A Royal Christmas Quandary

by Samantha Hastings

  “You have to see the next one.”

  He turned over the card where the man was being held by the bear. He smiled. “This won’t end well for the man.”

  They laughed together merrily. “I have more gifts to give,” Drina said. “Happy Christmas, Friedrich. Try not to break too many hearts tonight.”

  He gave her wolfish grin. “I can’t help it. I was born to break hearts.”

  Drina went back to the Christmas tree and found her gift for Alice. She picked it up and made her way to her friend. When Alice saw her, she hugged her tightly.

  “I’m so very, very happy for you!” Drina said.

  “I’m happy for myself,” Alice said, still beaming. “I have the happy ending I didn’t think I’d find.”

  “Here’s your Christmas present,” she said, handing the brown paper package tied with twine to her friend.

  Alice unwrapped the brown paper and read the title of the book: “Notes on Nursing: What It Is and What It Is Not, by Florence Nightingale.”

  “I know you used to follow her letters during the Crimean War.”

  “Her hygiene methods in field hospitals were innovational,” Alice said. “I can’t wait to read this!”

  The princess opened the book eagerly.

  “Well, not now,” Drina protested. “It’s Christmas Eve. The best methods for disposing of bloody bandages can wait.”

  Alice laughed and took Drina’s hand. “I’m still working on your present.” She leaned in conspiratorially to whisper, “Don’t forget to put your stocking out for Father Christmas.”

  “I won’t,” Drina assured her. She saw Prince Louis standing behind them, looking like he was waiting to speak with Alice. “I believe your handsome fiancé has a present for you as well.”

  Drina took her card from Friedrich and walked over to the fireplace to sit. She looked around the room. Edward was grinning at Emily, who was holding a diamond circlet. Lord Weatherby’s hand was on Lady Hyacinth’s back; Drina shivered in disgust. Lady Clara sat rather close to Friedrich and they were laughing together. And Alice and Prince Louis were grinning stupidly at each other. She watched Prince Louis give Alice a brooch; Alice exclaimed in delight and grasped his hands. She looked genuinely happy and Drina was genuinely happy for her friend.

  But George was gone. Drina suddenly felt rather gloomy and stood up to leave the room. She didn’t want to bah humbug anyone else’s Christmas Eve. She quietly left the room and found her father sitting on a sofa in the corridor.

  “There you are, Drina,” her father said. “I’ve scarcely seen you this week. Come and sit down by me.” He must have seen her dour expression for he added, “Why so glum on Christmas Eve?”

  “I’m not feeling glum,” Drina lied as she sat. “In fact, earlier today, I read about a special parliamentary act passed in 1706 that allowed a daughter to inherit her father’s estate and title in her own right.”

  “That’s wonderful!” he said. “We should go tell your mother at once. Have you told Queen Victoria about it? Perhaps it will help sway her decision.”

  “Alice promised to,” she said, secretly hoping her friend wouldn’t forget with all the excitement of her own engagement. “So now you don’t have to regret that I wasn’t born a boy.”

  “I never regretted your birth even once,” her father said, taking her hands in his. “From the first moment I held you in my arms, I knew that I was luckiest man alive. I have a beautiful wife and a beautiful daughter—”

  “Except for the nose,” Drina interjected, touching the tip of her long, pointy nose.

  “Except for the nose,” her father agreed, and touched his own long nose. “And the unfortunate height.”

  “I don’t mind that one as much.”

  “I adore them both,” her father said earnestly. “Because they make you you, Drina. You are more important to me than any title, any estate. You are my greatest legacy.”

  “Thank you, Papa,” Drina said with a sniff as she leaned over and embraced him. “You are wonderful.”

  He patted her hair. “Almost half as wonderful as you.”

  She sat back and sniffed again. “I think I’ll go to bed now, Papa. I’m awfully tired.”

  “I have one more thing for you,” he said. He took a small box out of his coat pocket and handed it to her. “This is from your mother and me. She picked them, of course—she says I have no taste for jewelry. Happy Christmas.”’

  Drina lifted the lid of the small box to reveal a sparkling set of sapphire earrings trimmed with silver. “They’re stunning, Papa!”

  “The same color as your eyes,” he said. He smiled wryly and added, “Try not to get arrested for stealing them.”

  Drina clutched the box to her stomach. “You know? You knew?!”

  Her father nodded. “Next time, tell George to tip the coach driver as well as the footmen if he doesn’t want his exploits spread about. Dinsmore’s driver was full of details and I was more than happy to pay for his discretion.”

  “Are you angry?”

  “Not a bit,” her father said, shaking his head. “But next time, I would be honored if you called on me to rescue you.”

  “I didn’t want you to tell Mama,” Drina admitted. “And George was afraid you’d tell his father.”

  “I can keep a secret from your mother,” her father said, patting down his gray hair that stuck up in the back. “And I’m fond of George. I would never say anything to his father that would get him into trouble. In fact, I’ve always thought he was rather fond of you, too. And in my opinion, he’s worth a dozen princes.”

  She blushed and shook her head. “He doesn’t care for me that way.”

  “You might be surprised,” her father said, and then kissed her on the cheek.

  Drina kissed her father’s cheek and took her own jumble of thoughts back to her bedchamber. She pulled the cord for her servant. Within a few minutes, Miss Russon arrived and assisted her out of her evening gown and into her nightdress. Drina dismissed her and then carefully placed the jewelry she was wearing, along with her new sapphire earrings, into her lockbox.

  She climbed into bed and sat for a few moments watching the flames dance in the fireplace. Then she suddenly remembered Alice telling her to put a stocking out for Father Christmas.

  Drina groaned as she scrambled back out of bed. She pulled the stocking off her foot and placed it on a hook in front of the fireplace. It was silly to put out a stocking for Father Christmas at her age, but she wasn’t quite ready to give up on dreams and magic yet. And in the morning when nothing was in her stocking, she would pretend something wonderful was inside.

  She closed her eyes and smiled, picturing George in a very large stocking.

  Chapter 26

  Drina opened her eyes slowly. It was Christmas Day. She rolled out of bed and tugged open the curtains. Light streamed through the windows into the perfectly pink room. She walked to the fireplace to warm her hands; the embers of a small fire were still burning in the crate.

  She reached out and startled: There was something inside her stocking! Drina quickly pulled the stocking off the mantle and found a piece of paper inside.

  She dropped the stocking and unfolded the paper. At the bottom was the official stamp of Queen Victoria Regina and her signature. Drina glanced through the carefully written lines. It was a royal dispensation:

  I, Queen Victoria, do officially end the entail of the Rothfield estate because of the lack of any direct or indirect male descendants. I hereby give Lady Alexandrina Victoria Gailey, daughter of Lord Anthony Gailey and Princess Wilhelmina of Hoburg, the authority to inherit Rothfield estate and the title Marchioness of Rothfield suo jure.

  All Drina could do was laugh. She laughed so hard that she cried. She almost didn’t hear the light knock at the door. For half a moment, she thought it would be George, but she shook her head. He wouldn’t come to her rooms. Not now. Probably not ever.

  Drina slipped on her silk robe and opened the door. Alice s
tood in the hall, fully dressed and grinning at her.

  “Were you a good girl this year? Did Father Christmas come?” she asked archly.

  “I’ll say,” Drina answered, opening the door wider so her friend could come inside her room. She shut the door behind Alice and they sat side by side on pink chairs.

  “How did you do this?” Drina asked.

  Alice smiled. “Last night, my mother called me to her rooms to talk about my marriage to Prince Louis. She was so pleased, I thought it was the right moment to ask a favor of her.”

  “Obviously, she said yes.”

  “Nearly,” Alice replied. “I told her about the special parliamentary act that allowed Henrietta Churchill to inherit her father’s title and estate, but she still seemed hesitant. So I pointed out to her that if you weren’t going to inherit your family’s estate that you would be desperately looking for a wealthy husband and that there was a very eligible prince looking your way. And of course, she doesn’t want you to marry Bertie, because she’s trying to set him up with Princess Alexandra of Denmark.”

  “Why would she think that Bertie wished to marry me?”

  “It was his idea to help you,” Alice said. “Bertie’s been telling Mama how beautiful you are and how talented and how much he likes you. Then he asked you to dance several times. I think that is what finally did the trick.”

  “That was kind of him.”

  “Will you forgive him now, Drina?” Alice asked earnestly. “May I tell him that he is forgiven?”

  She paused before answering. “Yes, as long as he promises to keep both his lips and arms to himself in the future.”

  “Bertie will be so pleased.”

  “Thank you for all that you’ve done, Alice,” Drina said. “You must have stayed up very late to slip that letter in my stocking.”

  “Late indeed,” Alice said with a wink. “My father wanted to talk to me in his study and he explained to me what happens between a man and a woman when they are married.”

  “I wondered how much you knew about that.”

  “Not much at all. In fact, nothing beyond kissing. And I have yet to be kissed,” Alice confessed, blushing. “But I look forward with joy to kissing and consummating my marriage.”

  Alice laughed and blushed some more. Drina laughed with her.

  “You will be so happy and you must name your most beautiful daughter after me.”

  “I will,” Alice said with another smile. “Although, life was made for work and not pleasure.”

  A dreary Prince Albert-ism if there ever was one.

  “Perhaps life was made for both work and pleasure,” Drina said, standing up. “Now I must get dressed. I need to tell my parents the good news and go thank your mother.”

  Alice stood up, too. “I should go spend the morning with Louis. He leaves for Hesse in three days and I could cry my eyes out just thinking about it.”

  “How soon will you be married?”

  “Papa says within the year,” Alice said. “But I can hardly wait. I could be quite happy and contented living in a cottage with Louis. We will share intellectual interests and aspirations.”

  “And he is very handsome,” Drina said with her own smile.

  “The handsomest of princes!” Alice said, smiling. “And even more handsome than Vicky’s husband, Fritz. Not that appearance matters, of course.”

  “Of course not—but it helps,” Drina agreed with a laugh.

  * * *

  Once Miss Russon helped her to dress, Drina left her room and knocked on her parents’ door. Her father opened it, still in his morning robe.

  “Is everything all right, Drina?” he asked.

  “Everything is wonderful!” she said, throwing her arms around her father.

  “Vhat is vonderful?” her mother asked. The Princess Rothfield was already dressed in a day gown of dark purple taffeta with a small waist and an enormous skirt. “Tell me at once, Liebling.”

  Drina held out the letter to her. “Queen Victoria has officially broken the entail on Rothfield House. I’m to inherit the title.”

  “I must see for myself,” her father said, snatching the document from her.

  “It is everything I have prayed for,” her mother said, embracing Drina. “Your future is secure, my darling, my dearest Liebling.”

  “How did this come about?” her father asked.

  “Princess Alice convinced the Queen with the help of the Churchill precedent,” she said, thinking it best not to tell her parents everything. Her mother would be offended that Queen Victoria didn’t think her daughter worthy of a prince.

  “I’m so happy,” her mother said. “I could shout it from the castle towers.”

  “But it’s raining, dearest,” her father pointed out. “And I think it would be best to keep such happy tidings to ourselves until all the legal work is completed. And we don’t want her swarmed by fortune hunters, at least until the London Season next year.”

  “I think there is much to what you say, Anthony. But Drina must go and thank Cousin Victoria at once.”

  “Yes,” Drina agreed.

  “I’ll come with you,” she said, patting Drina’s arm. “Try not to babble this time.”

  “I’ll do my best.”

  “You could hardly do worse than last time,” her mother reminded her.

  “I’ll keep this royal dispensation safe,” her father said. “Happy Christmas, indeed!”

  * * *

  Drina and her mother waited for over an hour in the Queen’s Audience Chamber before Queen Victoria arrived, accompanied by Viscountess Jocelyn and George’s mother, the Duchess of Doverly. The duchess gave Drina a small smile of reassurance, and Drina couldn’t help but notice that George had inherited his beautiful brown eyes from her.

  She and her mother both stood and curtsied to the Queen.

  “Your Royal Highness,” Drina said in a breathless voice. “I wanted to thank you for your kindness in breaking the entail.”

  “You are welcome, Alexandrina,” Cousin Victoria said. “It was the only thing to be done because there are no other male heirs. I would not change the law for any other reason. I love peace and quiet; I hate politics and turmoil. We women are not made for governing, and if we are good women, we must dislike these masculine occupations.”

  “Of course, Cousin Victoria,” her mother said. “You are an exemplary monarch and a great example to all your people.”

  “Indeed you are, ma’am,” the duchess agreed.

  Queen Victoria nodded with her double chin.

  “Congratulations, Your Majesty,” Drina added, “on Princess Alice’s engagement to Prince Louis.”

  “I feel sure that no girl would go to the altar if she knew all,” the Queen said. “I think people really marry far too much; it is such a lottery, after all.”

  The Duchess of Doverly covered her lips with a handkerchief, hiding a smile. Lady Jocelyn managed to turn her laugh into a delicate cough.

  Drina opened her mouth to reply, but before she could speak, her mother grabbed her arm. “Thank you again, Cousin Victoria. We are so grateful. We will let you get back to your families for Christmas. Your Majesty, Duchess, Lady Jocelyn.”

  Her mother gripped Drina’s arm tightly until Queen Victoria left the room with her ladies.

  “Come, Liebling,” she said as they walked toward the opposite door.

  “Why did you not let me speak?”

  “I was saving you from yourself, Liebling.”

  “You don’t even know what I would have said!”

  “I didn’t need to,” her mother replied. “I saw how you stuck out your chin. It was going to end ill for all of us. Come, this is a day to spend with family, ja?”

  * * *

  Drina spent the rest of Christmas day with her parents. She sat by them and Friedrich during the state dinner that evening. She was wearing a new blue stain tunic dress with an underskirt of white silk, covered by innumerable small flounces.

  But unfortunat
ely, George didn’t seem to notice her or her new dress. He sat at the other end of the table by Lady Clara, who was giggling every time Drina glanced in their direction.

  She took a large bite of Christmas pudding. It was still hot and burned her tongue and the roof of her mouth. She grimaced.

  “What is the matter, Drina?” Fredrich asked.

  “Nothing,” she said.

  “Oy!” Edward called out from a few seats away. He pulled a silver coin from his mouth. He held it up for the entire table to see. “I got the silver sixpence.”

  “Congratulations, Lord Dinsmore,” Prince Albert said, raising his wine glass. “May you enjoy wealth and good luck in the coming year.”

  Everyone lifted their wine glasses and toasted: “Lord Dinsmore.”

  Drina stole another glance at George and saw that he was looking right at her. Then Lady Clara touched George’s arm and his attention was back on her. She sighed in resigned disappointment. After dinner, the royal family left for their private apartments and the younger members of the party decided to play a game of the Courtiers.

  “We need a king or a queen,” Lady Hyacinth said.

  “I’ll be king,” Edward said. “Since I found the silver sixpence. George, get me a chair and place it in the center of the room.”

  Drina saw George grimace in annoyance, but he did pick up a chair and set it in the center of the room. Edward sat down and folded his arms. Copying the king without smiling or laughing was the key to the game. Everyone else folded their arms. Edward nodded regally to the rest of the group.

  Edward yawned widely and stretched out his arms. Drina and the rest of them copied him. He took out his handkerchief and wiped at his eyes. Everyone else in the room took out a handkerchief and wiped at their eyes. Edward took the same handkerchief and placed it on his nose and made a sneezing noise that was part pig grunt and part dog bark. Drina lifted her handkerchief toward her nose and found her eyes locked with George’s. He almost smiled at her, but he covered his mouth with the handkerchief. Drina wasn’t as fast. She tried to hide her smile with a snort, but ended up in giggles.