Princess Adeline, Duchess of Clarence

Chapter Sixty-One: Stepping Down

8th of January 2020 - York House

"Are you sure you want to have a birthday party?" Simon asked looking to his wife, it had been something that they had been discussing for a while now and they knew that Daphne would be turning five next month. 

It all seemed rather surreal in his opinion and he'd be more than happy not to turn their house upside down for their daughter's fifth birthday; he had sort of been hoping for a quiet family celebration as they normally did. 

"Yes. She'll be five... she has friends from school that she wishes to invite," Adeline stated getting ready to head out for the day, she had an engagement for the Royal Literary Fund that afternoon that she needed to prepare for. 

It was a quiet day and Adeline was thankful for that, she was eager to come home to her children and she was thrilled that she would be home in time to pick Daphne up from school. 

Sebastian and the twins would be home with Simon all day, they would be fine and her husband was more than capable of keeping the three of them occupied at the best of times. 

It was hard to believe how quickly the last year had passed, it didn't see real how quickly the twins were growing before her very eyes and Adeline wished she could hit pause. 

"I'm just saying... it'd be so much easier if we just had a family celebration," Simon replied shrugging his shoulders, the sound of the front door opening and closing disturbing their discussion and the two of them sharing a look before Kamari appeared looking out of breath. 

"My apologise ma'am... but something has come up," Kamari apologised knowing that there was a lot going on right now and she couldn't allow Adeline to go to her appearance today not after what had happened. 

The Palace had gone straight into defence mode and a lot of the more senior royals were being pulled from their engagements because of what had happened. 

"What is it?" Adeline asked fearing the worst, surely Kamari wouldn't have come here if it wasn't important; her mind raced with possibilities with why her private secretary looked so frazzled this early in the morning. 

There were few times that the Palace had anything to cause such an entrance, her thoughts were on her grandparents who were both advanced in age and she feared something had happened to them.

"It appears that your brother has made an announcement," Kamari stated awkwardly, it had not been expected and it appeared as an attempt to try to force the Palace's hand into giving them what they wanted. 

There had been several phone calls with Charles, who had instructed Harry to send his proposals in writing; although most of the Sussexes demands seemed rather one-sided if Simon was honest about what he had heard. 

Harry's message with their proposed statement described their expectations to retain their titles, privileges and income while living in Canada with them keeping Frogmore, and enjoying round the clock protection costing the British taxpayer £2.5 million a year. 

As well as keeping the £1.5 annual income from the Duchy of Cornwall, in exchange they would occasionally return to Britain but otherwise represent the monarchy from Canada. 

Charles had stalled, saying that he had needed more details so Harry had turned to the Queen to solve his issues but was quickly told that any deal would come from his father not from her. 

The couple had only just returned to the UK two days earlier, Archie apparently back in Vancouver where they had been living since disappearing from South Africa; Harry having expected to force the Queen's hand over a luncheon that had been planned for them.