The Hawk Is Dead

29

Wednesday 22 November 2023

The Master frowned and shook his head as he absorbed this. He looked quite bewildered. ‘Astonishing,’ he said. ‘This is quite astonishing. Was anyone seen entering or leaving the tunnel prior to the derailment?’

‘No, sir,’ Grace replied. ‘There is no CCTV and so far we have no witnesses who actually saw anyone near the tunnel.’

‘Something we wanted to ask you again, Sir Tommy,’ Branson said, seemingly abandoning his coffee. ‘If you can really think hard: might the Private Secretary have had any enemies? He was in a pretty influential position in the Royal Household, we understand.’

‘He was indeed in a very senior and influential position.’ He frowned. ‘But did he have any enemies? By which I presume you mean someone who might have wanted him dead?’ He eyed the two detectives and received their nods of affirmation. ‘No, absolutely not — well — I can’t imagine so for a moment.’ He reflected for a few seconds. ‘He was a very decent man and always played with a straight bat. Although of course there are plenty of undercurrents in the Household — you are always going to get them in any sizeable organization. Used to happen all the time in the units under my command.’ He smiled. ‘I suppose if you wanted to list the Private Secretary’s enemies, you’d have to take a look at the following three groups.’

He raised one finger, a second, then a third. ‘Those former staff members who have been sacked; staff bitter that they’ve not received a medal they felt they were due; then staff who are feeling passed over for promotion.’ He frowned. ‘You never know who might have a screw loose, do you?’

‘Do many of the Royal Household staff come from the armed forces, like yourself, Sir Tommy? Quite apart from those who are of course current serving members of the armed forces?’

Magellan-Lacey nodded. ‘Quite a percentage — at all pay grades.’

‘How many staff in total are working in the Royal Household?’ Grace asked.

‘There are five hundred people on the Royal Household staff paid for by Sovereign Grant — in other words from public funds. The Household comprises five departments. First is the Private Secretary’s Office, which deals with policy, handles The King and Queen’s correspondence, speeches, engagement with Government, the Realms and Commonwealth. Then we have the Lord Chamberlain’s Office, which deals with all ceremonial aspects, the military, horses and carriages as well as the medical and ecclesiastical households. The Master of The King’s Household, which is responsible for all entertaining and events for The King and Queen and all the other members of the Royal Family. And, very importantly, the Privy Purse and Treasurer’s Office, which handles all financial affairs. The final department, the Royal Collection Trust, is a self-funding charity, which does not draw on public funds.’

‘Wow!’ Branson exclaimed.

‘We have seven hundred people employed by the Royal Collection Trust. They are essentially the curators of more than a million highly valuable works of art.’ The Master paused. ‘I can tell you, with very rare exceptions, they are all good people, proud to be in royal service and aware of the privilege. Of course they have their foibles and one of them is that they are mostly traditionalists, so any changes can stir up a hornets’ nest.’ He smiled and raised his hands in a gesture of mock despair.

Continuing, he said, ‘I do get a fair amount of resentment, jealousy, that sort of thing. The footmen you’ll see around in the Palace wear magnificent uniforms, they get noticed by people, whereas the cleaning staff and the maintenance staff, who do just as important a job, are all but invisible because they’re in civvies. That creates resentment. But most of all, the staff here do not like change. I’d be a very rich man if I got a pound for every time I heard the grumble, but this is how we’ve always done it.’

‘Didn’t Einstein say the definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result?’ Branson said.

The Master smiled and nodded. ‘Exactly. And we’ve had a lot of changes to the status quo, recently. We’ve had a new King and Queen, and now part of my role is to oversee the major renovations at Buckingham Palace. We have 775 rooms and a budget of £369 million, we need both to modernize and to become more energy efficient and environmentally friendly.’ As he sipped some water, Grace’s eyes went from the Master’s face to Glenn’s coffee disaster. The Master didn’t appear to have noticed it.

‘In some people’s eyes,’ Magellan-Lacey said, ‘I’m the bad guy. I’ve stopped a lot of people from having their own credit cards and I’ve been moving individuals out of their coveted, grandly furnished private offices, with magnificent art on the walls, into new open-plan areas I’m creating — which a lot of them don’t like.’ He smiled and raised his arms in another despairing gesture. ‘I get people moaning at me all the time. “Oh, Sir Tommy, but there’s no room for that Canaletto from the Royal Collection on my wall now.” That kind of stuff.’ He smiled again and continued.

‘I even have to contend with The King not liking the whole concept of open-plan — he feels people should have more privacy. But I’m afraid it’s all about delivering on a budget that’s coming from the public purse.’ He gave a rueful smile and tapped his own chest. ‘If anyone would be a target for assassination in this Household it should be me, not poor Peregrine.’ Then he looked at his watch. ‘Right, gentlemen, we’ll head over to Buckingham Palace — it’s just five minutes’ walk. As I mentioned, The Queen is expecting you at 10 a.m. and she’s a stickler for punctuality — as I know most police officers are too,’ he said, looking at them pointedly. ‘And after that The King would like a private word with just you, Detective Superintendent. I assume that will be all right?’

‘Of course,’ he replied.

The Master stood up with a breezy smile, walked into the hallway and checked the knot of his tie in the mirror. Then he turned back and looked briefly at each detective, his tone turning both cutting and slightly imperious. ‘No disrespect, gentlemen, but I sincerely hope you’re going to make a better fist of this operation than DI Branson just did of dunking his biscuit in a mug of coffee.’