by Jenny Frame
The explosive anger Bea had felt reverted to pain, and her tears started anew. “Sometimes love isn’t enough,” she said simply.
“What are you saying?”
It was tearing Bea apart to even think this, let alone say it. “I’m saying I don’t think…I don’t think we should see each other any more. Our charity commitments are nearly finished anyway, and I can have one of my colleagues finish up the last few appointments with you till the end of July.”
George looked panicked. “No, don’t do that. Just meet with me. If we talk together face to face, I can show you this won’t be as bad as you think. Please, let me see you. Let me fight for us.”
“I can’t, Georgie. If I’m with you, I won’t have the strength. We need to end this before it’s begun. We live in two different worlds, and I just can’t do this.”
George said dispassionately, “The police will stay with you until they are no longer needed. If you require anything further, contact Cammy, and I will have someone deal with it.”
“Georgie—”
“I’m going now, Bea. No matter what, please remember, you will be the only woman I will ever love. Goodbye.”
Bea was left staring at a blank screen. “Goodbye, Georgie.”
Chapter Twenty-four
After Princess Eleanor left him that morning, Julian quite happily watched the news with a cigar and a glass of fine malt whisky, in his London flat. This was his bolthole, away from royal life, his family, and wife, and children. He only kept one member of staff here, his discreet butler Palmer.
Julian sat with his feet up on the coffee table, his eyes firmly on the TV projection. He’d been disconcerted to see that some individuals had begun to defend Miss Elliot’s behaviour, and on top of that, a very angry phone call from his mother, Princess Grace.
His viewing was disturbed by some raised voices from out in the entrance hall, and before he knew it, a very angry looking Prince Theodore burst through the drawing room door, Palmer trailing behind him. “I’m so sorry, My Lord, I wasn’t able to stop His Royal Highness in time to announce him.”
Julian put down his cigar and drink and stood to face his furious cousin. “It’s all right, Palmer. You may go.”
Julian met his cousin’s furious stare, daring himself not to bow and show him respect, but he blinked first and gave the smallest bow he could. “Your Royal Highness, won’t you sit down? Can I get you a drink?”
“No, thank you. This won’t take long. I know what your scheming, traitorous little brain is up to, Julian.”
“Oh? What am I scheming?” Ignoring protocol, Julian sat down in the presence of the prince.
“Feeding tittle-tattle to the press, whipping up a storm with those old fools in the Tory party, and turning your back on your sovereign and your family, all because of petty jealousy.”
“It has nothing to do with jealousy. I’m trying to protect the dignity of our family line—I’m trying to protect it from a Queen who would invite a common little tart into her bed, and threatens to humiliate us by making her Queen Consort. Surely you see that? How could you or I ever bow and pay homage to a working-class woman from the East End, who has no respect for our position in this country?”
Theo walked closer to Julian and towered over him. “I would have no problem bowing to Miss Elliot because I have never met a more caring, gentle soul in my life, and I would trust Her Majesty’s judgement about who she wants to share her throne with. I know what you think of me—I know your traitorous mind thinks I have not the will or the ability for the throne, and I would let the line of succession fall to Princess Grace and, in the end, to you.”
Theo pulled Julian up on his feet by his lapels.
“Get off me.”
Theo tightened his hold. “Not until I look you in the eye and make my position clear. I’m warning you, Anglesey, if your little plots force my sister off the throne, as much as I would despise the job, I will take her place willingly, out of loyalty to my sovereign, my sister, and the House of Buckingham. You will never get your pathetic, traitorous mitts on my sister’s throne or crown. Have I made myself clear?”
“Abundantly,” Julian spat.
Prince Theodore let his cousin go, smoothed down his suit, and adjusted his tie. “Just remember my words, Cousin Julian.”
Julian watched his cousin walk out of the drawing room, and his anger boiled over. He lifted and threw his glass of whisky against the wall. “I hate you, George. I will bring you down. I swear it.”
*
Later that evening, after Viscount Anglesey had soaked his jealousy, and anger in a large quantity of whisky, he thought back to his afternoon meeting with the Queen.
He was met by a stone-faced Captain Cameron and Major Fairfax and escorted through the corridors of Buckingham Palace to the Queen’s office. Every member of staff, from the cleaners to the senior pages, looked at him with disdain. He felt like a traitor being marched towards the firing squad, and he’d wondered why George could engender such loyalty in those who served her. He just couldn’t understand it.
When he was shown into the office, the Queen was sitting at her desk, completing some work from her red boxes. Without looking up, she said, “Sit.”
Apart from the ticking clock and the dogs gently snoring in the corner, there was silence as George finished up with her last paper. Finally, she finished writing and very precisely gathered the papers together and closed them up in the last red box.
George looked up at him with a fierce, penetrating stare. It was clear this wasn’t to be a cordial meeting. “Viscount Anglesey, your behaviour towards your sovereign and our family causes us great disappointment. You have shamed us. Do you have anything to say for yourself?”
“Only what I did, I did for my family’s good name. You talk of shame, and you want to make a common tart your Queen Consort—someone who is so far beneath us, it disgusts me. You will pollute our bloodline.”
George squeezed the pen she held so hard that it broke in her hand. “That woman has more decency, breeding, and caring than you could ever hope to have. I am an ordinary person, just like Miss Elliot, just like the man in the street, and just like you, Julian. We are born with great privilege and an important duty to perform for the people, but you seem to think yourself superior to those people. You are not special, Julian—you’re not even extraordinary.”
Julian jumped up and moved around the desk to lean threateningly over George. “It should have been me, not some disgusting deviant. I should be king. It is my destiny!”
George stood slowly, her height forcing Julian to look up to her. “It is your destiny to be a well-behaved minor royal who supports his monarch. If you ever talk outside of the family again, Julian, or conspire against me, you will be exiled from us. You won’t be asked to family functions or royal events, and your income from the civil list will cease. Do you understand me?”
“You can’t do that. You can’t cut me off from my birthright.”
“I can do exactly as I wish. I am head of state and head of this family, Julian, and don’t you ever forget it. Everyone has their place in the House of Buckingham. You have just never learned yours.”
Julian took a swing for his cousin, but George easily caught his fist in her hand and pushed his arm up his back. “Don’t you ever lay a hand on me, you pathetic arse.”
His humiliation was complete when the Queen called on Captain Cameron and Major Fairfax, who dragged him out.
*
A few weeks later, the Elliot’s kitchen was alive with the smells of cooking and the noise of music playing in the background. It was Sunday, and a day of familiar family routine. Bea and her mother prepared the Sunday roast dinner—Sarah was mixing the batter for the Yorkshire puddings while Bea peeled and chopped up the vegetables—while Reg watched his football game on TV.
The music they had on in the background changed to an old and emotional love song. As it played, Bea’s barely contained sadness washed over her like a wave, and
the tears started to roll down her face.
“Oh, sweetheart, come here.” Sarah moved to take her daughter in her arms. “You can’t live like this. Bea, you love her, she loves you, talk to her and tell her you want to try again.”
Bea wiped her tears away quickly. “I can’t, Mum. You’ve seen what it’s been like, the TV, the news stories, I can’t even go down to the corner shop without being followed, and we’re not together. Imagine what it would be like if we were. It’s not just George who has to want me. The country has to approve too.”
“But, sweetheart, you’ve seen how things are changing. On TV people are starting to talk about you and the Queen as some sort of magical love story, and Princess Eleanor as some sort of Wicked Witch of the West. Opinions have definitely changed, Bea. You could have the fairy tale if you want it.”
Bea slumped down at the kitchen table, holding her head in her hands, “It’s not that simple, Mum. George has told me herself what royal life can be like. She describes it as a gilded cage, and do I want to voluntarily walk into that?”
Sarah sat beside her daughter and took her hand. “True, you can stay outside with your freedom and independence, but without the one you love. Are you prepared for that?”
Bea shook her head and sighed. “How could someone like me be a Queen Consort? Me? Beatrice Anne Elliot from Bethnal Green?”
“Not how could someone like you be Queen Consort, but someone like you should be Queen Consort, sweetheart. All you’ve done the whole of your life is work for others, to try and make their lives better. That’s what a consort does. She works hard for charity and the people, listening to their concerns, and trying to do something about them. That’s in the job description, and you fit it perfectly.”
As Bea considered those words, her dad came into the kitchen, looking shaken. He closed the door and whispered, “There’s someone to see you, princess.”
Bea and her Mum looked at each other in confusion. “What is it, Reg? You look white as a sheet,” Sarah asked.
“It’s Prince Theodore.”
Sarah jumped up in shock and whispered back, “You’re pulling my leg, aren’t you, Reggie?”
“No, Prince Theodore is sitting on our couch, in our front room. Large as life.”
Bea walked into the living room to find Theo sitting on the couch, taking a keen interest in the football playing on the TV.
“Your Royal Highness, this is a surprise.” Bea curtsied when Theo stood to greet her.
“Bea, I do apologize for interrupting your Sunday. I expect you’re having Sunday lunch soon?”
“You’re not interrupting, sir. We’re just preparing it at the moment.”
Theo walked forward and greeted her with a kiss on each cheek. “Theo, please, sir makes me feel like I’m ancient.”
Bea smiled. “Theo, then. Please sit down. Can I get you tea or…?”
“Oh, I won’t if you don’t mind. I’m expected at Windsor for Sunday lunch in an hour. I wanted to call on you for a chat about the concert.”
“Everything’s all right, isn’t it? At the last meeting everything seemed to be ready to go.”
“Oh, it is. Tip-top and ready to go, it is indeed.” Theo fidgeted with his tight collar and tie. “It’s about another matter. My private secretary says that you haven’t replied to the invitation, for yourself and your friend Lali, to the royal box. Are you intending to come?”
Bea wrung her hands together nervously. “I don’t know what to do, Theo. It doesn’t seem appropriate, after—”
“Of course it’s appropriate. You were the driving force behind this, you planned it. No one has more right than you.”
“But seeing Her Majesty again…it will just make things harder.”
Theo took Bea’s hand gently. “Listen to me, Bea. Georgie is distraught without you. She takes no joy in anything anymore. She goes out, puts a fake smile on her face, and does her duty, but inside she’s…it’s hard to explain. When you two were friends, it was like she blossomed, came alive with happiness and joy. Now that you’re apart, she’s like half a person, joyless, incomplete.”
The tears returned to Bea’s eyes, and she wiped them away furiously. “I’m sorry, Theo. It seems like all I do these days is cry.”
“Doesn’t that tell you something? Please, come to the concert at least. Georgie will be happy just to see you, even if that’s all you can give her.”
Bea stayed quiet, looking at the floor.
“I also hear there’s a certain Captain Cameron who will be a bit upset if your friend Lali isn’t coming too,” Theo said with a rakish grin.
Bea laughed, thinking of the smooth captain, who had been so far unsuccessfully wooing her beautiful friend.
“Please come, Bea. Pretty please?”
Bea knew she couldn’t say no. Just the thought of seeing George again made her happier than she’d been in weeks. “We’ll be there.”
Chapter Twenty-five
One week later, the Mall outside Buckingham Palace had been transformed into a concert venue. The lucky people who had won the chance to buy tickets in the ballot were lined right down the Mall, and the atmosphere was electric with excitement.
Bea and Lali were security checked and taken to sit in the royal box. All of the younger members of the royal family were in attendance, and Bea was happy to see Vicki and Max and was delighted when they told her Viscount Anglesey had been asked to stay away.
The stage went dark, and a spotlight lit up a lone royal trumpeter, announcing the monarch. The lights in the royal box went up, allowing the crowd to see the entrance of the Queen and her brother the prince. All the attendees in the royal box were given a signal to stand in preparation for the arrival of the sovereign. A roar went up when the Queen and Theo appeared and made their way to their seats.
Bea had a quick intake of breath at the sight of George in full Queen mode. Confident, charismatic, and open to her people.
“She looks wonderful, doesn’t she?” Lali said, smiling.
Bea simply nodded, her heart thudding at seeing her love again. They were only four seats away from the royal party, but to Bea it felt like miles. All she could think was that she ached to be next to George, holding her hand and loving her.
The music struck up and the whole crowd joined in singing “God Save the Queen.” As Bea sang, she took a sneaky look and found George looking back with a small smile. She felt the blush come to her cheeks and looked away quickly.
“You two look like a couple of shy kids at school,” Lali teased.
“We do not. It’s just awkward. The whole world knows about us, and now we’re sitting close to each other, with the cameras trained on us for the world to watch our every step. It’s weird, Lali.”
A cheer went up from the crowd as the big screen showed the two most talked about people in the world. Lali pointed out some signs in the crowd:
Marry her, Your Majesty!
We want Queen Bea!
Give us our fairy tale!
“I can’t believe they would…I’m lost for words,” Bea said to her friend.
“You shouldn’t be. Everyone wants you two to live happily ever after, because if you two can make it true, then they can hope for the same in their lives. Everyone wants to dream, and they can live vicariously through both of you.”
Can that really be true? Bea wondered.
The concert was a resounding success. The crowd, and the audience watching on TV at home, were treated to a wonderful performance by all the acts and the bands. At one point, one of the boy bands announced, “Prince Theodore asked us to sing this song for two people who shared their first dance to it, and I know it means a lot to them. I hope you enjoy it.”
Even though they weren’t mentioned by name, everyone knew who the couple was when Prince Theodore was named.
Bea looked along to see George whispering into Theo’s ear, and he was smiling ear to ear. The song was the one they had danced and kissed to at Mickey D’s.
Sh
e watched the crowd sing along with the ballad, and the energy of the concert changed. She was pulled into the romantic mood of the evening. At one point in the song, her eyes met George’s, and just like when they kissed, everything melted away to leave just two people who simply loved and adored each other. She felt every eye in the stadium on her and noticed the producer of the event was showing them on the big screen at that moment.
The crowd cheered, and for a moment she allowed herself to think that maybe they could have what they wanted, maybe their fairy tale could come true.
The concert wound down to a big finale with fireworks, stunning 3D projections in the sky, and a classical singer leading the crowd in a rendition of the national anthem from the roof of Buckingham Palace.
“Wow,” Lali exclaimed. “That was truly stunning. You did such a good job. Abby would be so proud, Bea.”
The two friends hugged. “Thank you, I’m really grateful you were here to share it with me, Lali.”
“Me too. So what now?”
The royal party left the box, and Captain Cameron strode up to them. “Watch out, Lali,” Bea teased. “Your dashing captain is coming for you.”
Lali giggled and said, “Shush. You know I don’t like those smooth, cocky types.”
“Oh, come on, you like her, you’re just trying hard not to, and I know you like the uniform.”
The captain was dressed in her smart MP dress uniform, with her medals proudly displayed, and Bea saw her eyes go wide when she caught sight of Lali in her golden bejewelled sari. Lali always looked elegant and regal, but tonight she looked especially stunning, and Cammy clearly appreciated it.
“Ladies,” Captain Cameron said, “Her Majesty and Prince Theodore wish me to escort you backstage to the after-party. Shall we?”
*