Rise To The Crown- The Story of the Third-In-Line

*Sixteen (2008.5)

It has been an entire year since William and Kate got engaged. Not only are the Middletons more worried about the palace's determination to accept Kate, but even the Queen has also been uneasy.

The current situation is that the public is divided on the issue of their future king Wiliam's wedding. More than half of them support the union while about 15% do not. Both groups correspond to some advisors in Her Majesty's PR team. Here are their mindsets. While both parties like Kate as a person and her ability to carry out future royal duties as a duchess, the anti-Kate wing, often more conservative, believes in the rule that no child born out of wedlock, such as Adelaide, should ever become queen, therefore there shall be no way that Kate would marry William and under no circumstances should Adelaide hold a royal title; the slightly liberal take amongst Her Majesty's PR team is that the rule can be overruled once in favor of preserving the public image of the firm (not ignoring a child).

The longer they delay the wedding, the more it seems that Adelaide is being devalued.

The Queen decided to not give a statement about the date of the wedding or any updates. She compromised with the conservatives. Or, did she?

The real reason behind her seemingly abandoning the liberal wing for the conservatives was because she needed to collaborate with the conservatives in the parliament, who have close ties with the conservative wing of HM's PR team, to promote the passing of an important act —— Succession to the Crown Act.

This Act will change Adelaide's life forever. If and when William and Kate have another child after marriage, Adelaide would have no hopes for the throne. But now, she does. She is the eldest child of the second-in-line. She is the third-in-line.

So, why does the Queen want to secure Adelaide's status and future even at the expense of Adelaide's parents' and maybe even to some extent, the monarchy's future?

The last time HM saw Delly was one day after the afternoon when Delly was told that she was to be queen. HM noticed that Delly looked a bit different that day, but was quite unable to tell what about Delly gave her that feeling. Maybe it was the fact that she wasn't talking as much as she used to? Then, Delly came to her Gran-Gran and gave her a big hug. She hugged back.

That embrace showed more emotions than any words could ever do. HM was pleasantly stunned because it seems to take her back to the countless times when she'd hugged her father, George. And she felt as if her father was with her and Delly on this journey and that he'd support her decision of making Delly, Queen Adelaide.

Oftentimes, HM would think back to that day and that hug, because that was when she felt the strong determination of her little Lissybette to become a good queen, and that was the moment that she knew she would.

_

Those royal commentators who really understand what the Queen is thinking know that she is making a tradeoff. She traded the current marital status of Adelaide's parents for the future royal status of Adelaide.

What a majestic gesture from our queen.

Anyhow, for now, whatever happened in those people's minds doesn't matter to our darling Adelaide. In her mind, she only knew one thing, which is, that her Uncle Harry is going to a place the name of which she cannot pronounce, she called it, "Afgandan".

The reason behind Harry leaving was because there was no use for him in the UK. He came back only for William and Kate's wedding, which is not happening anytime soon. He needs to go back to duty.

What Delly doesn't understand is why her uncle needs to go somewhere else and fight for someone else. On Harry's departure day, Delly asked him, he put her on his lap and said, "Delly, there are a lot of people in the world who are not living the way we are right now. Many of them do not have a house to live in, good foods to eat, or even proper clothing to wear. We need to help them, that's why I'm going to Afghanistan."

"Afgandan!" Delly said, and Harry smiled.

As Harry stepped out of the doorway, he thought, "I need to tell pa and grandpa to let Delly see the outside world of poor people, and not just go bird-watching all day."

William and Kate were very pleasantly surprised by the fact that their daughter didn't cry and demanded her uncle be here to play with her. Delly would've definitely done that, had she not known she'd become queen someday. For one, Delly knows that a Queen doesn't do that. And for two, Delly's mind was too occupied imagining the place called "Afgandan" and what her uncle just said to her. "Delly, we need to help them."

Delly stared in the direction where her uncle went for a long time, as if that way she'd see "Afgandan".