Kate
When I woke up the following morning, I could hear the faint noise of birds outside my window. But apart from that the room was silent. I rolled over, remembering William wasn't here and then rubbed my eyes before looking over to Alice's Moses basket, which lay empty. I rubbed my eyes again, and looked around the room. For a split second, I thought I'd fallen asleep feeding her last night and she'd rolled off the edge of the bed. But she wasn't even in my room. I threw the duvet off me and got out of bed, putting on my slippers and wrapping my dressing gown around me before leaving the room.
I was reassured as I went down the stairs and heard my mother chatting away to Alice in the kitchen. She had no idea about my slight panic when I walked in.
"Good morning Kit Kat, would you like a cup of tea?" my mother asked.
"Yes please." I replied, walking over to her to check Alice was alright.
"Don't worry, she's fine. I heard her stirring when I got up and I thought you'd appreciate the extra time in bed. She's been a dream, apart from the nappy but I made your father sort that one out." my mother said, as I lifted Alice out of her arms and held her against my chest.
"I'm a little out of practice on that front Kate." my father said from the kitchen table. He had his glasses on and was reading something in front of him.
"Are you alright?" My mother asked, as I looked down at Alice in my arms.
"Fine, yes, I just worried a little when I woke up and she wasn't there." I told her.
"Oh Kate, darling, you needn't stress, she's alright, and you've got an extra hours sleep in. You go and sit down darling, I'll bring you over a cup of tea and then I'll take your breakfast order." My mother said, placing her hand on my shoulder. I thanked her, before going to sit down at the kitchen table beside my father.
"I didn't know that Alice's birth certificate would say this." he said, pointing to the part which stated her name to be Her Royal Highness Princess Alice Elizabeth Diana Rosabel of Wales.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"I mean the title, I didn't know it would be part of her name." he said, leaning back in his chair and removing his glasses from his face.
"Yes, it's part of her name, regardless of who she becomes. She'll have that on her passport as well, same as William's." I told him.
"And they'll call her all of that when she goes to school?" he asked.
"No, I expect she'll just use Wales as her surname. That's what William is at uni. He just goes by William Wales, so I expect she'll be Alice Wales. But she'll have that title for the rest of her life." I told him, as my mother brought me a cup of tea to the table.
"Alice Wales, that's got a lovely ring to it, doesn't it?" she said, smiling.
"I thought so too, suits you doesn't it little Alice Wales?" I agreed, looking down at her, still sleeping in my arms.
"Right, who wants what for breakfast?" my mother asked, as the back door opened, and my brother walked in, bringing a cold air with him as he did.
"I'll take a bacon sandwich Mummy," he smiled, before looking at me. "Hello you." he smiled.
"Hello you." I replied. As he walked around, I stood up to hug him, careful of Alice, who lay sleeping between us. "I've missed you." I said quietly before pulling away.
"So this is little Alice Middleton?" he asked.
"Not Middleton, that's your job to produce the Middleton heirs." I joked.
"Not yet." my mother said as my father laughed.
"I'm kidding. No, this is little Alice Wales. Do you want a hold?" I asked him. He shook his head violently.
"I wouldn't. I need a shower. I smell." he said.
"You're not wrong there." My mother agreed. "Now, breakfast, shall I just do you all a bacon sandwich?" she asked. We all nodded, as James and I sat down at the table.
"You alright?" James asked, as my mother went to the other side of the kitchen.
"Yeah, I'm alright." I said.
"I knew you cared about her really." My father said, looking up from his collection of papers on the table in front of him. "You know Kate, when we told him last week, what had happened, he acted liked her couldn't care less, but I knew, as soon as you saw her, you'd show how much you were worried about her really."
"I did care, of course, I just didn't know what to say. I wasn't expecting you to tell me that my sister had just had a baby." James said.
"I don't think I would have believed this time three weeks ago either." I told him. "But there's nothing I can do to change it now. She's here to stay." My mother turned around from the kitchen and winked at me. I smiled, looking down at Alice and then looking back to her. What she had said last night was right. I couldn't change this, any of it, I just had to accept it, and do the very best I could to be the best mother to Alice that I could be.
Will
I got back to Catherine's parents house about mid-morning. Her parents were both in the kitchen, while she was sat in the living room with her brother and sister watching a Christmas movie. Alice was fast asleep in her Moses basket beside Catherine. She looked much happier than she had done over the past few weeks. I hoped that was because she was relaxed and settled and felt glad to be home, as opposed to being glad to have 24 hours away from me. I knew that the last few weeks had been hard, and I just hoped that I was helping Kate, instead of upsetting her. She seemed happy to see me, and I sat down with them and watched the rest of the film with them, before having lunch with them all.
After we'd all eaten and Kate had fed Alice, we got ready to go to the registry office, where we had to get a UK birth certificate for Alice, so that we could then apply for her passport. It felt weird, the first time we were going out, just the three of us. We didn't leave the house in Sydney. But Kate's parents had bought a pram for us to use and I had driven my car from London this morning, so the three of us, could just go out, on our own. Although, in reality we were never really on our own. I always had some sort of personal protection with me somewhere and while I had grown up with it, and was used to it, I think Kate struggled with it and still found the whole thing quite strange. Even after two years at university together, there was still always someone there and that would be the case for the rest of my life, and potentially for the rest of Alice's.
We drove to Newbury from Catherine's parents house and parked in the town, before walking over to the registry office. The lady who worked there was grumpy and grey looking and wasn't interested in us in the slightest. She raised lots of questions about why we had an Australian birth certificate for Alice and not a UK one, when we also didn't have a passport for her. I explained what had happened and how Kate never knew that she was pregnant, to which the lady tutted and rolled her eyes.
After we'd got the birth certificate, we went for coffee in a little bakery down the road, where Kate was able to feed Alice, before she fell asleep in the pram while we had a coffee and a piece of cake. We were almost finished, and getting ready to leave, when a waitress came over to take our plates.
"I'm really sorry to interrupt but I just wanted to say that I think it's really good what you two are doing, it's not all about being married anymore." she said quietly, placing her hand on Kate's arm. Kate smiled, nervously looking at me, as I saw the personal protection officer catch my eye from behind her.
"Thank you." I replied, graciously.
"And I also think she's beautiful, your baby. I really do." the lady said, before picking up the plates from the table and walking away. Kate looked at me confused once she'd walked away.
"Does stuff like that always happen?" she asked.
"Not always, some places I've been no one has had a clue, but sometimes everyone knows. You just never know, but it's nice, when they say kind things. I remember that happening lots after my mother died. Lots of people would come up and say how sorry they were for my loss and sometimes, depending on my mood, I appreciated it, sometimes not. It's weird, the whole world knowing your business, but my favourite people are the ones who look past it and see me for me, like you." I smiled at Kate, who smiled back.
"Granny wants us to get Alice christened." I said to Kate that evening, while we sat in bed together, while she finished feeding Alice.
"Ok, when?" Kate asked.
"I don't know yet. She says we need godparents for her first." I told her.
"I've never really thought about who I'd ask." Kate replied. "Have you?"
"A little, I guess. I'd like my cousin Peter to be her godfather and maybe Tiggy, you know mine and Harry's nanny, when we were little." I told her.
"I guess I'd ask Emilia, she is my best friend. And Sophie, she'd be a good godmother." Kate said. "I'd never really thought about what would happen to Alice if something were to happen to us."
"God parents in my family are less for that, more for guidance and support, because if something were to happen to both of us, then my Granny would have her, and if something happened to her, it would probably be my father." I explained.
"And my parents too, I would hope?" Kate questioned.
"Of course." I assured her.
"How many godparents does she need?" Kate asked, stroking Alice's soft blonde hair as she fed.
"I have six, but it's up to us. It's more about who we think we want to guide her and support her in her life." I told her.
"Well, if we have Peter, Tiggy, Emilia and Sophie, maybe one more man? Oh, but you have that lovely Aunt, or is she your aunt, you know Sarah, who we had coffee with in Edinburgh that time?" Kate asked me.
"Oh Sarah, she's my father's cousin. She's lovely. She would be perfect too. And then one more man, maybe Hugh. He is my best friend, we've known each other most of our lives." I told her.
"Well that's perfect then, Peter, Tiggy, Emilia, Sophie, Sarah and Hugh." Kate said before pausing, "Did your grandmother say anything else?" she asked. I could tell she was going somewhere with her question, and I understood her worry. Kate had literally just had a baby for other people in my family to turn around and say to her that she had to do X, Y and Z with her baby. That would be scary for anyone.
"She said we need to think about where we want Alice to go to school, so we can start getting her application in. I think she's being rather dramatic about the whole thing, but who am I to know, I've never done this before." Kate giggled. "And she said, if when we go back to Scotland we want someone to look after Alice, like a nanny, then Granny can get some numbers for agencies, but I said I'd have to talk to you before we made any decisions like that." I explained.
"I know that it's something we need to think about, but she's only just got here. I think we have some time before we need to get her name down to go to school. We don't even know where we'll be living?" Kate wondered.
"That's what I told her. I know she's trying to help but when she was telling me all of this stuff all I wanted to do was say that she was only a few weeks old, we were still getting used to her, let alone making big plans for her future." I said. Kate didn't reply and when I looked over at her, she was staring at Alice in her arms.
"Do you ever find yourself wondering what she'll do? The things she'll see? The places she'll go?" she said after a few moments of silence.
"All the time at the moment." I replied. "I want to see her ride horses and quad bikes up at Balmoral like I did as a child. And I want to see her play sports and make friends and have fun."
"It's so strange, isn't it? To wish for so much happiness for another person like this?" Kate said.