Thank you everyone for your reviews as always. I enjoy reading people's reactions to what I wrote.
Disclaimer: I wish that I owned The Princess Diaries. Also, some of the quotes belong to The Sound of Music or were from a deleted scene of Princess Diaries 2.
Clarisse was crying into her pillow. How could she have been so clumsy as to knock over a suit of armor at the state dinner? Adding insult to injury, the knight's spear then flew right into the suckling pig. Well, she knew why. Queen Mignonette had been giving Clarisse a piercing stare all night, as if she had been waiting for Clarisse to make a mistake such as that.
During the dinner, Clarisse did not sit with the royal family, even though she was the princess, but had to sit among diplomats as the queen believed that Clarisse would have to learn to deal with these people someday. Unfortunately, Clarisse was placed among the most obnoxious and disgusting men she had ever met. One man kept on telling rude jokes and spilled his wine as he was laughing. The other man tried to hit on Clarisse. Clarisse had no idea how to handle this situation, so on a pretense of wanting to freshen up before the next course arrived, she left the table quickly and immediately tripped over the knight on display resulting in it falling down. Clarisse wanted to leave the dinner immediately, but the queen forced her to stay. As soon as the guests left, she ran up to her suite without talking to anyone.
Rupert tried knocking on the door, but Clarisse sent him away, still not wanting to talk to anyone. She fell asleep, still crying, in her dinner clothes.
The next morning, the queen entered Clarisse's suite without knocking, finding Clarisse still asleep in her best dress.
"Clarisse, wake up!"
Clarisse stirred, opened her eyes, and found the queen. She jumped up immediately.
The queen began. "That was an appalling display last night. In the years that I have known you, I had never known you to be so clumsy. That was a disgrace to Rupert."
Clarisse really did not want to deal with this at the moment. "I am sorry Your Majesty."
"You embarrassed the entire Renaldi family, especially yourself. What do you think last night's guests will say to the people about our new princess. Do you think that once the people have heard about you manners they will respect you as the future queen? And then trying to leave our guests so they know that you are ashamed; you showed them that you are weak and can easily be bribed. They will walk all over you if you are not presenting yourself as a strong ruler."
"I understand Your Majesty." Clarisse decided not to argue because she wanted the queen to finish her rant and leave as soon as possible.
"How am I ever going to trust you so you can be brought into view of the public eye? The only good news of the evening was that the reporters were not allowed at this affair. Still, the newspapers may report your failure if they hear from the other guests. You are not saying a word. If you remember correctly, you wanted me to test you in public since you believed yourself to be ready for such an occasion."
"I know, Your Majesty. I was wrong, you were right. Are you happy that I am admitting that I had failed the Renaldi family, my position, and you?"
"It shows more weakness. And another thing, you will never sleep in your dress clothes again, no matter how disastrous the night was. Do you understand me?"
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"Too much emotion showing through. You might have to spend maybe three years of lessons before I can allow you to face the public, or at least, distinguished dinner guests. Maybe I should have tried you among the servants first."
The queen stopped speaking and had an unusual look on her face. Then she continued. "Clarisse, how long do you think you need in order to straighten yourself up in order to walk among the servants?"
Clarisse have no idea about what she was talking. "I beg your pardon?"
"How long do you need to get out of this depressive state, so I can try you lower and work you up so you will become a respectable member of the Renaldi family at such dinner parties?"
"With all due respect, Your Majesty, I would prefer not to go out at this moment as I believe that I have hit the bottom of a well."
"Very well, you will attend more lessons and within one month, you will start to walk among the servants, but not as the princess yet. We have so many servants; it is quite impossible for anyone, other than the Head of Security, to know every other servant. You will try to pass yourself off as one of them. Communicate, listen, and learn from the servants on how to behave properly in public. You will not need to do any serving. I will inform those servants who do know you to not communicate with you or to tell the other servants who you truly are. I especially would like to see you among our training staff, including our new soldiers and security in training. Do you understand what I am asking you to do?"
Clarisse thought that the queen was out of her mind, but decided again not to argue. "You want me to pretend that I am a servant in order to learn how they present themselves. You want me to learn from them."
"By being among the servants, you will find out what the people expect from their royals. The servants are a part the people of Genovia. By listening to them, you might understand what exactly they expect from you. The royals represent their country. For the people of Genovia, we are Genovia, so people want much from the royal family. You need to learn what the people expect from you, so you will know if you can expect it from yourself."
Clarisse realized that, for once, the queen was trying to help her instead of making her feel like dirt.
"I know what you expect and I can do it. I promise I can."
The queen smiled. "That is what a strong queen would say."