3-64

64.

Meg and I moved our office into Buckingham Palace.

We also moved into a new home.

Frogmore was ready.

We loved that place. From the first minute. It felt as if we were destined¹ to live there. We

couldn’t wait to wake up in the morning, go for a long walk in the gardens, check in with the

swans. Especially grumpy Steve.

We met the Queen’s gardeners, got to know their names and the names of all the flowers. They

thrilled at how much we appreciated, and praised, their artistry.

Amid all this change we huddled² with our new head of comms, Sara. We plotted a new

strategy with her, the centerpiece of which was having nothing whatsoever³ to do with the Royal

Rota, and hoped we might soon be able to make a fresh start.

Towards the end of April 2019, days before Meg was due to give birth, Willy rang.

I took the call in our new garden.

Something had happened between him and Pa and Camilla. I couldn’t get the whole story, he

was talking too fast, and was way too upset. He was seething⁴ actually. I gathered that Pa and

Camilla’s people had planted a story or stories about him and Kate, and the kids, and he wasn’t

going to take it anymore. Give Pa and Camilla an inch, he said, they take a mile.

They’ve done this to me for the last time.

I got it. They’d done the same to me and Meg as well.

But it wasn’t them, technically⁵, it was the most gung-ho member of Pa’s comms team, a true

believer who’d devised and launched a new campaign of getting good press for Pa and Camilla at

the expense of bad press for us. For some time this person had been peddling⁶ unflattering stories,

fake stories, about the Heir and Spare, to all the papers. I suspected that this person had been the

lone⁷ source for stories about a hunting trip I’d made to Germany in 2017, stories that made me out

to be some fat-bottomed seventeenth-century baron⁸ who craved⁹ blood and trophies¹⁰, when in

reality I was working with German farmers to cull¹¹ wild boar and save their crops. I believed the

story had been offered as a straight swap¹², in exchange for greater access to Pa, and also as a

reward for the suppression of stories about Camilla’s son, who’d been gadding¹³ around London,

generating tawdry rumors¹⁴. I was displeased¹⁵ about being used like this, and livid about it being

done to Meg, but I had to admit it was happening much more often lately to Willy. And he was

justifiably¹⁶ incandescent¹⁷.

He’d already confronted Pa once about this woman, face-to-face. I’d gone along for moral

support. The scene took place at Clarence House, in Pa’s study. I remember the windows being

wide open, the white curtains blowing in and out, so it must’ve been a warm night. Willy put it to

Pa: How can you be letting a stranger do this to your sons?

Pa instantly got upset. He began shouting that Willy was paranoid. We both were. Just because

we were getting bad press, and he was getting good, that didn’t mean his staff was behind it.

But we had proof. Reporters, inside actual newsrooms, assuring us that this woman was selling

us out.

Pa refused to listen. His response was churlish, pathetic. Granny has her person, why can’t I

have mine?

By Granny’s person he meant Angela. Among the many services she performed for Granny,

she was said to be skilled at planting stories.

What a rubbish comparison, Willy said. Why would anyone in their right mind, let alone a

grown man, want their own Angela?

But Pa just kept saying it. Granny had her person, Granny had her person. High time he had a

person too.

I was glad that Willy felt he could still come to me about Pa and Camilla, even after all we’d

been through recently. Seeing an opportunity to address our recent tensions, I tried to connect

what Pa and Camilla had done to him with what the press had done to Meg.

Willy snapped: I’ve got different issues with you two!

In a blink he shifted all his rage onto me. I can’t recall his exact words, because I was beyond

tired from all our fighting, to say nothing of the recent move into Frogmore, and into new offices

—and I was focused on the imminent¹⁸ birth of our first child. But I recall every physical detail of

the scene. The daffodils out, the new grass sprouting¹⁹, a jet taking off from Heathrow, heading

west, unusually low, its engines making my chest vibrate. I remember thinking how remarkable²⁰

that I could still hear Willy above that jet. I couldn’t imagine how he had that much anger left after

the confrontation²¹ in Nott Cott.

He was going on and on and I lost the thread. I couldn’t understand and I stopped trying. I fell

silent, waiting for him to subside²².

Then I looked back. Meg was coming from the house, directly towards me. I quickly took the

phone off speaker, but she’d already heard. And Willy was being so loud, even with the speaker

off, she could still hear.

The tears in her eyes glistened²³ in the spring sunshine. I started to say something, but she

stopped, shook her head.

Holding her stomach, she turned and walked back to the house.

1 destined   

adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的

参考例句：

• It was destined that they would marry.他们结婚是缘分。
• The shipment is destined for America.这批货物将运往美国。

2 huddled   

挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• We huddled together for warmth. 我们挤在一块取暖。
• We huddled together to keep warm. 我们挤在一起来保暖。

3 whatsoever   

adv.（用于否定句中以加强语气）任何；pron.无论什么

参考例句：

• There's no reason whatsoever to turn down this suggestion.没有任何理由拒绝这个建议。
• All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you,do ye even so to them.你想别人对你怎样，你就怎样对人。

4 seething   

沸腾的，火热的

参考例句：

• The stadium was a seething cauldron of emotion. 体育场内群情沸腾。
• The meeting hall was seething at once. 会场上顿时沸腾起来了。

5 technically   

adv.专门地，技术上地

参考例句：

• Technically it is the most advanced equipment ever.从技术上说，这是最先进的设备。
• The tomato is technically a fruit,although it is eaten as a vegetable.严格地说，西红柿是一种水果，尽管它是当作蔬菜吃的。

6 peddling   

忙于琐事的，无关紧要的

参考例句：

• He worked as a door-to-door salesman peddling cloths and brushes. 他的工作是上门推销抹布和刷子。
• "If he doesn't like peddling, why doesn't he practice law? "要是他不高兴卖柴火，干吗不当律师呢？

7 lone   

adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的

参考例句：

• A lone sea gull flew across the sky.一只孤独的海鸥在空中飞过。
• She could see a lone figure on the deserted beach.她在空旷的海滩上能看到一个孤独的身影。

8 baron   

n.男爵；(商业界等)巨头，大王

参考例句：

• Henry Ford was an automobile baron.亨利·福特是一位汽车业巨头。
• The baron lived in a strong castle.男爵住在一座坚固的城堡中。

9 craved   

渴望，热望( crave的过去式 )； 恳求，请求

参考例句：

• She has always craved excitement. 她总渴望刺激。
• A spicy, sharp-tasting radish was exactly what her stomach craved. 她正馋着想吃一个香甜可口的红萝卜呢。

10 trophies   

n.（为竞赛获胜者颁发的）奖品( trophy的名词复数 )；奖杯；（尤指狩猎或战争中获得的）纪念品；（用于比赛或赛跑名称）奖

参考例句：

• His football trophies were prominently displayed in the kitchen. 他的足球奖杯陈列在厨房里显眼的位置。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The hunter kept the lion's skin and head as trophies. 这猎人保存狮子的皮和头作为纪念品。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

11 cull   

v.拣选；剔除；n.拣出的东西；剔除

参考例句：

• It is usually good practice to cull the poorest prior to field planting.通常在实践上的好方法是在出圃栽植前挑出最弱的苗木。
• Laura was passing around photographs she'd culled from the albums at home.劳拉正在分发她从家里相册中挑选出的相片。

12 swap   

n.交换；vt.交换，用...作交易

参考例句：

• I will swap you my bicycle for your radio.我想拿我的自行车换你的收音机。
• This comic was a swap that I got from Nick.这本漫画书是我从尼克那里换来的。

13 gadding   

n.叮搔症adj.蔓生的v.闲逛( gad的现在分词 )；游荡；找乐子；用铁棒刺

参考例句：

• She likes gadding about while the children are at school. 孩子们在学校里的时候，她喜欢到处逛逛。 来自辞典例句
• We spent the whole day gadding about Paris. 我们一整天都在巴黎游玩。 来自辞典例句

14 rumors   

n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷

参考例句：

• Rumors have it that the school was burned down. 有谣言说学校给烧掉了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Rumors of a revolt were afloat. 叛变的谣言四起。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 displeased   

a.不快的

参考例句：

• The old man was displeased and darted an angry look at me. 老人不高兴了，瞪了我一眼。
• He was displeased about the whole affair. 他对整个事情感到很不高兴。

16 justifiably   

adv.无可非议地

参考例句：

• There General Walters would come aboard to greet me, justifiably beaming with pride at his arrangement. 在那儿沃尔特斯将军会登上飞机来接我，理所当然为他们的安排感到洋洋得意。 来自辞典例句
• The Chinese seemed justifiably proud of their economic achievements. 中国人似乎为他们的经济成就感到自豪，这是无可非议的。 来自互联网

17 incandescent   

adj.遇热发光的， 白炽的，感情强烈的

参考例句：

• The incandescent lamp we use in daily life was invented by Edison.我们日常生活中用的白炽灯，是爱迪生发明的。
• The incandescent quality of his words illuminated the courage of his countrymen.他炽热的语言点燃了他本国同胞的勇气。

18 imminent   

adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的

参考例句：

• The black clounds show that a storm is imminent.乌云预示暴风雨即将来临。
• The country is in imminent danger.国难当头。

19 sprouting   

v.发芽( sprout的现在分词 )；抽芽；出现；（使）涌现出

参考例句：

• new leaves sprouting from the trees 树上长出的新叶
• They were putting fresh earth around sprouting potato stalks. 他们在往绽出新芽的土豆秧周围培新土。 来自名作英译部分

20 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

21 confrontation   

n.对抗，对峙，冲突

参考例句：

• We can't risk another confrontation with the union.我们不能冒再次同工会对抗的危险。
• After years of confrontation,they finally have achieved a modus vivendi.在对抗很长时间后，他们最后达成安宁生存的非正式协议。

22 subside   

vi.平静，平息；下沉，塌陷，沉降

参考例句：

• The emotional reaction which results from a serious accident takes time to subside.严重事故所引起的情绪化的反应需要时间来平息。
• The controversies surrounding population growth are unlikely to subside soon.围绕着人口增长问题的争论看来不会很快平息。

23 glistened   

v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Pearls of dew glistened on the grass. 草地上珠露晶莹。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Her eyes glistened with tears. 她的眼里闪着泪花。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》