NB Although all of the great houses and historical figures are real, current period characters are purely from my imagination and have no link with anyone living or dead.

Part 7 The Next Shoe Drops

The next local paper came out on Friday and it had an article in it about “What about that Frog?” which took the reader though the other half of the witches spell and had pictures of Tristan giving his presentation dressed in his Tudor garb. It was all right, fair and factual but lifted the lid on the whole shipment of worms.

That was the day I found out I had an agent, no, make that all five of us had an agent that NT and my father had organised just in case things got hairy. NT had sent him video of our presentation and my father had sent him the clip with the frog.

The agent had organised a security firm to look after us so that day I made the acquaintance of a rather large man in a group of other large men who were going to be with us all during our waking hours until the hoo-hah died down. It was a good job Alec and I had got together before all this happened.

Saturday the national papers ran with the two stories linked together under the headline “Five hundred year old curse creates two new teenagers!” It was factual, if you believe in the facts, but left the door open for those who love conspiracy theories to think that we had cobbled it up for the celebrity status. I had to say, a story where a boy kisses a frog, gets turned into a beautiful girl while the frog becomes a handsome guy who was living in 1500 could be misconstrued.

The crowd on the Saturday was huge with a lot only wanting to look at us rather than the House. Sunday was similar but our heavies made sure we were not hassled. The following week my bodyguard came with me to my test; then waited while I was out on the test then came back with me as I drove my car without the ‘L’ plates.

The downside of all this attention was that we needed a round-the-clock guard at the House while Tristan was there. In the end the best thing was for us to disappear. My father organised a couple of local drama students to play us on the weekend and we coached them through the presentation so that the public who did come to see the House were not short-changed.

The five of us, with two bodyguards but minus our phones so we couldn’t be tracked, were taken to Little Easton where we stayed in the big house. It wasn’t all play, no; we did have to earn our keep getting the place ready for the big opening as well as having more chance to hone the presentation. The big opening was only a couple of weeks away so we had to have it ready to go, especially as we had been told that the King was keen to be at the event.

This upped the level of security in those two weeks before the event. We were still in demand by the press and the TV people but we only went out a pair at a time with our minders. Our agent made sure that we would be paid if it was possible and it was either Tristan and Sarah heading out or me and Alec.

Our agent had sold the video clip of our change to a big media outlet and it had run almost non-stop on TV ever since and the price he got would set up the five of us with a great start to our lives. Stella was able to get around without any problems because she had been the one the filming so was able to go out with Hamish, her bearded pal.

The week before the event Tristan was advised that his DNA was a definite match, within the guidelines, with the Plantagenet dynasty with no less than five different family lines in the present day that they knew of.

We had a full dress rehearsal, using the marquee set up and all the cast fitted with microphones. There was a small audience of security and NT people, our parents and friends and a small group from London. There was a professional film crew getting the camera lines right as the opening would be recorded to go out on TV at a later date.

Living at the Manor was a two-edged sword. One side was that the place had a good perimeter that could be set up with an alarm system paid for, in part, by the government which would be left there for NT afterwards. The other side was that we were in a virtual prison unless we were going out for an interview or photo shoot.

There was another sword that hung over us. The good side was that it made two couples very close. Sarah and Tristan being now genuine couple; like Alec and me. It only took a week for Alec and me to run out of condoms but one of our heavies brought us in some more along with a supply of soap and shampoo. Sarah, being on the pill, was able to have unprotected sex which was a good thing as Tristan would never have known about condoms in his day.

The bad side was that we were going stir-crazy not being able to go out without being noticed and hassled. Our heavies told us that we would be good in another couple of weeks as people moved on. When we had a chance we would walk the grounds with Tristan pointing out trees that he recognised and places he used to play with the younger members of the Bourchier family when he wasn’t doing his work.

One time he found a stick figure he had made from old animal bones and buried. When he dug where he thought it may have been and it came to light he just sat on the grounds and howled like a baby for the longest time with Sarah and I comforting him as much as we could.

Alec quietly covered it again. After that he was determined that, whatever he had to do to be successful in his new life, he would do it the best of his abilities. Those abilities were becoming more impressive as time went on. His royal bloodline was starting to make itself known, now that it had the chance to grow.

The weekend of the grand opening arrived, at last. The Manor was fit for a king, seeing that one would be attending, and the gardens were pristine. On the Saturday morning we had a full dress rehearsal again that was timed to the second. We then were given a protocol training session by a gentleman from the palace who we found out later had not read all the memos. When we did get to meet the royal party there was no such stupidity and stuffiness.

We were all outfitted in our after-opening clothes to make sure it all fitted. The two guys had smart dinner suits while we girls had long dresses with appropriate jewellery which was only on loan. None of us had been so decked out before, especially me, the world we normally lived in being much more casual. Supposedly we should be dressed up when we met his nibs.

Saturday evening we all had a dress dinner as a trial run for Sunday evening. It was very a lovely meal but not something that would keep a teenager up and running – so much plate – so little food. I found it difficult to sleep on Saturday night but Alec did manage to tire me sufficiently to get a few hours.

What was worrying was that he rolled over and fell asleep as soon as he had pulled out which left me angry. The ten days or so being together in one bed was starting to wear thin and we had started to niggle at those little things that we had always disagreed with when I was Brian.

Sunday morning, after breakfast, we were taken to the marquee and rigged out with our outfits for the day. The mics were all fitted and we tested them by walking out beyond where we would normally go during the event. We were expected to conform to whatever was asked of us during the morning and the light lunch and were given badges that told what era our specialty was.

It was odd seeing Sarah made up to look like a servant while I was given some aging as required for playing Tristans’ mother. I did keep notes of my parts in a pocket of my long skirt but was sure I had it all on tap as long as I didn’t get the nerves. Tristan was kitted out as a Tudor lad and looked pretty stunning. The one thing that did not hold true was that we all had sturdy shoes, not something that he had been used to as a boy.

There was a steady stream of visitors arriving, from the local landed gentry to the good folk of NT. Our parents arrived and we walked with them in the grounds for a while. My mother picked up the fact that I was now a genuine woman fairly quickly and told me to be extra careful.

Sarahs’ folks already knew she was a complete woman because she had been having sex with me in the three months before the change. About eleven I had a call that the main visitors had arrived and to get my lot over to the reception area so we left our folks and went to do what we had been contracted to do.

Strangely, I did not feel at all worried about the coming hours. Everyone was keen to meet a prince or two and especially a certain princess. It all went very smoothly; we were introduced and the King immediately said “I want to see the grounds, you know, the old part.”

He was down to earth, having gone so long as a land-owner and producer himself, and with Tristan on one side and me on the other, we took him though the timeline of Estaines Parvo. Once we had got away from the big throng he was very chatty and had obviously seen the frog video and had been brought up to speed on who had walked these woods before.

He asked some telling questions which I could answer and then he asked me if it was my father that had written the books on Tudor and Elizabethan life. I said it was and that I hoped to follow his footsteps in the history field.

His main questions to Tristan were about his time at the big manor and Tristan gave him as much detail as he could. There was an odd moment when the King asked a question in old French and Tristan immediately gave his answer in the same language. Of course, French was the language of the court for a very long time after the conquest and the family who lived here had been in the country since around that time.

We got to the place where Tristan had had his melt-down and he stopped and said “Sire, Your Highness, this spot holds something very dear to me. When I was about five, I made a little stick figure from animal bones with a rat skull for a head. It is buried just here. Do you want to see it?”

The King put his hand on Tristans’ arm and said “Young gentleman, I would like to, very much. They have shown me the results of your DNA test and you, for your time, have as much regal blood in your veins as I do in my time. Please show me your icon and then we can cover it up again.”

Alec bent down and uncovered the skeleton as much as he could and together we stood and looked at it, the official photographer taking pictures. It was one of those pictures that appeared on the front page of the Monday paper.

The bones were recovered and we then showed him the engraving on the tree. The King laughed and said “Not something a preservationist like me would do, but to know that I am standing where King Edward once stood and look at his artwork has made my day. Come, young people, let us go and raid the lunch table. I want you to all meet my family that are here, you have much to give this country and I want you to know that there will be something we, that is the ‘royal we’ can give to you.”

He chatted with Sarah, Alec and Stella on the walk back and the NT guy walked with me and told me that I had a job with NT should I want to be part of it; and so did Tristan, seeing the effect we had had on the biggest benefactor. Back with the crowd we did get to pick up a plate and eat a few things but there was a constant round of introductions, firstly with the rest of the family and then with some of the other VIPs.

I was sitting with Tristan having a very welcome sandwich and cup of tea when we were approached by the then fourteen year old prince who asked “I looked at that video many times and there is no way you could have faked it. Are you really a prince and princess?”

Marianne Gregory © 2022