Chapter 5: The Beginning.

London; June 10th, 1815.

Dearest Lady Aislin Godfrey,

As of today, you were one of the few lucky ladies His Royal Highness Prince James selected on a public stage in Hyde Park to participate in the event to win his hand and heart: we call it The Selection.

You are hereby expected in Buckingham Palace by the end of the month, and all your travel expenses will be paid by the King. Please pack lightly – you may bring personal items, your favorite dresses, and pieces of jewelry, but the rest will be provided by the Crown for as long as you reside with us, including fabrics, shoes, food, and a personal maid. Hence pack your belongings within a small trunk.

The prince and his daughter are looking forward to meeting you. In the meantime, we wish you luck in this new chapter of your life.

We send you sincere salutations,

Earl Henry Windsor and Lady Valery Windsor.

/ / /

Buckingham Palace, London, England; mid-June 1815.

After sending royal dispatchers with the invitations to be hand-delivered to the twenty selected, all Valery had to do was wait. Three weeks was enough to have all the girls arrive in London, right? She hoped it would.

And during that wait, she had a whole list of things to do, such as organizing accommodations for everyone at the Brighton Pavilion, preparing lessons for the ladies, and hiring staff to take care of all the guests. And all that for what? Replacing Marianne. Every time she thought about that, she wanted to throw it all away and go back to her manor, away from all of this. How could anyone replace her?

To be completely honest, she couldn't blame James for not wanting to do this: he had loved her more than life itself; well, so had she. Valery would have given everything up to be able to be loved back by the princess. But alas, the blonde farmer's girl only had her friendship to offer her since her whole devotion was to her husband. And for that, Valery had always been extremely jealous of James, though she never told him.

"You're still thinking about her, aren't you?"

Valery was startled from the window and turned around to see her brother standing in the doorway. She adjusted her bracelet.

"What if I did?" she said, not looking at him.

"Val, you loved her; you have every right to be sad..." Henry trailed off, trying to find the right words. "But don't you think it's time to turn the page and look to the future instead of the past?"

"How can I not look at the past?" she retorted. "Twenty girls are going to try to replace her!"

"Val-"

"She was the sun on which everyone's light reflected."

"I know that," Henry said. "And I miss her too. But now this is a new chapter for everyone, and we can't go back: all the invitations have been sent."

Valery took a deep breath and let it out slowly, if a bit wobbly. "I really don't know why I accepted to do this," she said, "but I will. I will help James find someone who can give him happiness again."

"That's the spirit!" Henry said, grinning. "Now: I came by to say goodbye, I'm going to Brighton to get everything ready there. James will be joining me with Ellie in a few weeks, before you arrive with the ladies."

Valery nodded and bid him bon voyage since he had around three days of travel by coach if everything went well. Once she was alone again, she sighed. Although Henry understood how Valery had loved Marianne, no one else knew; not even James. To everyone else, Valery and Marianne had been bosom friends, confidantes, and Valery being the Princess' Lady-in-waiting. But of course, Marianne had not loved her the same way, and she knew very few women were like her, so there were very few chances that she'd meet someone else like her. Valery sensed she was doomed to either find a loveless marriage of convenience or end up a spinster and be the shame of her family.

But for the good of the Prince and darling Eleanor, she would put aside her own feelings and organize the Selection for them. Even if it killed her in the process.

/ / /

Buckingham Palace, London; End of June 1815.

In the last week before the end of June, the Selected started to arrive at Buckingham Palace. Of course, the first to arrive were the ladies residing in England, but a few of the Londoners – those who were still there for the end of Season and had decided to stay on a bit – took their time and arrived only with a day or two to spare, preferring to perfect their packing and finishing to sew a brand-new dress to meet the prince.

The Ladies from Wales, Scotland, and Ireland arrived more or less at the same time, on the last two days of June. Hopefully, none of them had been delayed in their journey, so Valery was glad they could be on time to Brighton.

After breakfast on the last day of the month, she gathered the twenty young women in the drawing-room of the Palace, with a view over the manicured and blooming garden. They all took a seat wherever they could – divans, chairs, armchairs, windowsill – and most of them sat up straight as was proper for a lady to do.

"Good morning," Valery started. "This is the first time you are all in the same room together after arriving at different times this past week. I hope you are all well-rested from your journey here because tomorrow, we will start our own journey together to Brighton." She paused, looking at all of them. Some were already slouching in their seats and she knew there was still work to do before they could meet James.

"On this last day before the actual Selection starts and we leave London, there are a few rules I want to go over with you." Valery took out a small piece of paper from a pocket in her dress. "First, know that you will not be held against your will in Brighton, so if you wish to leave for any reason, you may come to talk to me and I will let His Royal Highness know."

"I'm sorry, but why would we want to leave if we made all this journey to come?" a girl with a heavy Irish accent asked. Valery looked at the blonde girl with seemingly untamable hair, though the maid had done quite a good job in doing something with it, considering…

"For example, Miss Jemima," Lady Valery said, "if you realize you are not developing feelings for the prince, or if your feelings are unrequited, or if anything else is amiss, you may go back home."

Jemima Delaney snorted. "As if I'd leave all this behind!" she said, toying with the bracelet at her wrist. A few other ladies giggled at that, either in agreement with her or for her silliness; Valery sighed and continued on her list of rules.

"Secondly, I'm sure most of you know basic good manners, but you will have to learn royal etiquette. The first thing you need to know is how to curtsy: we will have three days of travel to work on that before arriving in Brighton." A small pause. "Does anyone know how to address a prince?"

A hand in the background raised up.

"Yes, Lady– I'm sorry, I'm not sure how to pronounce your name again?"

The smiling blonde girl with a powder pink dress stood up from her chair. "It's Labhaoise, and it's pronounced La-vee-sha but I would prefer to be called Louise during the Selection, it's that's alright…"

Valery was surprised she had a perfect English accent despite the Irish name. "That will be easier for everyone," Valery said, a bit relieved. "So, Lady Louise, how do you address a prince?"

"When we meet him for the first time – either the very first time ever or the first time during the day," she said with excellent poise, "we shall call him Your Royal Highness. When we address him again during the day, we can refer to him as Sir."

"Excellent," Valery said, glad to have at least one who knew some royal etiquette. "After some time spent together, however," Valery continued, "you may call him by his given name, but only if he invites you to do so. Otherwise, you will always refer to him as Sir." She looked at her little cheat sheet before looking back at the group of ladies. "When the prince enters a room in which you already are, you will be expected to curtsy to him and to speak only when spoken to."

Lady Valery continued on with a few more rules of etiquette, after which she asked them all to show her their curtsy. She wrote down the names in two columns: those who could curtsy, and those who still needed to work on it. By the end of the day, Valery had only gone through half of what she should have, but there was still a lot of work.

One of them, Lady Arabella Parslow, received a letter from her father in Wales the evening before they left, that her mother had fallen ill just a couple of days after she had gone to London and that she should come straight home. So of course, she did, and only nineteen girls piled up by four in carriages after being prepped by the maids for an early start, at dawn, after drinking some hot chocolate to hold on until a proper breakfast could be had.

Lady Valery was traveling with three ladies herself: Miss Rowena Talbot, Lady Elsie MacGregor, and Miss Henrietta Grace. All three had good enough manners from what she had seen so far, but during the first few hours of travel, they all tried to sleep despite the quite bumpy ride. They stopped around 10 o'clock in the morning for breakfast in a small town outside of London, stretched their legs, and practiced some table manners under Valery's close watch.

"Miss Rowena," Valery said once they had started on again on their journey. "You are from London, correct?" She had taken out a wooden writing set to take a few notes during the travel as she was going to try to travel with different girls to get to know them a little before arriving.

"That's right." The petite brunette with the porcelain skin smiled.

"I feel like I have already seen you somewhere," Valery said, watching her closely. "But I cannot figure out where."

Rowena's cheeks warmed a bit but she shook her head slightly. "I'm afraid you're mistaken, milady," she replied. "I can assure you we've never met before." She paused before adding: "My father is a tavern keeper so I do not think you would have been there to see me."

"I see," Valery said. "And your mother?"

"She tends to our home," she replied. "She used to be into society, a long time ago, but I doubt you knew her."

"Oh? What was her name, then?"

"Lady Ella Norrington."

"The name rings a bell, but I cannot place it either," Valery said. "And you, Lady Elsie," the redhead continued, turning to her seat neighbor. "If I remember correctly, you came all the way from Scotland?"

"Aye," the olive-skinned lady said. "I live in Aberdeen with my mother." Her accent was quite heavy but still understandable. Valery still didn't understand why the King had invited girls from all four countries when there were very suitable ladies in England.

"And your father?"

"He died some time ago, Milady," Elsie replied as a shadow passed over her features.

"I'm sorry for your loss, Lady Elsie. Were you close with him?"

A small, sad smile appeared on her lips. "Aye. Closer than with my mother."

"You still miss him," Valery simply said. She understood, having lost her own mother also when she was young. "I hope you will still be able to enjoy the Selection."

Elsie nodded and then looked out the window, probably thinking of her father. Finally, Valery turned to the third lady in the carriage.

"Miss Henrietta, you live in England, yes?"

"Yes, milady," she replied in her soft voice. "I live in East Sussex."

"I understand you come from a family of servants? That is what you wrote on your application."

"I do," Henrietta said. "We've worked for the Earl of Sarington for generations, and I was born in his House."

"And what exactly is your position?" Rowena asked, curious about the soft-spoken girl.

"I was Lady Sarington's personal aid, ever since I was eleven years old."

"A lady-in-waiting, then?" Valery asked. If that was the case, then it was an excellent position to have, as a servant in an Earl's House.

"Something like that," Henrietta replied. "As I grew older and so did Lady Sarington, I become more of a caretaker to her. She considered me as her granddaughter when her own daughter passed away some years ago."

"I see," Valery said. "But you said was; you were her caretaker? Past tense?"

"Yes." The young woman paused. "She passed away just a few months ago. Her oldest son offered to take me into his own Home in London, as a servant, but I needed a break from all of this before going to work for him. So here I am."

Valery raised a perfect eyebrow. "I assume you've never participated in the Season and this is your first chance at finding a potential match?"

Henrietta blushed and looked away. "Yes, milady. I mean– If I don't win, I won't mind. I guess I just needed something different before resuming my duties."

"Hmm." Valery and the rest were silent for a moment while the redhead wrote a few things down on her paper. The lines weren't straight at all because the ride was somewhat bumpy, but she didn't care. As long as her mind wasn't clotted with this information, then she would be fine.

After another break in their journey for a light lunch in a nice hotel in another town, they continued on their voyage all the way to their stop for the night. The next morning, Lady Valery traveled with another group as all the ladies changed riding partners as well. In the early afternoon, the sky darkened and one of the coachmen said there would be a storm, and should they stop in Crawley for the night and let it pass?

"No," Valery said. "We drive on: we need to be in Brighton by tomorrow."


Whooo another chapter written during my twins' naps this week ;) I hope you enjoyed it! also, thank you all for your reviews! it always makes me so happy to read them!

Just a reminder that the due date for the forms is the end of May, so there are a little less than 2 weeks left. Don't forget there's the Pinterest board if you want an aesthetic idea of the girls we've met (and the ones we've yet to meet)!

Have a nice weekend and see you next time!