Даниэла Стил - Royal

“So, my darling, we are now secretly married, and are having a secret baby. Do you think your parents will forgive us?”

“Eventually, though it won’t be easy at first.” She knew her father’s temper but also his spirit of forgiveness. And they loved her, and would ultimately accept him and the baby. They had no other choice.

“I don’t know why it has to remain such a dark secret. We’re married now, our child will be respectable,” Henry said, looking pleased.

“It has to remain secret because my parents don’t know about it yet.” His parents understood it better than he did. “It’s a matter of being respectful of them, we don’t want a rumor to get back to them before we can see them in person and can tell them ourselves, about the baby and our marriage.”

“Why would it become a rumor? It’s not so remarkable really. Charlotte White married Henry Hemmings, son of the Earl of Ainsleigh. I should think they’d be pleased. The daughter of a civil servant will be a countess one day.” He acted as though it was a gift he had given her. But she had a far more important title of her own.

“Not exactly. It’s not quite as simple as that,” Charlotte said quietly, looking at her husband, who was half man and half boy. She felt like a woman now. She had grown up overnight, faced with the surprise pregnancy, and it meant a great deal to her that she was now his wife. She took their marriage very seriously, no matter how it had started.

“Why isn’t it that simple? Are they anti-monarchists?” Henry was surprised, thinking about his father’s title.

“On the contrary.” She smiled at him. “It’s about who my parents are.”

“A civil servant and a secretary. You still haven’t told me what branch of the government your father works for,” he said casually, as he leaned over and kissed her.

“Your mother and father know who my parents are,” Charlotte said mysteriously.

“Then why can’t I know too?” He looked petulant. He hated secrets that didn’t include him. And she could think of no way to break it to him other than just tell him. It was time that he knew who they were, and who she was, even if they didn’t know about him.

She took a breath and said it simply and directly. “My father is the King of England, King Frederick, my mother is the queen consort, Queen Anne.” There was dead silence in Henry’s bedroom after she said it and he stared at her, and then started to laugh.

“Very funny. All right. Now tell me the truth. Are they communists or spies?” He couldn’t stop laughing at the joke she was playing on him, but she looked oddly serious.

“That is the truth,” she said in a quiet voice.

“And that means you are Her Royal Highness Princess Charlotte Windsor.” As he said it, he stopped and stared at her again. “Oh my God, you’re not…are you?” She nodded. “Charlotte, why didn’t you tell me? Your sisters, Alexandra, Victoria, and you. I should have known. Oh my God. How could you not say anything before this? Your father will have me hanged for getting you pregnant.” He looked genuinely terrified at the thought.

“No, he won’t. He’s a very kind man. They’ll be upset at first because of how it happened, and that I didn’t tell them. But we’re married now, and the baby will be legitimate. That will be very important to them,” and it was to her too, and to Henry and his parents.

“Charlotte! You’re a royal princess? I never even guessed. I thought your father was a spy or something. Does anyone else know here?” He looked bowled over by her news. He had thought her sisters’ names were a coincidence. The truth seemed enormous to him now.

“Only your parents know, and now you,” Charlotte said. “It doesn’t change anything, but it complicates things a bit. No one is supposed to know I’m here, which is why I’m using a different name, at the request of the cabinet and the prime minister, to ensure my safety.”

“And you live in Buckingham Palace?” Henry was still staring at her in disbelief, as it all came clear to him.

“Yes, until I came here,” Charlotte said quietly.

“Am I supposed to call you ‘Your Royal Highness’ now?” He looked nervous and she laughed.

“Hopefully not.” She smiled at him. He sat looking into the distance for a moment, trying to absorb what she had just told him. It all felt so unreal, especially when he fell asleep that night with his arms around her, and realized again that his new parents-in-law, whom he’d never met, and knew nothing of his existence, were the King and Queen of England, and his wife was their daughter.

“Good night, Your Royal Highness,” he whispered to her as they fell asleep. She laughed and cuddled closer to him. It was even more shocking to realize that the baby they would have would be fourth in line to the throne. In his wildest dreams, Henry had never imagined anything like this happening to him. He was married to a royal princess, and he was only seventeen. It sounded like a fairytale to him. But all that mattered to both of them was how much they loved each other, for better or worse, and Charlotte was now his wife.

Chapter 3

Two weeks after Charlotte and Henry’s clandestine wedding in the little village church, they celebrated Henry’s eighteenth birthday at dinner. Lucy sat at dinner with them that night, and drank a little too much of the wine the earl had opened for the occasion. Because of the war, it was a bittersweet event.

Charlotte was sleeping in her own room again, after their wedding night in Henry’s room. Henry was spending every night upstairs with her. They tried to be as quiet as possible, so Lucy didn’t hear them, but she was well aware that Henry was in the room next door with Charlotte, and more than once she peeked into the hall in time to see Henry head down the stairs before everyone else got up. Lucy fully understood what was going on, or thought she did. She was sure that Henry and Charlotte were having an affair, and she had guessed that Charlotte was pregnant because she threw up consistently. They had admitted nothing to anyone, and Lucy was biding her time to see what they would do. She had no idea that Henry’s parents were aware of it, or that the two young people had gotten married. And she had no suspicions at all about Charlotte’s royal birth. She thought she was just a fancy London girl, possibly with rich parents, judging by her accent and clothes. It had occurred to her immediately that the information about their affair, and possibly an illegitimate baby, might prove useful to her one day. She had to think of her future and what she would do when the war was over. She had nowhere to go. Maybe they would pay her to keep quiet. And she wondered if Charlotte would give the baby away and have it adopted in secret when it was time for her to go home. Lucy thought she wasn’t likely to keep it at seventeen. Lucy wasn’t normally a conniving girl, but alone in the world now, she had to think of herself. And Henry’s loving Charlotte instead of her still stung. She would have liked to be the one in his arms every night. And she thought she might have been if Charlotte had never come.

—

Charlotte had given up her morning rides on Pharaoh ever since she realized she was pregnant. She missed riding him, and meeting Henry along the way.

A week after his birthday, Henry received the notice he’d been expecting for months. He had to report for training in five days, at Catterick Camp in North Yorkshire, the largest training camp of the British Army. He’d already had a physical exam in Leeds, with an A1 designation. His training would last six weeks, and at the beginning of December, he would ship out, and he had no idea where. It was suddenly very real, and Henry and Charlotte spent every night wide awake, making love and talking until nearly dawn. His going to war terrified them both, especially now that they were married and had a baby on the way. The whole house was subdued, with the prospect of Henry leaving for the army. His mother looked panicked, and his father seemed to have aged overnight.