Page 25 of The Heir Apparent
Vikki coolly held my gaze. They would not make space for her son’s body on our plane. They would have her book a commercial flight and go collect him herself.
“It was important to Madhav that we honour Hindu death rites, so we had him cremated in Bern,” she said in a strange voice. She took in an unsteady breath. “There’s a lovely waterhole at the Kruger lodge. I was thinking perhaps we spread his ashes there, but I don’t know. Maybe he’d prefer to be here in England with us. Amira asked her lady-in-waiting to buy some pendants that can hold some of his ashes. But would he like that? Bits of him all over the place?”
I put my hand over hers. For a moment I was running across the main lawn of Astley at dusk, the sky bruising mauve and indigo above us. Amira screeching with laughter as she struggled to keep up. Kris shooting past me on his runner’s legs. Me, wheezing as he doubled back, scooped me up effortlessly and took off again. Louis, as always, was ahead of us all, bounding like a gazelle towards a grove of mulberry trees. We were big, reckless kids grasping onto those final days of childhood.
“I think he’d like that, Vikki,” I said. “Part of him gets to stay with the people he loves and part of him gets to watch every sunset at Kruger.”
She crumpled suddenly, bending forward, her face in her hands. I put my hands on her shoulders, but she pulled herselftogether more quickly than she needed to and brushed at the tears threatening to ruin her eye makeup.
“I came up to talk to you about something, actually,” she said, and dug in her pocket for her phone. She turned it to show me theDaily Post’s front page.
“Partying princesses Amira and Lexi rock Cumberland Palace ALL NIGHT by playing wild music until dawn, leaving their royal neighbours wondering: Aren’t they supposed to be in MOURNING??” the front-page headline shouted.
It was one of thePost’s classic Photoshop jobs: our smiling faces were superimposed on an image of Cumberland with a disco ball cut-and-pasted where the flag post usually stood. The picture of Amira looked like it was taken recently. With her beaming smile, I assumed it was a visit to a children’s hospital or a nursery. My picture was less flattering. My head was thrown back in abandon as I laughed at something. I couldn’t quite place the photo, but it was probably taken by the pap who stalked through the crowds at last year’s wine festival to get a few shots of me working the Jennings booth with Jack.
I looked at Vikki sheepishly.
“Read it,” she said.
The Royal Family members who call Cumberland Palace home were left stunned by the thumping sounds of a wild party being held by one of their neighbours until dawn this morning.
And who was holding this all-night rager?
It was Duchess Amira, who is supposed to be in mourning for her husband, Prince Louis, and her brother, Krishiv Shankar.
And the one guest at this party was none other than Princess Alexandrina.
TheDaily Postunderstands that Duchess Amira had been staying with Queen Eleanor for several days after returning from Switzerland, while Princess Alexandrina arrived on Monday from Australia.
But the ageing monarch, who was devastated by the loss of her son and grandson, was unable to cope with the noise, mess and chaos made by the posh pair.
Yesterday it was finally suggested they return to Duchess Amira’s Cumberland apartment, so that the 85-year-old could mourn in peace.
But the Queen did ask her youngest son, Prince Richard, to stay with her at the palace for the foreseeable future, with aides describingthe Duke of Clarence as “her golden child.”
“It was simply too much for the Queen, trying to grapple with this loss, while being expected to take care of these overgrown children,” a source tells thePost.
“Alexandrina hasn’t stepped foot in this country for years, and she came here yesterday making wild demands, throwing tantrums and showing up extremely late to meetings.”
Prince Richard smoothed things over so that both women knew it was time to leave.
“Richard has always been a source of strength for his mother. Now is a time when she needs those closest to her to hold her up and support her,” the source said.
“Alexandrina has been MIA for years, barely staying in touch with anyone. Meanwhile, with her lavish spending, Amira has been burning through the allowance given to her by her father-in-law. The Queen doesn’t need people asking her for favours right now.”
But once evicted, Amira and Lexi took their reign of terror to Cumberland Palace, blasting their dance music at window-shaking volume and keeping up their relatives until the early hours of the morning.
“It was extremely inconsiderate,” one Cumberland resident complained to a friend this morning.
It’s understood the royal chums were taking a trip down memory lane, blaring many hits from their childhood and high school years.
“C’est La Vie” by B*witched is understood to have been given a remarkably good run, with many repeat plays.
While it is admirable for Duchess Amira to make amends with her old school pal, her boisterous behaviour just five days after her husband’s death has raised many eyebrows within the Royal Family.
The couple had recently been dogged by rumours that one or both were no longer happy in the union.
Prince Louis had been spending much of his time in the couple’s countryside bolthole in Norfolk, while Duchess Amira was often in London, either staying at their Cumberland apartment or her parents’ opulent Mayfair townhouse.
