Adelaide had a purpose in life - to be a queen like her great-grandma Queen Elizabeth II. But more and more she realized that she would be a queen much different from any of the eight Queens who reigned over the British Isles.
* = very important cha...
"mOOOmmyyyyy!!", Delly rushed to the front door when Catherine came back from shopping.
"Yes, darling,"
"I wanna show you something!"
"Yes Delly, but I have all these bags on me, do you wanna help me put these eggs into the fridge," Kate told the impatient Adelaide who was dragging her arms.
"AUGHHhh, finneee :("
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"Mumma! This is what we did at school, super cool! I have my tiger here," she points to the drawing as Kate pulls a chair next to her little table in the nursery, "and Bella has her tiger, we have two tigers in total, so 1 + 1 = 2!"
"That's super impressive Delly."
"Right Mumma, and this," Delly takes another sheet of paper and draws an equal sign, "means equal, the left side is the right side they are the same, and this means-"
As Delly was about to explain to her mother what the plus sign meant, Kate, cut her off, "Delly, this is a great drawing and it's great that you learned this at school. But, let's start from the basics, you are holding the pencil, wrong darling."
Kate takes her daughter's hands into hers, "Delly let's try this together, pinch, yes pinch pinch pinch pinch pinch. And now pinch the pen, no no don't take it off the table yet, pinch it, that's it, good girl. Now mommy's gonna help you flip the pencil back, like this, and rest it on this part of your hand. Yes Delly, right there, between your thumb and your index finger."
"Index finger?"
"Yes darling, this is the thumb, this is the index finger, this is the middle finger cause it's in the middle right. This is the ring finger, mommy's got a ring here. And this smallest one is the pinkie."
"Pinkie! Like pink!"
"Yes, now let's continue shall we? So we flip it back, rest it here, no not there, here Delly. Great. And rest this part of the pencil on your middle finger, no, not the fourth finger, the longest one, now here we go, that's how you hold a pen."
_
"William, do you think I'm a good mum?" Kate asked when the couple we in bed.
She's been really weird today as her husband noticed. She wasn't really in the mood for kisses, hugs, and he felt that she was a bit stiff when he tried to snuggle with her just now. That's when William realized that something was on her mind. And this was what it is about.
"No Darling," William turned around and looked her in the eyes, "I believe you are awesome. We gave her all we can give, especially you."
"How? William, today Delly came to me and she said her teacher taught them how to add numbers and stuff and ——"
"Did she understand?"
"Of course she did, she was explaining it to me just now, but that's not the point William. She doesn't know how to add! It's not her fault it's mine and I'm thinking what a failed mother I am, I didn't even teach her now to write, hold a pencil properly, spell, read, and do the math. I can't even!"
"Catherine, you did, believe me, weren't you just reading a book to her the other day, how could you say this? You are being too harsh to yourself."
"Yeah, I'm being very harsh to myself because I want the best for her. And you should be as well. She's not just your daughter she will be the head of this country," Kate sat up, "you can't just let public school teachers teach her everything she has to learn to be a royal, we have to. And you especially, you are her father and the future king. You have to know that we sent her to a public school cause of PR, don't expect the, what was her name again, ms Davidson, David, whatever, right, ms Day, to teach her everything."
"Of course, I never expected that, don't point fingers at people. She did what she was supposed to do. It's us who are different. She can't teach a class of 30 kids from the middle class the same way a one-on-one tutor does to a child."
"William! How could you!" Kate slammed the blanket against the bed, accidentally (or intentionally perhaps) slapping William's legs, causing the latter to sit up as well, "you speak of your daughter as if she is some stranger or something, her work, her future, her schooling you have no business or concern over! Yet you defend this teacher like she's some kind of angel! What on earth is wrong with you!"
"What did I do? Kate, I get you are upset about this and stressed. But it's just adding numbers. Kids learn that at 4 or 5. What are you going to teach Delly? Differential equations? When is the little girl's four? Is that going to make you feel better about your parenting?" Kate turned her back on William, who softened his tone, "Parenting is not teaching, leave it for the teachers. Parenting is about caring and love, and security. And in our case, it's also about teaching her skills and manners to become queen one day."
Kate made an angry noise and pouted, "Okay then what do you want me to do about it?"
"Look, you know why the heir is always the firstborn, not the second born, or the youngest?"
"How is this related?"
"Well, when couples get married, especially in the old times, they love each other a lot, and it diminishes over time."
Kate furrowed her brows.
"I'm not saying that it will happen to us, babe. Even the people then know that the best and most suitable children are brought up with love. Parents who love each other and love them. So, this is what we have to do."
"Right, we are in charge of making her feel loved and I think we did a great deal of that in the past 4 years, but Delly can't learn everything from public schools."
"Yes, as I was about to say, I had a tutor growing up, Mr. Stewart, I told you about. He is busy with his political career but he has a friend who might be interested in tutoring Delly. Granny talked to me the other day about teaching Adelaide some manners. One of her ladies-in-waiting, Lady Marianne Ulmer, I believe that's her name, would fit this role very well. We can schedule a meeting with them if you want Kate."
_
Delly remembers the day she first met Mr. Samuel Collins, her English teacher. He smiled at her and let her introduce herself. Then, his smile diminished and became serious. He opened a big book, Charlie and the Chocolate factory, and said, "I know you don't understand many words in this, but let me tell you, a long journey starts with a single step. If you don't know a word, just tell me. Now read aloud line by line, please. Start here."
It seems that Mr. Collins is only in his late 30s. He has thin black hair and wears a pair of black wide-rim glasses on his serious rectangular face, and his two small eyes are shining brightly behind the lenses; the corners of his mouth are always tightly closed. In Delly's memory, it seems that he only has a blue top that is very old, and his sleeves are always rolled up. Whenever the tutoring was done, he'd put his copy of the book under his armpit, say goodbye and walk slowly, step by step, out of the room. However, in class, he seemed to be another person. He talked eloquently in lectures, and his voice was unusually loud when he read texts aloud. Sometimes his face would glow red with excitement, and he would stand up and wave his arms. Delly would be attracted by him, looking at him with wide eyes.
Delly had a love-hate relationship with Mr. Collins, he is so strict and gives a lot of homework :(( [please remember Mr.Collins, as he will be Delly's English/history/philosophy/politics tutor all the way through her entire schooling. His views on the world politically and socially are going affect the future queen's perspectives very much.]
_
Thank you very very much for reading thus far and following this book.
