Her Royal Highness, Leonor

NOT A CHAPTER: Author's Send-Off

Dear Lovely Readers

Hi everyone! 

I can't believe I'm writing this until I was actually doing so - I can't believe that I was able to share with you Phillipa's fictional story with our one and only precious princess, Her Royal Highness, Leonor.

Having said this, as you are reading this and before we head on to the next chapter; I'm afraid that at this point, I would have to give you a heads-up now: We're already down to our last two chapters of the story.

I know it may come as a shock to you, (I'm really sorry), may sound disappointing, saddening even, as most of you have grown to love the story and the updates I always make a way to provide once a week, but I think we've shared a good time in following Phillipa's point of view and even of that of the Princess and their story in the past couple of months. 

This is where the part of the story will fold on its last pages - this is the part where I say all stories have their ending, and this is me leading you to our kind of ending.

Writing the story has been a reassuring journey for me, as after losing the passion for writing, and having to endure 2022 as my toughest year to battle and survive with - finishing this story is a reminder to myself that I still got my love and flare for writing. I can remember the exact moment back in September 2022 when I stood in front of my computer and started writing the first chapter on this, without any plot or characters planned aside from our two protagonists and it felt like a possibility has been opened for me. Her Royal Highness is my first Wattpad post after a decade.

Writing Her Royal Highness, Leonor has been a wonderful experience for me to revisit what I thought had been long gone from me - my ability to create something out of nowhere through writing. I was hesitant at first to actually use Princess Leonor's name, her Spanish background, the monarchy, her royal title, and her family to be the basis of this story, yet as the story progresses, I think I was able to achieve something: it's to remind her admirers (like most us) that she's also normal, and human and has struggles and emotions that most of us don't see with them Royals - because they always have to appear collected and composed. The possibility of her falling in love with someone that's not royal and with the same gender at this time and age is both a challenge and a pleasure for me to write - it felt liberating writing the possibilities but I always keep in mind to still practice my respect and utmost admiration for the princess and the Spanish monarchy throughout the writing process.

I remembered first knowing her back in 2018 when I was studying the Spanish language in Instituto De Cervantes in Manila - she and her family's details was discussed by our Maestra in class, and since then she has been a recurring admiration for me as I go through the years that followed. By September 2022 the admiration can't be anymore contained within me - I find myself finishing the first three chapters of the story.

I would consider this whole story as a gift to the princess, a gift to the readers who admire her, and a gift to the LGBTQ community. I hope I was able to represent us all, who loves and adore the princess; wherever we fill in on these.

In a way, as I write this, I'm comfortable admitting that Phillipa's character is loosely based from myself - and how I view the Princess. The part with Phillipa about helping people write speeches in the form of a ghostwriter is based on my true experience of it, only the people I helped were not as famous as the Princess - in short, they are unknown professionals in their own fields here in Manila. There are times in the writing process of this story that I can't get myself to write because I was wrapped around the reality I have to deal with either by starting or ending a new chapter. I was that emotionally involved. Yet I always remind myself that I have a story I started, I have a story to tell - even if it's fictional.

After all, I'm just a writer, writing about a princess, whose existence was known to the world, while mine was away and unknown to hers and to the world; at a thousand miles apart. (Notting Hill vibes, I know)

I know it might be impossible but I hope the Princess would be able to read this one day. Just one day. I hope I'll also be able to meet her in person if the chances are to align for me in the next couple of years. I wouldn't mind being that one onlooker who she shakes hands with in public. I wouldn't mind shaking her hand for a brief second, meeting her eyes, and her acknowledging my presence in those brief seconds. I wouldn't mind living and keeping that memory always with me forever.

The next last chapters will definitely make me emotional writing them compared to the last past ones I posted so I would like to ask for understanding if I would not be able to update them at a regular pace like I usually do. 

Thank you for all the interaction, the comments, and the sweet ones you've posted in the recent chapters. Your comments are sometimes what makes my day once every week, writing a new chapter and receiving such notifications are the highlight of my week. Just having the knowledge that I was able to stir that kind of response out of a chapter assures me my writing is still effective.

I'll say this is not a goodbye. This is just us closing one chapter so we can be open to the possibility of opening another.

With so much love,

Eramnesia

January 2, 2023