Danielle Steel: H.R.H.

“We must speak to you. We are all beside ourselves with grief over your enormous loss. It is something so horrible that it is truly beyond thinking. Please accept our deepest condolences, from all of us.” She nodded, unable to speak herself as tears came to her eyes. She was in fact a twenty-four-year-old girl who had just lost all the family she had. And there was no one to console her, only these men who wanted to talk to her. She recognized each and every one of them as she looked around the room. All she felt able to do was nod. It had been an immeasurable shock, as they were well aware. Her face was so pale, she almost looked transparent.

“But we must also speak to you about the succession. Our country has no leader. It's a situation that, according to our constitution, must be resolved at once. It is dangerous for us to have no one in charge, particularly now.” For the moment, the prime minister was designated to handle any national disaster, which this certainly was. But all of them felt uneasy having no one to fill the seat her father had so unexpectedly and suddenly left empty. “Are you able to understand what I am saying to you, Your Highness, or are you too upset?” He spoke to her as though she had suddenly become deaf. In fact, she was overwhelmed at having been left so bereft. But she was still able to understand, if not respond.

She finally forced words from her mouth, for almost the first time since it had happened. “I understand,” she was able to confirm.

“Thank you, Your Highness. What we want to discuss with you is who is to take the succession.” He was well aware of her family history, and knew each member of the hundred-member Family Court. “You have several cousins in Vienna who are directly in the line of succession. They are related to you, of course, on your father's side. But in fact, when I went down the list last night, at least the first seven of them, or even eight or nine, are not appropriate to even consider. All of them are far too old and some quite ill. Several have no children, so the succession could not pass down through them. And a great many after that are women. And you know the rules about no female succession. We would have to go to well over the twentieth in line, even twenty-fifth, to find a man of appropriate age, in good health, and I am not even sure he would accept. They are all Austrian, and none has had close ties with Liechtenstein, which leads us to a very interesting place.

“Your father was a very modern man, or an interesting combination. He respected all of our venerable traditions, he believed in everything this country has stood for, for a thousand years. At the same time, he instigated a number of new and more modern positions, without ever sacrificing the old ones. He believed women should have the vote, in fact long before they actually got it. And Your Highness, he had great respect for you. He frequently told me how interested you were in our economic policies, and the very astute suggestions you made, particularly for a young person your age.” He never mentioned her brother Freddy, it would have been inappropriate now, but the reigning prince had frequently said to several of his ministers that if it were not for their current laws, Christianna would have been far more able to reign than her brother. “We have an enormous problem here,” he went on, pausing for breath. “We have no one in direct line to your father, who is truly the right choice for the succession. As we all know, these things are passed on by blood, and often not by skill. But if we are to follow bloodlines, to find someone the right age and sex, we would have to go far down the succession. I don't think it ever occurred to your father, nor should it have, that the crown prince would not reign. But with this tragedy that has befallen us tonight and you, Your Highness, with the greatest respect, I believe that I know what your father would do if faced with this situation. We discussed it at length, all through the night, and we all agree that the only right choice for the succession here is you.” Christianna stared at him as though he were insane, and briefly wondered if she was. Perhaps she was dreaming all this, her father and brother hadn't died and she would wake up in a minute, after escaping this hideous nightmare.

“We are proposing to pass a new law, an emergency measure, to be confirmed and approved by the Family Court immediately, to change our constitution and amend it, to allow the succession to extend to women from now on, and in this case, specifically to you. Further to that, we discussed also tonight that we are equally aware that in your bloodline, on both sides of your mother's immediate family, you are related to the kings of France. If you accept the succession in your father's name, and become reigning princess of Liechtenstein, as we hope you will, and your people, I believe, will also hope you will, given your relationship as direct descendant of the kings of France, in this case, we would wish you to become reigning princess as a Royal Highness, and not a Serene one. I truly believe your father would have approved that too, and of course that also would have to be ruled on and confirmed by the Family Court, also immediately. We must fill the succession as soon as possible. We cannot leave Liechtenstein without a leader. Your Highness, I am asking you on behalf of all of us, as prime minister and one of your subjects and countrymen, in your father's name, will you do it?” There were tears literally pouring down Christianna's cheeks as she listened. She was a twenty-four-year-old girl they had just asked to become leader of her country, reigning princess in her father's shoes. She had never been so frightened in her life, and was shaking from head to foot, from terror, grief, and shock. Everyone in the room could see how hard she was shaking. She could barely speak. She was touched beyond words, but felt completely unequal to the job. How could she ever measure up to her father? And a Royal Highness? They might as well have asked her to be queen. And in a way, they just had. She liked the idea of women being accepted into the line of succession, and always thought they should be, but she felt so much less capable than one needed to be to take on such an overwhelming task.

“But how could I do that?” She was crying so hard she could barely speak.

“We believe you can. And I feel absolutely certain your father thought so, too. Your Highness, I am asking you, begging you, come to your country's aid tonight. We will do all we can to support you, and help you. No reigning prince has ever felt ready for the job. It is something that you learn and grow into. I truly believe you are capable of it, and that your father would want you to. Will you accept what we are suggesting to you? If so, Your Highness, it will be a blessing for us all, also for you, and surely for our country.”

She sat rooted to the spot in her seat, looking from one face to another, and the answer was there in each pair of eyes. Had one of them looked doubtful or hesitant or angry, she knew without a moment's pause she would say no. But instead each of them looked at her expectantly, begging her to do as they asked. They were imploring her, and worse than that, she could almost hear her father's voice from the grave, asking her to do it. She sat staring at them miserably, still shaking, she had never been so frightened or sad in her life. And almost as though a power stronger than she were forcing her to, she slowly nodded her head, unable to believe what she was doing. This was for the rest of her life, until she died. Now she would have to carry the same burdens he had. She would have to live for her country and no longer for herself. Duty would no longer be just a word to her, it would be a way of life she could never escape. But even as she thought of it, backing away from it like a horse from its stall in terror, she looked the prime minister in the eye and spoke in the merest whisper.