“He can’t die! He can’t die!” the dowager queen wails.
“They are taking him to Kensington Cross A&E,” Xander says. “Cars are ready to take us there. I’m sure the courtiers will come, too, so they can plan how to handle this in the press.”
“Right,” Prince Henry says.
“I’m going now,” Xander continues. He turns to his grandmother. “Grandmother, I think it might be best if you stay here with Arabella. I think this is too much for you right now.”
“Yes, I agree,” Liz says. “Grandmother, I will keep in touch with Mum. We’ll keep you posted, but you must not work yourself up. It’s not good for you.”
She nods dumbly. “All right.”
Thank God, they agreed to stay behind. By eliminating Arabella and the dowager queen from the waiting room, a major source of tension and drama has been relieved.
“We need to go,” Xander says.
Soon, we’re headed out of the palace. Xander doesn’t say a word, and I don’t speak to him. He has a lot to process, and when the time is right, he’ll talk to me about it. Right now, we’re all scared and worried, and Arthur is the only thing that matters.
The drive goes by in a blur. We’re in a car with Clementine and Helene; Prince Henry, Liz, and Roman are in another car. Queen Antonia is being escorted by her lady-in-waiting and her top courtier.
When we arrive at the hospital, we are whisked through back doors and ushered by hospital security to a conference room. Bottled waters and boxes of tissues are distributed, but we all sit there, silent. The room is soon crowded with palace staff and personnel, and they talk in hushed tones around us, but we remain the same.
Numb.
A hospital media specialist speaks to us, explaining how our privacy is their biggest concern, and that is why we are not on the floor where Arthur is being treated. She explains the security precautions, including how staff will be told on a need-to-know basis, how his records will be protected, and I can’t help but think how much I preferred the treatment Grandpa got in Cardiff. We were on the floor with him. We didn’t have to worry about sneaking through loading docks. If Mum needed a cup of coffee, I could get it. And we didn’t have to share Grandpa’s condition with courtiers and protection officers and the palace media team.
There is so much downside to this mysterious life, things that you never dream of when gazing at Buckingham Palace from the gates on the street. The worry of the Chadwick family should be private. Xander, Christian, and Queen Antonia shouldn’t have to process Arthur’s medical emergency with this audience.
Yet, they can’t. Everything in their world is complicated.
And never private.
Even matters of life and death.
Soon, the media specialist leaves to get a doctor to come down and update us on Arthur’s condition. Another worker comes in, this time carrying trays of coffee in disposable cups.
A palace staffer soon begins distributing them, and I take one, as I feel so cold inside. Xander shakes his head no, and my heart aches inside my chest as I see a haunted expression on his face. I know how scared he must be. Arthur is everything to him, and to see your seemingly healthy, fit father be struck by a heart attack must be devastating.
I put my hand on his arm, and he jumps as if I’ve burnt him.
“I’m sorry,” I say, removing my hand. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
Xander doesn’t say anything. The pain in my chest increases. I study the family around the table. Helene is talking softly with Christian and Clementine, who is dabbing tears from her eyes with a tissue. Liz has her head on Roman’s shoulder. Queen Antonia is talking with her advisors, but her expression is also one of concern.
I glance up at the clock. It’s loud and makes a ticking sound every time the minute hand moves. The walls are barren and dank, and we all sit in silence, punctuated by occasional wonderings aloud about when someone will have an update for us.
Finally, after what seems like an eternity, a doctor appears. He begins by saying that Arthur did indeed have a heart attack, but a mild one, and is in the catheterisation lab. A cardiologist will perform an angioplasty to get the blood flowing through the blocked artery, which they are doing right now.
“He’s in good shape because it was caught within the