Princess Adeline of Wales

Chapter Seven: Sandringham for the Holidays

20th of December 1997 - Sandringham House

"How has school been?" William asked looking across the table at his siblings as they travelled to Sandringham House for the holidays; it had taken all three of them by surprise how fast things had moved for the three of them this term. 

Things had been going well for himself and William was pleased that there had not been many issues for him and Harry to deal with at school; sure, people had stared more often than not but things had soon settled down quickly. 

"Things are fine," Adeline replied with a shrug of her shoulders, she did not wish to tell her brothers about the incident with Henrietta; she did not want to cause any more drama when she rarely saw the girl around school. 

She had managed to keep what was going on at school quiet and that relieved her, she did not want to be a bother when her brothers had their own issues at school to deal with without her complaining. 

William nodded his head, pleased with her answer before focusing on his assignments for the holidays; he wished to get them finished while he had the chance so he could enjoy his two-week break from school. 

The siblings and their cousins had all gathered in a compartment of the train while they travelled to Sandringham House; most doing their homework or catching up with someone that they had not seen in a while. 

"Father doesn't look happy," Harry murmured peeking around to where their father was seated, he had avoided his own siblings and parents to come and sit with the children while they made the trip to Scotland. 

It seemed odd for their father to do so and Adeline peered at him curiously, her own assignment forgotten while she had been talking with her brothers and cousins. 

Beatrice and Eugenie were seated beside her distracting her with the game that they had been playing; she was close with her younger female cousins since they were of a similar age. 

William seemed to be closer to their Phillips cousins, both Peter and Zara were older than the rest; this meant that poor Harry was often caught in the middle of the two groups

"Uncle Andrew was saying that he hoped to have Camilla here for some of the holidays," William mumbled, not knowing if he trusted his uncle with such information especially given the trouble that the man often seemed to find himself in. 

His words snapped Adeline from her thoughts, she peered at her older brother not needing him to explain who the her was that he was talking about. 

Camilla was someone that no one discussed openly in the family especially not after the divorce of Charles and Diana; her affair with Charles and how it came out had done quite a bit of damage to Charles's reputation. 

Adeline had not meet the woman that they were talking about, she was not sure if her brothers had but they had fallen into an unspoken agreement not to discuss their parents' divorce. 

There had been a lot of mud throwing during the final years of the marriage, a fact that none of them could ignore especially as they got older; it was likely going to come up quite a bit when they started to settle down themselves. 

Melissa had rambled on enough about what divorce statistics when the divorce had been announced to make Adeline wonder if she and her brothers were doomed to repeat their parents mistakes. 

"Granny put her foot down and refused... she thinks it would upset people," William mumbled knowing that it would be a long time before people warmed to the idea of his father being with Camilla if ever. 

There were some things that would never heal and people would never truly forget Diana and what she had suffered through in the last years of her life even if it meant painting her as a saint.