A Royal Accident (A British Royal Family Fanfiction)

Love

Kate

"Mummy, will Papa be here on my first day of school?" Alice asked, as the two of us walked hand in hand up the King's Road on the way home from getting her school shoes. It was the first of September 2007, and Alice started school next week. 

"Yes, I should think so. Remember, it's difficult to speak to him at the moment. He's so busy with work." I told her, reassuringly.

"Can I show Auntie Pips my school shoes when we get home?" she asked.

"Of course." I replied as we continued to walk home. I could see Alice's brain ticking about something. She had inherited that trait from William, she'd always been a thinker. She'd put the words together in her head before she said them, unlike me, who usually just came out with whatever was on my mind.

It was hard to now believe that Alice was almost 5. It felt like only two minutes ago that she was this tiny newborn baby on the plane on the way home from Australia. She was still tiny, but not that small. She had a wicked sense of humour and although she loved to chat, she was at her happiest, playing with her toys in her bedroom. She loved being outdoors and I tried to spend as many weekends as I could, out with my parents to she could run around the garden and throw herself in the swimming pool. My parents adored her company and were often complimentary of the beautiful character that she had become. Alice was excited to start school next week, although, as expected there was a little apprehension from both of us. She had always been so happy at her pre-school, and I had always felt safe knowing that she was alright there. I knew that the change of routine to come would be difficult, as well as having to get to know new children and teachers. At pre-school, the children were too young to know who she was, the bastard great granddaughter of the Queen, but I wasn't sure if school would be as naive. I worried about people saying things. She was already so aware of the press, who spent most of their time camped outside our flat. She was used to it, which I often felt sad about, but I knew that her life would always be like this, I couldn't protect her from that forever.

William and I had had several conversations about when the right time was, to talk to her about who she is, who she's related to, and what that means within society. Will thought she wasn't ready and that she wouldn't understand, but I was insistent that she knew more than she let on. She held a wise head on her strong shoulders and I wondered whether he couldn't see that. We'd eventually decided to talk to her about William's grandmother and who she was, and how people may say things about it. But our message to her was to ignore it, and remember that they're her family, and that's all that really matters. She had seemed unfazed about the whole thing and William gave a sort of 'I told you so' attitude. But I knew that Alice was a thinker, and it would all be going around her head. One day, the questions would come, and we would have to be ready with answers.

 Pippa had moved into the flat with us when she finished university in June and since then, the place had felt so much more like home. Alice and I had had a happy couple of years here, with William coming up as much as he could. But we had broken up, back in September, almost a year ago and that had been difficult for me, which of course, had impacted Alice too. She saw that William and I had spent less time together and instead of the three of us, she would often just be with one of us, and she knew that something was going on. We had tried to keep things the same for her, but she knew. She may be four, but she wasn't stupid. William was insistent on not telling her that either, despite the fact I maintained that she knew more than she let on to either of us. She saw that William didn't stay over, and that anywhere she went, it was with one of us, never both, and every family occasion was just her and him, I was no longer privy to any of that.

I cried my eyes out after I'd put Alice to bed, the day before she started school. As she lay in her bed, when I read her story, she looked so tiny. All I could see was the tiny baby in that hospital in Sydney and I wanted to wrap her in blankets, hold her to my chest and never let go. But I knew she was more than ready to go to school and I was glad to get my tears out the night before. The last thing I wanted to do was burst in front of tears in front of her as I dropped her off. Pippa and I had a glass of wine and said cheers to Alice before going to bed.