Royalty this Century

Chapter XXII

The eleventh of December is Constitution Day! On the eleven of December 1867, the People's Kingdom of Monteiro was born. King Giorgio Fenin was running Monteiro into the ground which caused a series of revolts: the hunger strikes of Margeaux, which led to the storming of Chateau du Margeaux; the People's Revolution, which was led by the peasant class; and the infamous Au Nord suffrage, which was Au Nord province's female population demanding the right for women to vote. The People's Revolution almost had the monarchy abolished by May of the same year. They would have succeeded if it weren't for King Giorgio's assassination.

After his assassination King Giorgio's nephew, Vincenzo Banderas-Fenin ascended the throne. The new king listened to the complaints of his people and the advice of his advisers and gave power to the people, giving both men and women the right to vote and shared the power of a king among a constitutional parliament. This also led to the Monarchical Uproar.

The three royal families - Fenin, Canmore and Kingborne, which rotated in that order - stood against their king and demanded to restore the supposed order. Their unrest also led to a series of 'counter-revolutionary' assassinations, including that of Prince Jean-Claude Canmore, Princess Naémie X's grandfather.

When the royal families at last accepted the new world order, the unrest eased. After that, King Vincenzo worked wiyh his neophyte parliament to establish a stable constitution and on eleven December, his majesty and the first prime minister, Jacques le Core, signed the Declaration of Constitutional Rectification and renamed their kingdom, the People's Kingdom of Monteiro.

It was a public holiday filled, usually with drinking and parades with floats showcasing historical events but that was before ten years ago. Ten years ago, the king-father was still the king of Monteiro. In the midst of the parade floats was the reigning royal family in open-top carriages.

His excellency's carriage had the former king and queen, Viktor III and Margaret, along with Ainsley. Her highness was merely eight years old and sitting on her grandfather's lap. A dishonourably discharged Monteirian sniper woke up and chose violence that day. Thankfully Ainsley wouldn't sit still so ex-lieutenant Michael la Pierre shot his excellency in the pelvis.

Needless to say the young princess was severely traumatised by the blood pouring onto her. That's how the king-father wound up getting a hip replacement. His actual hip bone was turned into a Christmas ornament and part of the collection of heirloom decorations.

Unfortunately, King Viktor III's recovery wasn't an easy one. He was in critical condition and barely alive but life went on. His eldest son took over his duties as king but after crashing a second time, parliament wouldn't take anymore chances. Prince Viktor Wolfgang Amadeus Canmore IV became the last Canmore king in the present cycle.

la Pierre was arrested and charged with three counts of treason (one for each member of the royal family in that particular carriage); two charges of attempted murder of a high ranking royal; and attempted murder of a royal heir. Presently he's spending his days in the Ambre Sécurité Maximale, in Innuendo province. Since then, Constitution Day is not celebrated with the royal families present in the parade.

Instead Constitution Day was treated like a normal public holiday; nobody working, people at home and relaxing. There were people who still went out to party in the streets, mostly at night before the fireworks. The royal families took the day off because the day was also known as No Royals Day and, unofficially, the monarchy didn't have power for that whole day.

Ainsley was in her room doing her makeup for her portfolio. Her face was very bronzed and her eyeshadow was a bright tint of orange. She turned that bright orange into a butterfly with a liquid nude lip. She hummed then started taking photos with Julien's camera. Apparently he had a photography phase.