Stand By Me Darling

Talia was happy Arthur agreed to stay in Rosandale till the weekend. Talia wasn’t pleased Arthur’s stay was arranged in Lambert’s place.

"At least pretend to be little demure, orang-utan." Lambert snorted when Talia spoke to the courtiers regarding Arthur’s staying arrangements. She really couldn’t accept when there are already five guest bedrooms in her place Arthur is asked to stay in Lambert’s place.

But then she couldn’t win against those courtiers who talked customs and procedures. In the end, Arthur’s stay was arranged in the Bardalph Suite. When Talia was told the name of the bedroom specifically by Lambert, she thought it was familiar. He even winked and Talia realised there should be something more to it.

And only after returning from the terrace after having wine and playing games with Lambert and Arthur, did Talia realise the significance of that particular suite.

The Bardalph Suite a.k.a. Wolf Bedroom used to be the bedroom of Consort Albert – Queen Mary’s husband. And Talia’s bedroom is called ’The Mona Chambers’ a.k.a. The Moon Room since it had a good view of the moon.

Queen Mary belonged to some other era and those days a noble couple don’t share room at night even if they were married. They had separate bedrooms and the husband would usually ’visit’ the wife at certain days when they share a bed.

But Queen Mary, who was a Princess then, was very progressive for her time. She didn’t like the idea of not sleeping together with her beloved husband daily. But she couldn’t break traditions since she was the Crown Princess and she’d be labelled licentious. Her husband was not loved by the courtiers and they wanted them to break up.

Still she didn’t want to compromise and she made a secret opening between her bedroom and her husband’s bedroom. For others it would seem like they stayed in their own rooms but in reality they shared bed every night.

There was a story Celine told Talia which she found to be funny. But it wouldn’t have been funny for Queen Mary. After Queen Mary became the reigning monarch, she still wasn’t allowed to do what she liked and her husband was still hated by the aristocrats since he was just a rich commoner.

And due to some power struggles with the Queen, Albert wasn’t allowed to enter the Queen’s bed chambers to force her to bend to their will. But Queen Mary was adamant and she came to vacation in Gresford Palace. The Queen was still forbidden to meet her husband, but to everyone’s dismay, it was revealed the Queen was pregnant.

The Courtiers scrambled along trying to contain the situation as there were speculations that the Queen was ’close’ with a Duke. Some were pleased the Queen had finally come to her senses and found herself someone with aristocratic blood and planned to make that child the heir to the throne. Some who were against the Queen, accused her of being an adulteress and asked her to step down.