Close to the Crown (On hold until 2021)

Chapter Five (REWRITTEN AND EDITED)

A/N: This has been re-written and edited, but there may still be the odd mistake.

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My first few days of living at the Palace were fairly quiet, due to the fact that both the Queen and Adelaide had been called for a last minute charity weekend-long event in Newcastle. Because of this, the two of them left early on that Saturday morning, and would not return until the Tuesday of the following week.

I would spend most of time organising my room, as once again, I refused any help from the staff of the palace. I spent most of Saturday putting my clothes away; re-folding my bottoms and pyjamas, and hanging up my dresses and shirts. The only help I allowed was when Harriet knocked on my door mid-afternoon, with two cups of coffee. She helped me colour co-ordinate my clothes, and separate the 'everyday' clothes from the 'formal' ones.

On the Sunday morning, I began by organising my desk, placing my stationary in the correct places, and generally making the room tidy. By lunchtime I had placed all of my photo frames around the room; on the window sill, on my bedside table and some of the shelves above my desk.

At 1pm on Sunday afternoon, I happened to glance out of my window, which overlooked the east gardens, where many flowers and trees were planted. After looking around the area closest to the building, I noticed Blake and Oliver walking down the path, which led towards what we called 'The Secret Garden'.

'The Secret Garden' was not actually a secret, but it was an isolated part of the lands which was home to a large clearing, that looked like a meadow. We had made it our own when we were children, after Adelaide and I had stumbled across it during a game of hide and seek when I was 8. Once the Queen had found out we had been spending a lot of time there, she had organised for a few benches and a hanging swing, to be placed there.

Smiling to myself, I walked away from the window and slipped a jacket over my cream wooly jumper and my blue skinny jeans. As I hadn't planned to leave the palace today, I didn't see the need to wear anything too formal. But even if I did have to leave in an emergency, It would still be appropriate to wear in public. I also grabbed my brown boots, put them on and made my way out of my room, and down the corridor.

As far as I was aware, the King had travelled to somewhere in Kent for the day with the Queen's brother, Edward, for a public event. That meant the Palace was fairly relaxed compared to normal, apart from the fact that William was still meant to be in the palace somewhere. It was no secret that William often thought of himself as being above the staff and sometimes he took his anger out on them verbally.

Unfortunately for me, I just so happened to stumble into one of those situations, as I got to the bottom of the main staircase. William was standing in the middle of the hallway, screaming at some man, who was looking scared and helpless. On the ground around them laid some silver trays and various pieces of paper.

"Are you absolutely useless?!" William yelled, using his hands to emphasise his question, "I told you to pick up the papers you made me drop!"

The man's eyes widened, before he dropped to be knees and stumbled to collect the papers that lay scattered around the floor. By the way he was wincing and holding his back, I knew it was troubling him, and I knew I had to step in. The man, who I recognised to be a butler, was probably in his late 50s.

"Is there a problem, William?" I asked, stepping off the last step and into the hall.

The Prince span around, and glared when he saw it was me, "Yes there is! This imbecile of a man wasn't looking where he was going, and ran straight into me, causing me to drop all of my papers. There were organised in order, and need to be handed to the owner of the new hospital in Ipswich this evening!"