Princess Adeline of Wales

Chapter Sixty-Three: Palace Leak

18th of July 2008 - Birkhall

The sound of Prince Charles slamming a newspaper down on the dining room table broke the awkward silence that had gathered in the room since Adeline had arrived for breakfast that morning.

It was the same every day since she had joined her family in their Scottish retreat for the summer, Harry refused to say a word to her until she ended things with Simon.

Looking up from her toast, Adeline peered towards the newspapers that had caused so much upset her stomach twisting at the sight of the headlines.

Royal Rumble!

Prince Harry involved in fight with Viscount FitzClarence!

Princess Adeline's Secret Lover Revealed!

None of the Wales' spoke as they stared down at the newspapers that had so offend their father that he felt the need to slap it onto the table before them in anger.

Charles took a deep breath as he looked around the table, his eyes searching each of his children for any signs that they might know anything about this leak.

It was never a pleasant feeling when the palace aids reached out to him with deep concerns, there was only one way that this story could have leaked as it did.

"Does anyone here have anything to say?" Charles asked, he already had his suspicions on where the leak had come but he didn't want to say it out loud in case it caused further arguments.

It was the way the story about the fight happened that had tipped him off, he had no doubts and he couldn't explain how angry he was that this person thought it was okay to do this.

"I hope that they got who the victor was right," Harry smirked looking across the table at Adeline just wanting her to snap, he leant back in his chair eyeing the newspaper pleased with the picture that he saw on the front.

William reached forward and took the newspaper from the table, a frown deep on his face and he was used to having his own love life splashed across the front pages.

It had been one of the reasons behind him and Catherine breaking up last year, the press made life miserable and after talking for an hour they had decided to part ways because he didn't want to see her suffer like his mother had done.

The media had been pretty intense in the aftermath of their breakup, Catherine's flat in London had been under siege at one point which had forced her to return to her parents home.

Despite breaking up in April, they had gotten back together in June after running into one another at a mutual friend's birthday party where they had talked things through and decided to give things another go.

He would never forget Camilla's 60th birthday party, where they danced and he'd mouthed the words to 'It Had To Be You' by Frank Sinatra to her.

It was only at his RAF graduation in that the press had picked up on the fact that the couple had reunited at some point in the past year, something they had kept quiet even when Catherine had attended the Concert for Diana.

He had promised her that they would get married but for the next few years they could enjoy their twenties, it was all that Catherine had wanted from him really a sign of his commitment to her in all of this.

Hell he had even surprised her by landing a helicopter in her back garden only weeks ago much to Catherine's delight since she hadn't been expecting to see him.

It's what made him understand Adeline in all of this, she had found her bit of happiness and he wouldn't stand in her way for that; she had been desperate to keep her relationship a secret for this exact reason.