shadow of britain

Chapter 744: The Responsibility of a King
The Duchess of Kent has always behaved properly. Even though her heart was filled with emotion at this moment, her face still had a calm and gentle look.

She held Princess Victoria with one hand and placed the other hand on her chest, nodding slightly to the row of solemn police officers. "The police officers from Scotland Yard worked tirelessly and finally found Delina's beloved things. The Crown Prince and I are deeply grateful for this friendship. If it weren't for your day and night investigation and law enforcement, this theft case might have been left unsolved like many other precedents."

Before she finished her words, Victoria took a half step forward under Mrs. Letzen's encouragement. Although Arthur had asked her to practice her speech for three weeks, it was her first time to speak in front of so many people without any preparation.

She thought for a while, and finally decided to express her gratitude to the police officers in her own words: "Thank you for recovering the writing box for me. I...I know it's just a small thing, but I will always remember that it was you who found it."

Officer Cawley, the hero who caught the thief, exchanged glances with Officer Huett and seemed a little at a loss.

For these two young men, they were not at all hesitant to fight the criminals with real weapons. All they needed was a left kick, a right kick, and if that didn't work, two more sticks. Even a British strongman weighing more than 200 kilograms could be knocked down by them.

However, if they were asked to deal with a 15-year-old girl, who was the crown princess, they would not know where to start.

Fortunately, in addition to the two of them, there were also several senior police officers from Scotland Yard who had faced Napoleon at Waterloo.

Charles Rowan, who was standing in the front, opened his mouth and steadily accepted Princess Victoria's thanks.

"Duchess, Your Highness," Rowan's voice was deep and heavy, with a bit of the commanding aura he had developed when he was in the army. "Scotland Yard is honored to serve the royal family. As long as Your Highness and her family are well, we will have achieved what we wished for."

After saying this, Rowan nodded slightly to Inspector Geoffrey Gordon, who was holding a writing box beside him.

Inspector Gordon took three steps forward and solemnly handed the writing box to Victoria. Then, he raised his hand to salute, revealing the only three fingers left on his right hand: "The 89th Regiment salutes you, Your Highness!"

Victoria was a little scared at first because of Inspector Gordon's broken right hand, but when she heard "89th Regiment", her eyes widened: "You...you are not a police officer from Scotland Yard? How...89th Regiment?"

Upon hearing this, Inspector Gordon smiled. "Geoffrey Gordon reports to you that he joined the 15nd Battalion of the 89th Infantry Regiment at the age of 2. In 1805, he went to Ceylon with the battalion to participate in the First Kandy War. After the war, he was promoted to corporal. In 1811, he was transferred to Malta with the battalion to perform second-line garrison missions. Later, as a sergeant of the Marine Corps, he assisted the Royal Navy in escort and landing operations along the coast of Liguria. After the end of the Napoleonic War in 1816, he was promoted to flag sergeant of the 89th Company of the 1826nd Battalion of the 89th Regiment. In 1829, he retired as a sergeant major of the 89nd Battalion of the th Regiment, and joined Scotland Yard as a police inspector in . Your Highness, thank you for awarding the th Regiment a new regimental flag! I saw it in the newspaper. The new flag is very beautiful. If I were years younger, I would be happy to carry it on my shoulders."

When Victoria heard this, she suddenly felt that Gordon looked much friendlier, and even his palms were not so scary anymore: "Then...your hands?"

"What are you talking about?" Gordon turned his head to look at his hands, and laughed proudly. "It doesn't matter. It's normal for people who have been to the battlefield to be missing limbs. The Duke of Wellington lost an ear, the Marquis of Anglesey lost a leg, Sir James Thompson and Sir John Hope became crippled in the Peninsular War and the Dutch Expedition respectively, and had to use crutches for the rest of their lives. Compared with them, what does it matter if I lost my index and ring fingers? There's nothing to complain about."

Director Rowan on the side also half-jokingly comforted the Crown Prince, "It's really no big deal. Inspector Gordon often jokes with young police officers about his three fingers. He often says: 'Three fingers, so what? Sir John Hope patrols the camp with a cane and doesn't allow others to give up their seats. If you really have some backbone, you should learn from the Marquis of Anglesey, who has lost a leg, but still charges on horseback.'"

Seeing how optimistic the police officers were, the Duchess of Kent couldn't help but feel a little fond of them.

Although these rough guys who came from the military were not as elegant as the Whig gentlemen, one had to admit that these old guys who were used to the gunfire were extremely optimistic.

She praised Gordon tactfully, "I used to think that humorous gentlemen like the Marquis of Anglesey were a minority in the army, but now it seems that optimists like him are probably the mainstream of the army."

Arthur, who had seen the eccentricities of the Marquis of Anglesey at the Allmark Club, could not help but ask, "Did that gentleman also show off his wooden leg to you?"

"That was more than just showing off," the Duchess of Kent mock-grumbled. "I think it would be hard to find a person in London who hadn't seen his wooden leg and heard the commander-in-chief of the cavalry boasting about the charge at Waterloo."

As an eyewitness to the Battle of Waterloo, Director Rowan obviously knew more about the "glorious deeds" of the Marquis of Anglesey than anyone else present.

He duly acted as a restorer of the truth: "The Marquis of Anglesey was indeed brave on the day of Waterloo, except when he was hit by a French cannonball."

His words immediately aroused everyone's curiosity.

"Do you know any special stories?"

"It's not a special story, it's just a small episode at best." Rowan replied in a serious tone: "I remember that when the Marquis of Anglesey was shot, he yelled to the Duke of Wellington beside him: 'Oh my God! Your Excellency, my leg is gone!' The Duke of Wellington looked at him, and then replied in his usual calm tone: 'Oh my God, yes, it's really gone.'"

For a moment, the atmosphere in the Rose Hall seemed to be gently knocked by something.

Victoria first opened her eyes wide in surprise, as if she had not expected the conversation on the battlefield to be so straightforward and calm.

Then she couldn't help laughing softly, but then she felt it was impolite to laugh at the hero of Waterloo, so she had to cover her mouth, her shoulders trembling slightly.

Mrs. Letzen tried to keep a straight face with her usual serious expression, but the corner of the eye of the Hanoverian governess twitched uncontrollably.

As for the Duchess of Kent, she also had a hard time enduring it. After all, the Duke of Wellington's humorous reaction on the battlefield was really inconsistent with everyone's imagination of a powerful general.

In the end, she could only pretend to be half shocked and half helpless and scolded: "You men always make life and death sound like afternoon tea."

The atmosphere on the scene suddenly became much more harmonious because of this unexpected battlefield joke.

In this humorous moment, the Duchess of Kent patted Victoria's hand gently, then turned to Director Rowan and said, "I'm sure you and war heroes like Inspector Gordon have many similar interesting stories in your heads. Besides, all the officers have worked so hard for so long, why don't you relax today and stay for lunch? Kensington Palace has several highly acclaimed dishes, why don't you all taste them together as a small thank you to all of you."

Cowley and Hughie looked at each other, with uncontrollable excitement on their faces. After all, they had never eaten in a palace in their lives.

Just as they were secretly wondering how much better the food at Kensington Palace would be than the street fast food, Rowan had already declined.

"Your Highness, I and my colleagues at Scotland Yard are grateful for your kindness. But please allow us to discuss lunch later. Right now, there is something more important that I must report to you."

"Oh?" The Duchess of Kent was slightly surprised.

"Although the theft has been solved..." Rowan saw Arthur nod slightly behind the Duchess of Kent, and he did not hesitate any longer: "But the problem it revealed has not been solved. Although Kensington Palace belongs to the royal territory and the residence of the crown prince, there are many idle people around it, and the security force is relatively weak. Although the occurrence of this theft case is somewhat accidental, it is also inevitable. This makes me and others deeply worried. If Scotland Yard fails to solve the case this time, the consequences may be unimaginable."

Upon hearing this, the Duchess of Kent nodded in agreement.

In fact, she had discussed the matter privately with Conroy after the incident, but they still couldn't figure out how the thief had stolen things from Kensington without anyone noticing.

At the beginning, they thought the most likely possibility was that someone in the palace had robbed the palace.

To this end, Conroy secretly checked the living quarters of all the palace staff and actually found several servants with dishonest hands and feet.

However, most of the items these people steal are daily necessities such as clothes and shoes, or food.

As for the whereabouts of the writing box, there is still no clue.

It was not until the suspect was arrested at Golden Cross Station the day before yesterday that the Duchess learned the "truth" from Scotland Yard's investigation report.

The report pointed out that criminal gangs may have set their sights on Kensington Palace early on.

Although Scotland Yard recovered the writing box from the Pickett Street thugs, the writing box in Little Bobby's hand was also stolen from somewhere else, and it is possible that someone else actually stole the Kensington Palace. They were a professional gang that specialized in imitating aristocratic accents, forging documents, and even imitating servants' attire to sneak into high-class places.

About a year ago, there were several cases of jewellery thefts in Devon by posing as gardeners, and recently this new type of criminal method has also appeared in London.

Combined with several cases that have occurred in the past, Scotland Yard reasonably inferred that the criminal might have forged a company letter of introduction by some means a few weeks ago, impersonated a temporarily hired porter, and entered the foreign affairs porter team near Kensington Palace. Because that day was the day for routine cleaning and furniture repair at Kensington Palace, outsiders came and went frequently, and the guards were negligent for a while and failed to verify the identities of each one.

In the afternoon, taking advantage of the brief chaos of servants changing shifts and guards changing guards at the courtyard gate, the criminal quietly slipped into the storage room near the west corridor, where several old items that were not often used were piled up, including several storage boxes that had not been sealed. It is inferred that he should have found Princess Victoria's writing box among these items and hid it in the tool bag he carried with him.

The Duchess of Kent followed the investigation report provided by Scotland Yard and sent people to check the furniture and storage boxes mentioned in the report. She found that the locks of three of the box lids were indeed loose and not closed tightly. The servant on duty also admitted that she was called away to help clean the room on cleaning day, and she indeed neglected to take inventory after returning.

Now, the "truth" is finally revealed to the world.

All signs seemed to confirm that what Scotland Yard said was true, which made the Duchess of Kent secretly frightened.

Although the lost writing box was troublesome, in the Duchess of Kent's view, it would only give William IV a reason to scold her.

But if the criminal could steal from Kensington Palace, he could also do the same to Victoria.

The Duchess of Kent's daughter's personal safety has always been a concern for her. This neurotic mother is always worried that someone will murder her daughter.

What made her most anxious was the Duke of Cumberland, who was second only to Victoria in the line of succession to the throne.

Even though many people believed that the Duke of Cumberland's poor social reputation could not pose a threat to Victoria's succession to the throne, the Duchess of Kent was worried. She always believed that this evil uncle might poison her daughter.

For this reason, she did not allow Victoria to eat anything outside, even when traveling, and was not allowed to taste local specialties. Even the meals provided by Kensington Palace had to be tested for poison before they could be served on the table.

Her suspicion had reached such a level that even if Rowan hadn't mentioned it, she was planning to rectify the lax security at Kensington Palace.

"Your concerns are not without reason." She whispered, "Although Kensington Palace is not as important as Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle in recent years, it is at least the residence of the Crown Prince. If even Kensington Palace cannot guarantee the safety of Delina, how can the royal family survive?"

Luo Wan said in a deep voice: "Because of this, for the sake of Her Royal Highness's personal safety, I suggest that you take strict precautions in the future. Of course, the best way is for you to allow Scotland Yard to dispatch several experienced plainclothes police officers to be stationed outside the palace. If possible, we also hope to communicate with you or Sir John Conroy on security matters regularly."

Rowan's suggestion hit the mark, and the Duchess of Kent even wanted to go a step further.

According to the advice she asked Conroy yesterday, it would be best if Scotland Yard could arrange a patrol team around Kensington Palace to regularly patrol the surrounding blocks.

"Can't we arrange a patrol?"

Hearing this, Rowan could not help but tactfully reply, "Your Highness, within my authority, arranging plainclothes police officers is probably the limit. If we were to publicly arrange a special patrol team... you know, without the support of Whitehall, we would probably have difficulty allocating police force and funds. Because according to relevant regulations, although Kensington is the residence of the Crown Prince, the area around Kensington Palace is no different from other official places in Scotland Yard. If we rashly mobilize personnel, it will easily lead to legal disputes."

If someone else had said this, the Duchess of Kent would probably have found it difficult to look at him in a good light.

Because in the eyes of this German-born crown prince's mother, what official business in London could be more important than the safety of the future queen?
But after the popularization of science in major London newspapers in the past few days, she certainly understood Rowan's subtext and understood the difficulties of Scotland Yard.

They suffered such a great injustice in the cold bath incident, but they still had to swallow their anger.

If Operation Golden Cross Station had not revealed Sheriff Culley's unknown contributions, he and his family might not have been able to clear their names until now.

Rather than embarrass the director who just follows orders, it would be better to go directly to the Ministry of the Interior and confront the Minister of the Interior.

But the problem is that she doesn’t even know who the next Home Secretary will be!
The damn old sailor dissolved Parliament and the Melbourne cabinet fell. Before the new cabinet took office, she could only persuade William IV to agree to strengthen the defense of Kensington Palace.

But as we all know, this is impossible.

Regardless of whether William IV was willing or not, the Duchess of Kent herself was unwilling to bow to the foul-mouthed old sailor.

She would never go to Windsor Castle to ask William IV for help. Kensington couldn't bring herself to do that!

But being unhappy in the heart does not mean that it should be expressed outwardly. The Duchess of Kent still said beautifully: "It is true. I don't want anyone to use this as an excuse to say that Kensington Palace is taking state resources for itself, even if it is for Victoria's safety. However, if this matter is not resolved..."

The atmosphere was a little solemn for a moment.

Director Rowan hesitated for a moment, and finally raised his head and said, "I understand the concerns of the Duchess and Colonel Conroy. But please allow me to boldly propose a compromise plan..."

The Duchess of Kent didn't expect Rowan to have a solution. She quickly encouraged him, "Please speak."

"Scotland Yard plans to hold a memorial event for Sheriff Culley, who died in the Cold Bath incident recently. This is also part of Mr. Disraeli's fundraising for the Culley family." Rowan slowed down his tone, but his face was very serious. "Sheriff Culley devoted his life to the people of London, but suffered too many false accusations after his death. If Her Royal Highness is willing to attend, no, even if she sends a eulogy, a symbolic tribute, it will be enough to send a signal to the society that the Crown Prince does not ignore us, the humble guardians of the city. In this way, I believe many police officers will voluntarily come to the vicinity of Kensington Palace during their rest time to protect the safety of the Crown Prince."

"You mean..." The Duchess frowned slightly.

She understood what Rowan meant.

The king, the government and the parliament can control the police officers during working hours, but what they want to do after get off work is their freedom.

Moreover, in this way, not only does it not have to go through Whitehall and use the treasury budget, it will not attract public criticism, but may instead arouse public sympathy and respect.

Inspector Gordon also stood up at this time: "I swear to God on the honor of the 89th Regiment that if Your Highness is willing to stand on the side of Scotland Yard, then Scotland Yard will naturally give its full support."

Luo Wan also said: "And for Your Highness, this is also taking the initiative to assume the responsibility of a future monarch."

The Scotland Yard official spoke almost in a pleading manner, raising his hand in salute and saying, "Your Highness, you don't even have to be there in person. I assure you that a simple greeting will suffice."

After the words were spoken, the Rose Hall was silent for a moment.

Then, Victoria turned her head and asked her mother softly, "Mom, can I go?"

The Duchess of Kent felt a little bit of pity when she saw the depressed looks of these burly police officers, and Director Rowan's words just now really touched her deeply.

She took a deep breath and touched Victoria's head: "Delina, it's not that you can go, but that you must go. Just like the police officers said, this is your duty as a monarch."

(End of this chapter)