by Jenny Frame
“Thank you for taking part. You put on a marvellous show.” George was working the room, along with her brother and cousins, making sure to thank everyone involved in the concert. She moved around the room, talking to famous singers and celebrities, who all seemed excited to meet her.
George became aware of an excited murmur spreading throughout the room. She looked up and stopped breathing as she watched Cammy escort Lali and Bea into the party. The whole room recognized the aura surrounding Bea. Not only did she look beautiful in her silver evening gown, but she radiated a special natural something that made everyone turn to look and smile.
They locked eyes and seemed pulled together by an invisible thread, and before George knew it, they were standing face to face. Lali and Bea curtsied; Cammy and Lali both seemed to sense they were no longer needed and walked off together, giving George and Bea some privacy.
“Good evening, Your Majesty,” Bea said, her eyes never leaving the Queen’s.
“Bea, I must congratulate you on a super concert.”
“I couldn’t have done it without Theo, I mean Prince Theo. Sorry, I forget sometimes that he’s a prince.”
George chuckled. “No need to apologize—he forgets he’s a prince sometimes too.”
This made Bea laugh and broke the ice a little. “How are Baxter, Shadow, and my special friend, Rexie?”
George was always so touched that Bea remembered her dogs; no one else did that. To everyone else they were just dogs, but to George they were so much more.
“They’re fine, thank you, mischievous as ever. Rexie really misses you though. One night you came on the news, and he was whimpering at the screen and trying to give you his paw.”
“Really? Aww, he’s so sweet. I thought he’d have forgotten me by now.”
“Never,” George said, very seriously. “You are impossible to forget.”
Bea looked down at the floor, as if unsure how to respond.
“Bea? I have to talk to some more of the guests, but can I talk to you later in private? Please?”
“Of course. If you wish, Ma’am.”
George nodded. “Thank you. I’ll have Cammy come and get you. In the meantime, I hope you and your friend have a good night.”
*
An hour later, Cammy escorted Bea to a curtained-off area backstage, where the Queen was waiting. “If you’ll excuse me, Ma’am, Miss Elliot, I have a bonnie lassie to charm,” Cammy said with a wink, and suddenly the couple was left alone.
“Thank you for meeting me. I wasn’t sure if you would be alone with me.”
When George was nervous or unsure, she had this little-lost-boy quality to her voice that made Bea want to hug her and tell her everything would be all right.
“It wasn’t that I didn’t want to before, Georgie. I just thought it would be much harder for us if we did.”
“Well, thank you. You look beautiful, by the way. I didn’t get a chance to tell you before.”
Bea felt a hot blush come to her cheeks. “Thank you, Georgie. You look very handsome too.”
George looked down at her usual suit and crisp white shirt. “Hardly, it’s just a suit.”
“It’s not just a suit, it’s the way you fill it,” Bea blurted out without thinking. She chastised herself as soon as she’d said the words. Her mind flashed back to the feel of George’s mouth on her breasts, their sex-sheened bodies gliding together naturally, as if they were meant for each other. She was trying to remain calm and controlled, but her natural attraction to George just overrode everything.
“I’m sorry, Georgie. I shouldn’t have said that, it was inappropriate.” Bea looked to the side as a group of rowdy partygoers passed by the small curtained-off area.
George took her hand and pulled her further into the corner, making sure they had some privacy. “I don’t want it to be inappropriate, Bea. I want you to be able to say anything to me, I want there to be no barriers between us.”
“Georgie I don’t—”
“No, I have to say this, because I can’t go on living in limbo any longer, hoping that you might come round or change your mind, so please just let me talk and it’ll be the last time I ever bring this up, okay?”
Bea nodded. As confused as she was, she knew that this situation had to be resolved as they were both in so much pain.
George took a deep breath as if preparing to bare her soul. “I knew you were special the moment I met you. The irreverent way you treated me knocked me off balance, and I loved having one person in my life who treated me the same as anyone else. Even my mother treats me as a Queen and sovereign, and to you I’m Georgie, just Georgie—well, sometimes Bully, and that’s good too.”
Bea smiled at the loving familiarity they did indeed share.
“Over the months I found myself falling utterly head over heels for you, and bit by bit everything that my mother told me about finding someone to share the burden made sense. The isolation and loneliness I felt were banished by the care and love you gave me, and I felt a peace I’d never felt before. I knew you were perfect for me and for my consort.”
Bea couldn’t stop herself from reaching up and cupping the Queen’s cheek, and George leaned in, appearing to savour her touch.
“I love you, Georgie, more than I thought it was possible to love someone, but we’ve got so much going against us.”
George took hold of Bea’s hand and kissed it tenderly. “I told you public opinion would change and it has. Did you see the signs the crowd were holding up?”
“But—”
George placed a finger over her lips and said, “No buts, my darling. The only thing holding us back is you. I have been in agony without you since we spent the night together. You are my love, my soul mate, and my true consort. There will never be anyone else for me, and I cannot go on without knowing whether you will be mine. Tomorrow I’m going up to Scotland for our family holiday at Balmoral. I always head up early, as I have a few duties to perform first in Edinburgh, and then the rest of the family will come up in a few weeks. Will you come with me?”
“I can’t, I…” Bea was so confused. She knew there would be no going back after joining her on holiday.
George nodded her head sadly. “I thought you might say that. I’ll be up in Scotland for two months, and you have an open invitation to join me. If you want to come, then just contact Cammy, and she will arrange it. If you don’t come, well, I’ll know you’ve made your decision about us, and I won’t bother you again.”
George kissed her thoroughly and passionately, and when she pulled away and rested her head against Bea’s, Bea knew this might be the last time George touched her.
“Remember I love you, I need you, and I would give you the world if you let me. Goodbye.”
With one final kiss that made Bea give a deep and throaty moan, George strode off, leaving Bea with her eyes closed, mouth still parted from the kiss, and wondering what on earth had just happened.
*
“Have you decided what to do yet, princess?” Reg asked his daughter.
“No,” Bea said with a sad sigh. She sat at the kitchen table, staring into her cup of tea. “I want to go, but my fear is stopping me. If I go, then that’s it, my life is mapped out.”
Reg sat down beside her and said, “Do you love her?”
“With all my heart.”
Reg covered her hand with his own. “Then go, princess. Don’t live the rest of your life thinking about what might have been.”
They were interrupted by Sarah coming into the kitchen brandishing a letter. Bea was puzzled. It had been a decade since regular postal service had been disbanded. No one sent letters anymore.
“Sweetheart—a messenger from Kensington Palace brought this.”
“Kensington Palace?” Bea asked.
“It’s where the Dowager Queen Adrianna lives. Here, open it.” Her mother handed over the fine white envelope and sat next to her. “Well? What does it say, sweetheart?”
Bea read and reread
the letter before answering. “It’s an invitation to tea with the Dowager and the Queen Mother, this afternoon.”
“Oh, my goodness. What will you wear? What time do you have to go?”
“Wait, Mum. Let me think. Why do they want to talk to me?”
“Could be they want to encourage you to go up to Scotland?” Reg asked.
“Or warn me off?”
Sarah shook her head. “No. I don’t think so.”
“Why?” Bea asked.
“I remember reading an article in my royal magazine that Balmoral was a testing ground for any potential new members of the family, because it encapsulates everything it means to be a royal. Being outdoors in all kinds of weather, enjoying country pursuits, and attending events like the Highland Games. Put it this way—I doubt Princess Eleanor would pass.”
“But would I?”
Chapter Twenty-six
A car picked Bea up in midafternoon and took her to Kensington Palace. She was shown to a very smart drawing room where the two Queens were waiting. To be summoned was nerve-racking enough, but to walk into a room and be faced with the royal family’s two matriarchs was terrifying.
Queen Sofia stood and offered her hand after Bea had curtsied to them both. “Miss Elliot, I’m delighted to see you again. I hope you are well?”
Bea’s voice shook a little as she answered, “Quite well, thank you, Your Majesty.” She felt Queen Adrianna’s eyes scanning her and hoped that her dress was suitable.
“Do sit down, my dear,” Queen Adrianna said.
“Thank you, Ma’am.”
Sofia looked to a page who was standing by the door and said, “We’ll have tea now, John.”
Turning to Bea, the Queen Mother asked, “I hope your parents are well, Miss Elliot?”
“Oh yes, Ma’am. Very well, and please call me Beatrice or Bea, Ma’am.” She found both the Queen Mother and Queen Adrianna intimidating, but especially the Dowager Queen sitting with her silver-claw-topped walking stick.
Once the tea was served, Adrianna said, “Do you know why we asked to see you?”
“I thought it might have something to do with Her Majesty inviting me to Balmoral.”
Adrianna smiled and said to the Queen Mother. “No beating about the bush with this one, Sofia.”
“No. It seems not. Let us be frank, Beatrice. My daughter is very much in love with you and has been miserable since you stopped seeing her. I want you to tell me the absolute truth, not what you think I want to hear. Do you love my daughter?”
This was surreal. She was sitting in the Dowager Queen’s drawing room in Kensington Palace, being asked if she loved Queen Georgina.
“Ma’am, I love your daughter with all of my heart, and the Queen knows that has never been in question. I just don’t think I’m right for her—my views on the monarchy and coming from a working-class background…it just wouldn’t be right, would it?”
Queen Adrianna snorted. “Beatrice, my dear, you have a strange point of view for someone who purports to have republican sympathies.”
“How so, Ma’am?”
“Surely a republican thinks class should be meaningless, and yet you are the only one to mention class, and it’s stopping you from being with my granddaughter.”
Bea found that hard to argue with. “So you both have no problem with my background?”
Adrianna looked at Sofia and smiled.
Sofia said, “Where you come from and what your parents do? Not at all. Your views might have been a difficulty, but George tells us that they have softened a great deal. Is that true?”
“Yes, I have a greater appreciation for what the monarchy does, and as the prime minister said to me, it’s what the people want. They don’t wish to have a republic. When you can’t beat them, join them, as they say.”
“Yes, indeed,” Adrianna said. “There haven’t been any dissenting voices against the monarchy since the twentieth century.”
The page brought in the tea and poured them each a cup. “Thank you, John,” Sofia said, and he left the room.
Adrianna began, “Let me tell you a story, Beatrice. I was a young girl who didn’t come from a royal or even an aristocratic family. I came from an ordinary middle-class home. I did go to private school, but my parents were ordinary people. My father was a doctor and my mother ran her own business. We weren’t poor, but we certainly weren’t upper class. I was the first, middle class person to marry into the royal family, when I married George’s grandfather, King Alfred II.”
Bea looked shocked. “You were? But I assumed…?”
“You assumed I was of aristocratic blood myself? No. Queen Sofia is from the Spanish royal family, but I was simply middle class, and I can tell you, at the time, it was a very big change for the royals to marry outside the aristocracy. Alfred’s father and his siblings nearly tore the royal family apart with divorce and scandal. It was a time when people genuinely thought the monarchy could fall, but Freddie was a very independent-minded man, and a loyal man, much like Eddie and George, and refused to marry someone the family deemed suitable. He wanted to learn from the mistakes of the past and marry for love, and he did.”
Bea was more than surprised. “Where did you meet? If you don’t mind me asking.”
The Queen Mother and Adrianna giggled. “You may be aware that I am a keen horsewoman.”
Bea nodded. Everyone knew of Queen Adrianna’s love of horses and racing. “Yes, Ma’am.”
“Well, there was a park that all the local villages had used for a hundred years. It was used for walking, a children’s play park, dog walking, nature trails, and there was an equestrian centre where people could come to ride, or ride round the nature trails in the forest. I learned to ride there, and as I grew, I worked part-time, teaching children and looking after the horses. The council, who were short of money at the time, had sold it to a supermarket chain, who were going to demolish the whole thing and build a ghastly twenty-four-hour supermarket. Some of the villagers and staff from the horse stables formed a protest group, and I was the most opinionated member. I bet you can’t believe that, Beatrice,” she joked.
Queen Sofia snorted and topped-up the teacups. “What do you think, Beatrice?”
Bea smiled back and said, “I couldn’t imagine you being so opinionated, Ma’am.”
Adrianna knocked her stick on the floor, calling for attention. “I think we’ve established that I am not shy with my opinions, so our protest went on for weeks, and the bulldozers came in to knock the stable buildings down, and a portion of the forest. We staged a sit in, and the bulldozers couldn’t work. Prince Freddie, as he was known in those days, happened to be visiting the area on that day, and ever the modern prince, wanted to come down to the park and see if he could help bring both sides together. Freddie insisted he fell in love at first sight, but I certainly didn’t. I thought he was an interfering toff and told him so. He laughed and told me I was a very feisty filly just like one of his favourite horses. I swear if I hadn’t been arrested, I would have hit the smug prince.”
“What happened?” Bea was intrigued. The Dowager Queen’s story seemed so similar to her own.
“He set up a meeting for both sides, and even though he couldn’t change the council’s mind about selling, he used his influence with the supermarket company to get them to build a children’s play park on the site, and for them to buy a patch of land to build stables for the locals.”
“Wow. That was kind. Did you begin to like him then?”
Adrianna gave a crooked smile. “Like is probably too strong a word. I would say…I was intrigued by him, more than liked. He clearly wanted to impress me though. He set up a charity horse and pony show, to take place every year in aid of the stables for the local children. It still runs to this day, and I became patron after dear Freddie died. When I saw how much he cared for people, that’s when I fell in love. Are you surprised by that?”
Bea put down her teacup and tried to come to terms with what all this meant. “I h
ad no idea. I thought Georgie’s…the Queen’s family all came from similar backgrounds. I thought you all wouldn’t approve of Her Majesty’s choice. I know Viscount Anglesey—”
“Oh, please ignore that jealous boy,” Queen Sofia said. “He feels himself more important than he is. All that matters to us, Beatrice, is that George is loved the way she deserves. We’re not here to persuade you one way or another. I just don’t want you both to be in pain if you truly love each other. George has been a dutiful member of the royal family, and she deserves some happiness. As for some of your sceptical views, well, you can help George by bringing a different perspective to the family. You have all the correct skills to be a consort, but it’s up to you whether this life is the one you’re prepared to live.”
Queen Adrianna sat forward in her seat, and pointed her stick towards Bea. “I will warn you though, Miss Elliot, think carefully before you join this family. To be one of us, you have to dedicate your life to the people of this country. It’s not all glamourous banquets—you have to commit yourself to a life of service, and that isn’t always easy, but you should also think carefully about turning your back on George’s offer of love, because you would never find a more loving or more loyal person to spend your life with.”
Chapter Twenty-seven
George smashed her axe down ferociously on the log in front of her, splitting it in two the first attempt. She’d been doing this most days, as her need for solitude grew, and it gave her an output for her frustrations and anger. It was three long weeks since she’d arrived in Scotland and last seen Bea. Her hope that their love would conquer all the obstacles in their path was now gone.
As always, however, her isolation was an illusion. The Queen went nowhere, especially at the moment, without her protection officers, who were strategically placed around her. One stood quietly outside the cottage, a few others hidden throughout the trees.
George often liked to come down to Rose Cottage, when she wanted to be alone. It was often used for guests visiting Balmoral, but at the moment stood empty, and George had been grateful to have somewhere to escape to and take her frustrations out on the large pile of logs that sat outside the house.