She knew as she watched that she too had been a little apprehensive as to what the Grand Duke would be like.
She had heard so many stories over the years of Princes who had been led to believe by the portraits that had been sent to them that their Royal brides were beauties, only to find that in real life they were small, dumpy and with bad teeth and ugly features.
The same fate very often awaited a Princess who was sent across Europe to find that her bridegroom was a surly middle-aged man and marrying for the second time only because he required an heir and having many other interests besides the woman who was to be his wife.
But the Grand Duke Vladirvitch was certainly extremely imposing.
He made an eloquent speech of welcome, kissed the Princess’s hand and looked at her in a manner
