A Royal Curse

I come from a long line of royalty. We've been the sovereign family for six hundred years. Want to know the best part? We've all been Queens. The most amazing part of being a Queen is that we don't need a king to rule.

King George the Last, a distant Grandfather, was cursed by a witch hundreds of years ago who had fallen in love with him and subsequently rejected due to her powers. As long as his family reigned, there would never be a male heir. This 'curse' actually turned out quite well for the kingdom as we are the longest reigning family in the world. His daughter, Queen Katherine the First (born after the curse was cast), was a wonderful woman. She turned the country around by sorting the tax system out, feeding the hungry, building homes. My predecessors, as well as myself, also physically helped build the homes; not just employed people to do so. We dressed in work clothing, got our toolboxes and helped. That became a tradition for every queen since Katherine's granddaughter, Queen Amelia.

When the Great War happened, Queen Anne donated a large amount of personal money to the public to build fire-proof shelters and homes. We became the 'Indestructible Nation' to the rest of the planet. We had other monarchs lining up to ask us our secrets. Lines of men wanted to marry the entire family, whether they were the heir apparent or not. They just wanted to become a part of this family. One other amazing side effect of this curse, is we seem to live longer than the kings who preceded us. Why die in a war that didn't need to happen at all? Especially when we have so much work to do helping our own country. I'm not saying we didn't help others, but we became known as the 'Fence Sitters' due to our lack of enemies and great list of allies.

As the curse was well known within the family, we didn't have to procreate until a male heir appeared, as we all knew we would not receive one. Laws had to be changed by George the Last, to remove males from the line of succession. Most of my family only had one child. Some of them had two, or even three, but never more. Some of the queens never knew what sisters or cousins were as they didn't have any. Me, however? I have 6 siblings, 11 nieces and 15 cousins. Even though I am married, I have no children of my own just yet. Myself and my husband, the King Consort Edward (Eddie), have no current desire to bear children. We know we have too much work to do with the country first.

Every now and then, I found myself thinking of the woman who cursed poor George. Had he initially shown her any affection, then turned his back on her when a “better” proposal came along? Had he toyed with her, knowing he would never give himself to her? Or had it all been in the witches head – and he had never given her another look and was enraged with jealousy the entire time? I supposed we would never know – given how long ago it happened. Even though her power theoretically made it possible, it was unlikely she was still alive today. There were no drawings of her in George's journals, so nobody but the dead knew what she would have looked like.

Tourism in the country is at its peak, but even with our strict littering laws, we have much of the beaches and countryside to clean. Some time is needed to complete this task, and I will not stand on the sidelines and watch our beautiful landscapes wither. So we got to work, and in a couple of months we managed to clear it all.

When we got back to the palace after finishing the clean-up, the family celebrated with a few glasses of champagne. Eddie and I decided that we were ready to have a daughter, seeing as we knew the option of a son wasn't there. We both agreed on having one child, as we didn't want any more. We tried for about three months until it finally happened. I was pregnant! The news of a new heir apparent rejoiced the nation. There were celebrations in the streets and questions about which previous queen I would name my daughter after.

The pregnancy itself was a dream; I didn't suffer with morning sickness, my hair was silky soft and my skin glowed. I was doted on by the ladies of the court, my sisters friends and the people of my magnificent kingdom. There was one woman, who was one of the tutors for the children, who was particularly kind to me. She had taught all of my younger cousins and nieces and was looking forward to teaching my daughter. She was asking all kinds of things, about what I would like my daughter to be taught. She kept saying “child”, I thought she was being cautious in case she turned out not to be a girl.

As the due date approached, I was still struggling on picking a name for mine and Eddie's daughter. Do I go classic, Katherine? Anne? Do I bring an entirely new name, Emily? Karla? The choices were endless. Eddie told me the choice was mine and it was the most difficult choice of my life. I was still deciding when I went in to labour, my thoughts being paused by pushing the new life from my body. When the baby finally made her appearance the midwives looked at each other, asking, “Ma'am, have you thought of a name?”

“Not as yet. I am still deciding. Kathleen, maybe?” I replied with a exhausted tone.

One then looked at me, holding the babe, saying “It's a boy.”