The story of Eliza Oswald

Part 1

I AM LAZY SO ALL OF IT IS IN ONE PART.

I HAVE ALSO TRIED TO KEEP IT AS ACCURATE AS I COULD BUT THERE WILL STILL BE PARTS THAT ARE WRONG.

ANY PARTS THAT ARE SIMILAR TO OTHER WORKS ARE BY ACCIDENT.

The day was as good as any other in Victorian London. Horses and carts pulling along the street, stall owners selling what little they could just to have enough money to eat that night. Children cold and on the streets looking for a wealthy man to walk past so they could steal just enough to trade for a piece of bread. The streets were cold and dark nearly all day this time of year, January. Elizabeth 'Eliza' was amongst the lucky few that had enough money to live comfortable life, her family with their own estate on the outskirts of London could afford almost anything they needed. Her father Lord David Oswald (Dave to his family) was a member of parliament and her mother, Lady Caroline was often at the palace, teaching the Queens children. The Oswald's were a well-respected and liked family although many disliked how close they were to the royal family as the Queen could not be seen to show either political party favour. This would lead to more than a few arguments over if Caroline should be teaching the royal children. There would be a few snide comments that would be passed around the women in the upper class and the men were not much better. Despite this they were a nice family and were willing to listen to any one and help whenever possible.

Eliza at the age of 18 would accompany her mother (who had been teaching them for the last three years) to her lessons with the Princess Royal, Victoria, the Prince of Wales, Albert, Princess Alice and baby Prince Alfred. Eliza would often oversee the youngest of them all, Princess Helena, during the day when the maids were needed in other places. Due to their proximity to the royal children they were often seen with the royal parents.

Eliza could accompany her mother as she was getting on in her years and was unfortunately quite prone to becoming ill in the winter months. This meant that the two women would spend a lot of time together and to Eliza, Caroline was her best friend. They did everything together. After all Caroline had taught her everything she knew. Caroline saw this as the perfect opportunity to protect her only child from a life of unhappiness. At the age of 18 most women would have found somebody or an arranged marriage would have been set up. Caroline was lucky enough to have been set up with a well-respected and kind man unlike her sister, whom Eliza was named after, was not so lucky. Her husband was a cruel man who didn't care about anything other than himself and the son they had, Aaron. He was a few years older than Eliza and every inch like his father. This was enough to make Caroline do everything in her power to protect her daughter. They were both fiercely protective over their little Elizabeth. She was their only living child as they had lost a son, Phillip, a year before she was born. He was but a babe himself. Taken much like many children of the time through a deadly fever. He was alive for 4 months when it struck and lasted less than a week with the fever. It was slow and painful for everyone in their family. The Oswald's were heartbroken and were so scared when they found that Caroline was pregnant for the second time. They had just watched Eliza's name sake die in childbirth the day before they found out, so they prepared for everything. Yet on the 24th of November 1829 they were greeting a healthy little bundle of black hair into the world. They were beyond happy once little Eliza made it past the four-month mark and would do everything to keep her heathy and free from any danger.

The past year (1846) Caroline and Eliza had been busy, with the birth of Princess Helena, trying to engage Alice and Alfred in their first real set of lessons (basic functional skills) and trying to start full lessons with the oldest royal children they had been working non-stop. Spending more time at the palace this had led to more rumours about the Queen taking an interest in politics that she shouldn't. Lord David was constantly having to defend his family in parliament as they were becoming more concerned that his wife and daughter were at the royal household and possibly changing the Queens opinions on parliament. Many lords in the house of parliament in the other party had started spreading rumours of improper behaviour and scandal about Lord David and his wife. For the most part Eliza was left alone in these rumours, although they did tend to ignore her presence when she was out and about. Throughout all this the Queen showed no desire to rid herself of two of her most-trusted allies and would often have them over. There was even talk that the Queen-who was looking for another lady-was thinking of asking Lady Caroline to fill this role. This of course started even more rumours and spiked more jealousy amongst the other Lords and Ladies and by December 1846 it was confirmed that the Queen was indeed going to ask one of the Oswald women to become one of her ladies. It would not be announced to anyone until the beginning of 1847 but this still caused quite the stir.