Her Royal Highness

A small item in a newspaper back home confirmed to me that Patricia's 'Prince Consort' announcement was not just a private matter between us. It informed its readers that the Princess Patricia was to be married at a date to be announced later. The Palace could not disclose any details at that time, but would do so in due course. The headmistress, and a few members of staff by now knew of my developing friendship with Patricia. They had been sworn to secrecy, but that announcement still caused a buzz in the staff room. I received quiet congratulations from the head, to which I replied that I had not yet been presented to Her Majesty. Only then would we know for sure that the wedding was going to go ahead. She assured me that Her Majesty would more than likely not naysay Patricia. In any case, she pointed out, the Palace had put out that announcement, so my being presented at court was a only matter of time.

"I do hope you will come back to us after the wedding," finished the headmistress. I expressed a desire to do so, if at all possible.

When it came to travel options there was a little back and forth. I told Patricia I would be OK travelling in a commercial airline while she came by her own means, but she would hear none of it.

"You will come with me in my private jet!" she declared, and would not back down from that position henceforth. There were various matters of concern between the two governments, but these were out of my orbit. I was assured they were minor. Finally those diplomatic knots were unraveled so that we could travel.

Patricia's pilots put us into the skies from Nairobi's Empakasi Airport just after 7 on a Sunday morning. We would make a landing in Cape Verde islands in a matter of six hours, relax in the lounge for an hour, before taking off again. We expected to arrive five hours after that, somewhat in time for dinner. Although it was a jet, it would not fly as fast as the commercial airliners who were in it for a profit. The Princess' entourage merely wanted to get from one place to the other, and in comfort.

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Everything I had read, seen in movies, in street view in Google Earth had not prepared me for the Palace. While I had only seen the exterior, when I walked through its doors, my senses were assailed by the sounds and smells of royalty. It was nothing like I had ever experienced before. Even though Patricia had effectively emigrated, her rooms were retained for whenever she would visit. For appearances' sake I was given a separate bedroom for the duration.

The day after our arrival, I was to be presented to Queen Alexandra at tea. It was laid out on the small lawn in front of the Armoury Room. Here I was introduced to various members of the Family and the very few nobles who had been invited. The Queen merely asked me about wildlife conservation efforts, now that hunting was banned.

The wedding a few weeks later, conducted by the parish priest of St Mary le Clé by invitation of the Provost of Eastminster Cathedral, was not a very large event. Patricia did not want much of a display, but could not prevent the press flocking to the Cathedral. The event was televised by the world's Press, beamed to major capitals of the world, streamed online, and made available on YouTube afterwards. I mused this would make it difficult for me to lead a normal life back home and would need to go everywhere under escort. My private life had ceased to exist as of that moment.

You would have thought that with all the publicity the wedding had generated, that we would come home to a celebrity's welcome. Since our travel schedule after that event was not made public, it was as if we had impinged suddenly, and briefly, on the world scene and then sunk back into oblivion. Certainly, because the Queen praised the union of her daughter only scantily, it was generally taken as disapproval and the Palace made no further comment. Thus the Press did not know enough follow us around the country during our honeymoon, or even when we took two weeks at the Riviera.

Our departure back to Africa was a small pop rather than the fanfare it would have been if Patricia had been heir to the throne, or nearer to it than she was. This blackout suited her right down to the ground. Had it been necessary she would have been prepared to buy that silence, difficult though that would have been.

We landed in relative peace and quiet and went home to her (or should I say, our) residence unbothered by the media. We now effectively had two residences--my flat, and what used to be hers. But the next day we discovered that we had not been entirely unobserved. One paper published news of a Prince on Kenyan soil. Thankfully it was only a small piece in the inside pages and did not attract as much comment as we might have feared.

My plot, from which I had moved months before had stood bare since that time. Three Point had given me ideas, though. If I was on the right side of the local administration, I expected that I would avoid some of the delays I had experienced on that earlier project. I passed by the office of the chief who had been my classmate in primary school decades before. Whereas I used to tell people that the chief was my classmate, now he was the one wanting to be associated with me.

Architectural plans were drawn up, structural ones derived from those and a QS report generated in short order, which is to say in four months. During this time my tome on Mombasa, along the same lines as 'Mile 327' grew by leaps and bounds. I continued to assist at Winsore College though the day to day running of the department was now in the hands of a younger man. When construction began, I visited the site regularly, often sitting in my car putting down any thoughts that may have occurred to me, or else revising material I had written.

I looked forward to turning all my attention to writing when this construction period was over. I had two book ideas I had developed, one for a science and technology book and the other for a 'Words of Science' dictionary with definitions, derivations, and history. My forex trading accounts now had automation built into them, some that I developed, and some that I purchased ready-made. They were making money on a consistent basis from week to week. Everyone knows you cannot avoid some losses in forex trading but the net outcome was profit.

I could see that the next chapter of my life had well and truly begun.