Even Clarence and Alice were clearly dismayed that their father had married without informing them, while Camilla left no one – family or staff – in any doubt as to how she felt about the usurper. Whenever Virginia entered a room, Camilla would leave with her husband and their two children trailing behind her. However, Virginia still had an advantage over the rest of the family: there was one room none of them could enter, and where she had complete domain for eight hours in every twenty-four. While Virginia worked on her husband by night, she concentrated on Clarence and Alice by day, accepting that Camilla was not for turning, although she hadn’t altogether given up on her husband and children. Virginia made sure that whenever any member of the family saw her with the duke, she appeared to be caring, solicitous and genuinely devoted to him, taking care of his every need. By the end of the first week some of the frost had begun to thaw, and to her delight, on Christmas Eve Clarence and Alice accompanied them on their morning walk around the grounds.
