| HIDING FROM THE HEAVENS | GEORGE III | COMPLETED

10 | LOVE OR DUTY AND COMING HOME

"YOU'D THINK I'M sending them to the Tower of London." Antonia sighed. "I am asking them to marry so we have an heir."

Agatha looked at her friend. "That can be a difficult proposition, think of what happened to you when you first heard about marrying."

Antonia thought back to that moment where she shouted at her father and ran to her mothers grave. "But I grew to love my husband. They simply must find respectable wives and husbands that they can grow to love and have children with. It is a ritual as old as England itself. Everyone does it, eventually."

Brimsley walked into the room, announcing a guest as he had done countless times before. "Dowager Viscountess Violet Bridgerton, Your Majesty."

Antonia smiled at the woman as she bowed to her, like all the subjects have to do, even though the Queen was not a fan of it. "Do sit down and join us."

"Your Majesty." Violet smiled, taking the seat beside Agatha. "Thank you for the honour of the invitation."

Agatha gave Antonia a small smirk. "This is a surprise."

"I thought I'd call upon an expert." She smiled at Violet who looked shocked at her words.

"Ex-expert?"

Antonia nodded. "You have a great many children."

Violet slowly nodded. "Yes, I suppose I do."

"And I also have a great many children. You have had two weddings in two years. How do you do it?" Antonia leaned slightly closer to the woman.

"Uh...do-do what?"

"Get them to want to marry." The Queen was becoming desperate, when she married she did it for her father and for the hope that she was come to love the man she had married, which happened, but her own children were disregarding their parents.

Violet thought for a moment. "It helps if they are in love. Love solves a plethora of issues."

Antonia placed down her tea. "My boys are in love, with women who are not seen as respectable. Love has produced 50 illegitimate babies for the Crown, and our one legitimate heir has passed."

"Lady Danbury also has many children. Perhaps she can advise." Violet suggested.

Agatha looked at her. "My four children have done me the honour of moving many continents away. Besides, marriage is a duty, not a pleasure."

"But it can be such a pleasure."

"Or it can be a painful lifelong sentence."

"Marriage offers so much. Companionship. Tradition. Family. Warmth. And if they take the time to become close, well, a match does not have to start out as love. It can grow. Love can bloom from the thorniest of gardens, can it not?"

Antonia thought on Violets words, it was as if she was explaining her own marriage to George. She grew to love him, despite his flaws and their separation at the beginning of their marriage. So, perhaps it was time to do what her father did and find them respectable wives and husbands that they can grow to love. Of course, she would allow them to make the final decision and if they despised each other, she would not force them to marry.

"Brimsley, have the Lord Chamberlin draw up a list if eligible brides across Europe." Antonia spoke. "Thank you, Lady Bridgerton."

Violet was not quite sure what she was being thanked for but she nodded anyway. "Your welcome, Your Majesty."