Original Royalty

Prologue

"Whoever said they wanted to be royalty didn't know the half of it." - The children of Kings and Queens

Thirty-two years ago the world bore witness to one of the largest, grandest weddings ever! The royal wedding of Crown Prince Mikael of Norway and Princess Esther of Sweden. Although the two were friends beforehand it was an arranged marriage aimed at strengthening the ties between the 2 Scandinavian countries and restoring the traditional family image. Among those in attendance were the Crown Prince of Italy, Giuseppe Salvatore, and the Crown Princess of Bulgaria, Maria Ivanova, Mikael and Esther's close personal friends respectively. Also, in attendance was the current King and Queen of Norway Harald and Sonja.

Two years later the world and media went wild again for the birth of the first child of that picture perfect marriage. A new Crown Princess was born - in half a dozen decades Norway would have a queen again - Freya - when she was born Mikael fell completely in love. Previously, he hadn't been convinced on the idea of children despite knowing it was his duty to continue the royal bloodline. The birth of Freya also brought Mikael and Esther closer together as they tried to have a real relationship.

Over the course of the next four years Mikael and Esther had 2 more children, Finn and Elijah, in between Mikael's mandatory military service.

Unfortunately, just before Elijah's birth and whilst Mikael was away on a tour King Harald suddenly took unwell and died. And, two weeks later Sonja died from the grief and shock of her husband dying.

Ever since he was crowned King, Mikael became colder and harsher and only really spent time with Freya as he began preparing her for royal life at the tender age of 4 years old.

Three years later, as the world fell out of love with the Mikaelson family and focussed on the birth of the new Italian Prince and Bulgarian wedding, Mikael's ego felt outdone and demanded they had another child. He was also jealous of Esther's new friendship with a rival of his Count Ansel.

Unfortunately, due to the stress of his job and his harsher personality this child did not bring him as much joy and pleasure in public as Freya, and even Finn and Elijah did to an extent. Mikael only got to show his affection for Niklaus in complete privacy.

Six years later, as things had calmed down and he finally felt like he had gotten the hang of being King after his father had made it look so easy, Mikael said to Esther "Let's have one more. I feel like I missed so much with the boys."

She agreed and so 12 weeks later they found themselves back at the hospital: "Will you excuse me for one moment." The young doctor said getting up and leaving quickly.
"Mikael, I think something's wrong." Esther said worriedly as she began to tear up.
"I'm sure it's fine dear, nothing's ever been wrong before."

A few moments later the young doctor returned with an older woman "Hello your majesties, I'm Dr. Addison Shepard, I'm the head of the department here, I've just been asked to double check something on the ultrasound."
"Is there something wrong with my baby?" Esther asked holding Mikael's hand tightly.
"No, not as long as you don't mind having 2." Dr. Shepard said.
"Two!?" Mikael and Esther exclaimed.
"Yes, look here. They have separate placentas so they won't be identical. And we'll see what their genders are at the 20 week scan."

At the 20 week scan Dr. Shepard asked the King and Queen what they were hoping for.
"I don't care as long as they're healthy." Esther replied whilst Mikael looked deep in thought. He only really knew what it was like to take care of Freya - so that made him want a girl again - but on the other hand he wanted to correct his mistakes with his sons.
"Baby A is a boy... and baby B is a girl."
"One of each, perfect." Mikael commented as he stared at the screen.

Four months later the family and the rest of the world fell in love with and were fascinated by the new baby Prince and Princess, Kol and Rebekah. At first they were more similar in appearance but Kol's hair and eyes soon darkened down to resemble his mother's side of the family however, Rebekah remained an exact replica of her father with bright blonde hair and blue eyes. The twins also stole the spotlight from Stefan Salvatore, the new Italian Prince, who was born a few months before them; and the 1 year old Bulgarian triplets Tatia, Katerina and Elena.

Despite the 3 families competing with each other for the good of their respective countries and more material things like media representation, the children of the former friends and now business acquaintances became quite close; even if they didn't like each other all the time they were the only ones who truly understood what it was like to be the sons and daughters of Kings and Queens.