Memorial Plaque

Copyright Oggbashan October 2019

The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

This is a work of fiction. The events described here are imaginary; the settings and characters are fictitious and are not intended to represent specific places or living persons.

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The bronze memorial plaque was fitted to a rock beside a small waterfall and pool on a small river on Dartmoor. It read:

"National Trust

The plaque was placed to commemorate the Golden Wedding of King Rahman and Queen Nadira of [omitted island state in Western Pacific ] who have bought and given to the National Trust fifty acres of the Dartmoor National Park to remember their first meeting here and their engagement made here two years later."

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It was a hot sunny day on Dartmoor that September. I was sweating in my unaccustomed Naval Cadet's uniform which was very unlike the dress I wore in my own country. I was a very new Cadet.

When we came to the waterfall and pool some of the other cadets suggested that it would be great to strip off and skinny dip for a few minutes. I saw the attraction but it took me much longer to take the unfamiliar clothes off than my fellow cadets. Most of them had been in and out and were starting to dress again before I got into the water, naked.

My treacherous colleagues scarpered, half-dressed, as a group of young women approached from above the waterfall, leaving me in the clear water and a long way from my clothes. As the women walked past I turned my back, all I could do to preserve my modesty. I heard them pass and turned around. No. They hadn't all gone. There was one woman left on the bank. She was holding out a towel.

"Prince Rahman, I think you need this," she said in my own language.

I was surprised that she knew who I was and that she could speak in my language which is used only in our Kingdom.

"Thank you," I said, accepting the towel. It had been very cold in that pool. I draped the towel around me to cover my privates.

"But who are you, and how do you speak my language?"

I had spoken in that tongue. She replied in it too.

"In England I am Viscountess Elizabeth. In your country I am Princess Nadira, one of your cousins. I am descended from a brother of your grandfather. My mother married an English nobleman but they and I have often been to your country."

"Princess Nadira? I think we may have been introduced once or twice, but that was years ago when we were both children."

"And now you are a Naval Cadet at Dartmouth and I am training to be a teacher in Plymouth. I am pleased to meet you again Prince Rahman."

"I would be more pleased if I had had my clothes on, Princess Nadira."

"Then dry yourself and get dressed, Prince Rahman."

I was embarrassed when Princess Nadira took the towel from me, dried me very effectively and helped me put on the Naval Cadet's uniform. I had never been touched so effectively by a woman as an adult.

I wanted to see more of her. She had seen and handled almost all of me. I asked her for a date. It wasn't easy to arrange because of my short periods away from my studies at Dartmouth and hers at teacher training college but we finally agreed on a ball at Dartmouth Naval College in three weeks' time.

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At the ball, which was a formal part of the assessment of the cadets as potential Naval Officers, the cadets were expected to behave formally and dance correctly. I had no concerns. As a Prince I had been behaving formally and dancing for years and I was sure Princess Nadira would be an admirable partner.

She was. She arrived in her family's Rolls-Royce, driven by the family chauffeur, and emerged in a simple but expensive Parisian ball gown wearing a diamond tiara as a Viscountess.

We had to go along the formal reception line of senior Naval Officers and their wives. We were introduced as 'Cadet Prince Rahman and Viscountess Elizabeth'. I bowed, and Elizabeth curtsied, even though we outranked all of the receiving line in social status.

My fellow cadets were jealous. Most of their partners were sisters or close cousins and Elizabeth shone as an exception. They mellowed when I explained that she was also my cousin as well as a Viscountess but became worried when I said she was a Princess as my cousin.

As part of the assessment, the cadets were expected to ask every woman present for a dance. Some were shy of asking Elizabeth but she was never short of a partner even if I danced with her more often than I should. Elizabeth danced superbly and made even the most gauche cadet seem to be an adequate dancer and acceptable escort.

The Senior Naval wife congratulated Elizabeth at the end of the ball for being such a competent partner, displaying all her partners at their best. Every cadet passed the formal dancing assessment and I think Elizabeth helped to get the more awkward ones just above the pass line.

Elizabeth came to three more balls before the end of my first year and I was able to take her out to meals, theatres and cinemas several times. Her family invited me to spend a fortnight with them at that country seat, an adapted and much modernised 13th Century Castle. While I was there, the family tailor and Elizabeth's personal maid adapted my cadet's uniforms which fitted much better when I left.

Our relationship continued for another year and on my next visit to her home I asked her father for permission to propose to Viscountess Elizabeth or Princess Nadira. I had already asked my father, the King. He approved of Princess Nadira particularly as she was a distant relation and could speak our language. When I had her father's consent I took Elizabeth out for a walk on Dartmoor, and by the pool where we had first met, I proposed and she accepted - now more than fifty years ago.

We went to our own country and had a spectacular Royal Wedding which seemed very popular with our people, particularly when the bride responded to the Best Man's speech in our language. I was pleased that my father was fit enough to attend as his health was causing problems. Four months after our wedding he died. Prince Rahman and Princess Nadira became King Rahman and Princess Nadira. Fifty years after our wedding we rule a prosperous democratic nation as constitutional monarchs instead of the absolute rulers we had been when I became King. These changes have not always been without controversy but now seem settled and established. We have three sons and two daughters to succeed us, followed by a number of grandchildren.

For our Golden Wedding, apart from the court celebrations in our country we wanted to remember our first meeting and my proposal. Buying some useless farmland to give to the National Trust seemed a good way to do that - hence the plaque which we unveiled together.

Afterwards, while stewards kept the crowds away, both of us stripped naked and swam in the pool, as we had done when Princess Nadira accepted my proposal. The water was still very cold but we had plenty of towels and hot tea was provided as soon as we had dressed.

We drove to Dartmouth to visit the Naval College. I had never completed the course but before my marriage my father had made me an admiral of our small Royal Navy and I had married wearing an admiral's uniform. Now I was returning to the Naval College as King and the Lord High Admiral. Queen Nadira was also now an Admiral to recognise the number of women now serving in combat roles in our modern navy.

We were welcomed by a Royal Marine Band playing our National Anthem and God Save the Queen before Nadira and I inspected the current cadets, male and female. The old college was timeless but my attendance at it seemed so long ago, but reminded me of courting Elizabeth/Nadira. For that, I presented the college with a cup for the best dancer among each year's cadets, together with a substantial financial contribution to the college's running costs. We were guests of honour at a banquet that evening, impeccably presented but seemed very stodgy English food compared with my own country's cuisine. More than fifty years ago I would have been delighted with it. But now I am more delighted with fifty years of Nadira beside me.

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Author's note: The waterfall and pool are based on Tavy Cleave and Pool as it was fifty years ago, not now when a swimming hole has been dug. The water was very cold even on a hot summer day and clear, not suitable for skinny dipping.