Elizabeth and Kate had taken to the river in her private barge to return to Whitehall. Before they left me outside the gate, Kate implored me to stay safe. I would have cherished the moment, as the barge pulled from the quay into the rising tide and I saw how she kept her eyes on me, saying witho...
The ochre expanse that we had grown up with slowly gave way to a lush landscape dominated by clusters of pine, majestic gorges, and stream-drenched valleys and meadows, where packs of deer bolted in a lightning dash of russet, causing my brother to strain in his saddle. “Did you see that stag? It...
The cold congealed my breath, emptying the streets of its habitual vagrants, pickpockets, and vermin. While curfew was supposed to secure the city and protect the citizenry, as I traversed the maze of tenements and taverns downriver from the palace, I knew the gates’ closure only signaled the ons...
said Peregrine for what had to be the hundredth time. “I didn’t.” I suppressed my own impatience as I peered through the ragged opening in the bushes, where I crouched with a crick in my back and my legs numb below the knee. The star-spattered sky displayed a sickle moon. ...
I sat in my dressing room—actually, my dressing closet, for it was tiny—when von Sternberg arrived at the door.“Paramount wants to sign you to a two-picture deal,” he sneered. “The rats have spies on my set. They cabled Hollywood to say you are sensational, a rival to Garbo.” He eyed me. “I suppo...
It did not help that I disembarked with a cold that had me feverish and sneezing, the first time in years I could recall being ill. Misia fed me hot soup while I sweated out the fever in our hotel suite, even as hordes of reporters besieged the lobby in hopes of catching a glimpse of me. Once I f...