Princess Adeline of Wales

Chapter Eight: Christmas Eve

24th of December 1997 - Sandringham House

Charles looked around the large sitting room, he could not help but frown at the fact that while his siblings had their spouses; he was here alone so that the people would not be upset when it was not exactly a secret that they were courting. 

It greatly annoyed him that he was not allowed to bring the woman that he loved to the gathering, he would have understood if she could not accompany them out in public but he just wanted to be able to spend the holidays with her. 

And he always was asking for her to stay for the entire holiday, they would have kept a low profile out of respect for the woman that they had hurt. 

Camilla had insisted that she was fine with the decision, she would spend the holidays with her own children instead but it was Charles that believed that she should be here. 

His mother had told him that it was much too soon for Camilla to attend and in time an invitation would be offer but now was not the time for such things; Queen Elizabeth did not want to rock the boat right now. 

For William, Harry and Adeline this was the first Christmas that they would have without their mother by their side; it was only fair that their father should take note of that and help them through it. 

Looking at them now, Charles was not sure what he could do to make this situation easier on them; he was lost and he had never thought that he would have to do this. 

After his divorce from Diana, he had been prepared to ignore his former wife and keep things civil for the sake of their children; he had never thought that he would be left alone to deal with the three of them. 

Diana's death had come as a complete shock to him, he had turned a blind eye to her private life and affairs years ago in favour of focusing on his own. 

Now a part of him regretted just how badly that had worked out, he was not perfect and neither was Diana but their children deserved to have their mother in their life. 

William seemed to be dealing the best with the sudden loss of their mother, he had been focused at school and level-headed despite everything that had happened around him; it made Charles proud that his eldest son was doing so well.

Harry on the other hand was not doing so well, he had gotten into a bit of trouble in school during the last term and Charles had a feeling that he was not dealing well with the death of their mother. 

Then there was Adeline, Charles had no idea how to raise a daughter and he knew that she would likely need her mother a lot more than she needed her father; there was so much to come that he was not prepared for. 

Charles leant back in his chair thinking about what he was going to do, sure things had been discussed with Diana about what she had wanted for her children. 

Diana had wanted them to experience the normal things that children their ages did, she wanted them to have chances that Charles and his siblings could never have imagined. 

Education wise everything was in place, he was sure that if any of them wanted to go to university then they would do so; however, after that he was lost and had no idea what he was doing. 

Charles felt unable to turn to his siblings, his younger brothers either did not have children or they were younger than his own and he felt it was impossible to speak with his parents. 

He detested how they had treated him when he was a child and he wanted better for his own children while he had the chance to offer such things; he knew that they had expected him to send the boys to Gordonstoun like he had been.