A Royal Marriage

Chapter Nineteen: Arriving in Estonia

Isla of Sussex

May 16th, 2014

I held onto Diana's hand as we stood in front of the plane door. I turned over to Harry and quickly fixed his medals and smiled.

Arriving in Estonia only moments ago and I could already hear the roar of the crowd waiting to greet us. Diana looked up at me and I smiled down at her for a moment before sighing.

"We do the walkabout for about an hour and then immediately we go to lay the wreath. Then we have the dinner with Toomas Hendrik Ilves." Harry said and I smiled as the door opened. We stepped out together like we have practiced this so many times.

I smiled to the crowd and waved to the crowd. Harry bent down and scooped Diana into his arms before we began making our way down the stairs.

Waiting for us was President Toomas Hendrik Ilves. Harry reached him first and shook his head as Toomas bowed his head to us.

"Your Highnesses. Welcome to Estonia! We are so happy you three are here even if it is for a short time." He said before he turned to me and shook my hand.

"We are very happy to be here as well. Maybe in the future, we could have a tour that could be longer than two days." I said and Toomas grinned at me.

"This bouquet here is for you Isla. And this little one is for this sweetheart right here." He said as he handed me a bouquet of blue and white cornflowers and Diana a mini one.

"Oh these are lovely thank you," I said and Toomas grinned.

"So, you two have your walkabout before laying the wreath down at Freedom Square." He said and I nodded as we began to follow him to the cars he had set up for us.

Harry and I waved goodbye to the crowd once last time before climbing in the truck. Waiting inside was Alice and I smiled at her as I hooked Diana up into her car seat and she reached out for her bunny.

"Señor conejito." (Mr. Bunny.) I said as I waved it to her earning her to grin before snuggling up to it. I brushed some of her hair back before turning to Alice.

"Just go straight to where we are staying. She should go down for a nap right away." I said and Alice nodded as she dug through the diaper bag.

"Of course, shall I feed her lunch?"

"Yes please," Harry said as he reached out and held my hand. It took twenty minutes to arrive at Freedom Square where a crowd was waiting for us. Harry climbed out of the truck first before turning around and offering me his hand.

"Mummy loves you," I whispered to Diana before I took Harry's hand and slid out of the truck. We waved to the crowd and I saw Sarah get out of the car behind us.

I broke apart from Harry and walked over to a little girl holding a sign saying 'You are my hero Duchess Isla!'

"Hello! How are you?" I asked earning her to grin at me and stare up at her mother. Her mother nodded her head and the little girl turned to me.

"Can I hug you?" She asked and I nodded as I held my arms open. The little girl threw herself into my arms and I hugged her smiling. When we pulled apart she took her sign from her mom to show me.

"I cut it out and glued it myself!" She said and I raised an eyebrow at her.

"Really? You did an amazing job! What is your name?"

"My name is Shay! Would you like to keep the sign?" She asked and I smiled as I stood up.

"Only if you want me to. I absolutely love it. Thank you, Shayla." I said as she handed it to me. I waved goodbye to her before walking down and shaking hands with a lot of people.

"Thank you so much for coming out here today. It's so nice to meet you all." I said as I gladly took all the flowers from them.

"Where is little Diana? We saw she arrived with you?" An older woman asked and I smiled softly at her.

"Diana is back at our rooms waiting for us. It is her nap time and she doesn't handle missing her nap time very well." I said earning the woman to chuckle.

"My little Joey used to be the same. I hope she enjoys this dolly." She said as she handed me a homemade dolly with a dress similar to the one she wore in Denmark.

"She will love it thank you!" I said before I saw Harry wave me over. I waved goodbye to the crowd one last time before walking over to Harry.

He held his hand out for me and I gladly took it grinning up at him. He bent down and pressed a kiss to my forehead earning to the crowd to go wild. I chuckled softly before handing all my gifts over to Sarah for her to put them in the car.

Waiting for us by Freedom Square was Toomas who smiled softly when he saw us. He stepped over to us and led us to the front.

He quickly introduced us to two senior members of the Estonia army who Harry knew and served with for those four months after we got married.

As we all lined up I stood behind Harry and bowed my head softly as the national anthem began to play.

Once the anthem was over our wreath was brought over to us and Harry and I both led it over to the steps. I bent down softly and placed the wreath down before following Harry's step and walked backward five steps.

I watched as Harry saluted and my hands went to my side as I looked straight ahead. A young man began playing the bulger with the last post.

Once he finished Harry saluted one last time before leading me to Toomas.

"You both did wonderfully. I hear you are going to be in Italy Sunday." He said as he led us to the car.

"Yes, we have the New Zealand Commemoration Service," I said with a smile. I had actually agreed to go with Harry to Italy and attend the service publicly before having two private engagements myself.

"Wonderful! I shall see you tonight for dinner." He said before we waved goodbye to the crowd one last time and climbed into the car.

Once we were safely in the car I took my hat off and fixed my loose bun.

"Where to now?" I asked as I leaned into the seat and stared at my husband.

"We have to actually go to the Veteran Hospital to meet with some retired members. But it only says I am coming so you don't have to go." He said but I shook my head.

"No, I'll go."