Kidnapping

The car turned another corner and Kate was pressed into Will. He took her arm. "How do you feel?" he said.

"The adrenaline's catching up with me. I was scared the crown would slip off!"

The coronation had gone ahead a month or so after Diana's birth. Now, Will and Kate were driving back to Buckingham Palace, newly crowned King and Queen, waving to the adoring crowds. They turned one more corner and came through the gates...

Another car screeched to a halt in front of them. A tall man in all in black except his red balaclava got out of the car and held up a gun. The next minute passed in a second. The man ran towards the car, the bodyguards on all sides ran towards him, and Will froze. Then, the man got into the car, thrust the gun at Will's head and pulled him out, leading him into the car and driving away, long before the bodyguards could process what was going on. Kate blinked. Will was gone.

Will was gone.

"Pippa! Come over, now!"

Her sister on the other end sighed. "OK, OK. I'm coming. I'll be a couple of hours though, me and mum have only just set off from Leeds." She hung up. Kate lay back on the bed.

Then, on a whim, she opened the wardrobe door. She unhooked one of Will's shirts and pressed it to her nose, taking in his smell- a mixture of the trademark Buckingham Palace dust, aftershave and shampoo. She pushed further and further back, not knowing- or caring- what she was looking for.

Until she found it.

It was a small Moleskine notebook, bound with an elastic band, with a peeling label on the front reading 'Prince William of Wales' Diary'. She opened it and began to read.

21st June, 1990

My birthday. Harry got to blow out the candles on my cake. But I got a football- and the first game with dad. Mama looked on with Harry. Ha ha ha!

23rd June, 1990

Mama and Harry and I made a cake, and we were decorating it- well, mama and I, Harry was eating the Jelly Tots. He is quite annoying, but sweet, too.

She skipped on a few pages.

7th September, 1995

First day of Big School. Eton is very, very, very big and I'm very scared. There was an older boy showing us round, and his friend pushed me over into the mud. He said I was going to be a 'crap king' and that I should give him all my money. I told him I was a gentleman and I didn't carry cash, to which he kicked me and told me I was an idiot.

I'm so lonely...

Kate flipped forward.

1st September 1997

I am never going to live the same way ever again...I am so very, very, very lonely. Harry has been hiding about the house.

I'm so sad...

Just then, Pippa came in. "Kate. Oh, Kate!"

Kate was holding the diary like it was the very first Bible, and burst into tears.