A/N: FINALLY an update! Thanks to all my readers and reviewers! Sorry, it's been so long- haven't had a moment to spare and haven't had the internet!

The Princess Diaries doesn't belong to me

The atmosphere in the palace in the immediate aftermath of the news of Prince Phillipe's death was considerably different to the aftermath of the king's- the older man's death had been expected, the Crown Prince's hadn't- and the shock and outpouring of emotion that was unleashed the following day after the news was released publicly almost threatened to send the country a complete and grinding halt, a similar reaction when a beloved 'former' member of the British royal family (although the public still considered her a part of the family) was killed in a car accident less than five years earlier, although that didn't assist Charlotte with the mountain sized work that she had to undergo.

The Prime Minister had raced over almost as soon as he had received the news from Charlotte the night of the accident, and his expression on his face as he almost ran into Charlotte's study was an expression that Charlotte seen only a half hour earlier on the face of the Queen and she would continue to see on the faces of the palace staff, certain members of parliament and on most faces of the press and public in the coming days.

"Are you sure?" were the first words out of Sebastian's mouth as soon as he entered the room and Charlotte could only nod. "When?"

"An hour or so ago… the… they're being transported to the hospital as we speak."

"Her Majesty….?"

"Upstairs with Joseph… I don't think she's in any condition to see anyone tonight."

"Of course not…" he shook his head regretfully before refocusing his attention on Charlotte. "So, what needs to be done?"

"The usual- press statements…." She trailed off as her mind drifted back to the expression on Her Majesty's face as she had emerged from her study only half an hour earlier and… she almost visibly shuddered…

"I know, it hasn't even been a year since King Rupert and now this… this accident… this is truly unbelievable… how much more can Her Majesty take?" he murmured in a soft voice, echoing Charlotte and Scott's sentiments and Charlotte could only murmur her agreement.

An hour later, after getting many of the details sorted out for the press release and the palace finally settling down to sleep (although it would be difficult for most, if not all of the staff), Charlotte quietly crept upstairs to Her Majesty's suite- she hadn't seen Joseph since he had practically carried the Queen out of her study and she really didn't want to disturb him, if he was consoling the Queen, but she also had to make sure that there was nothing else to be one before the following days…

She had just stepped outside the closed suite doors and was about to knock on the door, but then the door opened a crack and she could see Joseph's brown eyes peering through.

"Joe? I'm sorry to disturb you…" she began hesitatingly as the door opened a little further and Joseph stepped halfway out of the suite, his expression neutral but she could see the agony in his eyes, and she wasn't sure whether it was his own grief over the Prince or his concern for the Queen. "…But I wanted to find out if there was anything else that needed to be done tonight…"

"I don't think so," he said in a hushed voice, as if he didn't want anyone to overhear them. "I understand that Sebastian was over here before."

"Yes, and he has already agreed to the press statement and is going to call an emergency session of parliament in the morning."

"Good," but Charlotte sensed that he was displeased at the news, so she was quick to explain.

"It's only a session to explain the situation- there is nothing else on the agenda…"

"For now," Joseph said darkly and Charlotte knew that she was only making his suspicions worse.

"So… is there anything you wish me to do before I go home?"

"No, Charlotte, everything else can wait until tomorrow… thank you for staying back."

"It was my pleasure…" before she started, realising that it was probably wasn't the most appropriate thing to say. "How… is…. Her Majesty?"

"Gone to bed… not that I think she will be sleeping very much tonight…" his expression suddenly became less neutral, the agony in his eyes seeping into his face and Charlotte knew that he was suffering just as much as Her Majesty, but not only because of his own personal grief for the prince but for her own agony as well.

"If there is anything I can do…."

"Thank you, Charlotte. Good night," he said politely before he withdrew back into the suite again and closed the door. Charlotte wasn't at all offended by the semi-abruptness of their conversation- she could well understand that he was preoccupied with the woman who, in her suite, was suffering terrible grief, having barely gotten after the last bout of grief, and she was also more than a little relieved that Her Majesty wouldn't be alone on this terrible of nights, and hopefully he could continue to keep her company over the ensuing days.

0

Once the news was released to the public, there was a wave of anguish, despair and grief for a young man who hadn't planned to be the future King of Genovia, but rather focus on his charity work, who had been taken far sooner than anyone could have imagined; a young man who had been popular, friendly, compassion, intelligent and well liked in the country (even most of the members of parliament admitted that they liked the younger prince) and had many female admirers (although he hadn't had many opportunities to explore relationships, although it would be expected, upon his ascension to the throne, that he would marry again); a young man well educated and devoted to his family….and gone too soon.

The newspapers and news stories for the ensuing days after the accident, leading up to the funeral and even after the funeral, for days and weeks, were saturated with coverage of the Prince and Charlotte found it difficult to peruse the papers each day and see different but happy pictures of the Prince on the covers of the newspapers, tributes delivered in print and on television and the flurry for flowers and messages of condolence that were flooding the palace- she could barely imagine what Her Majesty was feeling, not that she had seen her since the evening of the accident.

The morning after, Joseph, looking exhausted and grief stricken, had emerged from the royal suite with a list of tasks to do and Charlotte and Sebastian took it and divided it up between them- Charlotte focusing on dealing with the press and contacting those around the world who would want to attend the funeral, Sebastian dealing with the parliament as well as initial plans for the funeral, which Charlotte, Joseph and Sebastian would be working on together, as the Queen was clearly in no state to do anything.

Joseph called Pierre as soon as he had emerged from the suite and while he didn't say much about the conversation, he grimly confirmed that the Prince would be attending the funeral, and would be flying in the day before.

"He is in the middle of some difficult exams and he doesn't want to postpone them unless necessary," he said grimly to Charlotte and she had the sense that he wasn't too pleased at Pierre's response.

"He will be here, that's what matters," Charlotte said soothingly.

"Well, that's not good enough," Joseph snapped, whirling around and glaring at Charlotte for a moment before he subsided. "I'm sorry, Charlotte," he said tiredly, rubbing his hand across his eyes. "I understand his commitments, and I'm sure Clarisse and Phillipe would understand as well… it's just that…."

"I understand," was all Charlotte said in response.

"There is a phone call that I'm going to need you to make," Joseph said after a moment and Charlotte immediately reached for her pen and pad. "And you need to make sure that you are alone when you make the call… use Her Majesty's study, please."

"Who am I calling?" she asked curiously.

"I need to you place a call to Helen Thermopolis, I believe she's still in San Francisco," and Charlotte suddenly realised why she was calling San Francisco… Phillipe's ex-wife and daughter lived there…. "I need you to pass the news on to them- I'm sure that the news has already been released there, but she needs to receive official confirmation from the palace."

"Is she… will they… be coming to the funeral?"

"You can extend the invitation, if you wish, but I have the feeling that the promise that Phillipe and Clarisse made years ago will still be in play."

"Promise?"

"Yes. They both agreed that they would keep their distance from the little girl until she turned eighteen, to allow her to have a normal childhood… although that's going to change now…" he trailed off thoughtfully and Charlotte only nodded as she made a note on her notepad.

"When would you like me to call?"

He glanced at his watch and was seemingly trying to calculate the time difference.

"Maybe now- I'm sure the Princess will either be at school or coming home from school… it's probably best if you call now so that Ms Thermopolis can decide whether she will tell her daughter or not."

"Prince Phillipe was her father, surely she should be told."

"I don't know," he shrugged and glanced at his watch again. "I'm going back upstairs to Her Majesty again- if there's anything you need, you know where I'll be."

"Yes sir," she said simply and waited until Joseph had left the room before she tapped a name into her computer and quickly wrote down a number and then made her way to Her Majesty's study, closing the door gently behind her.

The atmosphere of the study was strange and Charlotte felt awkward being in the room when the Queen wasn't in- and it felt even stranger knowing that this place was where she had received the news of her youngest son's death, in front of Joseph and Charlotte and where her initial anguish had been released in a heartbreaking scream.

There was still paper strewn all over the desk and Charlotte remembered that they had interrupted the Queen while she was finishing up her paperwork the previous evening, and she only piled the papers into a pile before reaching for the phone.

She paused for a moment as she looked down at the number of the paper- Joseph had told the Queen and her elder son the devastating news, and now it was her turn to tell his ex-wife (and, by extension, his daughter) the same terrible news, and she wasn't looking forward to it at all- in fact, she was feeling very, very nervous. But before she could back away (and she knew that she wouldn't be allowed to), Charlotte picked up the receiver and began punching in numbers. She had to speak to an international operator to transfer the call through, and there was a pause as the line was connected through, and then the phone began to ring. It rang several times and Charlotte began to wonder if there was anyone there, before someone picked up the phone.

"Hello, Thermopolis residence."

For a moment, Charlotte couldn't speak as she realised that the young voice on the end of the line was fifteen year old Mia Thermopolis, the new heir to the throne of Genovia.

"Hello? Is there anyone there?"

"Hello, this is Charlotte Kutaway. May I please speak to Helen Thermopolis?"

"My mom? Sure!" before the phone was put down and she could hear the young girl call out: "Mom! Phone call for you!"

There was another waiting period before a slightly older and more mature woman's voice came on the line: "Hello?"

"Helen Thermopolis?"

"Yes, who is this?" Helen replied pleasantly.

"This is Charlotte Kutaway, private secretary to Her Majesty, the Queen of Genovia," Charlotte began, her voice trembling slightly- she had used the term starting phone conversations many, many times, but this was very different.

"Yes?" there was suddenly a tone of wariness in Helen's voice, as if she was suspicious about the palace contacting her for any reason.

"I'm calling on behalf of the Queen… I have some very bad news…"

"Is it Her Majesty? Is she alright?" the wariness was suddenly replaced by concern, even worry.

"She is… fine," although fine wasn't the word she would necessarily describe Her Majesty, especially at this time. "It's about Crown Prince Phillipe… there was a car accident last night and… he was killed in the accident, I'm so sorry."

"Oh… my…." Helen finally said after a long, heavy silence and Charlotte was waiting patiently for his response. "How is Her Majesty?"

"She is… coping…. I was asked to pass this news onto you, although you may have already heard about it?"

"No, not here… although we really don't read the papers here…."

"I was also requested to pass an invitation on to your and your daughter Amelia to attend the funeral, if you so wish."

"I see," Helen said, again after a long pause. "I see."

"Arrangements haven't been officially made yet, so I cannot give you a formal date and time, but I just wanted to pass the invitation onto you, if you…."

"Thank you, Charlotte, I appreciate the invitation and I will consider it," Helen spoke over Charlotte hastily. "At the moment… I just need to pass this news onto my daughter... if you can let me know more details when they come to hand… I… I'm just not sure whether this would be the best time to reveal to the world that my daughter is a princess… or reveal that fact to herself…."

She doesn't know that she's a princess? Charlotte couldn't help but mouth the words silently- how on earth could that be kept a secret for sixteen years? It was a lie that formed the basis of her childhood and she wasn't sure that she approved… although she didn't know what precisely the agreement was between Phillipe, Helen and the Queen… but still….

"I understand," Charlotte said quickly, not wanting Helen to feel that she was judging her. "I will keep you up to date when I know more… and I'm very sorry for your loss."

"Thank you… and please pass my condolences on to Her Majesty," Helen's voice suddenly sounded wistful and Charlotte had the sense that she still cared about her former husband, even they had been forced apart.

"I will."

00000

The next two weeks were literally the most shattering and heartbreaking that Charlotte had ever endured in her time at the palace- and she wasn't the grieving mother who was trying to keep herself together for the sake of her son and the country.

The arrangements for the funeral were completed during the first day after the accident, and it was going to be a similar occasion to his fathers, although much quieter and without as much pomp and circumstance as the previous funeral.

"He was the Crown Prince but he wasn't the monarch," Sebastian reasoned, but both he and Charlotte knew that he hadn't liked pomp and circumstances, and they had decided to keep the ceremony as simple as possible, but with some of the same traditions as other funerals for members of the royal family.

Charlotte wasn't at all surprised when the guest list for Phillipe's funeral and wake surpassed his father- there were formal representatives from countries, but many were his friends and associates from his charity work- and when she mentioned the fact to Joseph on one of his rare trips downstairs, he smiled.

"Of course- he hated all that circumstance and he was definitely more popular than his father… have you heard whether Ms Thermopolis will be attending?"

Charlotte looked down at her notes and took a deep breath in- he wasn't going to like this at all but they couldn't force the ex-wife or the daughter (who was unaware of her heritage) to attend the funeral.

"She left a message with the Attaché Corp- she would prefer to protect her daughter and not expose her to the press… she would rather they mourn him privately."
"Fair enough," was all he could say but Charlotte, judging by the clenching of his jaw, could tell that he wasn't pleased but there was nothing he could do.

"Joe? Are you alright?" she asked- she felt that they were close enough friends that she could ask him about himself, and Joseph's shoulder's relaxed slightly.

"I'm fine, why?"

"I'm just asking as a concerned friend, that's all. I imagine that you haven't had much sleep in the past few days…"

"I've slept on the sofa, it's not very comfortable but I want to be available in case she needs me," he shrugged, before he was aware of the fact that he was confiding something personal- that he was staying in Her Majesty's suite- and he frowned. "I would prefer that you wouldn't pass that information on to anyone," he added stiffly and Charlotte nodded, looking serious.

"Joe, I would never betray your confidence- you can talk to me, you know that."

"I know," he nodded, still looking grave, but the tone of his voice lightened somewhat. "And I appreciate your support… I… I just want this….these weeks to be over and done with… not that I don't want to remember Phillipe but… Her Majesty…."

"Is she….?"

"She's… not good… she's coping but not coping…it's hard to explain… I'm just wondering how much more can she take…" he trailed off, seemingly in another world, concerned about his Queen, although Charlotte had the sense that she was more than his queen…but now was not the time to pursue that thought….

"If there's anything I can do to help…."

"You're already doing far more than you know," he said seriously, giving her a meaningful look before turning away and walking out of the room.