"At the end of the day, the mental health of the victim deteriorates badly due to the trauma experienced. This is why we need to come together, all of us, from all around the world, to tackle this vice called bullying."
"Would you say that you're putting more focus on mental health and trauma because of the recent trauma you recently experienced by the death of your sister?" I swallowed hard. My palm became sweaty. Noticing all these, Arthur wanted to step in but I stopped him.
"Yes. I actually would. You see, I could sit here and try to understand what runs through the minds of victims of various traumatic experiences, but until I experience it for myself, I will never truly grasp their pain. My sister's death was a very unfortunate one but I learnt so much from it. I can now say that I have an idea about how people deal with heart wrenching pain. I made some terrible mistakes dealing with my pain.." I stopped and gave Arthur a brief stare. It was apologetic. I really was sorry. "But now, I'm turning all that pain into passion and desire. The desire needed for someone to never feel the way I felt."
"Now, I know that this interview is mainly set to shed more light on the foundation but please, with both of your permissions, I'd like to ask the Princess on more personal question." Arthur looked at me, searching for my answer and when I gave an affirmation, he followed.
"OK."
"Thank you Your Highness. So, my question is something I think we all want to know. Princess Victoria, are you okay?" Those words rang through my ears. I didn't expect that. I definitely didn't expect the tears that followed that question. All my life, nobody ever cared enough to ask me that. It was always for the Monarchy. For the Queen and country. Arthur placed a warm palm on mine and I smiled warmly as I came back to reality.
"No, I'm not." The interviewer smiled with warmth and worry. He definitely didn't expect that answer. But apparently, neither did Arthur. They were both looking at me with worry. "But I now have all the support needed to be. I'll be fine, really soon."
"And I hope that you get the help you need. I think it's safe to say that you don't only have the people of Denmark behind you. The amazing people of England are also here for you."
"Thank you."
He smiled and after a few more questions, the segment ended. Arthur didn't say anything until we got into the car.
"You okay?"
"Not yet baby, but soon." He held my hand and pulled me to his chest.
"I want us to go public with the engagement."
"But you said..."
"I know what I said Toria. But it takes a lot of courage for a royal to openly admit that everything is not what it seems, and you did that today, on live television. Only the woman I fell in love with would do that and that woman is seated right here with me. I don't want to risk losing her again. So what do you say?"
"I would marry you right now if I could." The rest of the drive was silent. We got back to my place, Arthur called his parents so they could start making arrangements for the engagement announcement and then we went to bed. I just knew that from the moment we went public with the engagement, a lot would change. And maybe I wasn't ready for that.
By 3am, I woke up. This was a routine now. Arthur was soundly asleep next to me and I didn't want to disturb him. In all truth, I was scared of making my problems his. I crawled out of bed and went to the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee. I sat down there and got lost in thought...until it was 6am!
"How long have you been seated there?" I turned to find Arthur watching me from the hallway.
"Not long. Morning babe."
"Morning." He walked to me and kissed my hair lightly. "You know, if the engagement is adding to your stress, then maybe we shouldn't make it public yet."
"Arthur, honey, I'm fine. Ok?"
"Ok. But we have to see my grandmother first. She's expecting us by 8am." I sipped my coffee while he filled me in on a few details concerning a royal engagement in his family. It was a whole lot. After breakfast, we had our baths and that left me with one more challenge; what was I going to wear?!!
After a whole lot of deliberation, I finally settled on something. I believe that this outfit worked.
We stepped out after I got dressed and headed straight for the palace. I put on my engagement ring once we arrived. I was nervous but this was basically for us to get her official approval. And once she gave that, we called the Prime Minister, my parents and then his parents. Merely an hour later, the engagement was announced. The calls kept on coming in, the press wanted to see us leave the Palace together and frankly, I was overwhelmed. My outfit was always press ready so I was sure that my fashion had scored me an extra point with the press. Now, every move I made would be picked and torn apart. I had to be perfect.
"Now, everything you do reflects on this family. The way you walk, talk, eat...breathe, reflects on them. It's a lot of pressure, but you already know that." I was currently talking with one of Arthur's cousins, Zara. She was lovely.
"Well, I hope that I keep up with everything."
"You have to. Or you'll get kicked out. A lot of people want to be you Victoria. Don't give them that chance."
In all honesty, I knew that things would change a lot for me. Weeks flew by and before I knew it, I had the engagement interview. Arthur and I chose Henry Brown for the interview. We knew Henry and we were comfortable with him. Arthur and I had to make some appearances together before the interview, and honestly, things were getting real for me.
When the day of the interview came, I was set and ready to go. My outfit for the interview had been picked out and I was so sure that the media would love it.
We had to sit for the interview before taking the pictures that will be officially released to the media. Arthur and I were talking before the interview started, and I was mire happy, than nervous.
"Are you sure you want to go on with this?" He asked me while a minute to us going on air,
"Arthur..."
"I'm sure. I just don't want you to be thrown into all this."
"I'm sure." He held my hand and that was how the interview went live.
"Your highness, prince Arthur of England, and your highness, princess Victoria of Denmark, it's my pleasure to be here today. Let's start with the obvious; Arthur where did you propose, when and how? And Victoria, what was your response?"
"Wow. Well, Victoria had just met my parents. We had dinner together and after dinner, we were taking a walk along the rose garden and I just felt it. It was a feeling that I couldn't fight. I had the ring in my pocket because I had just picked it out that day, I didn't plan on proposing that day at all." We all gave a light laugh.
"Ok. Now, Victoria, at the time of the proposal, you had been dating Arthur for roughly a few months. What were the qualities in him that influenced your decision?"
"Arthur is one of the most caring people I know. You know, I had been working with him on some projects and to genuinely see that passion to help others... it's quite rare. He manages to make even the most sombre situations easier to deal with. I saw his happiness, charisma, diligence, sense of duty and mainly, his humility."
"Victoria, did you see it coming?"
"I definitely didn't." I said laughing lightly. "I don't think he even saw it coming."
"For me, it was more or less an impulse." Arthur said laughing.
"Arthur, did you at any point imagine the possibility of her saying no?"
"Oh, I did. A lot." He turned to me and gave a light laugh. "At that point, we had just been together for a few months and I didn't want her to feel like I was rushing her or anything. But I was very scared of her saying no."
"Now, let's talk about the ring. This is a family ring?"
"Yes. It belonged to my great-grandmother. My grandmother felt like it was only right to give it to Victoria."
"Let's take a look at it." I placed my hand on my lap and the camera zoomed in. "What kind of ring is it? Are you a ring expert?" We all laughed.
"I'm not. I just know that it's a yellow diamond with tons of white diamonds around it."
"With that ring Victoria, you're now the envy of many. Are you worried about losing the ring?"
"I am." I said laughing. "I'm always checking my finger to be sure that it's still there. I just hope that I can look after it."
"I hope so too. But I must say, you both look incredibly happy and relaxed."
"We are." Arthur said as he tightened his grip around my hand. "We're really excited. You know, for two or three weeks after the engagement, we really couldn't tell anyone. So it feels really good to be able to shout it out loud."
"So did you talk to Victoria's father before or after the proposal?"
"Well, I thought about asking Prince Christian first, but then I figured that he might say no. I thought that if I should ask Victoria first, and she should say yes, then his hands would be tied."
"What were your families reactions to the news of your engagement?"
"My family was thrilled. My parents had met Victoria, they loved her and my father is still her biggest fan. So just having my parents support made it better for us. But generally, my family was thrilled."
"Victoria?"
"Shocked. My family was shocked. I think they didn't expect us to move so fast, but then they saw how genuinely happy we were. My grandmother, the Queen, was particularly joyous. She loves Arthur like a son now. I think he has stolen my grandmother from me." We laughed broadly. The interview was going pretty well, it really was.
"Family is something that means a lot to both of you, do you plan on staring your own family soon?" The one topic we haven't covered.
"Definitely. We don't know about soon, but in the future, definitely." Arthur saved us both with that answer, cause I was blank.
"Ok. Let's take a walk down memory lane. How did you both meet? And what was your impression of each other?"
"Well, that's a complicated one. We believe that we first met at a friend's party, but we recently found out that we met when we were kids while Arthur was on a trip to Denmark with his parents."
"If you ask me, I met Victoria in the craziest way." He gave me a light smile and continued. "I was at a friend's party and apparently, she was his neighbour. She came in to make a noise complaint and I just couldn't comprehend how beautiful she was."
"A noise complaint?" Henry asked with a smile.
"Yes. I had just moved back to England, and I was really trying to rest." I said with a light laugh. "But, in all honesty, I'm glad that I went over there to make that complaint. If I hadn't, I would've probably never met Arthur."