Chapter 4: Hyde Park
London, England; December 1806.
During the almost two months before Christmas, the weather had become colder and colder with a thick fog hovering on London, confining everyone to the stuffy and warm ballroom locations, theatre and opera shows, and every other banquet offered during the Season, as long as you had the right ticket or the right invitation. People left their homes in the early afternoons and came back home sometimes very early in the morning, but always huddled together to keep warm outside or in their carriages.
James had been to every social event he could, meeting as many ladies as humanly possible, dancing with them until his feet and legs hurt and he was out of breath, but he still hadn't found "the one", wondering if he would ever. His father had plainly said that if he wanted to become King, one day, he would have to be married. And he'd need a male heir, as well.
They were all so eager to please him and he wondered if the ladies were really interested in him because he was the prince, or if they genuinely liked him. He still had yet to find one who did.
On December 17th, a horrible blizzard hit the southeast of England, drowning London under a freezing snowstorm and restraining everyone to their homes, making it impossible to socialize.
The young prince was pacing his chambers, looking out the windows as the snow fell almost horizontally outside.
"Come play a game of Bridge with us!" his sister Ann, said, joining him in his bedroom. "It's better than to be alone."
James shrugged. "I don't like Bridge."
"I know," Ann replied. "But come! We're missing a player and you can team up with me." She grinned. "Let's show mother and father that we're smarter than them, yes?"
"Fine," James said. He knew he couldn't say no to his sister, and she knew it, too. They played Bridge all day long until they all were hungry and the footmen brought in a light meal.
They were confined like this until December 20th, when the blizzard finally stopped. The next day, the fog lifted, leaving behind a magnificent white coat of snow on the city, the roofs, and the trees. Snow went up to people's thighs, and they had to wait another day or so before the streets were cleaned up a little and people could come out.
And when they did finally come out on the day before Christmas, the sun was shining, making the snow glitter everywhere and most of the townspeople gathered in Hyde Park to enjoy the snow: snowshoeing, snowball fights, or even ice skating on the Serpentine River that had completely frozen during the blizzard.
Still confined to the Palace, James didn't know what was happening outside. Were the Social gatherings starting again? When was the next ball? The next banquet? The next–
"Sir Henry Windsor," his valet said, breaking through his thoughts.
James turned around, welcoming his best friend inside his apartment. "Henry! It feels it's been forever!"
"It's only been a few days, Jamie," Henry said with a smile. "I came to tell you everyone is going to Hyde Park to enjoy the snow and the ice," he explained. "Hot Chocolate stands have erupted here and there and we could ice-skate–"
"Say no more," James cut him. "You had me at Hot Chocolate." He grinned and then turned to his valet. "Laurence, find my skates and my warmest coat and boots: I'm going out."
"Yes, sir," Laurence said, bowing quickly before leaving for his errand. A few moments later, the two friends were outside the Palace dressed in fur coats and thick boots, their skates in their hands, and they joined a young redhead lady in a horse-drawn sleigh.
"Good afternoon, Miss Windsor," James said with a smirk. He liked to call her that even though they'd known each other for years, her being Henry's little sister – making her almost his sister as well.
"Your Highness," she replied inclining her head, also using his title. She sat up straight across from her brother and his friend and adjusted her mittens. The open-roof sleigh took them to Hyde Park through King's Road and James was surprised to see so many people at once in the park in the winter. James and his friends were so covered in coats and furs that no one recognized them on the spot, and even their sleigh wasn't royally decorated.
They found a place to stop, not too far away from a hot chocolate stand, where they were able to get to the banks of the Serpentine River and attach their skates to their boots. The sun glittering on the ice and the snow was somewhat blinding, but James and Henry made their way to the ice while Valery went to the hot chocolate stand to get them three steaming hot cups.
On the ice, there were only gentlemen skating, many of them showing off their prowess at the sport, others barely keeping up with their friends, but most of them making room for the prince after recognizing him. James greeted those he knew and he was excited to be around people once again and socialize after being cooped up inside for a week. It may have been cold outside, but the atmosphere was warm and the laughter loud.
James was standing amid a group of other young gentlemen, talking of this and that and sipping hot chocolate, enjoying his day. Out of nowhere, someone bumped into him and both fell on the ice, spilling the hot beverage on his fur coat.
"I'm so sorry, sir!" a young female voice said. He turned around to kindly reprimand the lady but the most beautiful blue eyes met his. "Truly," she said, getting back up from her fall with his help holding his hand, "I'm that sorry, sir!"
/ / /
London, England; June 10th, 1815.
Hyde Park. The trip through King's Road held so many memories and James couldn't remember when was the last time he'd been there. Probably with his late wife, enjoying each other's company in an open-roof carriage. Now, he was with his daughter in another open-roof carriage, and there were rows and rows of people coming to see him on each border of the lane. All the newspapers had reminded the readers that he would be Selecting the young ladies, and no one wanted to miss it.
"Why are there so many people, father?" Eleanor asked, waving at them.
James sighed and adjusted his top hat. "They've come to listen to the names we will be calling today."
Eleanor grinned. "Will Uncle Henry and Aunt Valery be there?"
"Yes."
The princess smiled wider: Henry and Valery had become part of the family over the past few years, practically replacing him as a parent.
The more they closed the distance to the stage, the more people there were, mostly women, young and old – applicants to the Selection, girls just out of the Season, and their chaperones. It was already giving him a headache just imagining the summer surrounded by a group of ladies and he started to sweat under his dark coat. One thing was sure, he was going to go lighter in Brighton or else he would never survive the Summer, even a British one.
That's when he saw the stage– a humongous thing with an overload of white and blue flowers, and he wondered how it could sustain such a weight.
"It's so beautiful!" Eleanor said, pointing at the flower arch above the stage. James quickly put her arm down.
"Don't point with your finger," he said a little sternly. "It's not polite."
"Sorry, father," Ellie said, seeming to close in on herself like a clam, which made James feel like he was failing as a father, as always.
"Let's make a deal," he said, talking to her as if she was an adult, and adjusting his seating position on the plush seat. "Why don't you select the names and I'll read them."
"Really?" she said, brightening up in an instant. He nodded and Eleanor grinned, looking at him with those big blue eyes of hers, the exact same eyes as his wife. And that's when he realized that he should look more often and more carefully at her daughter to remember her mother.
The closer they got to the stage, the bigger it grew, and the sweatier James became. The carriage drove around it through the crowd that had parted like the Red Sea and stopped just in front of a wooden staircase. James took a deep breath and climbed out of the vehicle when a footman opened the door and then he helped his daughter down by lifting her up under the arms.
"James! Ellie"
"Uncle Henry!" the young duchess said, hugging the larger man.
"Henry," James said, nodding once. "Is all this necessary?"
"What is?" Henry asked.
"The stage, the flowers, everything!"
Henry shrugged. "Your father said not to spare any expense," he explained. "And the flowers are from Valery, she thought it would please the ladies out there." He paused. "And she also said that hydrangeas were Mary's favorite flowers…"
"I see." But in reality, James' heart clenched in his heart at his wife's mention. He was only half listening as Henry explained how the whole thing would go, trying not to walk away from the whole ordeal.
"Father said I would be picking the names for him to read!" Eleanor said, practically bouncing up and down. And James told himself he was doing this for her before all else: to find the girl a mother.
"It's time," Lady Valery said, coming over in a silk burgundy dress with black lace on the chest and a matching hat. Her red curls were neatly done and framed her freckled face, and she held her head high. "The crowd is growing impatient."
Henry grinned, almost as excited as the young girl who was holding his hand. "All right, then," he said. "Let's do this!"
"Eleanor," Valery said sternly but kindly, "remember who you are."
"Yes, Ma'am." Ellie took a deep breath and held her tiny frame straight and poised like the perfect proper young lady she was. And James and the others almost forgot that she was only four years old.
The little group went onto the stage and two footmen opened the big white curtains, revealing them to the crowd who went silent in an instant, wanting to hear the names the prince would call and see if they knew any of the Selected.
In the middle of the stage was a big trunk filled to the brim with the envelopes they'd received over the past month. It was almost as high as Eleanor!
"Good afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen!" Henry said, his loud voice carrying over the crowd; even the birds in the trees had gone silent to listen. "In a few moments, Duchess Eleanor Schreave will be selecting twenty envelopes for her father, and you will be discovering the names at the same time as the Prince!"
James's practiced smile faltered a bit as he stared at Henry and shock. "Twenty?" he hissed through his smiling teeth.
Henry ignored him and continued on. "Lady Eleanor, if you please," he said, gesturing elegantly to the trunk. The little duchess obliged with a huge smile and stood on a small stool to be able to get to the bottom of the chest. She dug her arm in the pile, making some envelopes fall to the ground, and chose one at the bottom, handing it to her father. James broke the seal and opened it, reading the name and country at the top.
"From England, Sussex: Miss Henrietta Grace." James had no way of telling what they looked like since no miniature or painting had been attached to the letter. He doubted any had done that and he would have to meet them in Brighton. But all he could say was that she was not from the aristocracy.
Eleanor took another envelope and handed it to James. On and on it went, and the crowd was murmuring the names all the way to the back of the crowd so everyone knew.
"From Wales: Lady Dorothea Dona Joy Herbert."
A gasp came from up front in the crowd. "That's my sister!" he heard a female voice say. He tried to see who had said that, but he couldn't for the life of him point out the lady in question. And Eleanor was now handing him yet another envelope. He had lost count already but it felt like he had read fifty-seven names by now, with a good mix of aristocrats and commoners alike.
"From England: Lady Frederika Vaughan."
There was a rustle in the crowd at the mention of that name and he saw many people turn around and point a lady in a green dress and bonnet, but too far away to actually see her face. He could only make out brown hair. Everyone was whispering around her and she was closely attached to another lady who was beaming at her.
He read a few more names that he didn't recognize – Miss Jemima Delaney from Ireland, Lady Letitia Davies from Wales, Lady Priscilla Renee D'Herblay from England, and Lady Elsie MacGregor from Scotland among others – before he finally reached the last one Eleanor picked up on the floor of the stage.
"From England: Lady Emilia Berridge."
Again, the crown whispered something and he noticed they all looked at the two ladies again, the one that had already been called, and the one closely attached to her; so they were friends, coming to compete for his hand – his crown? – in marriage. James sighed and let Henry finish the event. He didn't really listen to anything because all he wanted now was to leave and be left alone.
Once the curtains were drawn and the twenty envelopes safely tucked inside a leather portfolio, James stormed on Henry. "Twenty? Really?" he said. "I thought it was going to be five or six at the most!"
"Oh, come on, James! Don't you want to have a large choice of ladies?"
"No!" he growled. "What am I going to do with them?"
"Leave that to me, dear friend," the Earl said, tapping the prince's shoulder. "I am the master of fun, am I not?"
"That's what I'm afraid of," James mumbled as he climbed into the carriage after his daughter to go back home.
Heyyy! here's chapter 4, and I hope you enjoyed it! and thanks for your reviews on the previous chapter as well ;)
just a few things:
- I changed Henry from Count to Earl (because in England, it's earl and not count, like in the rest of Europe) in the first three chapters and on my profile;
- I added a couple of things to my profile: links to a Jane Austen playlist and to a video that explains how regency balls were organized (if you have 1h30 to spare lol but it's super interesting! it's based on Pride and Prejudice's ball where Darcy and Elizabeth meet) Thank you, Kay, for suggesting it!
- the due date for the form is the end of May! but you can definitely send it earlier hehe... thanks to those who already sent in theirs!
I think that's all! see you next time!
