A Prince Harry Fanfiction. Princess Arabella is the Crown Princess of the Netherlands and loved by the whole world. She's funny, smart and beautiful. Not only that, but she is the sweetheart of Europe, close to most if not all the monarchies in the world. What happens when Prince Harry and Princess Arabella meet. What happens if they were together for three years. Harry and Arabella love each other, and after three years of courtship, Harry asked Arabella to marry him. Follow Harry and Arabella as they navigate through the year with drama, attempt assassinations and love. Will the spare make it as the heir? Masterlist
The official Palace Office of HRH The Princess of Orange has released 3 never-before-seen photographs of The Princess of Orange wearing different tiaras. Kensington Palace has also released two new photographs of Prince Harry together with Princess Arabella.
@DutchRoyalFamily: Her Royal Highness The Princess of Orange, Princess Arabella of The Netherlands during a photo-shoot on her 21st birthday wearing the Stuart Tiara at Huis ten Bosch Palace, The Hague.
@DutchRoyalFamily: Her Royal Highness The Princess of Orange, Princess Arabella of The Netherlands wearing The Ruby Peacock Tiara during a State Banquet held at The Royal Palace of Amsterdam.
@DutchRoyalFamily: Her Royal Highness The Princess of Orange, Princess Arabella of The Netherlands wearing the Dutch Laurel Wreath Tiara during a photo-shoot at Huis ten Bosch Palace for her 30th Birthday. The Dutch Laurel Wreath was last seen in public in 2001.
@kensingtonroyal: TRH The Princess of Orange, Princess Arabella of The Netherlands and Prince Henry of Wales during The Princess of Orange’s 30th Birthday Dinner. HRH The Princess of Orange is wearing The Dutch Sapphire Parure Tiara for the dinner. Previously, the Tiara was worn by Queen Maxima during King Willem-Alexander’s coronation in 2013.
@kensingtonroyal: TRH The Princess of Orange, Princess Arabella of The Netherlands and Prince Henry of Wales during their engagement interview earlier this year. The newly engaged couple spoke candidly regarding their relationship and public life. Full engagement interview in the link below.
This is set in 2013, a few months before Queen Beatrix abdicated the throne and Willem-Alexander ascended. No one knows of the plans and Arabella was super busy getting her office ready for the transition to Princess of Orange.
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Not everyone knows about the transition. Both Arabella and her office are under strict watch to not tell anyone, and this includes her boyfriend, Prince Harry of Wales.
This is creating a major rift between the two lovebirds. With Arabella feeling guilty for not being able to tell anything to him and to Harry feeling as though Arabella was keeping secrets and not trusting him enough.
Harry: Bel, i know you're super busy and everything, but can they really not spare you for lunch?
Arabella: Harry, it's not that easy. The office is in shambles and i need to be there to make sure that everything is running smoothly.
Harry: And what is this 'everything'? You've been stressed out since your birthday and i know you haven't been eating. So tell me, Arabella. What's going on?
Arabella: I can't tell you why Harry.
Harry: Why not? Don't you trust me?
Arabella: Of course i trust you. it's not the matter of trusting you.
Harry: Than what is it?
Arabella: i just can't...
Harry: Well. it's settled then. You cant trust me. I know that you're a royal. Well guess what Bel, i'm one too. i know what you're going through. the press, the pressure from the government. everything. So why cant you tell me about this? we tell each other everything.
Arabella: No. You dont understand Harry. You dont understand what's going on right now. and you never will. i'm going to be Queen one day, whether you like it or not. So there will be times where i am not at liberty to tell you what's happening. I'm sorry.
Harry: well i'm sorry too.
with that, Henry Charles Albert David walked out of Arabella's Suite and went to the nearest pub. Later that night, when both parties have calmed down, Harry went back to Arabella's suite, and they both got over their fight.
It goes on like that. Harry and Arabella. Whether they have a big fight or a small one, they would always come back to each other because in their hearts, they knew that they were it for each toher. they cant find anyone else who is readily acceptable of who they are and what they will become in the future.
THE NETHERLANDS CROWN PRINCESS WOOS BRITISH PEOPLE
Her Royal Highness The Princess of Orange Princess Arabella just wrapped up her State visit around the United Kingdom. The Princess spent 3 days in London before heading over to Ireland with her fiancé, His Royal Highness Prince Harry on the account of Her Majesty The Queen and His Majesty King Willem-Alexander. There she spent another 3 days right after St. Patrick's Day.
As a tribute to St. Patrick's Day, The Princess wore hints of green throughout all her outfits in Ireland. As seen below, she coordinated her styles using Ireland's colours as well as the nature of where she's visiting. She kept a few of her styles simple and affordable as well as fashionable.
(Princess Arabella’s outfit when she first arrived in the UK, as well as for the horse guards parade)
Her first day of the Netherlands-UK state visit, she was accompanied by her Fiancé as well as TRH The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. During the state dinner, the Queen made a few hints of her approval regarding the Princess joining the ranks of The British Royal Family.
(TRH Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at London City Airport while waiting for HRH Princess of Orange to arrive)
(HRH Prince Harry waiting for his Fiancé, HRH Princess of Orange to arrive at London City Airport)
(Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth arriving at Horse Guards Parade ahead of Inspecting of the Guards with HRH Princess of Orange)
This will be the first time a senior working royal would be married to another royal family that is very high in their own title. With the Late Princess Diana being someone from an aristocratic family and Kate Middleton someone from a middle-upper class family, it will be a public culture shock to see the British prince together with someone from a higher title than him.
In the past, when someone in The Firm marries someone of a lower class or a 'commoner' per se, they would their husband's highest title and name. For example, when Marie Christine married Prince Michael of Kent, she took his highest title and rank becoming Princess Michael of Kent. When Kate Middleton married Prince William, she became Princess William of Wales, if that was his highest rank and title. However, upon their marriage, the Queen bestowed upon Prince William the Dukedom of Cambridge, making the Duke of Cambridge his highest title and rank, therefore, she became, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge.
As stated above, once Prince Harry marries Princess Arabella, Prince Harry will take on Princess Arabella's highest title, which is The Princess of Orange making him The Prince of Orange, signaling himself to be a crown prince of the Netherlands. However, Prince Harry will keep his status as a British Prince, thus he still keeps his own titles and name as well as line of succession.
During the most anticipated state visit of the century, the British people wanted to see how Prince Harry would behave around his fiancé as well as how they would behave in public. Would there be stiff interaction between each other? Would they show a lot of affection towards each other?
Well the public was very much surprised when they kept their interactions between each other very professional with minimal public display of affections between the couple. It was through loving gazes between prince Harry and his princess that we are able to tell they care deeply for each other.
Seen below are what the princess wore during her state visit as well as when our favourite british royals came out to accompany the Princess during public engagements.
(HRH Princess of Orange *dress* during the State Banquet held at Buckingham Palace)
(The Blue Crystal Tiara, seen for the very first time. It was an engagement present from Their Majesties King Willem-Alexander and Queen Elizabeth II to HRH Princess of Orange during the announcement of her engagement with HRH Prince Harry)
(TRH The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge as well as Prince Harry during the state banquet held at Buckingham Palace)
(HRH Princess of Orange’s outfit during her visit to Westminster Abbey on her second day of her UK State visit)
(HRH Prince Harry arriving at Westminster Abbey while he accompany’s his fiancé)
(TRH The Duke of Edinburg and the Prince of Wales during a visit to the Imperial War Museum with HRH The Princess of Orange)
Will we see more of Princess Arabella? And will the British People continue to fall in love with the engaged couple? Stay tuned to find out more about our latest favourite Royal couple!
Huis ten Bosch Palace, The Hague, The Kingdom of Netherlands
Arabella walked in a fast pace towards the dining room where her parents and sisters are waiting. Today, Arabella is leaving for London to kick start her UK and Ireland state visit. Even though the state visit is officially only 3 days long in each country respectively, Arabella will stay on in London for the week until Easter as right after that Harry will be leaving for his month long military attachment in Australia.
That Monday, as Harry leaves for Australia, Arabella is set to head back to the Netherlands and start her very busy month ahead of her. Jane had already briefed her on Arabella's agenda for April.
On the 6th of April, right after Easter Sunday, Arabella has to officiate a Greenhouse Opening. She will be bringing along her sisters for this particular engagement as it was a good exposure to the press and a good way for her three sisters to learn and experience something new.
The next day, which is the 7th of April, Arabella will be attending the Rotterdam Marathon as it is the biggest running event in Holland. She will also hand out the medals to the runners at the finish line. Especially the first hundred.
On the 8th of April, Arabella will be opening the National Museum week at Groningen Museum. She will travel by helicopter which is a 45 minute ride. Arabella always loved art and she also loved history so it is no wonder for her to open up museum week, as she had done so the past twelve years since she turned 18. She always alternate between which museums to start it off and there's always new artworks or paintings being put in the museum every year.
On the 10th of April, Arabella will view the Tulip festival around Amsterdam. She will look at the different creations of Tulips that people have done. It brings great creativity and makes Arabella proud of how her country looks like in the spring.
Arabella will have three days off, that means without engagements, Arabella still have meetings and paperwork to do and on the 13th of April, Arabella will be attending the Flower Parade at Haarlem. She will judge the floats and afterwards give the winner of the Parade and competition their rewards.
On the 13th of April, Arabella will be judging the Flower Parade and give the first, second and third place trophies to the winners. The rest of the week, she doesn’t have any public engagements but that doesn’t mean that Arabella's not working. In fact, during that seven days, Arabella will be visiting 5 different charities that she's a patron of as well as having a lot of meetings with her wedding dress designer and wedding planner.
On the 21st of April, Arabella will be handing out the medals for those who participate in the Amstel Gold Race and on the 23rd, Arabella will fly to London since she will attend the Anzac Day service with her godmother and fiancé's family on the 25th. The next day, she will meet Harry for the London Marathon and the following day, both Harry and Arabella will be heading back to the Netherlands to celebrate Koningsdag or also known as Kings day.
Kings day is a national holiday for the Kingdom of Netherlands as it is their monarch's day of birth. That day for Arabella will be filled with lunch and many activities to honour her father.
On the 29th of April, Arabella will be taking Harry to Keukenhof for the very first time, which she is excited for.
Arabella straightened up her knitted dress and her hair before nodding to the footman at the door. At that nod, the footman opened the doors to the dining room and announced her presence to her parents and sisters.
"Her Royal Highness, The Princess of Orange, Your Majesties." With that, Arabella entered the room and the footman closed the doors leaving the family of six alone.
Alexander and Maxima stood up upon their eldest daughter's entrance to the room while Amalia, Alexia and Ariane stayed in their seats. Arabella went up to her parents and gave a deep curtsy before kissing their cheeks and greet them.
"Afternoon, I hope I'm not too late." Arabella said as she took a seat on the right of her father. Alexander sits at the head of the table with Maxima on his left and Arabella on his right. Next to Arabella is Amalia and next to Maxima is Ariane with Alexia next to her. Everyone have their own designated seats with meanings behind them. Under protocol, Alexander sits at the head of the table since he is King. Arabella on his right signifies that she's his right hand, the heir to the throne. After Arabella is Amalia, the second in line to the throne. On Alexander's left is Maxima, his wife and Queen. Ariane being the youngest daughter, sits next to her mother with Alexia next to her.
Once Arabella marries Harry, during these dinners or luncheons, Harry will sit in the middle of Arabella and Amalia. However, once Arabella has a child of her own, Arabella will sit opposite of her father with her first child on her right and Harry on her left. But that wont be happening for a few years at least.
"Are you ready for the state visit?" Alexander asked his daughter as he cut up some salmon and put it in his mouth.
"I'm as ready as I always am for any state visit. It's even more nerve-wrecking since it's my future in-laws." Arabella told her father as she cut some salmon and eat herself.
"Well, planning this state visit we knew you were going to your then-boyfriend's territory anyways." Maxima piped up. "Take this as a step forward to getting to know the British people. If the people love you, when the time comes for the ceremony, there will be people out there who will try very hard to knock you down and the comparisons will begin. These people can defend you when you cannot do them yourself."
"We have very strict press rules regarding the royal family here in the Netherlands. I made sure of that myself. But over there, it's free press. They can say whatever they want to. I just want you to make sure this is what you want. It's not too late to back out now you know. Just giving you the option." Alexander finished off.
"No, I want to do this pa. I've finally found someone who understands the importance of duty over everything else, and he loves me the way I am. I'm not letting him go that easily." Arabella said. "Thank you for the choice and concern though but I'm doing this. I'm marrying Harry."
With that, the rest of the dinner went on fine. Arabella said goodbye to her family and they in return, wished her safe travels and good luck.
Arabella was then driven to the airport using her official car for overseas. It's a black SUV that have the plate number CPAN and Arabella's coat of arms in front of the car. The car usually travels with her for state visits with the neighboring or close countries to the Netherlands. However, if Arabella was to do a state visit that's is more than 6 hours or so, she would be provided a car from the country she is visiting.
Arabella is using her own plane to fly to the UK. As the crown princess of the Netherlands and the heir to the throne, for official visits such as state visits and such that represents the country, Arabella gets her very own big plane that can fit up to 100 people. At the back of the plane, there is a big ramp and a big space to store the state car that she will be using. Her staff and members of the designated press will be provided cars and places to stay during the visit in that particular country.
All of Arabella's staff members are already inside the plane and ready to leave along with a few members of press that is tagging along. Of course, in the UK, there will already be a lot of press but those that represents the Netherlands are flying together with her.
The pilot, co-pilot and flight attendants are waiting in front of the plane as usual waiting to greet her into the plane. As Arabella got out of the car, she can hear the press and their cameras clicking at a safe distance. At the bottom of the stairs that lead up to the Arabella turned around to face the press and waved for a while before turning back to face the stairs and begin her wait up. Once she's at the top of the stairs, she turned around again, face the small crowd and waved before heading inside the plane and greet the staff of the plane.
The journey to London is about an hour long from the Hague and Arabella flight took off at 1pm that afternoon. When the plane came to a stop in London City Airport, it was around 2 in the afternoon. It takes about half an hour for everyone inside the plane to get off. First to leave the plane was members of the press. There's a certain area a few meters from the plane where other press members and their cameras are waiting but there is a certain part there designated for the Dutch press. Seeing as it is their princess, they get good seats and views to take pictures. As Arabella's staff members exit the plane one by one, the staff on the ground rolled out a red carpet efficiently and quickly as a few seconds after they did, William, Kate and Harry stepped out of their car and into the tarmac. William, Kate and Harry rode to London City Airport in one car as when Arabella's are unloaded and ready to use, Harry will be riding with her to Horse Guards.
Once Will, Kate and Harry, in that order, was ready at the bottom of the stairs of the plane, Arabella at that moment stepped into view and stepped out of the plane and onto the top of the stairs.
Knowing that this was photographed, Arabella flashed a quick smile, smoothing down her coat as it was 9 degrees out, and began her journey down the stairs. She made sure to hold the railings tightly as it was a bit slippery and Arabella doesn’t want to fall and die.
Once she reach the bottom of the stairs, she raised her arms and waved at the press before walking towards her future brother in-law. With cameras clicking very loudly, she let out a small laugh as Will bowed his head slightly at her. With a smile he greeted her.
"Your Royal Highness." William smiled as he greeted Arabella with kisses on the cheeks. Knowing that the paparazzi and press can hear everything, he made sure to be formal.
"Prince William." Arabella replied as she returned the kisses as well. She then moved down the line to Kate and smiled at her.
"Your Royal Highness." Kate dipped into a small curtsy before kissing Arabella's cheeks.
"Duchess." Arabella let out a small smile returning the kisses before leaning away. Still holding on to Kate though, Arabella looked down and said, "Not much longer now." Which Kate then replied, "Two more months to go."
With a smile, Arabella stepped back and moved down the line to the last person and the one that the press is most excited about. They don’t know what will happen in regards to this meeting but they hope that Harry will lean in for a quick kiss. But knowing the Princess, that wont happen.
"Your Royal Highness." Harry greeted Arabella cheekily while bowing his head slightly. Since he's not married to Arabella yet and only the fourth in line to the throne.
"Prince Harry." Arabella smiled when he leaned in and kissed her cheeks. He knew that she doesn’t like PDA much and especially when she's out working.
The cameras behind them continued their annoying clicking and continued to do when Arabella gestured to the cars and said "Shall we." The four royals began their trek towards their awaiting vehicles.
During the time when Arabella got out of the car and greeted her fiancé and family, Arabella's staff managed to bring down her state car efficiently and got it ready in front, waiting for her to get in and make their way to Horse Guards.
William walked next to Arabella towards their car as Harry fall behind and walked with Kate following protocol. The walk towards their awaiting vehicles didn’t take long anyways, as it was only a few meters away from where the plane was parked.
There will be a total of six police motorcycles that are escorting Arabella and Harry to Horse Guards. Sadly, Will and Kate will not be joining them for Horse Guards but will see the two soon-to-be husband and wife later on that night, during the state dinner.
Arabella's staff, were given four/five vehicles to carry everyone and their supplies to St. James Palace, where they will be situated during the state visit.
"How are you William? Everything alright with Catherine and the pregnancy?" Arabella asked Will as they walked towards Arabella's car.
"I'm well and the baby is healthy. That's all I can ask for really. And this pregnancy seem to be much easier than with George before." Will replied.
"Well that's good to hear. You're coming tonight right?"
"Wouldn’t miss it for the world."
"Might pop by later after tea with your grandparents and Charles, I want to play with George before we have to go be adults."
"Well, he keeps asking where is aunty Belle and when is she coming to visit, so I doubt he's forgetting you anytime soon."
"That's good to hear." Arabella closed their conversation as they arrived before her car. She then looked back to her fiancé and asked, "are you coming with me?"
At this, the photographers went absolutely mad and started taking pictures rapidly.
"To Horse Guards?" Harry raised his eyebrows before answering, "yes."
"Well lets go then." Arabella reached to open her car door before Finn opened it for her. As she put on foot inside the car, she told Will and Kate, "Well, I'll see you both tonight then, the Queen of England awaits me." With a flourish hand wave that could rival that of the Queen Elizabeth movie portrayals, Arabella got in her car and Finn closed the doors for her.
"I guess that's my queue. I'll see the both of you later tonight." Harry bid goodbye to his brother and sister in-law before going around the car and into the car sitting next to Arabella. Once the doors closed, Arabella turned to Harry and said, "hi." In which Harry replied before giving her a smile.
Knowing that Arabella couldn’t properly kiss him since the flashes let the photographers see inside the car, Arabella reached out and held Harry's hand before smiling and looking out the window, waving goodbye to Will and Kate.
The journey to Horse Guards only took 20 minutes. When Arabella and Harry arrived, Queen Elizabeth II was already waiting to greet them along with the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall.
When the car came to a stop in front of the tent that held the British Royal Family, Finn got out of the car first before opening Arabella's door. The driver of the car, which happened to be Markus, on the other side, got out of the car as well and opened Harry's door.
Arabella made sure as she got out of the car, to keep her knees tightly together and put both feet firmly on the ground before getting out of the car fully. With so many eyes on her and everything probably being televised live, she doesn’t want to flash anyone unnecessarily. She smoothed out her coat, making sure that there is no wrinkles visibly, or at least, not so obvious, before straightening up her shoulders and head and smiled. Arabella looked straight ahead, to see that Queen Elizabeth had a big smile on her face.
Harry on the other hand, had gotten out of the car, buttoned up his suit jacket before rounding the car to Arabella's side. Knowing protocol (he had been drilled this since the tour schedule was sent over and the Queen's private secretary himself came over to Harry's office to remind him of the roles he need to play, "just because she is your fiancé doesn’t mean that she isn't the heir to the Netherland's throne and on an official visit representing her father. Remember, she is the crown princess, you are not married to her yet, you are only the fourth in line to the throne." Harsh, but effective.) Harry made sure that once Arabella start walking, he will be slightly behind her. Not directly behind her, but not side by side.
Arabella started her walk towards the Queen and once she is directly in front of her, Arabella gave Elizabeth kisses on her cheeks before going down and giving her a deep curtsy. Elizabeth just smiled widely when Arabella curtsy.
"How was your journey here?" Elizabeth asked her goddaughter making a bit of small talk before the ceremony begins.
"Smooth as a baby's bum, Your Majesty." Arabella replied cheekily, knowing that if anybody were to say that infront of the Queen, they would get reprimended. However, since it was Arabella and that she put a Your Majesty after that sentence, Elizabeth had to keep her lips tightly together so she wouldn’t burst out laughing.
During this exchange, the media and photographers went crazy. They snapped as many pictures they possibly can, making sure that they have the best quality and capturing every single moment. There's also a lot of video camera's taping this whole exchange for critiques all over the world to analyze this moment. This video will be on the internet with fans of royal protocols saying that The Princess of Orange have given the Queen of England the perfect curtsy.
Arabella got up from her curtsy only to move on to Prince Philip and did the same thing to show respect that he is in fact, the husband of a monarch. While Arabella was greeting Philip with a kiss and a curtsy, Harry greeted his grandmother with kisses on the cheeks as well as a bow of his head. He then changed places with Arabella was she moved to stand next to Elizabeth and greeted Charles and Camilla who was on the right of Elizabeth.
Once all the greetings was done, the military band starts playing the Kingdom of the Netherlands national anthem and after that, the United Kingdom's national anthem.
During this time, Arabella made sure to keep herself upright, for both anthems, as to not disrespect anyone. The order of the standings inside the tent goes like this:
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and Her Royal Highness The Princess of Orange are front and center with His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh next to Her Majesty and His Royal Highness Prince Henry of Wales next to The Princess of Orange. The Princess of Orange standing to the right of Her Majesty. Their Royal Highness The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall standing to the right of The Princess of Orange, but a little bit to the back.
This would actually be the first time Harry would attend the Horse Guard's Parade during a state visit. Usually he wont even be involved at all and were to do his own things such as meetings and such. Even though Harry was a senior member of the British Royal Family, state visits usually only include his grandparents, father, Step-mother, brother, sister-in-law, aunts and uncles. Even those usually only involve his uncle Andrew and Aunty Sophie.
Once the military band finished playing both the Netherlands and the UK's national anthem, Elizabeth turned to Arabella and asked her if they should start reviewing the guards now, in which Arabella replied with a yes.
While Arabella went to follow Elizabeth, Harry could see how everything and everyone was looking at the two duo. He could see how the world views his granny and his fiancé. It was magical to see and be able to respect these two women that he adores so much. Of course he has seen his granny in action so many times, with Arabella as well. It just seeing the two of them work the crowds and do their duties is amazing to watch.
"They're wonderful aren't they?" Philip leaned over to talk to his grandson. "Seeing the two of them in action always melts my frozen heart."
"Granddad, I think your frozen heart have melted years ago." Harry laughed. "But yes, they are incredible together."
"You should see them later on, now out here with the press, their personas are different. It’s like they have a switch to on or off whenever they’re in public." Philip continued on. It gets incredibly boring watching Elizabeth examine the guards after so many times.
"It amazes me how they do that sometimes. It's like one minute they are all proper and the next they relax and tell really dirty jokes." Harry talked to his grandfather while still watching what's happening in front of his eyes. This is still his first time watching these things live and not in front of a tv so he knew he better pay attention.
Harry thought to himself as he paid attention to every single detail happening in front of his eyes. He knew that even though this was his first time seeing the Guards of Honour parade, he was sure it wont be his last. Through his marriage with Arabella, it was a definite that he will accompany Arabella went they go on state visits and he's sure as hell know that he will one day do this as well, representing both his wife's as well as his grandmother/father/brother.
Before he knows it, both Arabella and his grandmother arrived back at their little tent, and back beside the two men in their original positions.
"Did you enjoyed the parade?" Arabella asked Harry as they both got comfortable inside their car on the way to Buckingham Palace forty five minutes later.
"It was something different." Harry thought for a moment before continuing. "I was never invited to these kinds of stuff before and it’s something new for me to experience. It was always Will and Pa accompanying granny for foreign state visits and I was always happy to be out of the limelight for that period of time."
"Well, I hope you will grow to enjoy these things and all things royal because that's how your life will be like when you're married to me. We will someday be King and Queen of a country and we do have to represent both The Netherlands as well as The United Kingdom from now on. You'll be accompanying me to all sorts of things, from state visits to banquets." Arabella told Harry as she reached over and held his hands.
"I think with you by my side, I feel like I can do anything. It still shocks me to see you doing your royal duties." Harry said.
"I hope you enjoyed it Henry."
"It's always nice to experience new things. It's even better to experience something next to you."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
6:10pm
White Drawing Room - Buckingham Palace, London
"Presenting Her Royal Highness, The Princess of Orange, Princess Arabella of The Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau, Heir-Apparent to the Kingdom of The Netherlands."
Arabella entered the room after being introduced wearing a caped dusty blue gown as well as her Order of the Gold Lion of the House of Nassau sash. She is also wearing her Blue Crystal Cluster Tiara which was an engagement present from both her father and godmother. It is a tiara the public has never seen before, custom made for her.
Waiting inside the drawing room was Elizabeth, Philip, Charles, Camilla, William, Catherine and Harry. Other members of the Royal family is also attending the state banquet such as Edward and Sophie as well as Anne and her husband Timothy Lawrence, though they are already waiting inside the ballroom among everybody else.
Attending the state banquet is the Prime Minister, David Cameron and the Netherland's Foreign Minister and Ambassador, Simon Smits. There is also 150 people in attendance of tonight's state banquet. Representatives of Dutch charities in the UK, sportsmen, different people who represents the Dutch and English people.
As Arabella entered the Drawing Room, there was a videographer and a photographer on standby as this state banquet will be televised for once in British History as it was highly requested by a lot of the people.
Arabella greeted Elizabeth first with a deep curtsy and she can hear the photographer in the room clicking along his camera, not wanting to miss a single moment between Arabella and her godmother. As Arabella rise up again, she leaned in and gave Elizabeth kisses on the cheeks, before moving on to Philip who was standing next to Elizabeth.
Again, Arabella gave Philip a deep curtsy and when she stood up, she kissed both his cheeks before Philip brought up her hands and kissed the back of her palm. Arabella smiled softly at Philip before moving on to Charles and Camilla.
Since Arabella and Charles are the same rank, Arabella just softly smiled at him and greeted him softly before kissing both his cheeks. Charles in return kissed the back of her palm. Arabella greeted Camilla and kissed her cheeks before moving on to William and Catherine, who stood next to Camilla.
This time, as Arabella is a higher ranked royal than both William and Catherine, William just greeted her with kisses on the cheeks as well as a hand kiss, but Catherine gave a small curtsy, in which Arabella laughed and kissed both her cheeks.
When it came to greeting Harry, Arabella smiled at him lovingly before giving him kisses on both cheeks. The cameraman made sure to keep the camera focused on the engaged couple, waiting to see how they would greet each other.
Harry knew that Arabella liked to keep the PDA to a minimum and make sure to be professional, so when Arabella gave Harry a surprise and quick peck on the lips, he was stunned and surprised. He made sure though to keep his surprised face to a minimum and smiled softly at Arabella.
"You look gorgeous darling." Harry whispered softly to Arabella when they hugged shortly.
"Thank you, you look quite dashing as well." Arabella whispered back.
Arabella smiled softly at Harry before mentioning for him to follow her. Harry furrowed his eyebrows, not really sure what’s happening as he was never invited for these kinds of things. Ed made sure to briefly go through what's going to happen tonight but still, Harry was a little confused.
As they both made their way to Elizabeth, Arabella leaned in to Harry a little and told him that now they are going to have a photo session before moving on to another side room where the Prime minister and the Dutch Ambassador as well as a few other guests are waiting to be introduced to Arabella. Now, Harry would be presented as both a Prince of the United Kingdom as well as Arabella’s fiancé therefore, he would be presented right after Arabella to the guests before his father, step-mother, brother and sister-in-law.
Although being presented is nothing new to Harry, what was new for him was how he get to talk to these incredible people from different background before his father and brother. It really felt weird to him as of when he marries Arabella, he will take on Arabella's Royal ranking which is Heir to the throne. It is a big major leap from being the spare, fourth in line and now fifth in line to the throne.
He will be called and titled, 'HRH Prince of Orange' first and foremost before whatever dukedom his grandmother decides to give.
After meeting all these people, the Royals took their positions to go inside the Ballroom. Since Arabella is the reason why there is a state banquet in the first place and Harry is her Fiancé, he gets to enter with Queen Elizabeth while Arabella enters with Prince Philip, followed by Prince Charles and the Prime Minister's wife, Camilla with the Prime Minister, William with the Dutch Foreign Minister's wife and Kate with the Dutch Foreign Minister.
Harry rubbed his hands nervously as this is the first time he ever go inside a ballroom first accompanying his grandmother as he's usually always so far behind. He noticed that behind him, Arabella was giggling and joking with his grandfather.
"Are you nervous, Harry?" Elizabeth looked up from her position next to him.
"Just a little bit," Harry nervously laughed. "It’s the first time I'm entering next to you, Gran."
"Don't be nervous, my darling boy. Soon, you'll be hosting your very own state banquets in another country." Elizabeth lightly laughed before the fanfare started and the doors start to open.
Harry kept a small smile on his face, knowing that the entrance is being broadcasted live on BBC and SkyNews. He smiled at the guests as they made their way to the main table where they will be seated that night.
Harry will be seated on the left of Elizabeth with his father on Harry's other side, while to the right of Elizabeth will be Arabella with Philip on her other side. Next to Charles would be the Dutch Foreign Minister and his wife. On the other side of Philip would be the UK Prime Minister and next to him is Camilla and next to her will be the Prime Minister's wife. William and Kate will be seated in one of the tables on the left side of the room where a lot of the Dutch ambassadors as well as Dutch charity heads are seated.
Before dinner would commence, Elizabeth will make a small speech followed by Arabella as the guest of honor. Once the speeches are done, the national anthems will be played, The UK's national anthem followed by The Netherlands. Once those are done, dinner will commence.
"Your Royal Highness. The Duke of Edinburgh and I are delighted to welcome you to Buckingham Palace this evening. Through this State visit, we celebrate the enduring friendship which has enabled our two nations to prosper and grow, side by side, as trading partners, and as North Sea neighbors. This visit also provides the opportunity for great happiness, and to welcome old friends to my home. Through Your Royal Highness' visits and your acts of friendship, you have formed your own personal connection with the British people. From your ongoing visits to local shelters and centers to volunteering to read at the local hospitals."
"To this day, our close relationship greatly contributes to the economic and cultural life of Britain. The Netherlands are one of The United Kingdom’s largest European investors. We have a thriving Dutch community, and artistic and sporting exchanges are at an all time high. British universities are a top destination for Dutch students, and hundreds of Dutch and British scientists are teaching, researching and collaborating in both countries. Internationally we have a strong shared commitment to the transatlantic alliance, and it is no coincidence that of the last twelve Secretaries General of NATO, six have been either British or Dutch."
"Our deep bond is seen in our obligation to uphold the rule of law in the United Nations Security Council and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons based in The Hague. It is also evident in our daily co-operation to combat cross border crime and terrorism."
"I recall the State Visit of your great-grandmother Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard in 1972, when I spoke of how our nations’ close understanding and relationship would become increasingly important as a new configuration of Europe was emerging. As we look toward a new partnership with Europe, it is our shared values and commitment to each other, that are our greatest asset, and demonstrate that even through change, our enduring alliance remains strong, and as innovators, traders and internationalists we look with confidence to the future. As we continue to work together to ensure peace, prosperity and security, I am confident that this friendship between The United Kingdom and The Netherlands, which we greatly treasure, will continue to deepen, and to prosper."
Taking a deep breathe, Elizabeth raised up her glass of champagne and said "Ladies and Gentlemen, I invite you all to rise and drink a toast to Her Royal Highness, The Princess of Orange, and the people of The Netherlands."
Arabella smiled at her godmother before raising her glass as well. Together, they drank their drinks and set it back down on the table. Arabella then stood up and turn to her godmother and kissed her cheeks before hugging her tightly. Elizabeth let out a short chuckle knowing it was against protocol, but for the first time in during her reign, she didn’t care one bit about protocols and must haves.
Harry stood back a bit shocked knowing that Arabella is breaking protocol and that his granny let her but he soon controlled his face before anyone saw him.
It was now Arabella's turn to do her speech, so she took a deep breathe before standing up once again.
"Your Majesty, I am delighted to be able to pay a State Visit to the United Kingdom, and above all to find you in good health, as vigorous and engaged as ever. I appreciate how special this occasion is. My great grandparents came here on a State Visit. My grandparents did too. Today it is my turn. And all within your long reign.
Last year you celebrated your Sapphire Jubilee. That is deeply impressive to someone who has yet to reach their Bronze Jubilee… In recent decades, you have seen your country, Europe and the world change enormously. The world looks to you as a trusted beacon in the midst of upheaval. Your ability to keep in touch with the times is striking. You even have an adventurous streak, as you showed six years ago at the opening of the Olympic Games.
In front of millions of viewers you played the role of the most fearless Bond Girl ever – with great panache!"
"The United Kingdom has given the world so much. We owe much of our prosperity to the skill of British inventors, scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs. Our culture has been enriched by the creativity of British artists, from Shakespeare to Monty Python and the Beatles. Today, global communication knows no borders, because English has become the world’s lingua franca. Many Dutch people feel a great affection for this country. The charms of the Fairest Isle extend to the other side of the Channel!"
"Your Majesty, I am most grateful that, by inviting me here, you have underlined the special bond between our Kingdoms. Now, more than ever, we must cherish that bond. You and your family are dear to us, and with you, we delight in all of life’s joyous and festive occasions, including those among the younger generations. Let me close by wishing you and your family every future happiness. I invite you to rise and join me in a toast. Your Majesty, to your health and happiness and that of His Royal Highness Prince Philip. And to the friendship between the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of the Netherlands."
Arabella smiled before raising her glass to the Queen and Prince Phillip, everyone followed suit. They toasted to the British Royal Family before Arabella sat back down and the banquet begins.
Food begin to pour in, as servants start going to their tables bringing their meals and set them in front of the guests. Arabella made small talks Prince Phillip and the UK prime minister for a short while before talking and laughing with The Queen. They made light jokes throughout the evening.
Once dessert was served and settled in their stomachs, Arabella stood up from her seat and begin to walk down the main table towards the where most of the guests are seated with her private secretary, Jane following behind her.
Harry looked up from where he was seated when he saw Arabella leaving the table and turned to his grandmother to ask what Arabella was doing.
"She's making her rounds on the guests who came tonight." Elizabeth told her grandson smiling. "They took their time off their busy schedule to come and meet her tonight."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Arabella and Harry said their goodbyes to the Queen and everyone before retiring back to Kensington Palace.
On the ride home, Arabella turned to Harry and asked him how he felt that day.
"It was definitely an experience, Bel."
"Do you think you see yourself accompanying me to more of these pomp and stuff in the future? Going as far as having them in your honor itself?" Arabella turned to Harry looking up at him through her lashes.
"It's something that I will get used to and grow to love," Harry looked at Arabella lovingly. "It is definitely something I would do, in order to be with you until we're grey and old."
Scene - Harry and Arabella's first Christmas apart
set in December 2012
Harry: I really don't like this Bel.
Arabella: Babe, we both have traditions that we need to fulfil.
Harry: I still don't like this. I wish we could spend our first Christmas together as a couple and not apart.
Arabella: Henry Charles, you listen to me right now! You have a duty to fulfil, as do I. We are both part of a royal family with duties that needs to be done. Not only that, it's Kate's first Christmas at Sandringham and I know that that can be a bit scary for her, so be there for her and for Will.
Harry: You always know what to say.
Arabella: I have to know what to say Harry! I'm going to be Queen one day.
CALLING THOSE WHO ARE GOOD AT PHOTOSHOP AND HAVE FREE TIME
Hey Guys!
I’m going to ask a favour, a BIG one. If anyone of you are good at photoshop or manis or anything, can you make one of Arabella and Harry? Arabella’s face claim is Blake Lively and I would really appreciate it if you could send it to me through DM?
It would help a lot and because I changed my laptop, I no longer have adobe photoshop and can't do anything until I download the software again.
Hope you guys have a merry Christmas and happy holidays. I was out of town this past week on a family holiday. I am currently writing the next chapter so hopefully, I'll update that soon. I will give you a hint though, it will be based on Arabella’s UK/Ireland state visit representing King Willem-Alexander so there will be loads of Harry and the Cambridges and you’ll see more of the relationship between Arabella and The Queen.
Hope you guys have a wonderful Christmas for those who celebrated and happy holidays!
A little blurb of one of Harry's and Arabella's conversations. Let me know if you guys want more of these ❤️
Scene - Harry and Arabella are cuddling on the couch of Huis ten Bosch, Arabella's new apartment. Set in 2013, before Willem-Alexander's coronation.
Arabella: You know, once papa is coronated, I'll be crown princess.
Harry: Yes, I figured that.
Arabella: If you want to continue this, what we have going on, the public scrutiny will be even bigger.
Harry: Darling, I live in a fish bowl, it can't be more scrutinising than that.
Arabella: If you continue to pursue me, you'll be king one day. Albeit, it might be King consort, but still. I know you don't want to be King.
Harry: Are you trying to scare me off?
Arabella: Well, no. I'm just saying.
Harry: Quit it will you. I know what I got myself into two years ago when I asked you on that date during Will's wedding. I know what I got myself into when I asked you to be my girlfriend last year. Trust me, I'm not going anywhere.
Arabella: What if it's too much. What if, there comes a point in your life where you don't want to be with me anymore. What if, one day, you meet an artist, or an actress, who's prettier and decide 'well, she's pretty. I think I want to be with her instead.'
Harry: Do you know how long I've been trying to find the right girl for me? One who knows what it's like to be in the public eye, one that understands duty to the country, to the monarch? The people love a story where a prince marries a commoner, someone like them, but its so bloody difficult to find someone out there who isn't using you for fame, for your money, for your title. I think, if I ever meet someone, an artist or an actress, who I think is pretty, whether it be during an engagement or just passing by, I don't think I would pick her over you. Because you're it for me Bella. There wont be anybody else that can compare to how much I love you.
Arabella: But...
Harry: Christ woman! I'm trying to get it in your pretty little head, that no matter what, I will always pick you. I choose you. No actress, artist, or whoever can try and take my love away from you. Okay?
I can’t wait for the next chapter..your such a great writer and your book is definitely different from any other fanfic it’s very unique and I love it 😍 ❤️💜
Thank you so much ❤️💜 That means a lot to me ❤️ I started reading Prince Harry fanfics about a year or so ago, definitely before they announced H&M and I fell in love with it. I always knew at the back of my mind, I want to write a fanfic about PH but I was always to scared to do so and I always feel like I'm copying their work.
This fanfic, is inspired by a few Prince Harry fanfics. Ngl, a lot of my ideas come from other people’s stories, but I somehow managed to twist it to my own vision of how I want Prince Harry’s love life to be?
Most of phffs out there are about Prince Harry and how he fell in love with a commoner, the original character always and I mean ALWAYS have to give up her life, her job, her privacy to be with Harry. so, I made it the other way around. The OC will NOT be giving up ANYTHING to be with the boy she loves, but Harry on the other hand, will have to learn how to be a king. He grew up as a spare, he acted and was treated as a spare, so now, he will have to learn how to be the crown prince and later on in the story, a king.
I’m glad you enjoy this story and I hope you’ll keep loving this story as much as I do
I can’t wait for the wedding also to see the wedding dress or TIARA!!!!! But I still think Meghan was behind the car accident!!!! 🤔🤔🤔🧐🧐🧐🤨🤨🤨 update soon!!!!
Honestly, I can't wait as well, but there is still around 20 or so chapters before THE WEDDING... Tbh, I have the wedding planned out, from start to finish. I already have Arabella’s 5 wedding dresses picked out (yes people, she have 5 WEDDING DRESSES MADE FOR HER, I might cut it down to 4 but who knows...) I narrowed down 3 tiaras that Arabella might wear for her Religious ceremony and I might do a poll so that you guys can choose which one she’ll wear.
Meghan may or may not be involved with the car accident, police are still investigating what happened but everything is hush hush.
(I might, for the sake of it, I don't know yet, have an alternate wedding for Harry, one where he marries Meghan instead of Arabella sometime close to the wedding, but don't worry, Arabella will still be in it, one way or another.)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - The Netherlands Royal Family
The Princess of Orange State Visit to the UK Itinerary
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
At approximately one in the afternoon, Her Royal Highness, the Princess of Orange will depart from Rotterdam The Hague Airport using the Crown Princess Private Jet to London to start of her State Visit in the place of her father His Majesty, King Willem-Alexander. The purpose of this state visit is to strengthen the Netherlands bonds with the United Kingdom.
HRH the Princess of Orange will arrive at London City Airport at approximately two in the afternoon. The Princess of Orange will be greeted by TRH The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry. TRH The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will then ride separately to the Horse Guards while Prince Harry will ride with the Princess of Orange.
TRH will be formally greeted by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II and HRH Duke of Edinburgh at Horse Guard. The Netherlands' national anthem will be played by the military band as well as the United Kingdoms'. HRH The Princess of Orange will join Her Majesty to inspect the Military Guard of Honour.
TRH Princess of Orange, Prince Harry, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, The Duke of Edinburgh and Her Majesty The Queen will then travel to Buckingham Palace where they will enjoy tea inside the Queen's Drawing Room.
During HRH The Princess of Orange visit in London, HRH will be staying with her Fiance, HRH Prince Harry at Nottingham Cottage, Kensington Palace.
At six that evening, HRH The Princess of Orange will depart Kensington Palace, joined by Prince Harry to attend a state banquet hosted at Buckingham Palace. This will be a white tie event therefore HRH The Princess of Orange will be wearing her Blue Crystal Cluster Tiara for the first time as it is an Engagement gift from Their Majesties, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Elizabeth II.
HRH The Princess of Orange will be making a speech together with Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II before dinner is served at 7:20pm. The State Banquet will be held inside the Grand Ballroom in Buckingham Palace.
Thursday, March 12, 2015
HRH The Princess of Orange will start her day by heading to Westminster Abbey accompanied by HRH Prince Harry. TRH will arrive at Westminster Abbey at ten to nine in the morning. They will be greeted by the Dean of Westminster, John Hall.
The Dean of Westminster will then say a few prayers before HRH The Princess of Orange lays a wreath on the Grave of the Unknown Warrior. They will then have a moment of silence before The Dean of Westminster give TRH a tour of Westminster Abbey.
HRH The Princess of Orange have allocated half an hour to greet well wishers outside of Westminster Abbey.
HRH Prince Harry will accompany The Princess of Orange on her lunch with the Mayor of London, Mr. Boris Johnson before heading to Palace of Westminster where HRH the Princess of Orange will deliver a short address in the Royal Gallery to Parliamentarian and other guests.
TRH the Princess of Orange and Prince Harry will then head to the River Thames for a photo opportunity with the Press before going on a cruise ship to the London Eye. There, TRH will be greeted by Prime Minister David Cameron.
TRH joined by Prime Minister David Cameron will ride on one capsule of the London Eye. They will be joined by representatives of parliament, the Netherland's ambassador and 5 members of the Press.
After the ride of the London Eye, HRH Prince Harry will depart from his Fiancé, HRH Princess of Orange while she visits the Imperial War Museum. There she will be greeted by the Museum Curator as well the TRH The Duke of Edinburgh and the Prince of Wales.
HRH The Princess of Orange will then head to Madame Tussauds to unveil and open a new wax figure of herself that was made prior to the visit.
That night, HRH The Princess of Orange will attend Alexander McQueen's Savage Beauty Exhibition in Victoria and Albert Museum as Sarah Burton, the Creative Director of Alexander McQueen is a dear friend to the Princess.
Friday, March 13, 2015
At half past ten in the morning, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth will give HRH the Princess of Orange a tour of a special exhibition in the Picture Gallery that is made of items from the Royal Collection related to the Netherlands. They will be joined by TRH Duke and Duchess of Cambridge as well as the Earl and Countess of Wessex.
After the viewing of the Exhibition, Her Majesty the Queen will host HRH The Princess of Orange for lunch joined by members of the British Royal Family.
At half past two in the afternoon, HRH The Princess of Orange will visit the Dutch Centre London, where it promotes Dutch Culture and Heritage in London. After visiting the Dutch Centre in London, HRH will tour the Tower of London joined by HRH The Princess Royal Princess Anne.
To close the State Visit, HRH The Princess of Orange will host a dinner at the Netherlands Embassy House. HRH will host HM The Queen, TRH Duke of Edinburgh, Prince of Wales, Duchess of Cornwall, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Harry, Prince Andrew, The Princess Royal Princess Anne, The Earl and Countess of Wessex, Princess Eugenie, Princess Beatrice and other distinguished guests.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
@theroyalfamily: Her Majesty The Queen is delighted to announce that HRH Prince Harry will join HRH The Princess of Orange on her visit to Ireland next Monday.
@Kensingtonroyal: HRH Prince Henry of Wales will represent HM The Queen as he joins HRH The Princess of Orange Ireland Tour. The Tour will take place on the 18th of March for 3 days. HM The Queen is delighted to share the news as UK's relationship with Ireland have grown.
@DutchRoyalFamily: HRH Prince Henry of Wales will be joining HRH The Princess of Orange on her Ireland Tour on Monday, 18th March 2015. The Tour will take 3 days and the couple will stay in Dublin for the trip.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Monday, March 9, 2015, 2pm, Noordeinde Palace
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - The Netherlands Royal Family and The British Royal Family
TRH The Princess of Orange and Prince Henry of Wales State Visit to Ireland Itinerary
Monday, March 18, 2015
At One pm, TRH The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will send off TRH The Princess of Orange and Prince Harry for their 3 day state visit to Dublin, Ireland at the London City Airport. Members of the press are welcomed to join and set up one hour before departure. The Princess of Orange and Prince Harry will travel using HRH The Crown Princess Private Jet.
TRH The Princess of Orange and Prince Harry will arrive at Dublin Airport at 2:15pm and will travel to Aras an Uachtarain where they will be formally welcomed by President Muchael D. Higgins and his wife. There, the national anthem for both The Kingdom of the Netherlands and The United Kingdom will be played before TRH and the President head inside to speak on the relationship between Ireland with The UK and The Netherlands.
At 3pm, TRH will head over to the Dublin Castle where they will be given a historical tour around the grounds of the Castle. After an hour, TRH will have a photo opportunity at Ha'penny Bridge where both members of the press and public will get a chance to meet TRH The Princess of Orange and Prince Harry. They will have 45 minutes to interact with TRH before they leave back to the hotel.
That night, President Michael D. Higgins will host TRH The Princess of Orange and Prince Harry for a formal dinner at Aras an Uachtarain where they will meet different people from different walks of life to learn more about the Irish culture.
HRH The Princess of Orange and the President will make a speech as well.
Tuesday, March 19, 2015
At 9am, TRH The Princess of Orange and Prince Harry will visit the Dublin Zoo and meet various animals as well as the staff that takes care of the animals. They will learn about each animal and how they can survive.
At 11am, TRH will attend the Gaelic Sports Festival at Croke Park to experience true Irish culture, sports, music and language.
At 12:30pm, TRH will have lunch at the National Botanic Garden and afterwards will receive a tour of the grounds and an in depth introduction and history regarding the plants and what they represent.
Afterwards, TRH will view the Famine Memorial and commemorate the Great Famine of the mid 19th century. During the famine approximately 1 million people died and a million more emigrated from Ireland, causing the island's population to fall by between 20% and 25%.
TRH will then visit EPIC, The Irish Emigration Museum. EPIC tells the moving and unforgettable stories of those who left the island of Ireland, and how they influenced and shaped the world. EPIC embraces the past and the future with 1,500 years of Irish history and culture housed in its atmospheric vaults. The world’s only fully digital museum, experience this breathtaking story in state-of-the-art interactive galleries, complete with touch screens, motion sensor quizzes and a feast of powerful audio and video that bring Irish history to life. Watch characters from the past tell one-of-a-kind tales of adventure and perseverance, conflict and discovery, belief and community.
To end the day, TRH will visit the National Leprechaun Museum and learn about Irish folklore and mythology, through the oral tradition of storytelling.
Wednesday, March 20, 2015
At 10:30am, TRH The Princess of Orange and Prince Harry will visit Trinity College and see the Book of Kells and learn more about Ireland's Culture and Heritage
After that, TRH will visit DogPatch Labs, a co-working space for technological start ups. There TRH will meet children and young people who takes free coding workshops.
TRH The Princess of Orange and Prince Harry will have one final walkabout where they will meet members of the public at 4:30pm before heading back to London.
Pieter and Mina both got ready in their residence suite on the lower ground floor of Huis ten Bosch Palace. As the footman of the crown princess, Pieter is required to be awake and ready before the princess starts her day. For Mina, Pieter's wife, she is the head of household for the crown princess. She makes sure that everyone is where they are supposed to be and everything doesn’t have a speck of dust on them.
The Princess of Orange currently resides in the west wing of the palace while the King, Queen and three princesses stays on the east wing. The central part of the wing are mostly ballrooms and galleries for official uses. The staff of Princess Arabella resides on the lower ground floor of the west wing. It wasn’t like their suites are anything but grand, it is. It's renovated to be modern yet still look part of a palace.
Today would be a busy day for the princess. In preparation for her state visit next week, she has her last meeting with her advisors and communication's team. She also have an engagement with the King first thing, so it’s a busy jam packed day.
Pieter and Mina, once they're ready, left their suite and went up the staff stairwells and into the ground floor of the west wing. Mina kissed her husband goodbye before heading off for her first task of the day. Pieter however, carried on towards the kitchen to check up on the Princess's breakfast.
"Goedemorgen chef, is everything ready for the prinses van oranje?" Pieter asked the official chef of the crown princess.
(A/N: sorry if my Dutch sucks, I'm relying on translators and piecing the sentences together)
"Goedemorgen," the chef replied. "All done for the prinses."
"Fantastisch." Pieter exclaimed before leaving the kitchen and into the back stairwell again. This time towards the third floor of the west wing. He entered princess Arabella's suite and start preparing the dining room for her breakfast. Currrently, only princess Arabella is in the suite as her fiance, prince Harry is in the UK preparing for his month long attachment in Australia.
Five minutes later, once Pieter have set the table for one, the Lucy came inside the room pushing the food cart. Lucy is one of the princess's food testers. As the heir apparent of the King, she is widely protected and cared for.
"Everything tested and ready to go." Lucy said passing the cart towards Pieter. "The chef passed it off to Laura, who tested it at six this morning. She then passed back to chef before he passed it to me. I tested it fifteen minutes ago."
"Fantastisch." Pieter said to Lucy before taking the dishes and putting them on the table. The food prepared today is oatmeal, with berries as assortments and honey. He also prepared a pot of tea for the princess with a jar of honey on the side. The princess doesn’t take sugar with her tea since she was very young. She preferred the taste of tea with honey rather than sugar and milk.
Pieter then moved around the suite, tidying up the rooms as he goes along. The princess is generally a neat person, so there isn’t much for Pieter to tidy.
Fifteen minutes later, at half past eight, the princess emerged from her bedroom all ready for her day. Pieter greeted her at the dining room, puling the chair for her.
"Good morning Your Royal Highness." Pieter bowed towards her as she sat down and he then passed her, her morning papers. "Your morning paper, ma'am."
"Good morning Pieter and thank you." Arabella replied back with a smile. Pieter filled in her cup of tea before retreating away from the dining and into the small hallway behind the dining room. This hallway is mostly for the staff while they wait for the princess to call upon them. By the hallway, there's a set of waiting room area for the staff to relax during their shift.
Pieter sat down and relaxed for a while because he knows that he will be up again in fifteen minutes when the princess was done with her breakfast. It was then when the princess's private secretary Jane came to view.
"No you cannot enter right now. The princess is eating." Pieter said while reading a copy of the morning paper.
"But it's a briefing about the engagement she has later on with the King." Jane said, her hands full with two folders.
"Then it can wait fifteen minutes until she's done eating. I'm sure you're aware of the protocol about when the heir apparent is eating?" Pieter asked Jane rhetorically. Jane just sighed in defeat and took a seat across Pieter to wait until she can go inside and brief the princess. She doesn’t know why she even tried in the first place, knowing how stubborn Pieter can be.
Once fifteen minutes passed, Pieter stood up and motioned Jane to follow him. He knocked on the door before opening it and bowing to the princess.
"Ms. Jane, Ma'am." Pieter held the door open for Jane as she walked past him and curtsy to the princess.
"Is that the briefing for today?" Arabella asked Jane wiping her mouth with a napkin and putting it down gently on the table. Pieter then came forward and took her bowl away. Arabella mumbled a quick thank you before turning her attention to Jane.
"Yes ma'am." Jane confirmed and handed Arabella her copy of the documents. "Today, the princess of Orange will undergo a visit to the Netherlands Cancer Institute accompanying His Majesty, King Willem-Alexander."
"What time are we leaving for Amsterdam?" Arabella asked Jane.
"In fifteen minutes ma'am." Jane answered. Arabella passed the folder back to Jane before standing up and leave the room to freshen up.
Jane went back to the waiting room, this time to get her stuff and wait for the princess in the front lobby of the suite.
Arabella came out all ready wearing a white turtle neck, with a dark blue wrapped blazer and a floral printed pants. Paired with her outfits are her signature nude heels with a yellow small bag and flower earrings.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
In front of every entrance of the West Wing, there is a guard stationed and with each of them have their own set of ear piece. This way when the Princess is on the move, everybody knows her current location.
Like every important person ever in history, the Princess of Orange has her own nickname.
"The Sparrow has left the nest." A guard would say into the earpiece as the Princess left her room followed by Adam, Jane and Anna, one of the Princess' Ladies in Waiting. For today's engagement, since it is a joint one with the King, Adam, the Princess's Press Secretary, Jane, her Private Secretary and Anna, her Lady in Waiting will be joining the Princess.
The guards opened her doors as she walked pass, going through the corridors and into the center of the Palace. Upon arrival, it looks like the Princess arrived the same time as the King.
When they were all in view of the King, simultaneously Adam, Jane and Anna dropped into a bow and curtsy while Arabella continued walking towards her father.
Once Arabella was infront of her father, she kissed both his cheeks before bending down and give a deep curtsy.
"Goedemorgen, Papa." The princess curtsied to her father.
"Goedemorgen, Dochter." King Willem-Alexander smiling at his eldest daughter. "Are we ready?"
"Let’s go." Arabella confirmed.
Willem-Alexander went through the front doors first with Arabella right behind him. There was two cars ready for them to depart.
"The Eagle and Sparrow has left the nest." Finn said to his earpiece that is connected to all the protection officers and extra security surrounding the King and the Crown Princess. Jane, Adam, Anna as well as Willem-Alexander's secretaries who are accompanying them to this engagement went to the third car waiting for them.
Driving the Princess's car is Markus, with Finn sitting next to him in the front. Arabella sat at the back on the left side and the seat next to her is empty. Usually either Jane or Adam would occupy the seat next to her, but this is a joint engagement with her father so it was frowned upon for anyone to sit next to her when they're not her fiance or husband.
Once they arrived at the Netherland's Cancer Institute, they have a long line of people waiting to greet them. Right in front is the CEO of the institute and following behind him are the doctors and nurses working hard. Behind them are some of the patients and around them are supporting public.
Willem-Alexander's car rolled to a stop first followed by Arabella's car and the rest behind them. Finn and Willem-Alexander's RPO came out of the car first and opened the doors for the King and Crown Princess.
Jane and Alexander's PA stepped out of the car behind them and quickly went off to the side, always nearby, but not seen. Arabella and Alexander stepped out of the car at the same time, almost like a dance, but Alexander stepped away from the car first with Arabella following closely behind him.
This is the first time Alexander and Arabella are doing a joint engagement so a lot of people turned up. The king and his heir are very close together. He had her when he was in his early 20s so they always have a close relationship.
Each staff has a wireless earpiece, a new technology made just for the royal family, it also cannot be seen in naked eye. A new technology developed based on films and movies. It was also made by a group of geniuses that has a very high IQ and the Dutch Royal Family will be forever grateful to them. It has made their lives and their staff's lives so much better and easier. This new technology, has a radio frequency higher than regular cellphones and even radio phones, so if there was a national emergency or crisis, the royal staff are still able to communicate with each other.
Finn closed the car door once Arabella walked towards the line of people waiting to meet her. With Alexander a few feet in front of her and Finn a few feet behind her.
"The Eagle and Phoenix are out of the vehicle." He said to his earpiece. "All systems a go."
"All systems in place and ready." A voice piped up from the earpiece. Systems, in this case meant that all the snipers are in place as well as secret agents posing as civilians. There are double security in place since both the King and his Heir are out and at the same place.
The hospital has been swiped twice this morning, once at dawn and another fifteen minutes before the King and Crown Princess arrive. The building and all its entrances has been monitored since a month ago and anything suspicious was looked into. The security team was not taking any chances.
As the princess and the king walked forwards and into the building, the security team and private secretaries walked into the building as well. Two protection officers from the palace stayed outside the main entrance as they close it and another two stayed on the other side of the door. Along the hallways stood at least one officer every few meters.
Finn made sure that he's with the princess at all times. There is always one PO assigned to the Princess 24/7 and Finn made sure that he is there if the princess needs anything. Finn is close enough to take the princess away if there is any threat but still far enough that he's not in the photo frame.
It's a huge deal that both the King and Crown Princess visit this place together, not only is it rare, but cancer holds a place in their hearts. Arabella's mother, King Willem-Alexander's first wife, passed away fighting cancer so there is a lot of press during this visit.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
They spent 2 hours and a half inside the institute, learning about the technology, talks with the doctors and nurses as well as spend some time with the patients. When King Willem-Alexander's secretary leaned in to inform him that it was time to go, His Majesty glanced at his daughter, who was talking to a few nurses before catching her eye. He then gestured for her to cut the conversation and that they were about to leave. The crown princess wrapped up her conversation before thanking them and walk towards her father.
They said their goodbyes and thanks to the staff, nurses and patients before taking their leave. They allocated a few minutes to spend outside with the well-wishers before going back to home.
Finn made sure as the Royals walk down the hallway towards the entrance that every guard looked on top of their game and is standing in attention. They all have their earpieces on and as the two royals walk closer to the front doors, each guard stationed along the wall had blank expressions. As the two royals got closer to the main entrance, the screams got louder and when they are right in front of the doors, the guards stationed by the entrance pulled the doors open and Willem-Alexander and Arabella were blinded by the light as well as the screaming.
Making sure the entrance is clear and that there is nothing obstructing the King and Crown princess to continue walking out the building, Finn made sure that every security detail is on high alert, even the police officers. They're the King and Heir of this country. Anything can happen and they certainly cannot afford that.
The Princess and King of the Netherlands each went to different sides of the roads so that everybody get a chance to meet a royal. The both shook hands of well wishers with their protection officers close by behind them. After about 15 minutes of shaking people's hands, both father and daughter walked to their respective vehicles that's waiting for them.
"Are you heading home Papa?" Arabella asked her father as they neared his car.
"Ja. We're taking the girls to Eikenhorst for the weekend. Away from royal life for a bit." Willem-Alexander told his eldest. "Are you heading home as well?"
"No. I'm headed of to Noordeinde for a bit, just to make sure everything is running smoothly, especially our communications side of things. I also have some last minute preparations for the UK and Ireland trip." Arabella said.
"Maxima and I will send you off on Wednesday." Willem-Alexander told his daughter before pulling her into a hug.
While they were hugging farewell, Arabella laughed and said, "You know that since we're in public, I'm going to curtsy to you right?" In which Willem-Alexander just laughed out loud.
Pulling away from the hug, Arabella gave her father a deep curtsy before standing straight and kissing his cheeks. Willem-Alexander then got into his car with Arabella following suit behind them in her own car and the two royals pulled away from the institution.
"Finn, let Aleta and Gerrit know that we're heading to Noordeinde now and that I want to see the social media accounts." Arabella told her head of security before pulling out her phone and texting Harry.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Aleta got a phone call from Finn telling her that the princess was on her way to their offices to check on the social media pages and to see how its progressing so far. Aleta is the communications officer for the Princess of Orange Household and is in charge of that department. Under her are two other communications specialists who monitors the internet and press regarding the princess's well-being.
Aleta then ran her hands through her hair and gave a loud sigh before getting up from her chair in her office. The Crown Princess's household altogether have a total of 72 staff members. It includes the main 26 staff that follows the princess wherever she goes. It consists of 6 cleaning staff, 14 footmen, 4 chefs/cooks, 2 gardeners and 2 chauffeurs (they usually handle all the vehicles the Princess use). The remaining 18 staff all goes into the Communication Department. It is the biggest department of staff that the Princess of Orange have. It only begin to grow when social media was created and everything is posted on the net.
The Princess of Orange is the most popular member of the royal family in the Netherlands, and the third most famous royal in Europe excluding the British Royal Family, after Crown Princess Mary of Denmark and Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden. Whenever the three of them were together, as they are good friends, the press and the fans go wild.
Since the Princess is very much famous and loved, they decided to have a big communications team to handle the press as well as social media. With 18 staff under the communications department, it's easier to keep track of posts, news and other things happening in social media and traditional media about the Princess.
10 years ago, when the princess is only 20 years old, she only have 2 people in her communications team, Aleta and Hans. These two were there since the beginning, when the princess first started being a full time royal. As the years go on, the team grew bigger and bigger until there is 18 people in the department (they don’t call it team anymore, once they surpassed 10 people.) Aleta figured that once the princess marries Prince Harry, their staff will merge and it will only grow bigger and bigger.
Working under the Dutch Royal Family, it pays well. Extremely well in fact. Both Aleta and Hans got paid 30K Euros per year complete with lodgings, transportation and meals. Those under the communications team ranged from 10k to 15k per year depending on what they’re doing and their experience prior to working with the Princess. It is also complete with lodgings, transportation and meals though some choose to have their own place.
Aleta got out of her office and into the one next to hers, which belonged to Hans. Their layout is different to the other offices of the Princess. The communications department have a more open modern layout with two offices that belonged to Aleta and Hans (because of their seniority and as the official communications secretary to the Princess), a meeting room and the rest of the staff are scattered outside.
"The Princess is coming for a visit." Aleta told Hans as she entered his office after knocking.
"I'll get the meeting room set up then," Hans replied standing up from his chair. "Is Gerrit coming as well? You know how whenever the princess is here, he usually shows up."
"I don’t think so." Aleta said. "Finn only said the Princess is on her way."
"Oké, are you telling the staff or shall I?"
"I'll let them know. You just set up the meeting room." Aleta told Hans before leaving his office and into the main office area where 18 staff currently work. There are 4 different sections to the main space, a working area filled with laptops and monitors, there's a chill area for those who prefer to work on a couch or even a bean bag, there's a kitchen/pantry area and last but not least, a big screen and a grandstand area for movies, videos and presentations. The concept is Google inspired but with a classy twist to it since it is located inside a palace.
There is a small podium with a microphone attached to it that can be turned on at any time by the grandstand area and that is where Aleta went. She turned on the microphone and tapped it a few times.
"If everyone could assemble here for a while." Aleta spoke on the mic. All the staff got up from their seats, couch, etc. and crowd around Aleta. "Listen up everybody. The Princess of Orange is coming for an inspection and an update on everything we have. So everyone on their best behaviours. That is all."
Aleta then clapped her hands and got down from the podium and into the meeting room where Hans have set up everything. She then got a new text from Finn saying that they are 5 minutes away. Aleta took a deep breath and straightened out her outfit. She then walked towards the big doors that separate the rest of the offices and the communication department.
Aleta straightened herself once more before the big doors open and the Princess of Orange stroll in followed by Finn, Jane and Gerrit.
"Good Afternoon Your Royal Highness," Aleta greeted the crown princess as she gave her a deep curtsy.
"Good Afternoon Aleta." Crown Princess Arabella greeted her Communications Secretary before walking towards the meeting room.
Aleta updated the princess regarding their social media pages as well as what the online chatter about her is talking about.
"Your Royal Highness, ever since the engagement announcement with Prince Harry this January, our social media pages have skyrocketed. We gained one hundred thousand followers in our official royal family pages. We also have a few requests whereby Your Royal Highness and Prince Harry have your own separate page from the official Dutch Royal Family page. They wanted a separate account for Your Royal Highness and Prince Harry." Aleta started off, showing Arabella the slides on their increasing amount of followers and likes. "The fans have commented saying how they wish you have your own account for them to keep updates on instead of having one together with Their Majesties and Princess Beatrix."
Aleta then moved on the presentation with online chatters. The communications department not only monitor news outlets and websites but also fan pages and hate pages on Instagram and Twitter. This way, they are usually on top of things before the actual news would publish anything.
"Ever since your engagement announcement, fan pages have doubled on Instagram posting pictures of yourself and Prince Harry together the past years, during engagements together, during your visits to London, your appearances with Her Majesty the Queen." Aleta reported.
"And the hate pages? I'm sure they boomed as well seeing as one of the Bachelor and Party Prince is no longer on the market?" Arabella asked her communications secretary.
Aleta swallowed hard before moving on to the next slide which shows a few hate pages that have about five thousand followers. "There are a few that disagree with your engagement with Prince Harry. While some compares you with the Duchess of Cambridge, a lot actually compares you with the Duchess of Cornwall. The only debate they seem to have is who curtsies to who."
"What is it they are saying now?" Arabella asked sarcastically.
Not knowing whether to reply or not, Aleta just answered the question. "A few have said that once you're married to Prince Harry, you would have to curtsy to the 'Blood Royals' as the Duchess of Cambridge have to do as well as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge since you will be lower ranked than them."
"What utter non-sense. Have someone leak tomorrow to a news outlets, one of those gossip ones, and let them know the proper etiquette of a Crown Princess. No matter who it is I am marrying, I will only curtsy to Kings, Queens, Emperors, Empresses and notified leaders such as the Pope. I don’t even curtsy to presidents, why should I curtsy to those who is of another royal family and of a lower rank than mine?" Arabella scoffed before moving on to the next topic.
"Will do Your Royal Highness. If I may, ma'am, the hate reports between you and the Duchesses seemed smaller than that of the previous Prince Harry girlfriends that seemed serious to the media." Aleta said. "It has come to our attention that regarding your trip to the UK, you would like to upload the updates?"
"Yes, I would love to be able to. At least the times when I am not in public. I do like to scroll through it sometimes. Make sure to follow a few royal families Instagram accounts and call them to follow us back. We need to make a very united front against internet trolls." Arabella remarked. "I would like to talk about the future plans when Harry will depart from his joint office with William and Catherine and with merge with mine."
Arabella along with Garret told Aleta that once the prince's office merges with the crown princess, they will be known as the Office of The Prince and Princess of Orange and that Aleta and Hans will be the point person regarding the communications side. They are to gain 2 personnel from the Prince's current office as well as hire an additional 8 more. Thus creating 28 staff under Aleta and Hans. These additional staffs should help ease the burden and have more eyes on the internet for two people.
They continued their meeting, planning what to update, press releases regarding new patronages and future appearances as well as a few events that require the press. Two hours later, Arabella left the department and Aleta sighed in relief. Another inspections and update have passed without any problems. There usually isn’t any regarding the Princess but it doesn’t hurt to be prepared for it.
"Well, that was tense." Hans breathed out.
"Tell me about it." Aleta sighed before turning off the projectors and move back to her office. She have a feeling that it's going to be another sleepless night and that she has a lot of work to do.
Heyyyy, my exams are going on this week but after that I’m on holiday!!! 🎉🎉🎉🎉 so expect the next chapter sometime during the weekend or next week.. I miss my story too believe me ❤️
I will! Sorry for the long wait, but my studies and assignments are catching up. Right now, I'm writing chapter 23 as much as I can. All I can say about this chapter is that it’s very different from all the chapters I've posted so far. Hopefully, it will be up in the next two weeks? Sorry for the really long wait and the short hiatus, I kind of got side tracked with other things..
Arabella has been sitting in her office since half past eight that morning, going through her schedule. Ever since her accident, she's been stuck indoors, so she's using that time to get caught up with her charities, parliament papers and a few wedding things.
She has officialized the wedding guest list, spoke with her graphic designer about the invitations as well as seating plans. The guest list she finalized contained mostly family, friends and staff members. Aunt Lilibet is taking care of those who are to be invited from the British military side, parliament members and politicians. Her father is taking care of the Dutch side of guests.
Arabella also got started on her wedding dress designer search. A lot of designers all around the world have sent in their portfolios in hopes for Arabella to pick them. Arabella remembered the day she went through the pile of portfolios.
It was a week after Arabella got discharged by her doctors and was told to take it easy. That day, Harry had an engagement for most of the day and will probably be back in the afternoon. Without him around, she will be able to resume some work, paperwork, forms and letters that needed her attention sat in a pile at the table. Today however, Eva and Jane came into Arabella and Harry's shared office carrying large piles of black folders.
"And what, may I ask, are those?" Arabella asked from her seat, looking up from the letter addressing her for the next parliament meeting.
"These, are your wedding dress designer portfolios. We need to confirm at least one by the end of the week to get the process started." Jane explained, putting her pile into the coffee table across where Arabella was sitting.
"At least one?" Arabella raised her eyebrows.
"You need to choose one for the main dress, the one in which you will wear during the ceremony. One for the reception hosted by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. One for the more intimate reception hosted by The Prince of Wales that night. One for the civil ceremony in Amsterdam, one for the reception at the Royal Palace hosted by His Majesty, King Willem-Alexander and finally one for the bridesmaids and maid of honor for the main ceremony." Eva told Arabella how many dresses she would need in total.
Arabella's eyes widened and her mouth dropped at the amount of dresses she needed made and how many designers she needed to find. She knew that as the crown princess of the Netherlands, she needs a designer that's Dutch, she also needs a designer that's British. Other than that, she can pay tribute to the commonwealth and so on for other things, such as her bouquet, shoes and jewellery.
With two piles of designers to go through, she called Pieter in and ask him for a glass of wine. She was then reminded by Pieter, that due to her medications, she's not allowed to have any alcohol. Arabella took a deep sigh before turning towards the pile of designers in defeat.
She stared at the pile for fifteen minutes straight trying to find a way to go through it. She doesn’t know where to start, she doesn’t even know what kind of design she wants. All she knows, is that her dresses must have sleeves, due to the wedding being held in October.
With a sigh, Arabella took the first portfolio from the pile and opened it. She was in the middle of flipping through the designs when Pieter knocked on the door. When Arabella called out a 'come in,' Pieter entered the room followed by the Queen of England herself, Queen Elizabeth II.
Surprised, Arabella closed her portfolio and stood up from her seat on the sofa. Following the Queen inside the room was none other than Arabella's step-mother, Queen Maxima of the Netherlands. However, the surprise doesn’t stop there. Behind her Mama, was Queen Silvia of Sweden, Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and finally Princess Caroline of Hanover.
Arabella gave a deep curtsy in front of her godmothers and aunts so that she doesn’t have to curtsy to them individually and a lot of time. Not that she needs to, since she knows that they all hate her curtsying to them, especially in private. One by one, she kissed their cheeks and greet them.
They all sat around the sofa, having settled down when Arabella finally got her voice back and ask them the question.
"Not that I don’t enjoy having you here, what on earth are you doing here, in my office, in London? I understand Aunt Lilibet, she lives like fifteen minutes away, but what about the rest of you? Don’t you have countries to run?" Arabella asked as Pieter came back inside the room carrying six glasses of red wine.
"Well, we heard that you're going to go through some wedding planning today, and thought maybe we can help you?" Silvia ended her sentence with a question, unsure of herself, so she took a sip of her wine.
"Seriously, why are you here?" Arabella asked again, not accepting Silvia's answer.
"Well dear, we had a talk amongst ourselves, and decided we would pick a day we were all free and fly over to spend it with you. We realize that we don’t spend time with you enough, and with that scare last week, we thought we would lose you." Maxima started off.
"It's just a coincidence that the day we chose to come by, you're doing some wedding planning." Elizabeth finished off.
"Honestly we were planning on doing some girl time, get our nails done, do our hair, maybe go shopping." Maria Teresa said. "Although I'm not sure how we're going to pull of the shopping bit." She thought after some time.
So together, the girls went through the portfolios. With each one, they had comments to say. Some they agreed, others they argued. The girls did make a good point, to not use any of their designers.
What Arabella would do, is that she would divide the portfolios into three piles. YES pile, NO pile and the MAYBE pile. With each portfolio, she would open it one by one, go through the designs, each has a profile of the designer, their background, where they're from and so on. Arabella read through the profile with the Queens cutting her off at certain points.
"Georgio Armani," Arabella started off before being cut off by her godmother, the princess of Hanover.
"No no. Not Armani." Caroline shook her head. "He's Italian."
"Yes, I think we all know that Caroline." Maria Teresa rolled her eyes.
"No, I meant that, it's not a good idea to have a designer that’s either not Dutch or British."
"That's a good point actually." Elizabeth pitched in. "Let's keep our choices more English and Dutch, or at least one from the commonwealth. How many designers do you need again?"
"Er, six I think." Arabella said after counting down the amount of ceremonies and receptions plus the one designing her maid of honour and bridesmaids dresses.
"Six?" Margrethe asked surprised. "Why on earth do you need six designers?"
"Well, I need one for the official ceremony, another one for the lunch reception, one for the night reception at Kensington, one for the civil ceremony at Amsterdam, one for the reception at the royal palace, and last one for the maid of honor and bridesmaids." Arabella said. "I figured if I ask one designer or two designers to do all six, they'll have a meltdown."
With that, the five Queens and two princesses go through the many piles of portfolios. Some went to the 'No' pile, some go to the 'Maybe' piles and some go to the 'Yes' pile. They went through most if not all the portfolios and came to a conclusion. The six wedding dress designers will be Olivia van der Berg, Addy Van Den Krommenacker, Christopher Bailey, Jan Taminiau, Vera Wang, and Alice Temperley. They're all balanced with three Dutch dressmakers and three British dressmakers.
Once they were done deciding the designers, they talked about which tiara she would be wearing and talked about everything they possibly can.
"Bella darling, How are you feeling? How's the dreams?" Maxima asked her step-daughter in concern. She can see that Arabella hasn’t gotten enough sleep, with the accident only a week ago, she's concerned about her step-daughter's wellbeing.
"It's been okay mama, it comes and goes," Arabella shrugged.
"Well, trauma like that leaves a lasting impression dear." Elizabeth piped up. "I couldn’t sleep for ages after the war. Royals or not, we were never safe during that time."
"I don’t particularly remember the war itself, but I remember the aftermath. It was a very difficult time for the world." Margrethe said.
"What I'm saying dear, you have to let people in and let your feelings out. It's okay to talk about it. Just know that we're all here for you. Just give us a call and we'll answer." Elizabeth said and the rest nodded their heads.
"Thank you." Arabella smiled before giving each one of her godmothers a hug. "I don’t think I can go through this without you and your support."
They talked for hours before moving to the dining room to have afternoon tea. That's where they were when Harry found them that evening.
When Harry went through the doors that evening, he was greeted by voices of women's laughter and the first thing that he thought was that 'Arabella has some girl friends over. She sounds like she's having fun.' Harry loosened up his tie and ran his fingers through his hair. He then took off his suit jacket as well as rolled up his sleeves.
He followed the laughter and found Arabella in the dining room. Harry got the shock of his life when he entered the room. He was looking down and rolling up his sleeves as he enter the dining room and heard his grandmother's voice. That was when his head snapped up and look around the room where his fiancé was currently sitting at and around her were 5 Queens and 1 Princess.
Harry clumsily bowed his head before moving deeper into the room and kissed his fiancé's cheeks first. He then moved around to kiss both his grandmother's cheeks as well as Maxima's cheeks. From then on, he went around the table and kissed everyone else's cheeks.
Harry had never once in his life had so many monarchs sitting in his dining room table, each of them dressed down and comfortable. It shocked Harry. He doesn’t think that his brother has ever had this many monarchs in his house all at once. He needed to call his brother. He didn’t know what to do. So Harry excused himself and went upstairs to his room and called his brother.
"Harry?" William picked up the phone.
"There's five Queens and one princess in my dining room." Harry blurted out without even greeting his brother.
"I'm sorry, what?" William asked confused.
"Who is it darling? Who's calling?" Kate asked from behind William.
"It's Harry." He answered.
"Well, put it on loud speaker." Kate remarked before taking a seat next to her husband. "How's it going Harry?"
"There's five Queens and one Princess in my dining room." Harry breathed out.
"Yes, I'm sure you've got them in your dining room, they usually have painting of Queens in different rooms." Kate replied.
"No, I mean that there are five breathing Queens and one Princess in my dining room, laughing about something." Harry pressed on.
"What?" William asked, still confused.
"Granny, is in my dining room wearing trousers and a shirt. Queen Maxima of the Netherlands is downstairs as well as Queen Silvia, Queen Margrethe II, Grand Duchess Maria Teresa and Princess Caroline, are all downstairs having tea with Bella." Harry said it all in one breath.
"Breathe Harry." Kate said soothingly over the phone. "I'm sure they're all there to help Bella with the wedding preparations. This is going to be the first inter royal wedding since the 1980s between to reigning houses and being so close to the line of succession."
"Remember, she doesn’t have to just appease to the Brits, she has to also make sure that she includes Dutch traditions as well." William piped up. "Damn Harry, why couldn’t you just marry a normal person, you could have that more intimate ceremony you wanted."
"Honestly, even if right now I am absolutely terrified that there is so many women styled as Her Majesty in my dining room, I wouldn’t change it for anything. She completes me without me having to change anything about myself. If I could have the chance to pick a different choice and marry someone else, I wouldn’t." Harry replied to William.
"Then you have your answer right there. I know you're terrified brother, but look, in the end, you'll have the love of your life beside you." William said. "Go downstairs Harry and be with your fiancé."
With that, the three of the them said their goodbyes to each other and hang up the phone. Harry took a deep breath before slipping his phone to his back pocket and make his way back downstairs.
When he reached the dining room, there was no one there except for Arabella and for a moment he let out a huge breath of relief.
"Where did everyone go?" Harry asked Arabella from the doorway.
"They left, something about leaving us to ourselves," Arabella replied as she stood up from her seat and walk towards him. "Are you okay? You seem a bit off when you arrived."
"I'm fine. Just a bit startled at who was in our dining room." Harry told Arabella.
"Startled?" Arabella asked questioningly before realising what he meant. "Oh, you mean having my godmothers here?"
"Right. Well you see, when I came into the room, I was expecting you to be with your girl friends, non royal, non majesty, girl friends. So imagine my shock when I entered the room seeing you surrounded by five monarchs and a princess." Harry scratched his neck.
"Well, I'm sorry. They flew into town to help me with some of the wedding preparations. They helped me decide my designers as well as which tiara to wear so that’s great." Arabella told Harry. "Why don’t I show you how sorry I am for startling you just now?"
Arabella smiled coyly at him before taking his hand and pulling him up the stairs to their bedroom.
Arabella smiled when she remembered what happened afterwards. Safe to say that Harry accepted her apology.
Arabella sighed and opened the huge folder in front of her. She started her pile and quickly got into working mode. Today, because she has a lot of work to you, her lunch was brought to her and while doing some paperwork for her charities, she ate a chicken and cheddar wrap.
It was two in the afternoon when she had an interruption to her paperwork.
"Mr. Adam, Your Royal Highness." Pieter announced before bowing and leaving the room. Adam entered shortly after and with his was a folder marked with 'Staatsbezoek'.
"Is that the final schedule for the UK visit?" Arabella looked up.
"Yes, ma'am." Adam nodded. "The visit is has been shortened. The final dates are from the 11th of March until the 20th. The official UK dates are from the 11th until the 13th. On the 18th until the 20th you will undergo the visit to Ireland ma'am."
"Three days of official duties and four days of break in between?" Arabella asked rhetorically. "That's better actually. I wont actually lose my mind. I'm guessing I'm staying at Buckingham for the official days and Kensington during the days off?"
"Yes ma'am." Adam said.
"Wonderful. Now about the schedules?"
"On the 11th of March, you will arrive from Huis ten Bosch at one in the afternoon and will go to the Netherland's Embassy where you will be greeted by Prince Henry of Wales there. From there, the both of you will head to the Horse Guards Parade for the ceremonial welcome. Her Majesty The Queen will receive you there as well as the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince of Wales, and Duchess of Cornwall. They will play the Netherland's national anthem before the British' National anthem once you've greeted the Queen. After that the Queen will invite you to inspect the Guards of Honour. Once that's done, you will be escorted to Buckingham Palace, by a large number of mounted soldiers from the Household Cavalry as well as a gun salute fired from Green Park and The Tower of London." Adam then paused before continuing. "You'll have a private tea session with the Queen and family before getting ready for the State Banquet that night at Buckingham Palace Ballroom. Members of Parliament, Government bodies as well as the Netherlands representatives and charities will be attending. The order of procession will be:
Her Majesty The Queen with HRH The Princess of Orange
HRH The Duke of Edinburgh with HRH Prince Henry of Wales
HRH The Prince of Wales with the Netherland's Ambassador
HRH Duchess of Cornwall with the Netherland's Ambassador's wife
HRH The Duke of Cambridge with the British Prime Minister
HRH The Duchess of Cambridge with the British Prime Minister's wife
Representatives of the Netherland's Charities based in London"
Arabella listened to Adam as he listed out what she was doing the first day. As she listen to Adam, she read through the papers that listed down the people attending the state banquet. The dinner will have around 150 people that range from politicians to charities pertaining to the Netherlands.
"On the 12th of March, at ten in the morning, Your Royal Highness will attend breakfast given by the Lord Mayor and the City of London Corporation at Mansion House alongside the Earl and Countess of Wessex. After that, Your Royal Highness will visit Westminster Abbey to lay a wreath at the Grave of the Unknown Warrior and prayers will be said by the Dean. Straight after, you'll go to the Palace of Westminster to give a short address in the Royal Gallery to Parliamentarians and other guests. Later that night, you'll attend the Victoria and Albert Museum Alexander McQueen Gala." Adam told Arabella the second day of the tour.
"Have Aleta and Gerrit prepare the short address for that day. Have them email to me the speech by next week." Arabella remarked before turning the page. Aleta is Arabella's communication's secretary, she handles all of Arabella's speeches and remarks.
"The last day of the tour, March 13th, The Queen will give you a tour of a special exhibition in the picture gallery that's made up of items from the royal collection related to the Netherlands. After that, you'll have a private lunch with the Queen and Family. In the afternoon, you'll visit the Dutch Centre in London."
"And that's it for the first part of the visit?" Arabella asked Adam.
"Yes. Ma'am." Adam confirmed.
"Right, let's move on to the second part of the Visit." Arabella said. "This will be the first time a non-British royal will visit Ireland."
"Yes ma'am. The first day will be on Wednesday, 18th of March after St. Patrick's day. You'll be leaving London after lunch. Once you're there, you'll head off to Aras an Uachtarain and welcomed by President Michael D. Higgins and his wife. You'll have afternoon tea with the President and his wife before going back to the hotel to get ready for the dinner hosted by the President, where you'll be introduced to a lot of the Irish cultures and people."
"The president have dogs right?" Arabella asked Adam and when he nod his head, she continued, "Tell Anna to get a gift for them, dog related."
"Will do Ma'am. On the 19th of March, your royal highness will go to the Gaelic Sports Festival at Croke Park which is home of the Gaelic Athletic Association. After that, you'll head over to the Famine memorial. The last visit of the day will be to EPIC, which is an Irish Emigration Museum."
"I'm guessing lunch will be at Croke Park."
"Yes Ma'am. The third and final day, 20th of March, your royal highness only have two places to go before heading back to Huis ten Bosch. First place you're visiting is Trinity College and see the Book of Kells and learn about Ireland's culture and heritage. After that, you'll visit DogPatch labs. It's a co-working space for technological start-ups, so you'll meet children and young people taking free coding workshops and so forth." Adam finished up.
"Is that everything?" Arabella asked.
"Yes ma'am." Adam concluded before handing the paper where Arabella needs to sign to officialize everything. Once Arabella signed off, he left the office and Arabella went back to her paperwork in front of her.
She finished off her work at six that evening and stretched her body. She handed off the final designer list to Eva for her to contact them, she also gave Sara the name of the tiara she's using for the UK state banquet, which is the Blue Crystal Cluster Tiara that she got from her father and godmother, Queen Elizabath. This will be the first time Arabella is wearing this tiara in public. This tiara is custom made for Arabella using stones from the Queen's personal collection.
Arabella thought to herself as she packed her papers and folders. She's heading back to the Netherlands the next day. Harry has an engagement at Haydon Bridge in Northumberland the next day. It's his first official engagement of the year, technically speaking so he has to go. After that though, he's going to the Netherlands to join Arabella for a few weeks before heading back to London to prepare for his trip to Australia. It's a month long military attachment in Australia and towards the end of his attachment, he'll be back in the public spotlight. Arabella doesn’t mind that he's going away for a month. It's in Australia and she knows that it's been planned for ages.
It's also the last time he's going to be in the army. This is the last thing he's doing before resigning active service, which Arabella is glad about. He's resigning to take a more senior role in the British Royal family as well as be the crown prince of the Netherlands.
Arabella honestly couldn’t wait until her wedding with Harry, she cant help but wish that time would move faster and she'll be with the love of her life.
Chapter 21 was very well written and just wonderful to read how in love they are. The only con I see, is that chapter 21 feels out of place. Specially with how emotional the previous chapters were. I had assumed this chapter would be a continuation of digging into how the car crash made an impact to everyone in the family. As well as how Harry would react (ex. Become more protective, maybe flashbacks from when he learned about his mother’s death...).
Okay, first of all, thank you so much for the feedback 🙏 I really appreciate that you took your time to write about how you feel. I really do want to hear about what you think and I will adjust the story accordingly. Please do leave more feedback about how you feel after the chapter and suggest what you want to input, I’m sorry about the wait between the chapters, My uni started back up and I’m juggling 6 subjects as well as this. I don't want to compromise my writing skills just because I want to update more frequently. I'd rather you guys read good and long chapters than short and messy chapters.
Chapter 21 was supposed to be fluffy and light hearted. The past few chapters have been so emotionally draining that I had trouble trying to finish chapter 20. The thing about emotional chapters is that, I have to re-read it a thousand times to make sure that I'm actually sending out the right messages or the right feel.
There's quite a time jump between chapter 20 and 21 (about 2 weeks) and chapter 22, (which I am writing now), has a lot of flashbacks regarding the two week break period thing.
Don't worry though, there will be flashbacks regarding the accident and trauma that’s going to follow in the future, they wont just forget about it and move on, especially Harry since it hit close to home. I understand that chapter 21 does feel a little out of place, we have to move on to the wedding planning, juggling between two countries and pushy actresses trying to get into Harry’s pants.
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