Dynasty And Destiny; Book 6 Of Poacher's ProgressChapter 12: By Royal Appointment. free porn video
London. September 1831.
‘Requests’ from members of the Royal Family are never refused, although for the life of me I could not understand why I was forced to endure the College of Arms interlude. Why not a direct order from the C in C, without the need of all that tomfoolery, and ‘maladroits’, and whatever?
Mimi was overjoyed when I informed her we were to be the travelling companions of the Duchess of Kent and Princess Alexandrina.
“Mollie’s and Caroline’s futures are now assured, Jacques. They have been chosen as companions to the princess, and eventually, when Alexandrina becomes Queen of England, they will be among her Ladies-in-Waiting and have the pick of the aristocracy for husbands.”
“I want my girls to marry for love, not position. I do not want some foppish, dissolute rake of an earl or viscount marrying either of my girls.”
“There is no reason why Mollie and Caroline should not marry and have love and position. Amy Hughes found both, and I doubt Howard Hughes is unique.”
“Here we are taking of marriage for our girls and they are not yet eight years of age,” I said. “Besides, Princess Alexandrina is thirteen, what sort of friendship will this disparity in ages bring.”
“I have seen them together, Jacques. They play happily together. Alexandrina is quite withdrawn at times, and enjoys the spontaneity of our girls. They make her laugh, and she is more relaxed in their presence. As they grow older the age difference will not be so great. The duchesses must have plans for our girls as they have been invited to accompany them on a Royal Progress, whatever that is.”
“It is where a Royal personage, usually the monarch, travels about the country to be seen by the general public who rarely, if ever, come to London and only have a vague notion of who is their ruler. Getting out and about by a monarch is an essential part of kingship, and something that has been neglected by our monarchs of late.”
I did wonder whose idea it was for the progress and decided it was probably the duchess. Her first husband, Prince Charles of Leningen, died before their son Carl reached his maturity, and Princess Victoria acted as Regent until Carl came of age. By all accounts she managed the task with effortless ease, and thus well knew the stagecraft and policies required to keep a dynasty safe.
“Where will be travelling to, and how long will we be travelling?” asked Mimi.
I had no idea, but fortunately a day later we were invited to Kensington Palace, where our questions would be answered.
On our arrival at Kensington Palace Mimi and the girls were collected by Baroness Louise Lehzen, Princess Alexandrina’s governess, and carried off to the Nursery.
I espied Sir John Conroy, the comptroller of the Duchess of Kent’s household, and buttonholed him with a question regarding the itinerary of the Progress.
“The Home Office will set the itinerary, Colonel Greenaway. Your daughters have been designated companions for Princess Alexandrina, but you and your wife will keep yourselves in the background.”
The tone and manner of Conroy’s reply had me seething with rage. As he turned to walk away I caught hold of his sleeve, together with a portion of his arm. “You will address me as Sir Elijah, you snot-gobbler,” I said.
He winced in pain as I applied pressure on his arm, and I was enraged enough to have ripped the damn thing off his body and rammed it up his fundament had not a flunky interrupted me.
“Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent invites you to join her in the breakfast room, Sir Elijah.” The flunky must have noted Conroy rubbing his arm and looking out of sorts as I saw a smile flit across the servant’s face. “If you will follow me, Sir, I will show the way.”
He led me along a corridor, bypassing the room where we usually met for afternoon tea, and stopped outside the door at the end of the corridor. His knock on the door was answered by a voice that bade us enter.
“Sir Elijah! It is always a pleasure to welcome you to my home.” The Duchess of Kent, dressed all in white, kissed me on each cheek in the continental manner.
“This gentleman from the Home Office will furnish you with the details of the Progress. May I introduce...”
She turned to the man who had been sitting in a corner armchair but had now risen to his feet.
“By the Lord Harry, it’s Jack Greenaway!” Ferdinando Stanley said in astonishment.
The Duchess smiled. “It appears no introductions are required.”
“My apologies for interrupting you, Your Royal Highness,” Ferdi said, “I had no idea I would be meeting Colonel Greenaway, I mean Sir Elijah.”
“Well, I will leave you two friends to discuss the Progress.” She walked towards the door, and then stopped and turned and faced me.
“I will be in the Orangery with your wife and the children. After your discussion with Lord Strange I hope you will join us – Jack.”
She swayed out of the room, leaving me with mouth agape to be addressed by my diminutive by a Royal Duchess, and in such a sensual tone of voice.
Ferdi laughed. “It appears you have added another to the list of ladies who adore you, Jack, and what’s this about ‘your wife and children?”
“I have been happily married to Mimi Renoir for nearly eight years, and we are blessed with twin daughters. However, if Mimi learns that the Duchess called me ‘Jack’ I will have some explaining to do.”
We shook hands, grinning at each other with the pleasure of renewing our acquaintance
“Since when have you been a Lord, Ferdi, and I thought you were employed in the Foreign Office?”
“I succeeded to the title of Baron Strange on the death of my father three years ago, and then had to relinquish my post at the Foreign Office. As a member of the House of Lords I could no longer be employed as a civil servant. Currently I am a junior minister at the Home Office, responsible for Royal occasions. I had the funeral of the late King George and the coronation of William to oversee, and now I have been given charge of this Royal Progress.”
“You did a good job with George’s funeral, and did even better with William’s coronation,” I said, impressed that this rather quiet and unassuming man had organised both ceremonies.
William IV’s coronation was one of most inexpensive in history, and people were pleased by the frugality of William after suffering the excesses of his brother George.
Ferdi shrugged his shoulders. “I am no more than a figure head when it comes to public displays of Royal pomp. The College of Arms plan most of the ceremonies, which are an amalgamation of tradition, custom and practise, protocol and procedure, and impose a rigid control on such events.”
We sat down by the French windows overlooking the sweeping gardens of the Palace. Ferdi opened his cigar case and offered me one. I shook my head, I had tried cigars in Spain and had damn near choked to death.
Ferdi cut the end from the cigar, took a spill from the spill vase on the mantelshelf, and lit it from a glowing coal in the fireplace. He then applied the flame to the cut end before placing the cigar in his mouth and inhaling.
A cloud of aromatic smoke wreathed above his head. I tried not to cough.
“As far as the Progress is concerned, all that has been decided is the general area to be visited. The Home Office will contact the gentry of the region and arrange overnight stays, possibly longer than one night in some houses, dependant on how fatiguing the travelling is to the Princess Alexandrina,” Said Ferdi between puffs of his cigar.
“And my two girls.” I interrupted.
“Quite so, Jack. Your daughters and Princess Alexandrina are friends, and the Duchess wants them along to keep her daughter company. By all accounts, the lass does not have many friends. Your daughters will have a bright future if they continue to be close to Alexandrina.”
He gave a snort of derision. “What a damn fool name to saddle a young girl with. Why not proper English name like Mary, or Anne, or Elizabeth?”
“That’s a bit rich, coming from a man named Ferdinando,” I said. And he had the good grace to laugh.
“She might prefer to be Alexandrina the First rather than to be a Third Mary, or Second Anne or Elizabeth,” I said. “Her mother’s name is Victoria, which is also the Princess’s second name. In private my girls are allowed to address Alexandrina as Vicky.” I did not mention I had been invited to call the Duchess of Kent ‘Victoria’ when in private.
“Queen Victoria? Hmm, that certainly sounds better than Queen Alexandrina.” Ferdi said.
There was a pause as he got his cigar drawing to his satisfaction, then I brought up the question that had been troubling me since the announcement I was to accompany the Royal Progress.
“What is my purpose for being in the party, Ferdi? My wife could have accompanied the girls without me tagging along, and why did I have to spend three hours being bombarded with details of the succession to the throne of Great Britain by those buffoons at the College of Arms?”
“We have reason to believe there may be an attempt on the life of Princess Alexandrina sometime during the Progress...”
“What! Why send the poor girl out on a Progress if you suspect such a thing?”
“And you will be in charge of security during the Progress.” Ferdi had continued as if he had not heard my question, but then proved he had.
“His Majesty’s Government cannot allow the as yet unsubstantiated threat of an attack to thwart the will of Parliament, who have voted for a Royal Progress.”
“Am I supposed to fight off any attacks by myself?”
“The Progress will be escorted by two troops of cavalry. You will be authorised to use the Militia and/or the Yeomanry of those counties the Progress traverses as you see fit.”
Cathalina
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