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

*Thirty-One (2010.02)

The families of Bella, Brandon, Theodore, Brian, and Adelaide decided to go out for lunch together and get to know each other better, as their children are apparently best friends.

Bella's family was from Cuba, her mother's family was a small landowner in a town close to Havana. When the communists took over, they feared prosecution since they were landowners and not proletariats. Thankfully, Bella's grandparents were technicians and were able to immigrate to the UK in 1961, just after Castro's takeover. Their family was not that well off, immigrating to the UK cost them almost all of their savings and they were living from paycheck to paycheck. Fortunately, both Bella's mother Silvana, and her younger sister Samantha were hard-working girls. Silvana became a doctor and Samantha became a business lawyer. The sisters often joked about how their parents gave them two choices, either to be a doctor or a lawyer. But we can all understand that, as parents who went through so much, they wished the best for their daughters. Silvana met Oliver Clarke, an Englishman from Essex at work, who is also a doctor, and they got married and had Bella. They currently enjoy a comfortable middle-class life with both parents earning good money and Bella is very happy about her baby brother who is going to join them in May.

The Loskys are, obviously, Russian. They all had blonde hair and hazel eyes. One might suppose that they came to the UK because of communist prosecution and had a story such as that of Bella's family, but nope that was not the case. Though the Loskys were indeed a well-to-do family in the city they are from, different from Bella's family, they enjoyed a good relationship with the authorities. In imperial Russia, the Loskys was a famous name in the city of Volgograd. They are a trusted brand of ship making company., ship making was a big business in the city. The problem is, Brian Losky's great-great-grandfather, Nicholas Vladimir Losky, was the youngest of four sons and when his three older brothers from his father's previous wife schemed to disinherit Nicholas, the youngest saw no reason to remain in Volgograd. He, together with his newly-wed wife Alisa Loskya went to the UK to seek a new life in Britain. They never went back since. Though the Loskys are Russian, two of Nicholas's sons and 3 of his grandchildren would fight for the UK, and his grandson would fight against the Soviets in the foreign land of Vietnam. That grandson of Nicholas was Brian's grandfather. Brian's father, Gregory, had the mind of his ancestors and is a successful businessman earning good money for his wife and two children. 

The Robinsons were British, meaning that they came to Britain so long ago that they cannot remember where they came from. It is clear that they are from Africa, but, they themselves don't even know where they came from. After the 1960s, the family was finally able to get a decent job, but they had to work long hours and often earned minimal wages. They were in what we call the poorest possible situation in modern Britain without being homeless. But the Robinsons always held their backs high. Racism, discrimination, poverty, and such and such, cannot weaken their pride. Brandon was taught from a young age that he is not superior nor inferior to anyone. Brandon Robinson was the only black kid of the group, and despite his family not earning nearly as much as any of the other children at school, he doesn't feel inferior to any of them. He is just as good at everything as Adelaide, Brian, Theodore, and Bella.

Such was what William and Kate gained from a good 3.5 hours of conversation at lunch with the families. They concluded that there was nothing particularly suspicious about any of them, they were just everyday people, and it had no harm that these children are at school with their daughter everyday.

Delly had observed one thing particularly peculiar. Mumma and Papa didn't have to talk about themselves at all. The others just seemed to know everything already.

Brian's dad was talking about the part when Brian's great-great-grandpa Nicholas was disinherited because of his scheming brothers, to make the conversation lighter, he jokes, "people do that a lot in wealthy families," and, realizing the inappropriateness of the joke when Prince William is present, wanted to say something to mend.

William noticed and saw no malintent on the other man's part, and continues the joke, "they certainly did that lots in mine."

Then, seeing the awkward situation resolved, everyone was relieved and started to laugh to calm their nerves, they said, "yeah, yeah, haha, right."

When they laughed enough, they stopped. And Brian's mom pinched her husband on his thigh, signaling him to stop blurting out stupid things.

And the conversation moved on.

But Delly was confused.

_

"Papa?" Delly asked that night when William was giving her a tuck-in.

"Yes darling," William wanted to make this quick because he knows Kate is in the shower waiting for him.

"Why does everyone know about us?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like, when Brandon's dad talked about his parent's divorce, they look at you."

"Kate I'll be there in a moment," William said, noticing this topic would be huge.

"What is Mumma doing?"

"Oh, Delly, nothing, she just wants me to check... and email she wrote you know mommy's not good with formalities, right yeah yeah thats it. Okay, so Delly. We are royals, but we are subjected totally by the people."

"But King is powerful," Delly doesn't understand.

"He once was. Not any more. We are funded by the people, talked about by the people, liked by the people,, or hated by the people. They pay for us, and we -"

"So, what do we work?"

"Yes, because they pay for us, we work for them. Like how a boss pays an employee and the employee works for him. The people pay for us, we work for them. This is what we call duty. It is a duty to the people, the country, and the Commonwealth. We do live in privilege. But we also have rights stripped away from us. You want to become a ballerina, become an ice skater. But no, you can't darling because that is not a part of your duty. I'm so sorry. You know darling, I had dreams too, and each and every one of them diminished as I grew older. Only one remains ——duty and service. It once hurt a lot for me, but now, not as much. Adelaide, one day you are going to realize that being a good Queen is a much better choice than being an ice skater. Not for you, for everyone else. "

This echoed in Delly's head for a long time.