The Quintessential Rose of England

Part 9- Fitting In

Queen Elizabeth sat in her armchair on the balcony of the Buckingham palace with her laptop on her lap.

Hum...

She thought as she opens the tab with the bluebird aka Twitter ;)

Her personal assistant and her most trusted advisor, Peter, were by her side.

"Peter, so you told me so many people send Irene congratulations yesterday," She spoke, clearly referring to the couple's wedding day.

"Yes, your majesty," Peter answered.

"Who exactly?" She questioned.

"Buffett congratulated her with a private mail, he personally does not use emails, your majesty."

"But what does she have to do with her?"

"Your majesty, Ummm... apparently he was her maternal grandfather's best friend. And also Bill Gates, who is her mother's former colleague. He sends private mail to the palace's email. Also, there is Irene's friend Elon Musk, a rising figure in LA and Silicon Valley. CEO of SpaceX and Tesla. He sent a public message through Twitter. Saying: Happy wedding day Ri. Thank you for making your change in medicine."

"How did the two meet, do you know, cause the message from Musk sounded very cozy, I never heard William refer to her as Ri... and she never told me about it. Is there anything I need to know about?" Queen sounded concerned.

"They met through a mutual friend on Musk's trip to the UK in 2008. Also on that trip, Musk first met his now-wife Talulah. They hit the ground running the moment they met. I think, your majesty, if there is anything, Musk should've been with Irene rather than Talulah in the first place..."

"Right, that's reassuring." She sighed.

"Peter, do you think she will act on behalf of the institution?"

"Your majesty, haven't you seen what she said in the engagement interview is precisely our stance. Not to mention that she is more interested in matters in England, like mental health, rather than those abroad. Mental health isn't such a thing that is so influential as, may I say, Diana's HIV campaign. I suggest that Your majesty, the duke of Edinburgh, and the prince of Wales pay a visit to the commonwealth states in the upcoming years to assert the palace's power. And between now and then, we can see more of what Irene really wants to do."

"I am just worried that she has too much social influence from the start, look, all those people send her congratulations."

" Your majesty, we shall not depend on her, we shall make more public appearances without the Cambridge family,  We cannot allow another Diana."

" indeed..."

-

So, what is Irene doing？Well, after she got back from their honeymoon, on which she learned two things, 1) the queen is very unsure about whether to trust her and 2) the world is absolutely in her favor.

She knew the latter from the overwhelming amount of positive media coverage on a daily basis. 

She knew the former, because, in the same mon she and William were on their honeymoon, the Queen and Philip made public appearances 2 times as often as usual.

And she also formulated a plan for what to do in the following months back in England. She would do a heck of a lot of things, but to sum up, in two words it would be: forge relationships

William, well, obviously that is easy, she just hopes that she will get pregnant with an heir (boy is preferable) to strengthen her status within the family.

Servants, well, specifically the queens and hers. The purpose is that the queen's servants would say good things about her to the queen and hers would be used for future moves. This is easy. Irene decided to cook at least once with the cooks and servants at the Kensington Palace and when she visits the queen at Buckingham palace, she would talk nicely and maybe even chat with the workers there to make a great impression.

She cooked chocolate biscuit cake with the cooks, she knows this is Wills's favorite food, and it was her way of pleasing him. Because, as she puts it, the way to grab a man's heart is through his stomach.

Queen, this is not so easy... unfortunately... 

Personally, Irene would visit the palace pretty often to better the connection between the two.

Publicly, the value of her campaigns is always the same as the palaces, and the influence of them always stood lower than the queens.

So, Irene remembered to re-frame any sentences that centered around "me", "mine" and "Irene", to one that incorporated "The Palace", "Her majesty the queen", and "The royal family".

The couple was married in February of 2010. When Irene was 21, William was 28.

And gladly, by the summer of 2010, Irene noticed that the queen has lowered most, if not, all of her guards on Irene.

Also at the same time, Irene found out she was pregnant...