(End of Chapter Twenty-Two)

It was already dark and the coast was surprisingly deserted. The King, who wore a Hawaiian shirt with shorts, and the Queen, who put on a flimsy summer dress, could walk in the sand without the fear of meeting someone and getting recognized.

"Are we going to pretend we don't know each other or is this a first date after ten years?" – Helena asked in mock ease.

However, she couldn't fool her husband.

"Why are you so nervous?" – he asked.

Queen Helena lowered her eyes in embarrassment.

"I… I just… this is my first date." – she mumbled.

"Yes, I know." – the King replied excitedly.

The Queen shook her head.

"No, I mean the first real date in my life." – she said, ashamed. – "When someone actually takes me somewhere outside my home."

Simon got lost in thoughts. It suddenly made him realize how young his wife was when they got married and what kind of life she had on her family's farm.

"And what does a boy have to do to impress you?" – he finally asked to cheer her up.

Helena let out a soft chuckle.

"You impressed me a long time ago… For example, when you stood up for me against my mother and send her away. You won me over with that." – she replied, then she added playfully. – "But if you tell me you are good at stone skipping, I will have a new level of respect for you."

King Simon laughed at the childish wish, but he was determined to make it true.

"Oh really? Is that all you need? Then you shall get it." – he promised happily and picked up a stone.

They walked over to the water and he threw it with a firm move. The stone bounced off five times on the surface before it sank.

"Wooow! You are my hero." – Helena cried out excitedly. – "Now tell me: what does a girl have to do for a second date with you?"

Simon thought about the question for a while, then he answered honestly:

"Being normal, and just for a moment, make me forget that I am the King of England."

The Queen wasn't surprised by his answer.

"I think I can manage that." – she said with ease and gave him a flirtatious smile.

She threw her clothes in the sand and slowly began to undress her husband.

"I bet the King of England would never do such thing." – she whispered and led him into the water.


Chapter Twenty-Three

Three days later…

- TEA TALK WITH KELLY-

KELLY: "The Royal Family is officially back from the holidays. The secret vacation is over as we have seen the King, the Queen and their children arriving at the Palace yesterday evening."

SOPHIE: "I have to tell you I was a bit taken aback. I didn't even know that they left until I have seen the pictures of Queen Helena on the beach… This secrecy is very unusual."

RITA: "I wonder if it has anything to do with King Simon's alleged affair… The Palace never confirmed the news, but the photos were rather eloquent. I wouldn't be surprised if the King and the Queen wanted to get away from the world and focus on their marriage for a little while…"

KELLY: "Understandable… but on the other hand, they are the Royal Family, they can't just disappear."

SOPHIE: "While the hired help continues to strike…"

KELLY: "Actually this might help their case. Since the Royal Family travelled without their own staff, it's like they have given their blessing to the protesters. Knowing that officially they can't involve in politics, this can be a clever way to show their support."

RITA: "Maybe… but I think they have more respect for this rule. It is more likely that this is just a coincidence. I could imagine that after her husband's cheating scandal, Queen Helena didn't feel safe with the maids."


"Incredible!" – Queen Helena cried out indignantly and turned off the TV. – "Why can't they forget about it already?"

Returning from the holiday and resuming their daily routine was harder than they imagined and it made them all frustrated.

"At least they just hate me. You still have their sympathy." – the King remarked with a bitter smile, then he added in thoughts: – "The biggest irony of all."

Helena rolled her eyes and looked at him angrily.

"That's very comforting, thank you! Who is this Rita anyway? I will ask Rachel to find out and I will have a little chat with her. Enough is enough." – she said firmly, then she frowned:– "What if our children see this?"

"They don't believe every rubbish they see." – her husband answered reassuringly. – "We have raised them better than this."

Queen Helena wanted to protest, but her assistant interrupted them.

"I have good news." – Rachel announced to the Queen with a satisfied smile.

"What is it?" – Helena asked impatiently.

Her assistant cleared her throat and waited a moment before she continued.

"You are invited as a guest speaker to the United Nations to speak about your Children's Hospice charity."

King Simon was the first to speak.

"Congratulations, my love! It's a really big deal." – he said and smiled at his wife.

"Yes, it was about time. I fight for their recognition for almost a decade now." – Helena replied, lost in thoughts, then she turned to her assistant. – "Tell them that I'm honoured to accept their invitation. "


Of course, the Queen's trip to the U.N. didn't make everybody equally happy. The Queen Mother, for one, couldn't hide her jealousy, while Princess Eleanor became more and more unbearable as the day of her mother's departure approached. Every time Queen Helena was about to travel somewhere without her family, she could count on her daughter to give a series of tantrums. However, this time it was different. Right after the Queen left, Princess Eleanor managed to make herself really ill with all the crying and shouting.

At 3 a.m. New York City time, Helena has woken up in her hotel room to the sound of her phone ringing.

"What is it?" – she mumbled in a sleepy voice.

"She feels so bad." – she heard the worried voice of King Simon. – "She has a fever and her throat… She is in so much pain."

The Queen turned on the bedside lamp and tried to rub the drowsiness from her eyes.

"What does the doctor say?" – she asked straightforwardly.

The King didn't hear her question or deliberately ignored it as he continued:

"It's not a sore throat. She can't eat because it hurts her so much and…"

Helena could feel as she was growing more nervous by the moment.

"Simon! What does the doctor say?" – she shouted at her husband, but she realized that he was hopeless. – "Just give me Robert on the phone."

She heard that Simon called out to his son and handed over the mobile to him.

"Hi, Mom!" – Prince Robert greeted his mother.

The Queen could not help smiling when she heard his voice.

"Hello, darling. So what happened exactly?" – she asked.

Unlike his father, the Prince knew what his mother needed to hear and got straight to the point:

"We are in the hospital."

"The hospital?" – Queen Helena asked back in shock.

"Yes. Her sore throat got worse, she can't swallow and she has a fever. Doctor Hartman says it is tonsillitis. They will operate her the day after tomorrow." – her son explained the facts willingly.

Helena believed that her husband was just overly concerned about their daughter and exaggerated things, but now she had to realize that the situation was more serious than she thought.

"This is awful." – that was the only thing she could say.

She was angry and relieved at the same time that this whole thing happened when she was away. She didn't know what to do. Simon would probably want her to return home immediately, but as the Queen, she had responsibilites towards her country as well. Motherhood was not supposed to stand in the way of duty.

"Do you think I should go home?" – she asked her son hesitantly.

"No. I mean it's bad, but it's not tragic." – Robert replied without thinking. No matter how much he loved his sister, he was much like his mother. – "You are doing some important stuff there. She will be angry and maybe dad too, but you couldn't help much if you were here."

The Queen let out a dim smile because she got exactly the response she wanted to hear. However, she knew that it wouldn't be so easy with Eleanor.

"Can I speak to her?" – she finally asked.

Prince Robert left the waiting room and walked into his sister's hospital room. He gave the phone to her and sat in a chair next to the bed.

"Mummy?" – Eleanor muttered weakly.

Helena was shocked when she heard the fragile little voice of her daughter.

"Yes, I'm here, darling." – she answered reassuringly. – "I'm so sorry for you. How bad is it?"

"Very bad." – whispered the Princess.

At this point the Queen would gladly have forgotten about the U.N. and all the dying children of the world, just to be with her own. Of course she couldn't tell her that.

"Can you talk?" – she asked objectively.

"Not really." – Eleanor mumbled hoarsely. – "Are you coming home?"

Helena let out a guilty sigh before she announced the bad news:

"I can't."

"You must." – Princess Eleanor peremptorily demanded.

The Queen was relieved that her daughter had some fight left in her and ironically, this gave her the strength to resist her wish.

"You know, sweetheart, there are other children who suffer just like you now, but sadly they can't get better." – she explained patiently to her daughter, knowing already that it was pointless. – "You will get better very soon, but they can't. The only thing the doctors can do is take away their pain and make them happy before they die. I have to speak for these children, you understand that, don't you?"

As the Queen predicted, six-year-old Eleanor didn't understand her reasons to stay away.

"Just come home, Mommy, please!" – the little girl pleaded.

"I'm sorry." – her mother said firmly, though it broke her heart. – "But I promise you that I will be there after the surgery and I will bring you lots of presents. I'll get you something from Tiffany, what do you say? Gemma will be so jealous of you."


Queen Helena went straight to the hospital as soon as her private jet landed in London.

She didn't expect a warm welcome when she returned home, but her husband's behaviour surprised her.

"You should have come home. If you had seen her…" – King Simon began when he saw his wife.

"I'm here now." – the Queen said, then she added softly, almost pleadingly: – "Please, Simon! I'm tired too. I have got jet lag, you can imagine that I couldn't sleep either."

The King wasn't touched by her words as he eyed her up and down. Her hands were full of packages containing presents for Eleanor while her assistant and her bodyguard carried other gifts for Prince Liam and Prince Robert.

"I wonder why you have come here now when you knew that we would be home in an hour." – the King remarked coldly. – "I tell you why. You were terrified that abandoning your daughter would hurt your public image. So you had to come here and act like a caring mother."

Helena walked towards her daughter's door, but Simon blocked her path.

"This is ridiculous. Are you really not letting me in?" – she asked in shock.

After an awkward moment of silence, the King finally realized how childishly he acted and let her pass.


"Hello darling! How are you?" – the Queen asked in a caring tone, after she entered her daughter's hospital room.

"Bad." – came the short answer from Eleanor, who didn't even bother to turn to her mother.

Helena tried her best to comfort her and make up for her absence.

"The good news is that now you can eat all the ice-cream you want." – she began with overacted enthusiasm in her voice. – "I brought you some from America, you know, that brand they don't sell here in the UK."

After she didn't get an answer from the Princess, she continued.

"Listen, I came as soon as I could." – she said, which of course wasn't true.

Princess Eleanor knew it too as she decided to acknowledge her mother's presence.

"You are lying." – she remarked huskily.

Queen Helena let out a guilty sigh and put her hand on the little Princess' shoulder.

"Please, Eleanor, look at me." – she said softly and tucked away her daughter's long brown hair so she could see her face.

"I don't want to see you." – Eleanor said with hatred.

Her mother, however, didn't give up so easily.

"What about your presents? You must want to see them at least." – she suggested cheerfully.

"I don't care." – the little girl resisted.

The Queen walked over to her bags that she put in a chair and took out a blue box. Eleanor watched her from the corner of her eyes as she opened it and picked up a marvellous necklace. It consisted of tiny diamond flowers and between every flower there was a yellow, pink, blue or green sapphire.

"Are you sure?" – Helena asked when she noticed that her daughter was watching her. – "In that case I might keep this one."

"Beautiful." – the little Princess whispered.

Queen Helena walked back to her bedside and smiled at her.

"My mother says that in the world of jewelleries there are no girls and women, only timeless beauty." – she said and put the necklace around her daughter's neck.

Eleanor quietly admired the necklace for a while, then she turned to her mother:

"Can I keep it and still hate you?" – she asked in a serious tone.

Helena couldn't hold back a genuine laugh.

"I don't see a reason why not." – she replied with ease and she was never more relieved that she got her nasty little daughter back.


After Helena left Eleanor's room, she found her husband sleeping on a chair in the waiting room.

"She is ready to leave." – she said softly to him when she woke him up.

"I was never so exhausted in my entire life." – King Simon answered between two yawns.

The Queen gave him a dim smile as she said:

"Give birth to twins, then come back to me."

The King nodded in agreement, then he looked at her with guilt.

"I'm sorry about earlier." – he mumbled.

"I'm sorry too." – Helena answered with ease and shrugged. – "I could have come home and I chose not to. You have every right to be upset."

King Simon was truly surprised by his wife's generosity.

"I shouldn't have had to lash out at you. I just lost control... I don't know what has gotten into me." – he apologized, then he took her hand in his. – "Anyway, welcome home!"

"Thank you." – the Queen replied and kissed him on the cheek.