I’ve been putting this off.
Writing my beloved Queen’s final scene felt impossible, not because I didn’t know how it would end, but because I didn’t want it to.
I’ve written Helena Mignonette Grimalldi since 2020. For five years, she’s been mine. I’ve carried her through every version of herself. The daughter. The sister. The monarch. The mother. The widow. The woman beneath the crown. I’ve written her young and in love, old and grieving, hardened by power, softened by loss. I’ve watched her rise and fall.
And tonight, she gets her ending.
I didn’t want her final scene to be her death. That never felt right. So instead, I gave her reflection. A reckoning. Not just with the country she served, but with the truth of what she’s done and what it’s cost her.
You’ll notice that as the scene unfolds, she appears younger. I wanted us to see her, all of her, one last time. The Queen. The mother. The girl she once was. Helena, in every form.
She may not be remembered the way she once hoped. And yes, she’s earned her share of criticism. Trust me, I know! But she was never meant to be perfect. I never wanted that for her. She was meant to be flawed. Complicated. Sometimes sharp. Often lonely. Always human.
Thank you for reading her story. For witnessing it all the way through. For being here to see it end.
Long may she reign. 👑
[????]: It’s a good likeness.
[Helena]: They softened the eyes.
[Henry]: They had to. The real ones saw too much.
[Helena]: I thought I’d buried you with all the others.
[Henry]: You did. And still, here I am.
[Helena]: The doctors will call it a hallucination. A symptom. But I know you. You always come when I need you most.
[Henry]: I never left.
[Helena]: I am dying, Henry.
[Henry]: I know.
[Helena]: Will they remember me kindly?
[Henry]: Some will call you cold. Others will call you ruthless. But the wise ones? They’ll call you necessary.
[Helena]: Do you think they’ll ever know what I did?
[Henry]: Perhaps Monaca will, one day. The truth always finds its voice — and secrets, Helena…they have a way of resurfacing, especially the ones we bury deepest.
[Helena]: And when they do?
[Henry]: They’ll debate it. Condemn it. Justify it. Rewrite it.
[Helena]: Will they understand it?
[Henry]: Some will. The ones who’ve buried sons of their own.
[Helena]: Would you have done the same?
[Henry]: No.
[Helena]: Let history remember me as it will.
[Henry]: It will not be kind.
[Helena]: Nor was I.
I have ruled longer than anyone expected. Survived more than anyone will ever know. I loved my country in silence.
In sacrifice. In every decision that stole a piece of who I once was.
I gave Monaca everything — even when it demanded too much.
Even when it gave nothing in return but expectation.
Let them tear at my legacy. I was never meant to be loved — only remembered.
Morana was the one who shaped Helena into the woman she became. It’s only fitting that she’s among the figures Helena sees in the end.
[Morana]: A crown leaves no room for fragility, Helena.
[Helena]: You raised me to be steel.
[Morana]: Because grief was waiting for you. And duty. And a country that would praise you for your strength, but never forgive you for needing anything else.
[Helena]: I learned not to ask. Not to cry. Not to lean.
[Morana]: And look how far you carried us.
[Helena]: Sometimes I wonder if it was worth it.
[Morana]: You wonder that now, because you finally have the time. When it mattered most, you never faltered.
[Helena]: You were always watching.
[Morana]: I was always with you.
[Helena]: Maximilian says I was hard. That I loved him in a way he had to earn.
[Morana]: He’s not wrong. But love, in our family, was never a softness. It was survival. You gave him your name, your country, your burden.
[Helena]: And still I feel like I failed him.
[Morana]: You didn’t fail him. You prepared him. Just as I prepared you.
[Helena]: Did you ever regret it?
[Morana]: Every day. And not once.
[Helena]: I thought if I just kept going, it would all mean something.
[Morana]: It does. You are the spine of this dynasty. The ones who follow will never understand the cost — but they will inherit the strength.
[Helena]: Was I a good Queen?
[Morana]: You were the one they needed. And you endured.
helena has never made it easy for max, not as a son and certainly not as her heir. born on the day she was crowned, he has always been both a symbol of her legacy and the shadow of her end. she resents him for it, quietly, always has. not because she doesn’t love him, but because loving him means accepting that one day he will take everything she has spent her life holding up.
for her to finally accept he is ready, not just to rule but to carry what she never could say aloud, is the closest thing to grace she has ever given him.
she doesn’t step down. she doesn’t abdicate. she simply sees him.
and for max, after a lifetime of falling short, that is finally enough.
[Anchor]: Tonight, questions mount over whether Queen Helena will follow the example of other countries’ monarchs and step aside for her heir
[Commentator 1]: It’s been months, and the palace has yet to formally address Queen Helena’s public stumble at Prince Henry’s memorial — an incident that sparked immediate concern and has continued to fuel speculation across the nation.
[Commentator 2]: Abdication in Monaca is virtually unprecedented. To relinquish the Crown, even voluntarily, would feel like a failure of the very principles she was raised to uphold. For Helena, service is lifelong and stepping down may be seen, internally, as abandoning that legacy.
[Anchor]: Meanwhile, Crown Prince Maximilian has quietly assumed several of Queen Helena’s duties in recent months. While no official transition has been announced, his growing role has led many to see this as the beginning of a silent shift in power.
- - -
[Maximilian]: You’ve never made it easy to talk to you.
[Helena]: It was never meant to be easy.
[Maximilian]: No, it wasn’t. You were always stronger than everyone in the room. But sometimes I needed a mother, not a monarch.
[Helena]: You think I didn’t love you?
[Maximilian]: I think you did. I just think you had a very hard way of showing it.
[Helena]: I love you. Fiercely.
[Helena]: But I loved you like someone bracing for war. Always preparing you. Always testing you.
[Maximilian]: I spent most of my life thinking I disappointed you.
[Helena]: You did. When you betrayed your vows to Margot, I was furious.
[Helena]: But what matters more—what I never said— Is that I was proud when you stayed. When you repaired what you broke. That takes more strength than I ever gave you credit for.
[Helena]: You remind me so much of me… and I punished you for it.
[Maximilian]: You leaned on Henry. Never on me.
[Helena]: Because Henry was the only person I didn’t have to be strong for.
[Helena]: And I didn’t want you to see how much of this life had cost me.
[Maximilian]: You should’ve let me in.
[Helena]: I didn’t know how.
[Helena]: But I see the man you’ve become. You are a father, a husband, a leader… And I am proud of you.
[Maximilian]: Then let me carry this now. You’ve done enough. I'm ready.
[Helena]: You are ready. But I’m still here. And I will be—until my very last breath.
[Helena]: The Crown is not a burden I’ll ever pass early.
[Helena]: But when the time comes… it will be yours. And I will go knowing it’s in the right hands.
Helena's first hallucination was Eleanor Reindal, which happened in this post.
[Dr. Lombardi]: Thank you for seeing me, Your Majesty.
[Helena]: Let’s not waste time, Doctor. Tell me what I need to know.
[Dr. Lombardi]: Following the latest scans and assessments, we’ve found signs of early-stage Lewy body dementia.
[Maximilian]: What does that mean?
[Dr. Lombardi]: There will be memory loss. Disorientation. In time, you may experience visual hallucinations. Changes in mood. Fluctuations in awareness.
[Contessina]: Is there a treatment?
[Dr. Lombardi]: No cure, but there are ways to manage symptoms.
[Helena]: How long until it can’t be hidden?
[Dr. Lombardi]: It varies. But you’ll know.
[Helena]: Thank you, Doctor. You may go.
[Dr. Lombardi]: Of course, ma’am.
-
[Maximilian]: Mother…
[Helena]: There will be no statement. No handover. No sympathy.
[Maximilian]: Mother...
[Helena]: I am still Queen, Maximilian.
[Maximilian]: I know.
[Helena]: Then act like it.
[Helena]: This stays between us. Understood?
[Contessina]: Yes.
[Helena]: Good.
(She walks out without looking back.)
[Contessina]: She's going to need us. Need you. Now more than ever.
Helena’s final arc is about realizing, late but not without meaning, that love mattered more than duty. She lived her life as steel, but in the end she is finally letting herself be vulnerable.
My dearest Eleanor,
One day, this letter will find you on the edge of everything — the weight of the crown just close enough to feel. Before that day comes, I want you to know something I was never brave enough to say aloud.
Do not make the same mistakes I made.
You will be Queen. You will serve your people. You will bear the burdens of a thousand voices. But do not let duty swallow you whole the way I once did.
When I married Edward, I believed love could be managed.
That time and obedience would make it easy. But I never let him in. I never softened. I thought strength meant silence. I was wrong.
Maximilian grew up with a mother who ruled before she loved.
Nicholas died trying to prove he could survive the system I refused to dismantle.
And Contessina — she never asked for much, and I gave her even less.
I look back and wonder how different their lives could have been had I chosen to lead from my heart.
You are not me, Eleanor. You are softer, warmer — and stronger because of it. Do not lose that warmth, even when they tell you it’s weakness. It isn’t. It’s the very thing that will keep this family together.
Love William. Be present for Ingrid and Milian. Let them know you, not just your title. Let them see you tired, and flawed, and still trying.
They won’t remember every decree or speech you give — but they will remember the way you made them feel.
[Helena]: My grandparents. King Maximilian and Queen Morana. He was never supposed to be King.
[Milian]: Then how did he become one?
[Helena]: His older brother, Crown Prince Nicholas, gave up the throne. He fell in love with someone the family wouldn’t accept… so he walked away. And my grandfather—he did his duty.
[Helena]: He didn’t want the crown, but he carried it anyway. That’s what we do, Milian. When history changes, we carry it.
[Milian]: Will history change for me?
[Helena]: One day. In some way. And when it does—you won’t face it alone.
[Helena]: I had Henry. My brother. When I couldn’t stand on my own, he held me up. For you, it will be Ingrid.
[Milian]: Ingrid’s bossy.
[Helena]: So was Henry. That’s how you know they’ll lead when you can’t.
[Milian]: Will I be a good king, Grandmama?
[Helena]: If you love your family, your people, and your name— then yes. You will be great.
