Cold, wet, dirty, and bedraggled, my grandmother and I were sitting in a taxi with a girl from the airline. She assured us that we would spend the night in the best hotel Glasgow had to offer and that a doctor would visit us this same evening to make sure we had sustained no injuries after the crash.

After checking in at the hotel, which to my eyes was as enormous as a palace with liveried men hurrying about, my grandmother took me up to our room ‘to make ourselves as presentable as circumstances allowed’, considering we didn’t have any luggage with us; in fact, we only had the clothes we wore. She brushed our shoes and got some of the mud off our clothes and then decided that this would have to be enough for us to go downstairs and get some tea.

Tea was served in the hall of the hotel, and the waiter brought not only the ordered tea, but cucumber sandwiches (without crust) for my grandmother and a large piece of chocolate cake for me. My grandmother said nicely thank you and then ignored the sandwiches as she hated bread without crust. And I dug into my cake and looked around, or rather gaped at all the splendour surrounding me.

As my grandmother settled down for the doctor’s arrival, I was allowed to go explore the hotel hall as long as I stayed where my grandmother could see me. To a final ‘just look, don’t touch’ I scampered off to take in all the things that were virtually hiding walls and alcoves. True to my grandmother’s dictum, I firmly kept my hands behind my back while I walked quietly through the hall. I had a feeling that if I made the slightest sound, I would be told off by one of the men in their glamorous uniforms.

While I was looking at a picture with a gruesome battle scene, the entrance doors of the hotel were opened and I turned around curiously. I had never seen the like. In strode a black bearded man in flowing white robes followed by two similar men dressed in black. Again behind them followed what I guessed to be women, all dressed in black and completely veiled. I stood rooted to my spot while the party descended upon me. The white clad man stopped in front of me, said something guttural to the other men, and swept past me.

After the women had passed me as well, I ran back to my grandmother to ask why these funny nuns had three men walking before them and in these carnival clothes as well. As the doctor chose this moment to accost my grandmother, I never found out. The doctor settled down in a chair and asked my grandmother some quick questions, all of which she denied with a headshake. And that was the examination, because he left after that to sit with some other people who had been on the plane.

My grandmother then took me up to our room again, making me take a nap while we waited for the luggage to be brought in. Surprisingly, it arrived before it was time for dinner, and we therefore went correctly dressed to have dinner in the restaurant on the hotel ground floor. We were settled at a small table and had just sat down when the three funnily dressed men entered the room. They were shown to a table at the other end of the restaurant, but instead of sitting down, one of the black clad men came over to our table bowing courteously before my grandmother.

‘Madame,’ he said in French, ‘His Royal Highness has asked me to greet you and to ask you if I may address a question to you?’ Upon a nod from my grandmother, he continued ‘His Royal Highness has seen your beautiful boy in the hall of the hotel and he wanted to ask if an adoption would be possible? His Royal Highness would obviously recompense the boy’s family with five million pounds for the gracious favour should they be agreeable.’

All colour had gone from the face of my grandmother’s face except for two angry red spots on her cheeks. ‘Monsieur, I find the offer offensive to my family and your presence at our table an unwanted imposition. Please tell you master that I absolutely forbid him or anyone else from his party to talk to the boy or even approach him. Good night.’ And she started telling me about the cousins I was going to meet tomorrow while pointedly ignoring the black presence still at our table.

After dinner, she immediately took me to our room, locking the door. She put me to bed and then moved the wardrobe in front of the door and a chest of drawers in front of the wardrobe. I was mystified, but she only said ‘There are people who don’t take no as an answer. Better to be safe than sorry.’