7 December 1959

A Statement by the Communications Secretary to King Lucien

His Majesty the King is pleased to announce his engagement to Mrs. Jean Mary Beazley. While the King understands this news may come as a surprise to some, Mrs. Beazley has long been acquainted with the royal family by virtue of her many years of service, and the King has given all due consideration to their marriage, and believes their union will be a happy one.

Mrs. Beazley, née Randall, was previously married to Sergeant Christopher John Beazley, who lost his life during the battle of Monte Cassino in 1944. She has two sons, Sergeant Christopher John Beazley, Jr., age 23, and John Thomas "Jack" Beazley, age 21. She has until recently been working in the hospitality industry in the village of Hebdow, where her friends and neighbors speak highly of her.

Further details regarding the engagement and the royal couple's plans will be announced in the coming days. Until then, His Majesty and Mrs. Beazley request that the public respect their privacy as they share their joy with their families.

From the desk of His Majesty, King Lucien

Dear Christopher.

I hope you will forgive this terribly official-looking stationary, it was all I had close at hand. And I hope you will forgive my writing this to you in a letter, rather than ringing you on the telephone, but I have no number to reach you, and I wanted to tell you with all haste.

No doubt by the time this letter reaches you you will have heard the news of my engagement. I regret that I was not able to tell you of it myself, in person, but everything has been happening so quickly, there's hardly been a moment to breathe. It's been two days since the proposal, and already we've had to submit a formal announcement to the papers. It isn't at all how I wanted it, but some things are quite beyond my control at this time.

I am sure that this will come as a shock to you, that the King has proposed to me and that I have accepted. We talk so little, you and I, of the things that really matter, and this experience has taught me the importance of being honest with those I love most, and the importance of sharing my heart with another. The truth is, Christopher, that I loved him almost from the moment I first saw him. The truth is that he has become so dear to me that I can hardly imagine a life without him. I tried to, for a time - that is the true reason I moved to Hebdow to be with your Auntie Eadie. I was running from my love of him, and his love of me. But he did not give up on me, and he did all he could to ensure that we could be together, properly, that we could have the life we dreamed of together. He is a good man, a kind man, and I think that you will come to like him, when you finally meet him.

And I hope that you will meet him, and soon. I know you will not want to use my newfound status to secure special treatment, but I want, more than anything, to see you, and Ruby and Amelia. I want you to meet the Princess Li, who will be your stepsister, and the little Princess Lin, who will be Amelia's cousin. I want to share this joy with you, and to discuss it with you face-to-face. His Majesty will gladly arrange leave for you this instant, if you will take it. If you will not, I hope that you will consider coming to visit us here at the castle the next time you are home.

I have not entered into this decision lightly. I know that the choice I have made will change all of our lives. I know that you may resent some of those changes, and can hardly blame you for it. But over the last year and more we have grown so close, he and I, and he is what I want. It just so happens that to have him, I must also take on the castle and the crown. He is inseparable from his position, much as he might wish it were not so.

I know that you must have a thousand questions. I wish that I could hear them all, and answer them. All I can do is speculate. And so I will say this, as well; my love of him does not lessen my love of your father. You must know that, sweetheart. You must know that I loved your father truly, and I will always carry his memory in my heart. The king is widowed himself, and he understands that neither of us can replace the loves we've lost before. We have found a new love, and it does not erase the old, for either of us.

Write to me, if you can. Tell me if you want to come home, and I will do all I can to see that it's arranged. I love you, sweetheart.

Do you have an address for your brother? I worry for him, and how he may react, but I have not seen him in some time, and I do not know how to reach him.

Stay safe, my darling boy.

All my love,

Mum

The Courier

IN SHOCKING MOVE, KING PROPOSES TO HOUSEKEEPER

In a shocking turn of events, the King's personal Communications Secretary announced in a statement today that His Majesty has just proposed marriage to one Mrs. Jean Mary Beazley. The question foremost in everyone's minds just now is: who on earth is Mrs. Beazley?

Following an anonymous tip from a concerned citizen this reporter ventured to the village of Hebdow on Sunday, the day after the King shocked the local populace by appearing in person to propose to Mrs. Beazley. There was no shortage of informants in the local pub - a charmingly disheveled place called the Pig & Whistle - where said proposal took place. It was inside the Pig & Whistle the I learned the story of King Lucien and Mrs. Beazley, and I share it with you now.

On Saturday the 5th of December Mrs. Beazley was employed in the kitchen of the pub, where she had worked as a cook since leaving the castle in June of this year. She had previously been employed in the castle as a housekeeper following the death of her husband in 1944, and the circumstances of her departure from the castle remain unclear, thought the pub's patrons had no shortage of theories. On the day in question, all was proceeding as usual, until the arrival of Sir Patrick Tyneman. Naturally, the Prime Minister's presence in such a common place caused quite a stir, but it was nothing compared to what happened next. Sir Patrick sent for Mrs. Beazley, and told her in full view of the assembled crowd that she had Parliament's blessing to marry the king.

The pub's patrons looked on in silent wonder as the King himself then marched into the pub, and knelt before Mrs. Beazley, offering her the ring that had belonged to Queen Genevieve, and his hand in marriage along with it. It should be noted here that in the history of our kingdom no King has ever knelt to any woman, even in the course of a marriage proposal, but it appears that it was genuine affection that compelled our King to so prostrate himself before his lady love. Mrs. Beazley accepted him, and he then kissed her so exuberantly he swept her clean off her feet, much to the delight of the assembled spectators.

There are many who would say that such behavior is unseemly, and smacks of a disrespect for the weight of the crown which sits upon the King's head. We certainly have never known its like, having always before been ruled by genteel, reserved statesmen who keep their personal feelings to themselves out of deference to the power they wield. But we have entered a new world, and it seems that King Lucien intends to be a new kind of King. He has chosen a wife, not on account of her station, her bearing, her birth, her ability to afford him further influence and further heirs, but on account of his love for her. And in so doing, he has reminded us all that whatever else the King may be, he is a man, and whatever responsibility the monarchy may bear, they are a family.

Mrs. Beazley has been a farmer's wife, a castle maid, head housekeeper of all the King's household, and a public house cook. She is a mother, and a widow. King Lucien has been a doctor, a soldier, a prisoner-of-war, and a King. He is a father, and a widower. Though I have discussed their shock engagement with no less than two dozen well-informed sources, I have yet to hear an ill word spoken of either of them. Theirs is a story of love, surviving against all the odds, surviving through heartbreak and separation. Two families torn asunder by war, united now in peace. May they be blessed, and may their union lead us all into joy in the coming days.

"Oh, that's a bit much, don't you think?" Jean asked, trying to discreetly wipe a tear from the corner of her eye, and failing miserably in her attempt to hide the rising tide of her emotions.

Beside her Lucien smiled, and laid the paper he'd been reading down on the breakfast table. Perhaps in coming days the press coverage would be less rose-tinted romanticism, but he was grateful that so far the public response to their engagement had been kind. They were only just sitting down to breakfast, but already flowers had begun to arrive, sent by politicians and nobles, and more would come throughout the day, of that he was sure. The whole world knew, now, that the King had proposed to his housekeeper, and Lucien wanted nothing more than to celebrate that revelation with the woman he loved.

"I don't know, I thought it was rather nice," he answered, reaching out to catch her hand in his own. "Are you all right, Jean? Now that the engagement is public, I mean. There's no going back now."

Jean squeezed his hand, her brilliant eyes shining at him in the early morning sunlight. "There never was any going back," she told him. "Not for me."

"Nor for me." He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed her gently, and then released her so that they might both reach for their teacups.

Breakfast was only just beginning; Li would no doubt join them soon, and Lucien was looking forward to that, seeing his girls together, helping them both to understand one another and begin to build the foundations of their new life together. But for now it was just he and Jean, alone together at the breakfast table, tucked away in a corner of the King's apartments. We shall have breakfast together like this every day, Jean and I, always.

It was a lovely thought.

"I do worry what will happen, once they find out about Jack," Jean confessed, her eyes watching him closely over the rim of her teacup.

One day, one day very soon, Lucien wanted to ask Jean what exactly Jack had done, that he should cause his mother - and the Prime Minister - such grief. The boy would be his stepson, and he rather felt he ought to know. But he did not want to ask just now, not on this bright chilly morning when it seemed that all the world was on his side. He did not want to sully the happiness he and Jean had found with thoughts of darker times gone by.

"When the time comes, we will sort it out together," he promised her gently. "There is nothing that can stop us, Jean, unless we let it."

"And we won't let it, will we?" her voice was low and soft, more scared than certain, but Lucien was sure enough for both of them.

"No, we won't," he assured her. "Now, what have you got on for today?"

"I'm to meet with Alice after breakfast, and then I don't really know what I'll do with myself. I suppose she'll have some plans for me."

"No doubt she will," Lucien answered ruefully. "That's one thing you learn in this life, every moment has already been accounted for." The schedules seemed endless, the staff mercilessly devoted to them; sometimes Lucien rather thought that even his trips to the loo had been logged on his daily itinerary. Perhaps Jean would chafe at such restrictions, but she had an organized mind, and he did not doubt that she would rise above any limitations placed upon her person in order that she might live her life according to her own terms.

"Surely not every moment?" Jean asked him with a wickedly arched eyebrow; Christ, but he loved that woman. That he should find himself here, sharing a meal with her, watching her tease him, was itself a dream come true, and a joy. There were a good many things he wanted to do with Jean that would not be recorded in any logbook, but he knew that he must bide his time. Though she had allowed him to tumble into her bed once in the past they would be under more scrutiny now than ever before, and no matter how he might want her he would not allow anyone the opportunity to cast aspersions upon his darling Jean and her character.

"Actually, I have plans for you after dinner, Mrs. Beazley, if you are not otherwise engaged."

She grinned at him, then, and in her smile he saw his whole world, bright and beautiful. "I shall have to check my diary," she told him, but he knew she would be there, when darkness fell, and he knew the plans he had for them both, and his heart was light. It's going to be a wonderful day, he thought.