A Princess of Limburg
"Uneasy lies a head that wears the crown."
A line from Shakespeare, though Her Serene Highness, The Princess Quinn of Limburg, couldn't remember which of the Bard's plays it came from. The wife of His Serene Highness, The Prince Gabriel of Limburg.
Princess Quinn had been married to her prince for now three years, and what a three years it had been. Learning about her new homeland, going through the process of gaining Limburger citizenship, meeting and greeting the people, and attending various events, some formal, others political, and a few personal.
The morning light filtered through the windows of the Breakfast Room of the Palace of Limburg in the city of Eupen, her home ever since the marriage. Of the various rooms and chambers in the palace, the Breakfast Room was one of her personal favorites. Normally she'd have breakfast with her new family, however today things were a bit different.
Her husband was off on official business in New York, no doubt juggling both the UN and Limburg Global Bank (LGB), the latter being the private bank in which the House of Limburg still held a majority stake and was the main source of income for the Princely family.
Her son, His Serene Highness, The Hereditary Prince Alexander of Limburg, the two year old heir to the Limburger Throne was in bed, the poor boy had contracted a fever and needed to rest. Though thankfully the royal physician was confident that he'd be back on his feet in two or three days.
Quinn heard the doors open behind her, suppressing a sigh she turned from the glorious sunrise over Eupen and didn't need the servant to know who had arrived.
"Her Serene Highness, The Princess-Dowager Johanna."
The grandmother-in-law, the wife of the previous ruler of Limburg, Prince Adolphe III.
The surprise was who entered next.
"Ms. Daria Morgendorffer."
After greeting Princess Johanna first, not wanting to risk her ire, Quinn then greeted her sister with a shocked exclamation, "Daria! I wasn't expecting you."
"I wanted to surprise you." Daria replied, "Besides it's been a while since we've seen each other face to face."
"Well if you count FaceTime and Skype then it's not so bad." Quinn answered while motioning for Daria to the table where a couple of servants had already set up breakfast for four.
"Who else are we expecting?" Daria asked as she sat down with the two Princesses.
As if on cue the fourth guest arrived complete with a servant announcing the obvious, "Her Serene Highness, The Princess Michelle."
Daria glanced at the sister of Prince Gabriel of Limburg, the only daughter of Hereditary Prince Waleran, the baby of the family of three. Like the rest of her immediate family she was a dark haired beauty, her piercing blue eyes glowed with mischief, charm, entitlement, arrogance, and an independent streak that made her the darling of the media and the bane of the Limburger Princely Family.
After more exchanges of greetings and general pleasantries were made, the four sat down to four different breakfasts, while Princesses Quinn and Michelle had the latest in fad diets to maintain their figures, both Princess-Dowager Johanna and Daria Morgendorffer enjoyed a traditional 'English Breakfast', and the distaste in Princess Michelle's eyes the freshly sizzled bacon, eggs, and thick toast complete with a selection of butter and jams was no small source of amusement for Daria.
A glance at the Princess-Dowager had Daria half-convinced that her amusement was shared, though she had learned not to say it out loud.
Instead she asked, "Where is my nephew?"
"He's sick with a fever."
"Aw, that's a shame."
"He'll recover," Princess Michelle said confidently, "I remember being sick a lot as a child, and I always bounced back quickly."
Daria caught a whiff of Princess Michelle's breath and privately wondered if she had been drinking even as a child, the alcohol would account for no bacteria being able to claim her life.
However she couldn't blame the young Princess for being tipsy in the morning, even on the outer edges of royal life, Daria found the world she was observing to be very suffocating and confining.
"This shit would drive me to drink too." Daria thought to herself.
Quinn on the other hand had her chameleon talent for blending into any situation and making it seem like she had always been that way. In Highland she had been the 'Good Olde Gal', in Lawndale she had been the 'Vapid Popular Girl', in college she had been 'Beautiful Smart Girl', in the fashion industry she had made waves as a creative genius, and now as a Princess of a mini-state surrounded by Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany she truly glowed like a blue-blooded the manor born Princess.
Whereas Daria herself had a niche as 'the Commoner Relative' who popped in every now and then and inject meddlesome reality into the rarefied world.
Speaking of reality, the conversation briefly dipped into such waters when Princess Michelle mentioned what Gabriel was up to.
"So The Sovereign Prince is giving a speech at the UN," Daria noted, "What about?"
"He is speaking on behalf of the European Union," the Princess-Dowager explained politely, "Specifically on the future of the European Union due to... recent events on the continent, and in the UK."
No one at the table needed elaboration on that, between the Brexit fiasco and the fractures in the EU that had emerged, the project for a more integrated Europe was under serious stress.
"Though ironically Limburg isn't an official member of the EU." Daria reminded herself in her thoughts, "Like the other mini-states they have a separate arrangement."
Princess Quinn then steered the conversation towards Daria herself by asking how Vincenzo was doing.
"He's doing better now that the cast is off," Daria answered, "Like me, he can't stand it when he can't work."
The four women chuckled, knowing full well that a man with no work tends to go mad, especially a stage actor like Daria's current Italian boyfriend Vincenzo Macchi.
"Any hints of a proposal?" the Princess-Dowager asked, a hint of curiosity in her voice.
"We've discussed it," Daria admitted, "And I think he's going to propose once we hit our second-year anniversary in March. But it's a big commitment so I'm giving it a lot of thought."
Quinn wanted to ask about Jane, but didn't want to drag more of Daria's social circle into the attention of the Princely family.
Daria had enjoyed her writing career prior to her little sister becoming royalty, but afterwards Daria had found herself dragged from 'fashionable cult obscurity' and into some notoriety. The thing that the Limburgers appreciated about Princess Quinn's older sister was that she valued her privacy and went out of her way to NOT use those connections to her benefit, Daria wanted to be known on her own merits.
"That's good," the Princess-Dowager replied reassuringly, "Marriage is a big commitment and not to be taken lightly."
Princess Michelle visibly bristled for a moment before smoothing it over, her messy love life was fodder for tabloids all over the world, especially her messy failed engagement to he-who-must-not-be-named-here.
Daria raised an eyebrow, bemused that a taste for Americana seemed to run in the family, between Prince Gabriel marrying Quinn and Princess Michelle's failed engagement to 'him'.
"Not to mention that stick-in-the-mud Prince Uriel has dated a couple of American girls himself." Daria thought to herself, "Though he's currently with that Russian oligarch's daughter. So possible royal scandal on the horizon."
Princess Michelle decided to cover her gaff by asking, "If you do get engaged to Vincenzo will you be moving to Europe, or setting up a home across the Pond?"
"Hmm... Not sure." Daria answered honestly, Between her career as a writer and a journalist, and Vincenzo's stage career, they tended to float from Airbnb to hotel rooms.
Quinn then found herself steering the conversation once more to safer territory, before Princess Michelle began making snippy comments about the OTHER famous alumni of Lawndale High and HER successful writing career.
"The last thing Daria needs is Michelle reminding Daria that Brittany Thompson's latest teen dystopian novel series is selling even faster than her FIRST series, and is getting it's own movie universe." Princess Quinn thought quickly.
As the four finished breakfast and the Princess-Dowager and Princess Michelle readied themselves to depart, Quinn and Daria began to make plans to enjoy the day together, Quinn had a couple of days off from royal duties, having moved some things around and having asked her mother-in-law, Princess Sophie to fill in on the ones that couldn't be canceled.
In fact, Quinn's eye spotted a nearby portrait of Gabriel's father, the Hereditary Prince Waleran, the son of Adolphe III, the man who would have ruled Limburg if he hadn't died before his time.
However once the Princesses had left, Quinn did ask Daria to give her a moment so she could check on her son.
Daria settled back into her seat, in the richly decorated room and quietly pulled out her cellphone. She sent a couple of texts to her and Quinn's parents and wondered where her life would wind up taking her next.
FIN
OOC: This is a sequel to The Grace Kelly of Our Day..., which I'm thinking of spinning off into it's own story-thread, though if I do that it would be a string of one-shots rather than a coherent story. I wrote the first part on Dec. 24 2017, and I wound up revisiting it after toying with another failed idea for a Daria/The Crown crossover.