A Royal Love Story

Chapter Ninety-Three: Visiting the English National Ballet

Isla of Sussex

July 26th, 2013

It has been about a week since George was born. Both Will and Kate had asked me to be one of George's godmother and I couldn't help but feel happy yet sad. Harry and I never asked one of them to be Diana's godparents.

Today I would be making my appearance as a new patron at the English National Ballet. Fortunately, I wouldn't be going by myself but Prince Andrew would be meeting me there.

We had announced on our twitter account that I was officially off of my maternity leave after five months. I started after the Commonwealth service and now I was officially back.

When the car stopped and I heard the cheer I looked towards Sarah who smiled at me.

"Are you ready for them to see you again?" She said and I nodded as I took my cream clutch out of her hands and placed it over my chest.

"Beyond ready," I whispered as my security detail Mark opened my door and I climbed out. I waved to the crowd waiting for me before I saw Andrew and he smiled.

"Isla, my love!" He said as he walked over to me and I kissed both his cheeks.

"Hello, Andrew how are you?" I asked and he smiled.

"Isla, this is Tamara Rojo. She is the Artistic Director and Lead Principal." He said and I looked at the young brunette woman and shook her hand.

"It's wonderful to finally meet you, Tamara," I said as she curtsied to me.

"The pleasure is all mine. When the video was released of you becoming a patron we were all beyond amazed. Your late mother in law was an avid supporter." She said as we began walking inside. I waved to the crowd and took some flowers before we stepped inside.

"My late mother in law was a ballet dancer herself. My husband Harry told me she uses to practice ballet when she was younger." I said before Tamara began to lead Andrew and me towards the classrooms.

"Here are all of our classrooms. We first split up by age. Youngest being around five and six years old and our oldest group is around twenty years old." She explained as we stopped by a window.

"From there, it's gender and then after gender, it's by whether the ballet they are performing needs to be joined together or not." She explained and I smiled softly.

"How many teachers to a class?" I asked as I looked into the room that held twenty-six-year-olds girls.

"For our younger students, we have up to five teachers. But for our older students, there are only two teachers." Tamara said before she led Andrew and me down the hall to the older teens.

The door opened and we saw the teenagers going through a costume change.

"Hello everyone! May I introduce the Duke of York and the Duchess of Sussex who is one of our new patrons." Tamara said and I waved to everyone before a group came towards me.

"When we heard you would be a patron we were so excited. I'm Alice." A girl around sixteen said.

"Oh thank you, Alice! That means a lot to me. What ballet are you guys doing?" I asked as I shook everyone's hands.

"We are performing Sleeping Beauty. We are actually in charge of inviting you to our performances on the second." Alice said and I raised an eyebrow.

"You want me there opening night?" I asked and they all nodded.

"It would be an honor to have you there. I'm Jacob and I play one of the knights." He said and I smiled.