It’s Crown princess Victoria’s name day today. It’s a national flag day and the Crown princess family greeted the public on the inner courtyard today at noon. Princess Estelle was there, even though it’s a Tuesday and she started school in August. It prompted me to write this.
Eggsy stood in the middle of the drawing room, his arms crossed and his jaw set. Tilde, sitting on the sofa, looked up at him with her ‘you don’t get it’-look that drew him crazy. Usually he just folded, throwing his hands in the air and giving up because he didn’t think the fight was worth taking.
“It’s a school day,” he said for the third time. It was his only argument, but he found it a good one.
Tilde retorted with her own only argument, “It’s my name day.”
“No. Uh-uh.” Eggsy shook his head. “This isn’t a photo op in our home or some press release. This is our daughter’s education and you can’t pull rank. I’m not taking her out of school to work a fucking rope line in the courtyard because it’s your name day.”
Tilde looked down for a moment. She took a deep breath before meeting his eyes again.
“It’s one day. She’s smart, she’ll catch up.”
“None of the other kids—“
“None of the other kids are going to be Queen of Sweden either!” Tilde yelled. “What do you think will prepare her more? Reading about Herr Punkt and Fru Frågetecken or going out there with us?”
Eggsy inhaled through his nose, his lips made into a thin line. He wanted to argue against it, but he couldn’t. Allowing this would go against everything he had promised himself when it came to raising their children, because this… this was not part of a normal childhood no matter how much he squinted.
Their daughter wasn’t a normal child, though. She had never had that opportunity, she’d been born a public figure. It pained him, it physically hurt that Tilde was right. Not being in school on Tuesday would be better for her future career.
“She’s six years old,” he said, quietly. “Six.”
“You didn’t have a problem with this last year.”
“She wasn’t in school last year.”
“It’s one day, she’ll manage.”
“Yeah, but she doesn’t need on-the-job-training just yet, does she?” He sighed. “Can’t we—can’t we give her the illusion that she has the choice you didn’t? Can’t we be those annoying parents who let their kids think they can be whatever they want?”
Eggsy rubbed his face and made a frustrated sound. “Fuck…”
“How important is this to you?” asked Tilde after a short silence.
“I don’t know, I just—I don’t want her to feel more ‘other’ than she already does.”
“Okay.” Tilde nodded again and got up. “Only ‘on-the-job-training’ on weekends for now.”
“What—? That—? Okay.” Eggsy blinked, slightly confused. “Did I just win that?”
Tilde smiled, she stepped up and wrapped her arms around his waist. “Or maybe Anne did.”
Eggsy grinned, though he already felt unsure about this decision. But he took comfort in the fact that most parents questioned every decision they made when it came to their children – no matter if they were destined to end up in the history books or not.
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