#shakespearean

"harry, you must stand taller. if you think you can approach a woman with that posture, well, you are in for a lovely surprise." his mother scolded.

"yes, mother." he practically groaned, causing alfie and arthur frederick to laugh at him.

"it's your first ever ball, and it's the queen's ball. i don't need the three of you to be foolish tonight. for one night only, do not torment each other, do you hear me?"

the three boys laughed. and then nodded in fear when their mother glared.

oh dear. this would be a long night.

── ⋆⋅𖤓⋅⋆ ──

"oh, my dear, you must go and welcome my guests." your mother, the queen, ordered, despite the calm in her voice. and you never ignored the queen's orders. not even if the queen happened to be your mother. not even a princess was safe.

so you made your way down the small flight of stairs and onto the ballroom floor.

"good evening!" you smiled politely towards a nobleman you recognised but could not associate with a name, except you did not recognise his wife. she looked far younger, perhaps fourteen, unfortunately not causing a scandal despite the large distance in age. the man looked to be in his early thirties, perhaps even older. his hair had significantly greyed in comparison to people you assumed were in a similar age, and his forehead had wrinkled like a working man's.

"good evening, your highness. you must thank your mother for our invite." the man replied, leaning in slightly as he spoke. the foul smell of tobacco lingered around his presence. the woman just smiled, raising her shoulders slightly in agreement. she was beautiful and polite - you were preparing to put a good word to your mother about her, in hopes that she could be invited to her next ball.

"oh, i am sure it was no bother. i will pass on your gratitude still, though. thank you for coming!" you left the pair with a smile, hand clasped together politely as you made your way around the outskirts of the ballroom.

and then you saw him.

harry lewis. speaking with his mother as well as his eldest two brothers, alfie and arthur frederick. it was his first ball as well.

it was clear that alfie had noticed you staring, because he nudged harry slightly as a gesture to turn around. and then you locked eyes with harry.

he smiled politely before making his way over to you, bowing. "your highness."

"mr lewis! good evening. thank you for your presence!"

"good evening. forgive me if i am too bold, but may i have this dance?"

"oh! you shall have to ask my mother, i'm afraid. though i'm fairly certain that she adores your family."

── ⋆⋅𖤓⋅⋆ ──

as much of a miracle as it was, harry was not laughed away. if he was in any other family, the queen would have laughed, waved her hand in amusement, and sent him away. except she hadn't, and now you and harry were dancing together.

harry lewis, dancing with a princess.

alfie and arthur weren't jealous. just surprised. their family were high class, but even if harry was a duke, there would still be uproar if he married you. and harry definitely was not a duke. he was the son and the brother of a viscount.

your talk wasn't as casual as you would have expected. you were taught that, in the rare scenario that your mother would let you dance with a nobleman, you were both expected to talk about the weather, and you were expected to talk about your talents. apart from that, the man was supposed to do all the speaking. that's what every man wanted. a quiet wife.

but once you began to talk with harry, you couldn't stop, and, then again, you could be excused. you might not be able to be a quiet wife, but being a loud princess surely levelled it out.

"oh, your highness, you are truly wonderful company." harry almost yelled over the jolly music, mid-laugh and mid-galliard. you were surprised he wasn't out of breath from his agility. "what are your aspirations? what would you change as a queen?"

you laughed in return. "forgive me for my boldness and assumption of your acceptance, but i hope to make england an egalitarian society."

harry blinked. "oh! that's wonderful. i, too, hope for equality shortly."

"really?" you questioned, causing him to nod.

"yes! well, i wish you luck for your future reign. i shall admire your work from afar."

"or beside me." you replied quickly, causing him to raise his eyebrows, and you to reply a quieter, "forgive me." he just laughed again as the music came to an end.

"well, i hope to encounter you again shortly. on behalf of my family, thank her majesty for the organisation of such a wonderful ball."

you smiled as he walked away. slightly disappointed that you most likely would not speak again for weeks.

you hid your sadness as you manoeuvred through the crowd in order to sit beside your mother once more.

"oh, my dear! how did it go?" she practically cooed, happier for you having your first dance with someone in such an important family rather than your clear love for harry.

"it went well." you spoke calmly, like harry wasn't running through your head for the very wrong reasons. "he was very polite. our conversation flowed."

"very good, very good." and then she moved on.

clearly, she hadn't read the clear obsession you had for harry.

it was better that way anyway.

safer.

── ⋆⋅𖤓⋅⋆ ──

a/n: yep so ignore that queen elizabeth has a daughter! basically the extra lore is that she's pressured into it by her dad, her brother and her husband, basically she isn't the virgin queen here but she's also heavily against the patriarchal society and fights against it even when it's futile (she wasn't against it in real life) so she was glad to have a daughter and not a son (she probably would have called her son illegitimate so he wouldn't be an heir), but i'm really looking forward to writing this!

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