gondoliers. Not only was it sensible advice, especially for the Cabinet, but anyone who could quote Gilbert and Sullivan as a mantra for running the country was a man she could do business with.

‘Not the Russians?’ she suggested.

‘Oh no, ma’am. They may bluster, but I believe even they’re quite fond of you, really. Why do you ask?’

‘A few odd things have happened recently.’

She didn’t elaborate, but he saw that she was serious. ‘I don’t think you need worry, ma’am. No friend wishes you ill, and if anything were to happen your popularity would only soar, and your enemies would suffer.’

‘My enemies?’

‘If you have any. Which, as I say, I doubt. For us as a country . . . That’s a different matter. These are choppy waters, ma’am, as you know. We need all the friends we can get – but you’re good at getting them.’

‘I wondered . . . Singapore and Ghana gaining their independence this year. Everyone had been quite charming to me in person, but behind the scenes . . . ?’

‘Behind the scenes, they have a lot to say about the British Empire, ma’am, not all of it favourable. But they’re complimentary about you personally. Were it not for your focus on friendship, things would have been much more difficult.’

‘Are you sure?’ she asked. That focus had been her father’s legacy and she wanted it to be hers too. But was it working?

‘Quite sure,’ he said.

‘What about the Americans? Not the president – I know he’s an ally, and you worked with him in the war – but America is a big country.’

Macmillan gave her a warm, paternal smile and a look that suggested if he could have patted her on the hand, he would have.

‘I’m not sure what troubles you, but I might remind you that my mother was from that great country. I speak as half American when I say that they are in awe of you too.’

‘Surely not “in awe”, Prime Minister?’ He thought he was helping, but he wasn’t.

He shrugged. ‘You’ll see. And you know how much faith I have in you, ma’am. I hope for great things from this trip. Since the flight of Burgess and Maclean . . .’

‘I know all about Burgess and Maclean.’

‘The ripples of their treachery still reverberate across the pond. I need hardly remind you, we’re locked out of their atomic programme, we’ve lost the trust of the CIA . . .’

He did hardly need to remind her. She knew all of this. After the disaster of that flight to Moscow six years ago, and MI6’s inability to do anything about it, the Americans were convinced that Burgess and Maclean weren’t the only communist sympathisers at Cambridge to have been recruited by the KGB. It made her next state visit even more freighted with consequence. And she must do it without being able to trust the food she ate, the people she travelled with, or even the contents of her vanity case.

‘. . . But I have great hope for the future,’ he continued. ‘I enjoyed my time working with General Eisenhower. He was tough on us during Suez, but he did warn us, and we didn’t listen. Now we must. But we have a lot to offer the Americans. Our day is coming . . .’

‘Is it?’ she asked. ‘I’m glad to hear you say that, Prime Minister. When I travel round the country, of course I’m opening new buildings and celebrating great history, but I hear so much anxiety. From farmers to factory workers . . .They don’t understand our place in the world. They’re worried about inflation. They don’t know what’s coming next.’

Was it an internal plot against her? she wondered suddenly. If so, why focus on her foreign visits? Did they want the country to be taken over?

Macmillan smiled at her again. ‘I hear the same things in the party. They do like to worry there – it’s something of a religion. But as I like to point out, part of the problem is that we’re growing. We’re making things and selling them like never before. We like to grumble, ma’am, but I remind them we’re heading for a state of prosperity we’ve never seen before. Most people have never had it so good.’

For the first time, she smiled back.

‘Really?’

He nodded, clearly pleased with his response and its effect on her. ‘Take courage, ma’am. This is the new Elizabethan Age. Whatever warning signs you see, I wouldn’t worry.’

The Queen normally liked to follow her prime minister’s advice, but this time it would have been helpful if he had pointed out some nation or person in particular to worry about. Nevertheless, she found his words comforting, for the country at least. Ten years ago, the very dark days of the war had given way to the giddy optimism of peace. Perhaps that was around the corner again, though it was hard to imagine it.