Third In Line

Chapter One - A New Princess

"Stop fidgeting" Kate said as she fussed with her daughter's hair.

"I'm not," Ellie groaned. She began to pick at her nails, which were freshly coated in vibrant red polish.

"Don't pick your nails, I worked hard on those" Kate said with a hint of irritation in her voice.

"I wasn't" Ellie moaned. She stared into the three-way mirror sitting on her vanity table, and looked at what she saw. Sitting in the middle was a small eleven-year-old girl with light brown hair, she was wearing a white bathrobe and wasn't looking at all happy. Her mother was standing above her, wearing another white bathrobe just like Ellie. She was holding separate strands of Ellie's hair between her delicate fingers, focusing all her power on styling her daughter's often untamed locks.

Ellie felt an urge to turn her head and purposely ruin her mother's work, if only just to irritate her more. The two of them had a playful and loving mother daughter relationship, so she knew she'd be forgiven for a tiny turn of the head, but looking into her mother's determined eyes in the mirror, she realised she better not.

Instead, she began tapping her manicured nails against the hard surface of her vanity. Ellie just couldn't help herself, this was how she was when her parents made her do things, and she just had to get back at them. She knew there wasn't really an alternative, and that this was her life now, but she still wanted to fight it.

She wanted to go back to being six years old and just having fun, not having responsibilities or a care in the world. It was a time where she hardly knew anything about who she was, and hardly cared when her family tried to tell her.

"Eleanor...." Kate warned.

"What?" Ellie looked up innocently at her mother in the mirror.

Kate gave her daughter a tiny smirk and quickly returned her focus to her hair. Ellie could tell that her mother knew what she was annoyed about, since they'd argued about it many times before.

The truth was, Ellie wasn't just a normal British girl, going to school and meeting friends, worrying about exams, which boys liked her and all that.

Ellie was actually Her Royal Highness Princess Eleanor of Cambridge, daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and third in line to succeed to the throne of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth Realms.

She herself preferred her nickname Ellie.

Ellie never really understood everything until she was around eight or nine years old, and ever since then she'd felt a mix of dread, terror and excitement about eventually becoming Queen. Her parents had two daughters, and she was the firstborn. Even if she had a brother, she'd still be Queen in the end. Not a day went by where she didn't wish she could switch places with her sister, and not have the crown constantly looming over her head. Instead all the pressure was on her to be proper and ladylike, intellectual and inspiring, a figure that the nation could look to for leadership.

"It's not fair," she mumbled. "Why do I have to go?"

Kate didn't seem surprised, as if she'd heard complaints like that many times in the past.

"You know why sweetheart," she said softly.

"Because it's expected of me," Ellie droned.

"I don't like it anymore than you do Ellie, but its tradition for the whole family to be there" Kate patted her daughter's shoulder just as she finished fiddling with her hair.

"I know Mum, and I feel bad about not wanting to go...." She trailed off.

"And it's not like you don't enjoy saying hello to all of the people in the crowd..." Kate reminded her.

"Yes!" Ellie rushed in. "But the cameras, and the media... and what's expected of me...Sometimes I just want to run up to those cameras and tell them to piss off!"

Her mother started snorting with laughter behind her.

"That's not something you'd hear a future Queen say," said a deep, husky voice from some other corner of the room.

Ellie turned around in her chair, her mother was still recovering from her laughter but a tall, well-built and handsome man was standing in the doorway grinning at her, looking magnificent in his blue RAF uniform.

"Dad!" Ellie gave him her shining smile. "Hello pumpkin" Will said, returning her smile as he walked across her room to join them. He sat on his knees in front of Ellie and placed his large hands on top of hers, she could feel her father's love moving from his hands to hers. One calming touch from him always made Ellie feel safe and protected, and everything bad seemed to float away.

"Don't think about the cameras," Will said, looking so deep into her eyes that she had to turn her head away. Will followed her and caught her gaze once again in the mirror.

"Just smile and be yourself," he said softly, smiling at her affectionately in the mirror.

Kate moved behind them and placed her chin on Ellie's shoulder, whilst wrapping her arms around her daughter in a tight embrace. "Like you always do," she said before giving Ellie a sloppy kiss on the cheek.

Ellie cringed, but a smile was slowly forming on her lips.

"We'll give them something beautiful to film" Kate smirked proudly at Ellie in the mirror.

"Yes" Will said, admiring himself in the mirror "They can film you too pumpkin" he chuckled.

Ellie grabbed a large brush from one of the many on her vanity and lightly dusted her Dad's nose. "Get lost Dad" she grinned at him, whilst her mother gave him a little shove too.

No matter what, her parents always found a way to brighten her spirits.