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The Third Son of a Duke

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Day 0 – What’s it all about

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So this is what happens when you become so wrapped up in your family history that a story screams out from under the names, dates, and places.

Perhaps it’s not the history you were hoping for, but some of your ancestors could be incorporated into a story.

A lot of mine came out from England on various ships, from sail to steam, small and large.

A lot of them were farmers, farmhands, or the modern-day roustabout called a labourer.

A lot of these came to Australia to improve their lot in life.  Some did.

WE had no convict ancestors

We had no rich people, perhaps the one that might have been was a builder and stone mason from Dorchester in England.

It was his daughter who was the reason for my existence.

But a story can’t be just about ancestors; it needs a thread to pull it all together.  That’s why I’m working on a package to wrap my family story in.

It starts in England over Christmas 1913, with the third son of a Duke, David.

His parents are sending him to Australia to check on how his father’s investment in his uncle’s enterprise, a cattle station in outback Queensland, is performing.

The real reason, his parents want to shield him from the possibility of war, just around the corner in 1914.

In going to Australia, he will meet my grandmother, on her way out to visit relatives in Footscray, but I think something else was afoot.

It’s going to be a fun ride imagining what my grandmother might have been like at the age of 25, coming to Australia as an adventure, and definitely not the sort of thing girls her age did.

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The Fourth Son

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The reporter

When the story is over, you realise you’ve forgotten a major chunk of it.

It’s one of those wakes in the middle of the night, drenched in sweat, and screaming.

I was just looking at the first few chapters and realised, what about that horrid reporter that confronted them in the restaurant?

While Cherise dealt with the problem, it occurred to me later that she would be perfect for the new king to get an outsider, and a cynic at that, view.

Yes, he does get a little payback later on at the media conference at the Embassy when he arrives back from Ruth’s home.

So, now there’s a new chapter or section where the ambassador summons her editorial boss, and they put a proposal to both of them.

This will also then lead to an interview of sorts on the plane when they are coming home, where he has become King

I’m also including a new chapter where he meets with Archie, an old friend and the head of the principality’s only newspaper and TV station.

And there will be a revolving door of interaction with the media.

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The Fourth Son

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Well, it’s almost over, and it’s only the first week of the King’s reign.

There’s more, but I think the tale of the wedding might consume another book, with the plots and twists it can bring

And then there’s the coronation and the missing brother.  Yes, there’s every chance he’ll be thawed out and brought back to life.

Well, I doubt that can happen, but there is the spectre of his brother hanging over everything, and it’s going to play a part in the coronation.

The summer palace is going to become an international equestrian school.

Ruth is going to challenge all comers to many duels in the sword room.

And prove she’s going to be a force to be reckoned with.

Elizabeth is going to make a bid for the top job, Queen, and our new king is going to have to learn more about the country and its archaic laws, yes, we’re going back 800 years to the original charter when the land was granted to the first King.

Will there even be a coronation?

Stay tuned.

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The Fourth Son

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I have to say that just writing about Queen Isobel sent shivers down my spine.

At tome my hands were shaking over the keyboard, and I had to try very hard to find the words that might express some of that feeling and felt the despair of never being able to act on it.

In my mind, they were sharing a dance, a waltz, one where they could br together and apart when they could gaze into each other’s eyes.

I could feel that depth of feelings because it’s the same o have with the love of my life who’s been there for nearly 50 years.  All it takes is a look, a nuance, a simple touch that sends an electric shock through you.

And how hard it is not to show it when out in public.

It’s why Ruth is perceptive enough to see what there is and clever enough to realise that it was not a threat.  Their pact of telling the truth, no matter what, had given her his perspective, what had happened, and what it meant in a world that she could never imagine.

I’m still trying to reconcile those feelings because I’ve never quite experienced anything like it, so I could never say for sure what I would have done in similar circumstances.

Men are usually weak.  Perhaps I want this king to be sometimes more than his father, who certainly would have acted on what he would have assumed was an implied offer.

And just to be clear, I never expected there would be weighty moral issues arising in this simple tale of a fourth son rising to be king.

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The Fourth Son

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Queen Isobel.

Contrary to the myth that all witches were hags or drones, the wicked witch of nnnn swooped into their principality on her broomstick, in the guise of a Cessna citation, the private royal plane, to be greeted by the new king’s sister.

It was a calculated manoeuvre to get her to take the front line, her old partner in crime, when meting out punishment to her younger siblings.

His older sister, for that matter, had been more of a mother to him than his real mother.  But with that came the bad as well as the good.

It was always clear who the dominant one was, his sister, because he knew that she was more like her father than her mother, and she had inherited her father’s sadistic streak

When the Queen arrives at the castle for the proper greeting, she appears to be anything but what he remembered of her, and it scares him.

What had his sister and her conjured up in the car from the airport to the castle?

Formalities over and confusion settling in, it’s time for the brief private discussion in the green room.

Seeing her by the drinks cabinet pouring a drink takes him back to the days of hide and seek they played together in the castle, and that very room.

A look passes between them, and they remember.

Don’t forget that as a teen, he had a crush on this woman standing before him.  Now a queen, not just a crazy girl, that look between them transcended everything.

The kiss, well, not planned, not avoided, but an expression of feelings that still burned, but every so lightly they could be embers and extinguished.

So this was the reason why he never tried to hide from her.  Didn’t she know, or did she guess, but not want to think about?

Her sister had expressed feelings for the new king, her sister the one one shared his first kiss, the sister he wanted more than Eleanor, and the sister who told their father, and he nearly killed her for it.

Never, never, never will another princess from his domain marry a prince from the new king’s kingdom.  Ever.

The deal made over the dowry between the new king’s mother and his father had been contentious and nearly started another war.

Old rivalries never died. They simply festered.

As for their feelings for each other, back in the box and stored away, never to see the light of day.

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The Fourth Son

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Speaking of old feelings

There is no doubt in the new King’s mind that Ruth is the one, but all the old feelings are being stirred up now that he is back home, and it’s not just being home again.

In a castle that he grew up in, there is a memory both good and bad in every corner, every nook and cranny, in the paintings on the walls, in the rooms he used to play, weather, lounge, and entertainment in, and the people.

Talking about the summer palace long since shuttered, though no reason was ever given, was the place he stole his first kiss, with a girl he was soon to meet again.

She was as horrible to him as she was nice, and it was a short period that he could never reconcile in his mind and had never left but remained in the depths, waiting for the opportunity to resurface.

He was hoping it wouldn’t.

He’d got past Eleanor.

Now he had to get past Isobel.  Standing in the green room because of the green tapestries depicting the valley before the castle, when there were no village roads or farms, quite literally a sea of green.

The green room was the private reception room where the king met privately with other very senior dignitaries, and the first would be Queen Isobel of the other principality.

Isobel was a mystery to him and quite unlike any girl and later woman he ever met, and he put that down to the eccentricities of Royal blood.

He is both excited and filled with dread.

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The Fourth Son

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Old girlfriends

Eleanor, a princess by birth, was selected by the new king’s mother as his perfect match, and yes, in this principality and the other arranged marriages for their children were still done.

Marriage for love was frowned upon, but our new King was by virtue of the fact he had moved away because fourth sons were not going to be crowned king any time soon, was allowed to annul the arrangement.

The truth of the matter was that although they were good together, temperament-wise, they would have ended up killing each other.

Too young and too silly, that first attraction died away before they reached an age to know what love meant, and for our prince, what responsibility was.

Now, she was Richard’s choice, again not in line for the throne, and she found him a far more suitable and placid person to be with.

The truth was she had fallen in love with the country, and the lifestyle that she freely confessed was far better than her home.

When our new king meets up with his old paramour, whom he has not seen for many years, there are feelings there, but not enough to make an impression.

Now that Richard is gone, it’s a question of what she is going to do with the rest of her life, and it seems she wants to stay.

Why not?

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The Fourth Son

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Spies

Yes, I know you were waiting for me to inject the spectre of espionage.

After all the new joking is an avid reader of thrillers and spy novels, so there had to be a hint of something going on.

It’s not as if he’s suspicious of his father’s death, not that it should be a big deal, considering the way his father had treated him and his brothers and sisters.

It’s like everyone is glad that he is dead, but trying not to let that show through because it just wouldn’t be right.  But it is like a heavy load had been lifted, and no one is talking about it.

As if that isn’t another conspiracy theory!

So, the autopsy reports are in, and it might be construed that the doctor made sure that evil didn’t rise again.  In anyone else’s book, that might be murder, but what were the circumstances?

This is not a matter for him to investigate, and he has been advised not to do it himself but to allow his head of security to carry out discreet enquiries.

This is not something that will raise its head until the next book in the series.

As for the spy, he believes he needs to look no further than his mother and her fellow countryman, who is currently in the city and who also covers his movements by being one of several investors.

They have a chat in the Gardens.

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The Fourth Son

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A morning visit to the ski fields and the resort to inspect the works and the resort’s reopening.

It hasn’t been a week, but every day has caused pain.

But our new king had an ulterior motive and wanted to go to the top of the mountain to inspect the site where his older brother disappeared.

It would make a more obvious indication of his intentions if he were to go all the way to where his older brother was last seen, but he wanted to know if there was the start of a passage, where he could have escaped.

That would have to wait until he could convince Cherise, his bodyguard, that it was vital to his investigations, something she told him was hardly worth the effort of doing it himself and would recommend someone else to do it for him.

An argument for another day.

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The Fourth Son

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Diplomacy, or what keeps the wheels of international relations turning.

And sadly, not having much involvement in diplomacy except for the odd ball in New York stage by on of another of the dozens of countries who had Embassies there, the idea of coping with those events horrified him.

Step into the breach, the number one personal assistant who was conversant in a foreign language knew everything about his country and was familiar with all of the ambassadors in the city.

And who had expressed the desire to meet with the new king and congratulate him on his accession.

Yes, another state dinner.

And, if Ruth had her way, dancing.

He invites Ruth and Susie at short notice, and Susie is gobsmacked and overwhelmed like the girl she is, and he promises to rustle up a few princes for her to meet.

But.

No fainting allowed.

And definitely no fairy godmothers turning pumpkins into carriages.  They already had a gold coach, and she could use it if she wanted to

Rurh doesn’t think they will ever get her to go home after it.

And of course, she doesn’t have a thing to wear!