Princess Adeline, Duchess of Clarence

Chapter Eighty-Three: Lighting the Beacons

2nd of June 2022 - Windsor Castle

Stepping out of Windsor Castle which had been her place of residence for two years now, the Queen with the aid of a walking stick made her way out and towards the podium that had been set up to start the lighting of the beacons. 

The sun was setting and dressed in a pale green dress, she moved towards the podium to the sound of trumpets with one of her most loyal ladies at her side. 

The Queen made her way down the pink carpet towards a bright pink podium that had been set up; there were people gathered to watch as she made her approach. 

It was hard not to note how different the Queen looked, she was slightly hunched over as she walked and appeared to have lost quite a bit of weight in recent months. 

Unclose with the monarch for the first time, it was more clear than normal that there was something wrong with Her Majesty despite the fact that nothing about her health had been announced. 

Stopping in front of the podium, the Queen held the walking stick in both of her hands as one of the beef eaters approached carrying a orb on a pillow to the Queen before her bowed his head to her. 

"Your Majesty. The commonwealth of nations globe," the beef eater stated before he set the purple cushion with the orb on the bright pink podium that was before the Queen. 

He moved away after that to stand with the other beef eaters, while the Queen reached forward to press the commonwealth of nations globe that she had been presented with; upon being pressed the lights along the floor started to light up leading along the grass on the inside of Windsor Castle. 

Outside Buckingham Palace, Prince William was stood lighting the beacon there for the large gathering that had come to see the beacon lighting; it was in the centre of the stands that had been set up for the coming festivities. 

Once the tree had lit up, the choir begun to sing which lead into the lighting up of Buckingham Palace; first in the purple colouring that had been selected for the jubilee followed by images of the Queen. 

Seven images of the Queen had been selected, a picture for each decade of her reign to light up the Palace on such a special occasion that they were currently seeing. 

From there William spoke with some of the school children that had gathered, he spoke with them about the plant a tree for the jubilee initiative that they were taking part in with their school. 

From there William moved to speak with other people that had been involved in not just setting up the beacons but the stage that had been set up around the outside of the entrance of Buckingham Palace. 

The entire front had been transformed for the occasion, with a giant stage in place for the events to take place on and there were screens for people to see. 

The Palace looked amazing with the images of the Queen projected onto it with the balcony hosting the biggest image of all of Her Majesty with the most recent picture on display. 

Once he was done, William prepared to head back to Kensington Palace for the night; he climbed into his car and sighed knowing that today was just the start of the weekend. 

Tomorrow would see them attend the service of Thanksgiving at St Paul's, it was one of the shorter days of the week but it would also be the first time that he had been anywhere near Harry and Meghan since this had all started. 

Making the slow drive home, William couldn't help but think about everything that was happening, there was so much going on behind the scenes that his stomach turned thinking about the future.