Chapter Ten
A.N. Chapter Ten... I hope you are still here. This chapter is about the Fashion Show and it contains a little more description, so if you get bored, just skip those parts. ;) However, I felt it necessary because I wanted to show how Helena really becomes the Queen, not just by scheming, but actually doing something great.
Cool Britannia was a real movement, though it didn't have much to do with the Royal Family. Check it out if you are interested, it has a rather thorough wikipedia site.
After that, it's not so difficult to find out who was the inspiration behind the girl group in the last scene, but obviously, the characters are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons is purely coincidental.
The Queen had troubles with sleeping since the day of the garden party. It only got worse when the King left for the Canadian tour.
She began to understand why Robert hated so much to sleep alone in his bed. Although he didn't have to deal with the planning of the biggest event of the year or a potential lover.
Alistair respected his part of the agreement and he didn't contact her, but with Simon gone, Helena started to run out of excuses. On the one hand, she loved her husband and she didn't want to betray him like this. She also knew that the Queen Mother is still angry with her and wants nothing more than see her fail. On the other hand, she has already failed. She was wrong when she thought that her mother taught her well enough how to hold back her feelings. On these sleepless nights she tried to focus her thoughts on the Fashion Show. Eventually the morning came and the Queen could finally get started to work. She went to the study where her assistant was waiting for her.
"Are you ready?" – she asked Rachel, who sat across from her with a notebook.
"Yes, Your Majesty." – said her assistant and she looked at her expectantly.
"I was thinking about these last five years…" – started Helena. – "When I married Simon and became the Princess of Wales this country were in a deep economic crisis. It brought serious losses, personal tragedies to us. My family is just one of many families who suffered because of it. Now it's finally over and we have the opportunity to reflect on it. Therefore, I want this Fashion Show to be a celebration. A celebration of unity, strength and pride, a celebration of being British. I am going to call it 'Cool Britannia'. What do you think?"
Though Rachel liked the idea she found it still immature.
"It sounds great… What do you have in mind?" – she asked cautiously.
Luckily, the Queen had more time to think about it than she thought.
"It is very simple. What makes us British?" – asked Helena and without waiting for a response she continued. – "What are the most important symbols of our country? The Big Ben, the tea, the Union Jack, The Beatles of course blah-blah… But the main symbol of this country is us: the Royal Family. So when I stage my first Fashion Show, I want it to be about our country, I want it to be about us."
The next few weeks were very busy. Queen Helena's biggest innovation was to use the members of the Royal Family as models for the show. Her mother and Prince Cyrus were more than willing to cooperate (the latter wasn't so happy that her ex-wife joined them as well), however the Queen Mother refused to participate in this 'circus' as she called it. Within days the city was covered with posters showing the members of the Royal Family, as one of them posed in front of the Big Ben, another one on a Double Decker, yet another with the Koh-i-Noor on her chest.
Queen Gloria began an open crusade against her daughter-in-law by calling those fashion designers, aristocratic families and representatives of the media who were loyal to her for a boycott.
The worst part of it was that Helena had to hear about it from Robert. In the last days she barely saw her children and now she had only ten minutes for him while dress fitting.
"Close your eyes." – ordered Helena as she changed from one gown to another.
The little boy did what he was told as he asked:
"Mommy, is it true that we are living in a brothel now?"
The seamstresses began to chuckle softly until the Queen's angry gaze silenced them.
"Brothel, again? What is wrong with you?" – hissed Helena trying to hide her embarrassment. – "Who told you that?"
"Granny." – replied Robert happily without sensing the tension in her mother's voice.
The Queen wanted to ask him which granny was it because both of them were capable of saying something like this, though only one of them would do it in front of Robert.
"Tell me, darling, did she say this to you?" – she asked in a calmer tone.
The Prince shook his head. Then her mother asked him further questions which he answered willingly:
"She told Scribbler on the phone. Who is Scribbler?"
"If he works for your grandmother, he is probably a bad person who tries to sabotage me." – replied her mother.
The dress fitting was almost over and Helena was about to go to her next meeting with a prominent music manager to arrange the live music for the show and the after party. However, her son stopped her.
"You never spend time with me. This show is more important for you than your family." – he complained in a whiny voice.
Queen Helena knew immediately from the choice of words that the Queen Mother put those words into her son's mouth and it made her extremely angry. She tried her best not to take it out on Robert as she crouched next to him and said:
"Listen, Robert. I told you that I have to work more than usual for a little while and we won't see each other as much. I know it's hard because your father can't be with you either right now, but you can play with Katie, you can see your siblings, you can feed the ducks…" – she started, then she sighed. – "The point is that I love you and I never lie to you. So the next time your grandmother says something mean about me, please remember that you don't have to believe her."
The Fashion Show was a great success. The media praised Queen Helena for her creativity and compassion for the British people and they soon started to mention 'Cool Britannia' as the beginning of a new era in England marked by unity and pride. Helena chose young designers for her event who embraced this renewed idea of Britishness and created beautiful clothes inspired by famous landmarks and specialties of the country.
The Queen walked the catwalk in a red gown with a long geometric train which was loosely based on the typical London phone booths while the Duchess of York wore a patterned dress which evoked the Bone china teacups. Her ex-husband, Cyrus was in a red herringbone suit with royal blue tie. Of course the Grand Duchess of Oxford demanded the best piece of clothes for herself and eventually she was allowed to wear a magnificent hand embroidered English Rose gown.
However, the biggest surprise of the evening was the mysterious and still nameless girl band who gave an amazing concert after the Fashion Show. The five girls came out of nowhere, everybody was just guessing who they might be. This was not a disadvantage, but on the contrary! They could be easily associated with the fresh start and the conception of 'Cool Britannia'.
By eleven o'clock Helena was convinced that every guest and performer left the Palace grounds and she wearily sank into an armchair. She was about to go to bed when Rachel informed her of Cyrus's private party. The Queen decided to check on her brother-in-law, though she didn't expect to find him with the members of the girl band.
"What the hell is going on here?" – she asked angrily when she saw the almost teenage girls sitting half-naked on Cyrus's lap.
"I'm entertaining the girls." – answered the Prince with an evil grin. – "If I'm not mistaken, you invited them."
"To the Fashion Show, not to a Slumber Party!" – shouted Helena.
One of the girls, Ginny cried out excitedly:
"A Slumber Party? You are such a badass queen!"
The Queen looked at her and rolled her eyes.
"Shut up! Get dressed and get out. What is your problem, Cyrus? I thought we were on the same page."
Her brother-in-law grabbed her hand and pulled her closer, almost dragging her onto his lap next to the others.
"Me too, until you decided to invite Lolita Cock…"
"Who?" – asked the Queen, confused.
"My ex-wife. That was her stage name."
Helena frowned, then they all burst into laughter.
"Come on." – said Cyrus gently. – "Your show was a success, everybody loved it, now relax and drink with us."
"Please!" – pleaded the girls.
"Fine." – sighed Queen Helena and shook her head reproachfully. – "One drink and then everybody goes home."
Obviously they didn't stop at one drink. In an hour they were all sitting on the floor and passing a bottle of scotch between each other.
"So what is your deal… with singing and all that?" – asked Helena as she took a long pull at the whisky.
The girls shrugged and looked at each other, puzzled. Finally, the most sassy of them, Liz spoke up.
"Nothing." – she replied with ease. – "We just want to have fun and make some money. Not every girl can become the Queen of England…"
Helena smiled at her comment.
"Trust me, it's not as funny as you think. I feel like I missed so many things…"
"What do you mean?" – asked Jenny, the youngest one of the girls.
"My youth, for one… I could count on one hand how many times I went partying or got drunk... like this." – started Queen Helena, then she dropped her voice into a whisper. – "I'm telling you, girls, my husband was the second man I ever had sex with and he is probably the last one… I'm twenty-five, but sometimes I feel like a horny teen mum… "
Sandy, who sat next to the Queen, looked at her with compassion as she remarked:
"The horny teen mum of England…"
"Yes, that's a good one…" – agreed Helena in a loud voice and clapped her hands. Then she added more softly. – "Meanwhile, I can't be a normal mum to my own children."
"That sucks." – yawned Liz and lay down on the floor.
"Would you exchange your life with anyone else?" – asked Sandy curiously.
Cyrus looked at her sister-in-law with concern fearing that she might say something which she would regret later. She already said too much.
"I think we should go to bed." – he said quickly before Helena could answer.
"You are boooring, Cy." – complained Ginny. – "Would you exchange your life?"
"Yes." – nodded the Prince.
"With whom?" – spoke up Meg, who was rather quiet until now.
"My brother." – came the straight answer.
Liz sat up and looked at him with anticipation.
"Ooooh! All of it?" – she asked flirtatiously.
After a serious amount of whisky, Cyrus wasn't as vigilant as usual and he walked into her trap.
"All of it." – he replied and waved his hand to the air.
"Someone has a crush…!" – chirped Liz mockingly and pointed her two index fingers at Cyrus and Helena.
"Pff… No." – the Queen shook her head in protest. – "Someone wants to be the King."
The girls giggled knowingly, but they didn't dare to look at the royals. Lucky for them, little Jenny saved the day and shut down the party as well.
"I'm gonna throw up." – she said in a weak voice.
The other girls rushed to her. They tried in vain to help her up and escort her to the nearest bathroom while Cyrus shouted like a teenage boy terrified of his parents:
"Not in my room!"
It was too late. A huge part of Jenny's stomach contents landed straight on his lap.
"Aaah! This was a designer suit, you stupid bitch!" – he cried and quickly floundered to the bathroom, followed by Jenny and two of the girls.
Helena wasn't pleased either by the turnout of the events. She silently walked to the wall and took out a cloth and cleaning supplies from a hidden cabinet. She dropped them at the remaining girls' feet. They stared up at her in surprise.
"What? I won't wake the maids in the middle of the night. You can get started or wait for Jenny to do it, I don't care. There is only one Queen, the others have to clean up their own mess." – she said and she walked out of the room leaving the two astonished wannabes behind.