Not a Typical Princess (Princess Diana's Daughter)

Chapter 4: Crisis Mode

The princess was handcuffed with her face to the cobblestone. However, when she was pulled to her feet and a flashlight flashed on her face, it became obvious that she wasn't the problem. After all, she was Princess Gwendoline. "Apologies, your highness. Apologies." This, of course, was followed by a number of questions. In their shoes, Gwendoline would've had many as well.

It was decided quickly by the police that the princess needed to get out of here. Besides her bleeding back and arm, soon cameras would be crawling over this situation, and they needed to keep a handle on it. With the princess here, it wasn't going to be easy.

At the hospital, as it was well past midnight, it was quiet. The princess stripped out of dress and laid on her stomach as her back was examined. She had no more than three minutes of peace with just the doctor and an armed police officer before it was too loud. The private secretary, probably the first call by the police, call rolling in with palace officials and security. Her old training coach was among them, and while his face gave nothing away, his eyes showed pride. Charles and Camilla, both disheveled and bleary-eyed, came rushing in too.

Charles put his head down by his daughters. "Liney, are you okay?" He brushed back her hair, and she smiled at him. Her father in no way was a young man, and tonight, he looked much older. This stress made his hands swell even worse, and Gwen reached out and took one of them.

"I'm good, Pa."

Charles shook his head and looked up to the doctor. "How is she?" he launched in, and the doctor gave the prince what he wanted, a long explanation with even longer words. Gwen was going to have discomfort and some scarring was possible, she was healthy. She was fine.

Camilla felt out of place in these situations, since she was not a parent of Gwendoline. Nonetheless, Gwen reached over and took Camilla's hand. The duchess bent down to look her step-daughter in the eye. "You kicked arse," she whispered.

"How bad is it out there?" Gwen asked.

"Not great," she said. "People are panicked, as they get. Most people, thankfully, are not awake."

"Do they know it's me?"

"No."

"How long do you think we can get away with that?"

"Buckingham is in charge. They have gone into crisis mode."

"They do that well," Gwendoline said, and Camilla agreed. Buckingham Palace was always on high alert, but that was because the queen and Prince Philip were just elderly. The queen was in wonderful health, but it was rare that Prince Philip made it through the night without a nervous footman checking to see if he was yet alive. "Should I fake a worse injury so I don't have to deal with whatever comes next?"

"I'm not sure if it will help you," Camilla said honestly. "They're calling an emergency meeting."

Gwendoline let out a groan. Her night wasn't over yet.

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The emergency meeting was already going when Princess Gwendoline arrived. The Duke and Duchess of Cornwall walked in first, and the princess trailed behind them. With every step she took, her back screamed in the pain. The stitches were new, and the princess refused morphine. The stitches pulled, and they scrapped against the binding. Her sweatshirt was too heavy on the back. As for her arm, it wasn't nearly as badly. There were just a few stitches and only in the really deep cut areas.

With the session already going, everyone stopped to stare at Gwendoline as she walked in. She didn't flinch under all the eyes with mixed emotions.

There were representatives from every palace. Buckingham had taken lead, as they did always. Besides the representatives, there were also other royals. Beside the queen, Prince Philip looked annoyed and ready to go back to bed. Gwendoline imagined he had been the first to say it wasn't that big of a problem, but everything was considered a problem until something else arose. William was standing, and when he saw his sister, he looked grateful. Harry, who had been sitting next to his future wife with his hand holding hers, crossed the room in an instant and wrapped his arms protectively around his sister. Pain sprung up on her back, but she ignored it, placing her head on his shoulder and squeezing him.

"Are you okay?" Harry whispered, his voice clear but saddened.

"Yeah."

"Don't lie to me, Line."

"Not now, Harry."

He nodded, knowing the feeling. He whispered, "In private then. Later?"

"Yes," she agreed.

The prince released his sister and rejoined his future wife. Meghan made it clear that she was happy to see the princess alive, and she even wanted to make an attempt to hug her too. Yet, she was careful of her place here.

William watched from the corner, his long face in careful consideration. He mouthed, "You good?" He had no one to stand next to as the Duchess of Cambridge was heavily pregnant with her third child and the other two children couldn't be left alone during the middle of the night.

Gwendoline nodded.

"Shall we return to the problem at hand?" the lead private secretary asked. Everyone turned their attention to him. "Princess Gwendoline, we are happy to see you alive and well. We were very concerned. When we heard that there had been a terrorist attack, Her Majesty the Queen was notified, but we had no idea that you might be involved." He made it sound like she was one of the terrorists, like she caused this.

That was always the problem with private secretaries. Unless you were the queen or in line, you were a problem just waiting to happen. The rest of the royals, the ones waiting in line for their turn at the monarchy, were just future problems. In truth, some of them were. Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, who was barely hanging onto his royal duties, had caused many scandals in his day, yet he attended this. Princess Anne, the queen's only daughter, had caused a few in her day, but out of the queen's children, she was the best behaved. On the other hand, the last child, Prince Edward, caused his own problems as well.

Gwendoline glanced to the queen, who wore a blank face. She had seen and experienced many things in her lifetime, but she probably didn't think this was going to happen. The queen most likely didn't think this was a problem to be dealt with.

"We need to work with optics," the private secretary continued.

"Keep calm and carry on," said the queen without hesitation.

"Yes, your majesty. We should do just that."

"And when people find out it's me?" Gwendoline challenged.

The private secretary snapped his eyes to the young princess. "You have an event tomorrow, your highness, a movie premiere. We should probably keep you out of the public's eye for now. We are not sure how they will react--"

"No," she said.

"Your highness, this is not up for a discussion--"

"No," Gwendoline replied. "I will be going to that premiere. That is my event. You will not take it from me. You will not give it to someone else. I'm in good health, and the public react just fine. If they do not, that's your job to clean it up." Her blue eyes looked to her grandmother. "Granny, you know that the public will want to see me. To keep the monarchy calm and moving forward, we must act as if we are above this. We are above this."

The queen smiled. "That's my girl." Her attention turned back to the private secretary. "She will go tomorrow."

The private secretary had no place to argue with the queen. "Of course, ma'am." His eyes had turned hard, and it was easily seen that wheels turned in his head. He had to act quickly if he wanted to keep this on his side. "May I recommend that the princess brings Ms. Markle with her the premiere? Ms. Markle, after all, a former American actress, and she would have insight into the business."

Gwendoline glowered.

The queen, keeping peace, agreed.

Ms. Markle would be going with the princess to the movie premiere. Gwendoline smiled at the compromise, and she tilted her head and smiled. Her back continued to scream in pain, but she kept that off her face.