On February 19th 1594 Henry Frederick Stuart, first child of James VI and Anne of Denmark, was born at Stirling Castle.
Henry Stuart would become the king who never was
He was thought to have great promise as a Prince although he had violent anti-Catholic opinions. Accomplished in sports he was also a patron of the arts and an avid collector. In 1610 he was created Prince of Wales. But he died suddenly, probably due to typhoid fever, on 6th November 1612.
His body lay in state for a month at St James' Palace until his funeral at Westminster Abbey on 7th December (parallel funerals were also held in Oxford, Cambridge and Bristol). Two thousand mourners attended in the procession accompanied by the music of fifes and drums and people of all ages lined the streets. Archbishop Abbott gave the funeral sermon. A magnificent hearse was erected on which was placed his richly clothed funeral effigy. The robes were those worn by the Prince at his creation as Princes of Wales in 1610. This effigy was made by Richard Norris with the plaster face modelled by Abraham Van der Doort. Unfortunately only the wooden frame of the effigy now remains. The robes had been stolen as early as 1616 and the head had gone by 1872. This is the earliest surviving effigy in England of anyone other than a king or queen.
He was buried in the vault of his grandmother Mary Queen of Scots in the south aisle of Henry VII's chapel.
Read more on Henry Stuart here http://www.unofficialroyalty.com/henry-frederick-prince-of-wales/
He came into the shop when she was with another customer – Mr. Dively. He was currently telling her all of his plans for his first trip to Disney World. He says the trip is for his daughters but Mr. Dively’s animated voice and flamboyant gestures say otherwise. There was a whole schedule made and he made sure that Violet knew the entire thing, insisting that if anything were to happen in their little village of Cheshire West and Chester, she would know what he’s doing at that moment before she rang him. She’s not sure what he’s expecting to happen, but she listens anyway.
He walks in just as the photos of matching outfits came out. (“Just in case one of the little ones got lost, you know?”).
He’s with Anne, a regular at the shop. He was wearing casual trackie bottoms. They were blue with a red stripe down both sides of the leg. They probably still cost more than all of Violet’s textbooks combined. He has on a plain white t-shirt, something she can likely afford, and some trainers with tall grey socks. There were shades perched high on his head, hidden by the abundance of curls that adorned his head and an annoyed expression on his face. She hopes he’s nicer than he looks at the moment.
Violet shoots Anne a quick smile, just as a bit of acknowledgment before she returned back to Mr. Dively. Violet then assumes that Anne is his mother. It makes the most sense.
“- have my number just in case you should ever need it.” He grabs his camera, universal stick and prints quickly before shuffling out of the way for the next in line. “See you in a week, Violet. Try not to miss me too much.”
Violet chuckles to herself, waving towards Mr. Dively even though he wasn’t looking back.
Next in line was Anne. She came to the till with a large smile on her face, nearly resembling a child whose left lessons early. Anne’s son, on the other hand, continued to stay barricaded by his private security detail. He looked exhausted. If the purple rings under his eyes were anything to go by Violet would reckon it was a couple of days since he’d gotten proper sleep.
“Violet, love, alright?”
Violet gives Anne her best smile as she watched to older woman dig around in her bag for something, presumably her universal hard drive.
“Not quite peachy keen, but I’ll get by.” Unlike other customers, Anne gets the full scoop of Violet’s life. Violet finds some type of comfort in Anne and she reckons Anne finds some in her too.
“Oh no, dear. Why’s that?” At this point, she’s still digging. This is what usually happens. It’s always ‘in the bottom of my purse somewhere’ or ‘hiding from me.’ Violet didn’t mind. It keeps the conversation going, and in a camera and printing shop with only three employees, Violet very much so loves outside conversations.
“Mums been buggering my head in since I came home from University. She pops into my old room at least ten times per hour just to see if I’m still there.”
“Your mother has missed you! Her only child has moved four hours away and hardly ever visits. I reckon she has the right to bugger you.”
Violet just laughs lightly at Anne’s response. Her mother and Anne have never met but she can tell they would get along easily.
Violet then looks at Harry and he’s looking around the shop with a scowl. She wonders what for. Anne must have noticed the silence because she looks up for a second before tucking back into her purse and saying, “Violet, I nearly forgot – my son, Harry. Harry, my dear friend, Violet.”
Harry’s head pops up at his name and Violet is stunned. Of course, she’s seen photos. Media photos and personal photos on Anne’s mobile. But nothing really prepared her for how handsome Harry is now that he’s right in front of her. He takes a step forward, already looking uninterested in the conversation, before shaking Violet’s hand. She glanced at the security detail and he looked around the shop, a bit embarrassed, but he didn’t say anything.
“Would you like me to lock the doors?”
Anne looks at Harry and then back at Violet. “Oh, love, you don’t have to do that.”
When she responds, it’s towards Harry. She can feel her cheeks go a bit hot, but she decides to ignore it. “It’s alright. It’s nearly a quarter to six. We’ll be closing soon.”
Then, he finally speaks. He’s got a smooth voice. It reminds her of warm honey and peanut butter sandwiches in the back garden on a sunny summers day with her dad's famous cup of breakfast tea.
“If you insist, that would be lovely.”
She nods with a smile. The keys are in her hand instantly and she tracks from behind the counter quickly. The security detail is now following her, presumably leaving. When the shop had been locked, and the bulky men had exited, there was almost a breath of fresh air in the atmosphere.
“Ah-ha!” Anne exclaims, holding the stick in the air.
Violet laughs and grabs the stick. “Reckon you should sellotape it to your forehead; you’ll never lose it then.”
The three of them laugh, and then Harry says, “then add your mobile up there – know how you are mum.”
Anne rolls her eyes and turns back to Violet. “It’s the folder that says Jamaica 2017.”
“Oh, lovely. You went on holiday?”
“Oh no. I wish! Harry’s just gotten back from Jamaica. Written a whole album, he has.”
Harry looks at his mom a bit panicked. “Mum, you can just tell people that.”
Anne chuckles as the images print. Violet already knows Anne’s usual size for all types of prints. Portraits are a little larger than landscape and landscapes are a little larger than items. “Violet is not people Harry. And to be frank, Violet knows quite a lot about you. Maybe even things you don’t know.”
Violet blushes at this comment but keeps her head down, labeling the separate photo packaging boxes.
There is a slight awkwardness now. The only real noise in the store is the photo printer buzzing away. The silence was nearly unbearable. Violet wondered what Harry had thought of Anne’s statement because she didn’t give any further explanation. He might think she’s a stalker or some type of mega fan.
Violet takes the first set of photos out and examines them for miss prints. They all looked wonderful. She would love to go on a tropical holiday at least once in the next few years, but with the way it’s looking financially, she’ll be lucky to have a spot at her university in the fall semester.
“I’m gonna browse around.” Violet is grateful that Anne had decided to crack the ice. She was afraid they could hear her thoughts of how silent it was. Anne made a straight shot to the other side of the shop, leaving Harry and Violet alone at the till.
Harry rocks a bit on his feet while Violet continues to sort the photos out on the worktop. She was surprised when Harry decided to break the silence.
“You’re a fan?”
She glances up a little too fast, bits of her hair fell in her line of sight and she scrambled to put them back in place. “No...I mean...I don’t, like, seek your stuff out.”
He nods, makes a surprised face, and scoffs. “Way to humble me, I ‘spose.”
“Oh,” she blushes. “No, I didn’t mean like that. I just never really have t–“
He chuckles. “It’s okay, Violet.”
Her name rolled off his tongue like gooey, melted chocolate. Or a spoonful of Jif’s creamy peanut butter. The way his lips curved around her name made her wonder what they taste like.
It was silent again. Anne had disappeared from sight, the photocopier was buzzing, and Harry was still making Violet’s hands sweat. “Is your music any good?”
Harry’s visibly taken aback by the question. He nods very confidently. “I would like to think so.”
Violet scoffs. Her eyes roll around and she looks up at Harry with something resembling a smirk. “Well, duh, you think so.”
He smiles. “Love, I’d like to think a couple hundred thousand people agree with me.”
“And every single one of them, up your arse.”
He leans against the worktop now, much closer than he was before. In fact, if it were anyone else Violet would’ve claimed it to be too close. “Is that true?”
“Oh, most definitely.” She packs the last set of photos in the package and glances up at Harry.
“Would you give me a second opinion then?”
“Excuse me?”
“Heard me. Want to listen to my album?”
“Or what?”
“Does there have to be one?” He asks.
She shakes her head softly, bits of her hair falling back in her face. She didn’t push it back this time. “No. I’d love to.”
He smiles, dimples and teeth popping out this time. She thinks it’s the most beautiful thing she’s ever seen. “Great. Dinner then. At mums. Surely she’s told you our address.”
Violet laughs at this because yeah, she has. “See you then.”
“See you then.”
They hadn’t realised it but it’s been a while since they looked away from each other. She was studying his face, wondering exactly how he’s gotten it so smooth and symmetrical.
“You’re done!” Anne’s voice startled them both, making the pair pushback from their unusually close proximity. This doesn’t get away from Anne. In fact, nothing has. She’s been watching this whole time. “How much will it be?”
“Nonsense Anne. You know it’s always on the house.”
“And I always pay. Now, how much?”
Harry quickly pulls his wallet from his pocket and hands Violet fifty quid. She began to ring up the change while Harry got scolded by his mum.
“Keep the change,” Harry says.
Violet shoves it further in his direction. “That’s a lot of change.”
“Keep the change,” he repeats. She sighs and sorts the pence back into its place. When she looks back up both of them are watching her. “See you at dinner.”
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