Carrying the Crown

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100 words for Friday Fictioneers
Photoprompt © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

Carrying the Crown

I am here alone and I would not be. I see rough walls of stone, grey-drab with unfamiliar light. I am a prisoner of duty, a bride-in-waiting for her marriage to a stranger. What if I forget the taste of boudin noir aux pommes, the scent of juniper, a fresh fig’s sweetness? I reach up and trace the narrow window with my finger. I ache for my mother, my dolls, the purring warmth of Felix on my bed.

I see the English servant on the terrace, a velvet cushion held aloft and upon that blood-red plush, ready for the ceremony, my crown.

Published by jillyfunnell

Published

78 thoughts on “Carrying the Crown”

  7. We really have to make tough decisions and tolerate so much.
    Leave the familiar for duty or work or a relationship…
    Her dilemma is captured wonderfully. Crown belongs to her, but she doesn’t feel powerful.

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  8. You are spot on with your observations, especially that sense of impotence in the crown. She is of use but how long for? Thank you so much for reading and commenting, Anita, I really appreciate it.

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    1. Yes! I am old enough to remember being glued to Keith Michel’s performance in The Six Wives of Henry the Eighth. I may be wrong but I felt it helped me understand why those women held such staunch religious faith. I also remember visiting a tower in Cyprus, Paphos I think, where a French girl was taken to become queen, probably fourteenth century or so, and I never forgot her. I was affected by how lonely she must have been.

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  13. the story slightly reminded me of the Bio of Queen Victoria – she was kept protected and tucked away – played with dolls – but felt locked up and isolated – and was made at her mother for this for the rest of her life…
    —
    and as noted above – I loved the details of the food – nice contrast to the sour and hard, cold vibe – to think of the “taste of boudin noir aux pommes, the scent of juniper, a fresh fig’s sweetness”

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      1. You are so right – a powerful connection to an enriched life and then I know you know this – but rather than just saying ‘she yearned and would long for foods she loved ‘ you gave us the specifics and it makes a difference!
        And if you ever get the chance – watch the movie Babette’s Feast (if you have not seen it)
        Soooo good

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    1. When queens rise to govern and rule they can be the most impressive and terrifying of monarchs. Maybe my lonely, frightened girl could become one of them – as per the saying “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”

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  21. Once upon a time when I was young I would have been thrilled at the thought of her wearing a crown but now it just gave me the shivers. I have grown old 😀 Very well penned Jilly

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    1. Me too. At least there seems some element of choice these days but back in the day, as in many other areas, young women were treated like inanimate objects and often carelessly sacrificed. Thank you for your very kind comment, Jo.

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  28. Thank you so much. I felt it would be her family and her cat and her favourite food she would long for. The French dish is what I would call black pudding, served with apples. I think the apples are there to cut the richness of the strong meat-based boudin noir.

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  29. A vividly described scene, love the immediacy of her situation, her missing home told through gorgeous food and her cat. I also thought of Henry 8th and his Spanish queen, how cold and strange Britain must have been for her. Well done.

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  35. Thank you very much for reading, Brenda, and your kind comments. As soon as I saw the picture, the first line came into my head, probably because the structure seemed a strange and lonely place to me.

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  43. Considering that October 16th is the anniversary of Marie Antoinette’s assassination, this is quite timely. The language you used makes it fit so well into days of yore. Politics is quite capable of enslaving people, even those who seem to have the very most to gain from being in power.

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  45. I could feel her despair, sense of loss for what she once had and what she was leaving behind and the hopelessness of entering into a marriage to a man she didn’t know–a stranger. She was doing her duty but at what cost? Wonderful take on the prompt, Jilly.

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