A Royal Accident (A British Royal Family Fanfiction)

Peaceful Endings

Alice

"You haven't seen this yet, have you?" my father asked as I walked into the living room one evening. I shook my head. It was Harry and Meghan. On television. Doing an interview with Oprah. I sat down on the sofa beside my mother and Otto lay beside me, while Orla lay on the floor by the fire. My uncle, James, had gifted me one of his cocker spaniel puppies, for my 18th birthday and I had decided to name him Otto. Otto's sister was Orla, who he had given to my parents. Our family dog Lupo had died at the end of last year.

"Why would they do this?" I asked, as my mother put her arm around me and pulled me into her. 

"I don't know Alice, I just hope Granny and Grandpa don't have to watch this." Pa said, from the other side of the room. It was horrible at times feeling as if I had sit through watching my uncle completely disregard the feelings of my family. I tucked my head into Mummy's shoulders, as if to block the whole thing out, but deep down I knew that I couldn't. This would be talked about for weeks and weeks when I went back to school and I would never hear the end of it. I'd have to face all the questions, about whether certain things were true and what my parents said about them. My true friends never asked, and while the programme was on, a few of them messaged to check I was alright, so did Freddie as well. He was at an England Rugby Under 18s training camp for the weekend, but I knew he would be here for me if he could. Mummy, Pa and I watched the rest of the programme in silence. Until the very end, when Pa stood up from the sofa,

"Well, they've out the final nail in the coffin now, haven't they?" he said, before switching off the television and leaving the room.

The following morning, the three of us had to put smiles on our faces as we went down to the beach and filmed our family video for Mummy and Pa's ten year wedding anniversary. We took the dogs and put on our wellies before meeting the videographer, Will on the beach. The atmosphere in the car was quiet, as George, Charlotte and Louis probably all wondered what was the matter with us. But by the time we got to the beach, we'd turned on the royal part of us all and we all happy and smiley with Will.

"Alice, I need to talk to you." My mother said, as she walked into my bedroom one Sunday morning. It was a week after Easter and I was due to go back to school this week after the Easter holidays. I was sat on my bedroom floor, with Otto beside me. He lay at beside my leg as I folded my clothes into my suitcase.

"About what?" I asked my mother as I looked up at her. Her face was white, as if she'd seen a ghost and instantly I knew that something was wrong. "What's happened?" I asked, and she sat down on the floor beside me and pulled me into her, before letting out a sob.

"It's Great Grandpa, Alice." she said. That was all she needed to say. I knew. I knew that he was gone. I tucked my head into Mummy's chest and sobbed into her jumper as we sat on the floor together. It wasn't until Charlotte scuttled into my bedroom a few minutes later, when Mummy and I both pulled away from each other, wiping our faces with our sleeves as we did.

"What's wrong Mummy?" she asked, sitting down on the other side of Mummy.

"I was just telling Alice some bad news Lottie." Mummy told her, putting her other arm around her, as my head still rested on Mummy's shoulder.

"What is it?" Charlotte asked.

"You know that Great Grandpa was very old." Mummy hesitated, "He's died Charlotte." Charlotte didn't say anything either, just let her head fall to Mummy's chest as I had done, and Mummy pulled her arms tighter around us both.