Adelaide had a purpose in life - to be a queen like her great-grandma Queen Elizabeth II. But more and more she realized that she would be a queen much different from any of the eight Queens who reigned over the British Isles.
* = very important cha...
Gran-gran had this big red box on her table. Whenever Delly wanted to play with gran-gran when she was working, she would shut the box first before talking to Delly.
Delly wondered what was in such a special box.
"Gran-gran!"
"Yes, Lissybette?"
"What's inside this box?"
The Queen explained to her that there were important documents that have been put in there every morning by her secretaries. She reads them every day.
"Can I see?"
"These are documents for me darling."
"Fine," Delly pouts, "What is it about?"
"Do you have any friends at school? Do you know where they came from?"
Delly was confused, she didn't know what her friends had to do with this red box, maybe gran-gran got them inside it? "I know Brandon, Bella, Theo, and Brian. Brandon is black, Bella looks Asian... and Theo and Brian are just like us."
"You are best friends?"
"Yes!"
"Yet the five of you have absolutely different backgrounds. Some of them are immigrants to our country, some came here long ago."
"But we are here always right?"
"We came here long ago too. William the -"
"William the Conquerer."
"Yes, he came here more than 1000 years ago. Lissybette, you have 8 great-grandparents, like gran-gran and gramps; 4 grand-parents like grandpa Charles, and parents. How many people is that?"
"I don't know gran-gran :( "
"What's 8+4+2?"
"...15?...no, it's 14 right?"
"You are right. And gran-gran has grandparents and great-grandparents too. All of those people, our ancestors, had to overcome such difficulties for either of us to even exist in this world. And God too, knows us even before we are born. All of your friends, Theo, Bella, Brandon, and what was the other one, Bryce? Brian alright, Brian. They all had ancestors, who had to also overcome immense struggle for each of them to be who they are today."
Delly nodded, "Okay."
"So, Catherine told me one of your friends is from Cuba?"
"Bella!"
"Oh yes, right, the little girl. I am presuming she moved here because of political reasons?"
"I dunno¯\_(ツ)_/¯"
At about the same time, Philip walked into the room, "good lord, here you are! I thought you were chasing after Lissybette chasing after the corgis."
The Queen rolled her eyes in her mind, but smiled, "So Philip, as our great-granddaughter doesn't come over quite often, why don't YOU spend some time with her? Do you know about Lissybette's best friend Bella? She's Cuban."
"Well," Philip didn't know, but he had to make up something on the spot because he knew he'd make Delly very sad if he didn't know about her friend, "I mean, Castro? Prosecution? Hardworking middle class? Probably a lawyer family or doctor family."
"Adelaide, look, he doesn't know a thing," the queen teased.
Delly:🤭y'all 80+ y/o ppl flirt while imma just leave lol
But she actually said, "I dunno, gramps, but Bella said her parents are both doctors."
"Aha! I was right!"
"So, Lissybette, you heard what gramps said? Bella's family was under the prosecution of Castro."
"Who's that!"
"He is a communist!" Philip said.
"Yes, as if Lissybette knows what that is. So, Adelaide, Cuba, where Bella's family came from, is a small island next to the US. And they were very poor. Castro, the guy gramps just mentioned, came in the 1950s and promised the citizens food, land, and peace."
"That's goood!"
"Obviously, had it been true. But there was a catch darling, the people had to offer him all of their land, money, and guns. The people of Cuba lost power."
"Why would they do that?"
"'Cause they were stupid! Good lord, who on earth would give up money for this communist sh*t, we ——"
"Philip! Language!"
The prince turned around to look at Delly and stuck out his tongue while making a funny face.
The Queen caught them, "Soooo! As I was saying——*coughs—— Castro took over. Lissybette I remember you asked about this box. On September 23rd, 1988, that morning I was at Buckingham Palace, and in this red box that day, lay reports about the attack on Hyde Park. It was planned for Castro to execute some Cuban fugitives. No one was hurt, but it left a mark on my heart. Delly, this box is history. The papers inside it will supply you with the know-how of the world. But it is not open to everyone. Just the monarch. I believe, no, none of our family members fought in Vietnam, but I'm sure some grandparents of your friends' must have. I have access to classified documents about our actions in real-time through the 70s. No one else does."
"You can't even tell gramps?"
"Yes darling, that's a part of duty."
Duty. The word, again. She heard it too many times from too many people. Why does she have to do this? She can't even talk about what she read with her family, what kind of world is she in? And most of all, who signed her up for this? She definitely didn't.
_
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