In French

Chapter Twenty five

    I pulled a face, “oh no! No that is far too predictable and half the women there will be silly, pathetic butterflies. None of you are to wear that animal either, alright? We will be better and more unique than that.”

    “A leopard, My Lady,” Giselle spoke eagerly. “You should be a leopard and the King a lion.”

    “Perfect. So the ball will be themed as animals…Now, I want my family in Andorra to be invited as I long so badly to see them and they should get a chance to meet their nieces and nephews.” The ladies nodded along, all eager and excited.

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    Josepha wrote not long after that she was thrilled to be coming to Versailles again after such a long time. Unfortunately my sister had never married, she spent all her days with Nikola, content with that rather than being sent away to marry someone who she would not love.

    My ladies and I spent time and effort trying to choose colours and styles for our gowns. The ball had become the talk of the palace, I was hopeful that the baby would have been born by then as he or she was due round about now. Two weeks at the most the doctor had said.

    The Queen had stepped aside three years ago and I was crowned Queen of France. I did feel as though I was right for the job, I ruled well and fairly and alongside my husband and his perhaps stricter, tighter reign I was the more compassionate side. When I had settled on a shimmering golden coloured dress which no doubt would be heavy as it would be laden with crystals and diamonds which would make me glimmer and glitter magically under the chandelier light.

    I was preparing to go a sort of borstal that had been set up in Paris due to my charity money and it was to give single mothers a few nights to stay so they can get themselves together and try to find a job. It also funded them to give them a small bit of money to try and feed their children with.

    My hair was smoothed up onto the top of my head, my whalebone hoop was not as wide as it usually would be and what I lacked in size I made up for in frills and bows. I had chosen only Agate and Giselle to come with me as it would have been far too crowded with all my ladies.

    The carriage ride was not that long and outside the borstal a small crowd had formulated. I gave a tight lipped smile as I stepped down out of the carriage and surrounded by guards I headed inside to see exactly what my money was paying for.

    Inside was drab and dusty, the wooden floors could do with a scrub as well as a sweep and inside was quite crowded. But then, anything that wasn’t Versailles was going to be described as drab. The man that ran the borstal stepped forward, dressed in the finest clothes that he could afford. He did a shaky bow, obviously he wasn’t used to bowing to royalty. I gave a polite smile and inclined my head in his direction. “Good morning.”

    “Good morning, Your Highness. Thank you for coming to see us today.”

    “Oh no, it is my pleasure, Sir. I wanted to meet some of the people that I am helping.”

    “Yes, yes.” He nodded and then nervously gestured for me to follow after him. It was a good morning out and my charity money really was helping struggling women which made me feel better.

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    When I got back up on the balcony I was to have a portrait done with my children. I remember nine years ago when I had one done while I was pregnant with August. Now he was stood, magnificently dressed beside his mother surrounded by his four other siblings. I held the youngest, baby Anne Louise. “Now now,” I gently nudged Maria, “stop fidgeting.”

    It was cloudy, big thick puffs of white taking up the sky although the artist told me that he’d paint them out. I was not bothered about clouds or non clouds, all I wanted was a portrait with my children. They were good throughout the sitting and charged off boisterously when they were permitted to leave.