#theyoungprince

  Air came burning back into his lugs as life seemed to burst through him suddenly, coughing up what water still swelled in his throat and dragging in loud and desperate breaths in his own panic, hands gripping at the grass blades as if still in the water and desperately searching for something to hold onto. His insides on fire, his cheeks and chest aching, Albert heaved in breath after precious breath before he turned his head enough to look over at his saviour, assured by the dizzying solid press of the ground that he was indeed out of the water.

Being allowed to travel with papa was always good fun. Especially when it meant that Philippe was left at home with Maman and Pierre could bask in all the attention he was getting from his father. Not to mention that having to drag his little brother around everywhere was such a bore. Philippe was practically still a baby after all, while Pierre was already ten. No wonder papa had wanted him to come along, not Philippe.

So, really, getting to visit the british royal family was only secondary. What mattered was that he got to spend time with papa. Except now. Right now Rupert was busy having very important conversations Pierre had been told, so he sat, waiting obediently, while his feet dangled a good foot off the ground.

That was until someone he did not know entered the room. “Hello, pleased to meet you,” he said politely.

Albert had come home from his naval tour, ‘prince’ duties demanding he leave early to meet with the Genovian royal family. At only fifteen himself, he was much more reluctant to have to come home from what he believed would be his future career to meet a family whom he didn’t know just because they also happened to be royal.

Further annoyed that his father and the visiting king were actually unavailable, he had pushed his way into a room to brood when he was greeted by a polite young boy. He paused as he assessed him, of course, this could only have been Prince Pierre.

Send 👶 to meet my muse as a toddler 

@bliighter

  Royal houses were never truly quiet, there was always something that demanded attention from someone or another. However, York Cottage on this particular summer day was dominated by a screeching toddler in the upper rooms. The staff below apparently oblivious or at least not looking to interfere had left the boy to let out his tantrums and assumed that his Nanny would tend to him, else she was teaching him his independence.

  There was loud rattling and tantrums that echoed around the rooms and by most unfortunate coincidence, the rest of the Yorks had made their way outside into the garden individually which had left their guest, Nick alone in the house. Albert’s screaming continued mercilessly, even as Nick appeared in the door.

   His eyes closed, face red and covered in tears, the small soft bear hurled to the floor and his pyjamas all creased awkwardly over his shoulders from where he was furiously shaking at the safety bars around his cot and the two wooden planks used to train him to sleep on his back were jutting out awkwardly from the gap in the bars. Unsoothed by the first cooing from Nick it took him entering the room far enough that Albert finally sensed he was even there.

  The screaming subsided to a worried rumble and resulted the largest puppy eyes imaginable as he watched the man in the room. Blinking at him for a moment, hands still gripping onto the bars as he watched him. His elder brother was nowhere to be seen, nor was there any sign of his Nanny Just Nick and Albert alone in the nursery and quite possible the whole upper floors of York Cottage. Albert could even sense in his young age that Nick was not inclined to offer him what it was he actually wanted. His crying returned though it was more quiet sobs than screaming before he flopped himself down on his bottom and tugged at the wool blanket he was sat on, defeated and exhausted, Albert settled for the company at least.

  Nick’s attempt to settle the child came in the gentlest of ways as Albert found his bear was returned to him from the floor. Teary eyes looked to it and after a moment of upset hesitation, he reached for it and took it to hold tight against him. Large eyes looked up to Nick again as he did so and only came away when Nick put his brother’s wool blanket gently over him and tucked it against him to carefully and gently lay him back down on his back, tucked up.

Send 👶 to meet my muse as a toddler 

  With Victoria having summoned the family as she tended to do, the royal masses had descended upon Sandringham, the home of the Prince of Wales and his son the Duke of York along with a rather small duo of boys, David was off with their governess which left 13 month old, bright blonde and blue eyed baby Albert in one of the reading rooms. He was shaking a small wooden block in his left hand and giggling away from the floor to the smiling faces of a few of the guests, which included the company of Johan in one of the arm chairs.

  The toddler, when helped by his grandmother to be lifted onto his feet took to standing and bouncing excitedly as he looked around at the room with her support. Trying to encourage the young prince into taking a few steps, little chubby legs wobbled and wiggled as he found his courage and when Alexandra loosened her hold on him, the youngster bundled along clumsily, legs kicking out to the side in a broad waddle before he lost his balance and fell forward onto his hands and knees, loosing his grip on the wooden block he was so fond of as he seemed to get his bearings again. He didn’t cry, instead with something of a determination, he crawled towards his lost block and picked it up with both hands, moving this time with his behind in the air to stand on his own.

   He got half way with a considerably wobbly stance, half bent before he fell backwards onto his bottom with a bump, to which he had to blink and shake his head just the once. His hands still wrapped tightly around the wooden block and there was a moment of pause where he considered himself before he looked up to Johan sat in a chair a few paces away and just burst into giggles, waving the block around again excitedly.

  A few moments to settle that typical toddler cackle before he was trying to stand again, much the same as he had done before, leaning on the block to push himself up to his feet this time and again wobbling where he stood, Alexandra moving just close enough to catch him if she could but the boy’s toothless beaming continued as he maintained an upright position.

  He took another moment to work out the balance and then there was four careful steps before he did that bumbling waddle again and reached right for Johan’s right knee to hold himself up. He swayed and tugged at the fabric of his trousers before he managed to stabilize himself and as if it was timed, his little face shot to Johan suddenly and he began that giggling again as he bounced and waved the block around merrily. He was not so much able to understand that he was achieving something in staying up right, really he was just enjoying being able to move about and carry something as he did so.

  Not quite able to move too far from Johan’s leg, Albert leaned against him without much worry for the comfort of the other, half showing the man the block but like heck he would be allowed to take it from him, he could certainly look by all means. He kept his tiny weight against that leg and looked around the room once again, seeing Princess Victoria of Spain beaming at him and cooing to him in her adopted language, which he delighted in and began bouncing happily again, giggling and beaming at her moments before that left hand propelled the wooden block straight for her. She dodged and the block landed against the back of the soft chair and was met with an eruption of laughter that the young prince apparently had misinterpreted her Spanish cooing.

  Giggling along happily simply because everyone else was laughing, he barely skipped a beat before tugging on Johan’s trouser leg, digging his feet into the decoration of the chair and scrambling up to plant himself on Johan’s knee whether he wanted him there or not. Leaning against the arm of the chair quite comfortably to look around the room at his laughing Grandmother, calling to her with a loud and joyful “Ga!” before turning his head enough to look to Johan, that toothless beaming returning as he repeated the nonsense call to the German merrily.

Albert watched him as he sat up, still deciding if he was glad or not that he had managed to wake him. He was nervous as it was, though at the question, the prince knew he should answer, even in the other’s sleepy state he wanted it said.

‘Nanny Green’ is believed to be the Nanny that was first hired by the then  Prince of Wales, George, to take care of his two sons. Her identity is protected and aside from the possible surname of ‘Green’ the rest is speculation.

Having lost her own children to illnesses, she latched on to David who apparently looked a great deal like her lost son. She was mentally unwell and did wind up in a hospital which is why her name is protected.

Nanny Green adored David, so much that she really did want him all to herself. When David and Bertie were to be presented to their parents, she would pinch David hard enough to make him wail and cry so that his quiet loving parents would ask her to take him away to the nursery. She repeated the pinching, twisting and even striking of the boys nearly every evening. Both boys were in fact covered in bruises under their clothes due to this constant physical abuse from their supposed carer. Their parents, unused to the sound of wailing children continued to tell her to take them back to the nursery and did not think to check on them, even avoiding the nursery for fear of further wailing.

As time went on and her twisted adoration for David grew, she would often skip feeding Bertie, leaving him to go hungry, actually starving him on multiple occasions. Leaving him in his leg splints which the boy could not take off on his own and taking David elsewhere, leaving Bertie alone and unfed. This is what many believe led to the stomach problems that plagued him throughout his life. Developing an ulcer significant enough to have him discharged from his beloved Navy. Some pictures of Bertie as a toddler show him being unnaturally small and thin too.

May and George were themselves seemingly cold parents, May didn’t like the idea of holding her children after enduring difficult pregnancies and without the careful hand of a warm nanny, Bertie was shockingly deprived of any reassuring, familial or even remotely pleasant physical contact in his early childhood. In fact, there is little suggestion that Albert’s good behaviour was rewarded nay even acknowledged by his supposed nanny. The complete emotional and indeed physical neglect resulted in huge tantrum outbursts from Bertie and it was a temper that stuck with him right until the end. Naturally, these tantrums would then be excuse for further punishment.

When she was forced to actually take care of Bertie in his infancy, she would take him out in an ‘unsprung’ pram and push him across the uneven grounds of Sandringham, such an act would mean that the pram shook harshly for as long as potentially two hours at a time, of constant rattling. This would quite often make him unwell and make him cry so much that he wasn’t even presented to his parents the same evening.

While there is no official record of it, there is much speculation as to whether or not Nanny Green actually sexually abused Albert as many at the time put that down to the possible cause of his stammer- though that is still up for much discussion and without any evidence it will have to remain as speculation. Of course we are much more aware of the conditions around the development of a stammer now, but the notion that it was suggested as a possible cause is startling.

The concerns around Nanny Green’s abuse were raised by her successor, ‘Lalla’ and Nanny Green was dismissed that very same day. She had not spent a single day away from David since she was hired and after a week of being away from the prince, she had a breakdown and was taken to a psychiatric hospital.

Albert, since deprived of any encouragement, warm contact and so used to his punishments, began to completely accept harsh punishments as something he just had to endure. Believing himself inferior to David whom was adored by their first nanny, who in many ways was supposed to be a mothering figure, he became cripplingly shy, his stammer and complete lack of support causing him to draw even further in on himself. In many ways, Nanny Green was perhaps the most damaging influence on his life.