It has long been my ambition to write and now I have reached the status of 'elderly lady', I have time to progress with that aim. I am not a celebrity; I am one of the millions of us who tread our own little paths and weave our own little webs. I have kept Alberto's love life, based on known facts, as accurate as family sensitivities will allow and I have used artistic license to dramatise certain events. If any descendants of my deceased cousins with whom I have lost touch should recognise their ancestors and know different facts from the ones I know, or have gleaned from other members of my...