H.R.H. (27 page)

She said a single word as she looked at them. “Yes.”

As soon as she said the word, everyone in the room was smiling and looked relieved. In spite of the terrible tragedy that occurred that night, the members of Parliament were pleased. The prime minister reminded her that Elizabeth had become Queen of England at twenty-five, and it was a far bigger country and greater responsibility. There was no doubt in his mind or those of everyone else in the room that she could rule Liechtenstein, and well, at twenty-four. Christianna looked totally amazed.

He then told her what would happen next. “Each of us will call four members of the Family Court, to put both of these proposals before them. That you will be the reigning princess of Liechtenstein, as the first woman to do so, and hereafter women will be allowed the succession, and that your title will be Royal Highness now, due to your mother. There are twentyfive of us, and we will contact the entire Family Court today. If they vote in your favor, and ours, we will hold a private investiture tonight, in this office. It is my most ardent hope that that will happen. Liechtenstein cannot be without a leader, and we sincerely believe that you are the best person, the right person, and the only person for the job.” He stood then, looked at her and around the room, and added, “May God be with us all, and with you, Your Highness. I will call you with the results this afternoon.” And then, before she could catch her breath or change her mind, they filed out of the room. She stood there for a long moment after they left, and looked at the portraits or her greatgrandfather, grandfather, and father that hung there. She looked into her father's eyes in the portrait that was so very like him, and sobbing, she left the room.

Chapter 20

T
hree men with machine guns walked Christianna upstairs to her bedroom, where Sylvie was waiting for her. She looked as shaken as everyone else in the palace that night. She looked frightened and exhausted and grief-stricken. Prince Hans Josef had been a wonderful man. And before Christianna had even fully entered the room, she reminded her that they had a funeral to plan. A state funeral, for both of them, the reigning prince and the crown prince. Christianna couldn't even get her mind around it, let alone do it.

“Would you like to lie down for a few minutes, Your Highness, before we start?” Christianna nodded, thinking that this woman didn't even know what was coming. If the Family Court voted as the ministers wished them to, by that night she would be reigning princess. It was too terrifying to even think about.

A moment later Sylvie left the room, and said she would be back in half an hour. The three men with machine guns followed her, and stood right outside the door, while Christianna lay down. There was only one person she wanted to talk to now, the only person she knew would help her and support her. She didn't even check to see if she had an e-mail from him. She was sure he had heard by now. However tiny her country was, she was sure that the bomb that had killed her father and Freddy was an explosion that had been heard around the world.

She picked up the phone that sat next to her bed, and dialed Parker's cell phone. Even in her confusion and misery, she vaguely remembered that it was Thanksgiving and he was in San Francisco.

He answered on the first ring, and had been desperate for her call. He knew there would have been no hope whatsoever of reaching her if he tried. Everything he had seen on the news had suggested chaos at the palace in Vaduz.

“My God … Cricky? …Are you all right? … I'm so sorry … I'm so sorry …I heard it on the news.” She listened to his voice and just sat there and sobbed. “Sweetheart, I'm so sorry this happened. I couldn't believe it when I saw it.” The news had shown a blazing fire on the palace grounds, and soldiers and riot police running everywhere. The palace looked completely overrun. To Parker's dismay, there had been almost no mention of her whatsoever. All he knew was that she was alive.

“Neither could I,” she said miserably, trying not to remember it again … that awful moment when the car had turned into a ball of flame, taking her father and Freddy with it. “I was standing right there when it happened.”

“Thank God you weren't in the car with them.” At first he had been afraid she was. And as he said it, she suddenly remembered that Freddy had offered her the ride first, and she had declined. It was the hand of fate. “Are you all right? I wish I were there to help you. What can I do? I feel so helpless.”

“There's nothing you can do. I have to begin planning the funerals in a minute. They're waiting for me, but I wanted to talk to you first. I love you … something else terrible has happened,” she said, sounding mournful, and Parker braced himself for yet more bad news. It was hard to believe it could get any worse than this, or even come close. “There is no one else in direct line for the succession. All my father's cousins are terribly old … they're Austrian …Parker, they want to change the law about female succession. They're putting it to the Family Court today.” She choked on another sob. “They want to make me reigning princess … oh my God, how could I ever do that? I don't know anything about it, I could never do the job …and my life will be ruined forever. I would have to rule the country till I die, or pass on the succession to one of my children one day …” She was crying so hard she could barely speak, but he had heard every word she said. Thousands of miles away, he looked as shocked as she had. He couldn't even begin to imagine what that meant.

“And they want to make me a Royal Highness, because of my mother, not Serene.”

“You've always been royal to me, Cricky,” he said gently, trying to soften the blow for her. It seemed like an awesome responsibility, even to him. But like her ministers, he didn't doubt for a moment that she could do the job. He knew she could, and would do it well. He didn't even have the remotest idea of what it meant for them. And all he could think about was how worried he was about her. Not only did she have to face the grief of losing her family, but now she had to take over running a country as well. It was truly beyond belief.

“Parker …, ” she said, choking on sobs, “I'll die an old maid.” She sounded like a child as she wailed, and all he wanted was to put his arms around her.

“I don't see why that has to be the case. Your father was married and had children. Queen Elizabeth of England was married and had four kids, and I don't think she was much older than you are when she became queen. I don't see why one has to exclude the other,” he said sensibly, trying to calm her down. The one thing he didn't see was how he fit into the picture now. If anything, it seemed worse for them. With her new status as a Royal Highness and no longer a Serene one, he was even less likely to be considered suitable for her. The only difference now was that she would be making the rules, and he couldn't help wondering if that changed anything. Her father had had the power to allow her to marry a commoner, and refused to use it. But Parker had absolutely no idea if the prince could have married one himself, and in Cricky's current griefstricken state, he wasn't about to ask. He knew that other monarchs had married commoners, particularly in Scandinavian countries, and he vaguely remembered they had given them titles and everything was all right. For the moment, Doctor was good enough for him, he wasn't going to worry about the rest. She had enough on her mind right now. He didn't want to add his concerns.

“Queen Elizabeth was twenty-five!” Christianna corrected him in a choked tone, and this time he laughed.

“I think you're up to it by a year. Do you want them to wait a year?” he teased.

“You don't understand,” she said, sounding miserable and very young. “If the Family Court says yes, there will be a private investiture tonight …I will be reigning princess by tonight … how am I ever going to do that?” She was crying harder again. The poor thing had lost her father and her brother only hours before, and now they were putting a whole country on her back. It would have been a lot for anyone to swallow at one gulp.

“Cricky, you can do it. I know you can. And just think, now you can make all the rules.”

“I don't want to make the rules. I hated my life before, now it will be worse … and I'll never see you again.” She couldn't stop crying, and he wished more than ever that he could hold her and calm her down. She had so much to go through in the coming days.

“Cricky, now you can do anything you want. We'll see each other again … don't worry about it. Whenever you can see me, I'll be there. And if you can't, I love you anyway.”

“I don't know what I can do. I've never been reigning princess before, and I don't want to be.” But she knew she couldn't refuse. She felt as though she owed it to her father to take this on, so she had agreed.

Sylvie stuck her head in the door at that point, and tapped her watch. They had to get to work. They had state funerals to organize, two of them. Christianna was beside herself. She didn't even have time to properly mourn her father and brother, no chance to absorb what had happened, and within hours she would have a country to run, and thirty-three thousand people she would be responsible for. The very prospect of it was terrifying, and he could hear it in her voice.

“Cricky, you have to try to calm down. I can't even imagine how awful this must be. But you have to do everything you can to hang on now. You can't afford to do anything else. Call me anytime you want. I'm right here, sweetheart. I love you. I'm right there with you. Now try to be strong.”

“I will …I promise … do you think I can do it?”

“I know you can.” He sounded loving and calm.

“What if I can't?” Her voice shook as she asked.

“Then you fake it for a while and figure it out as you go. No one will ever know the difference. You're the boss. All you have to do is act like it … maybe start with a few beheadings. Something like that,” he teased, but she didn't smile. She was completely overwhelmed.

“I love you, Parker … thank you for being there for me.”

“I always am, baby …I always am.”

“I know.” She promised to call him back later, and went to find Sylvie in her office. She already had mountains of papers on her desk. Christianna had to make the decisions, and Sylvie and her father's staff would do the rest. All she had to do was plan their funerals right now. She would worry about the rest later. And everywhere she went, men with machine guns went with her. They were still on high alert.

The first thing Christianna did was plan two state funerals. One in Vienna, the other in Vaduz. There were no bodies to lie in state, she realized with horror. So she and Sylvie planned a mass at St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, and the following day, they would have one at St. Florin's in Vaduz. It was Thursday, and they planned the first one for the following Monday, and in Vaduz the day after. She had to select the music and decide what kind of flowers. They decided to have two empty caskets at the service, and a reception afterward at Palace Liechtenstein. The security considerations were enormous, given what had happened. And the same would be true in Vaduz.

She worked on it all day with Sylvie and her father's staff, and was still hard at work on it, with no sleep the night before, when the prime minister called her, and Sylvie handed her the phone. She said that he wouldn't say what it was about. Christianna knew, but they had told no one yet.

“They approved it,” he said in a serious voice, and as she heard it, Christianna gasped. In some tiny part of her, she had hoped they wouldn't. But they had. Now she had to live with the consequences of accepting their offer that morning. “They also named you a Royal Highness. We are very proud, Your Highness. Can you do it at eight o'clock tonight?” It was already after six. “I thought perhaps we could do it in the chapel. Is there anyone you want there other than your ministers, Your Highness?” She wanted Parker there, but it wasn't possible. The only other people she wanted were Sylvie, Sam, and Max. They were her best friends now, and the only form of family she had left. She would have asked Victoria to come, but there wasn't time.

“We'll announce it to the press tomorrow morning, to give you a night of rest. Will that be all right, Your Highness?”

“Absolutely. Thank you,” she said, trying to sound gracious rather than terrified. She remembered that Parker had said to fake it for a while, and no one would know. And she realized as she hung up, after thanking the prime minister again, that after eight o'clock that night, from now on everyone would address her as “Your Royal Highness.” Everything in her life had changed in the blink of an eye … with the explosion of a car … It was impossible to absorb all that was happening. The Family Court had voted unanimously to let her reign. All she could do now was pray that she didn't let them down, and work as hard as she could for the rest of her life to make sure that was the case. But her father's shoes seemed too big to fill, especially with feet as small as hers.

“We have to go to the chapel at eight o'clock,” she said to Sylvie as she hung up. “And I need Sam and Max.”

“Is there a mass?” She looked puzzled. She hadn't planned it or notified anyone. Christianna looked ravaged and vague.

“Sort of,” she said. “It's just the members of Parliament and us.” Sylvie nodded and went to notify Sam and Max. It was seven by the time she found them. At a few minutes before eight, Christianna and the others left her father's office for the chapel. And as they did, she couldn't help thinking that twenty-four hours before, her father and brother had been alive.

She had had a call from Victoria that afternoon, offering her condolences, and telling Christianna that when it was all over, she should come and stay with her in London. Christianna realized that from now on she couldn't do any of those things again. From today on, when she went anywhere, it was a state visit. Her life would be even more complicated than it had been before. And in much greater danger, given what had happened.

When they got to the chapel, the ministers and the archbishop were waiting for them. The ministers looked solemn, and the archbishop kissed her on both cheeks. He said it was both a happy occasion and a sad one. He spoke about her father for a few minutes, and as Sylvie, Sam, and Max realized what was happening, all three of them began to cry. It had never even occurred to them that this could happen.

The prime minister had had the foresight to get Christianna's mother's crown out of the vault, and her father's sword for the archbishop to use for the investiture. The prime minister gently set the crown on her head, and she knelt before the archbishop in the simple black dress she'd worn all day, as he touched her on each shoulder, after reciting the traditional rites in Latin, and declared her Her Royal Highness Christianna, reigning princess of Liechtenstein, as rivers of tears ran down her face. Other than her mother's crown, which was heavy with diamonds and dated back to the fourteenth century, the only piece of jewelry she was wearing was the narrow band of heart-shaped emeralds that Parker had given her in Venice, which had never left her finger since then.

She turned to face her ministers and her three faithful employees, still crying, as the archbishop blessed them all. She looked at her new subjects, and seemed like a very young girl, in the heavy crown and her plain black dress, that she had been wearing since that morning, as she planned her father's and brother's funeral. She looked like a child playing dress-up in the crown, but however young or frightened she was, she was now Her Royal Highness Christianna, reigning princess of Liechtenstein.