I'd never been so nervous to go to Buckingham Palace. This visit was a big deal.

I had on a simple blue dress for the big occasion. It was a long-sleeved skater dress that tied in the front. It hit right above my knee and I hoped that was modest enough.

"Arch can you zip this up?" I asked as I walked into his closet. He was trying to figure out which tie to wear.

"I like the sapphire blue one." I pointed out to him

He zipped up my dress, "I was thinking the same thing. Are you nervous?"

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't. It's an important lunch with a lot of people." I reminded myself

He rubbed my arms, "It's gonna go smoothly."

I kissed his cheek, "Hopefully. Ok, I gotta go finish my makeup"

I walked back to my bathroom and put on some light, natural makeup. I put on some simple diamond studs, slipped on some black closed-toed heels, and sprayed on my favorite Chloé perfume.

We got in Archie's car and started the drive to the palace.

Archie held my hand as he drove, "The engagement hits the news tomorrow. I just wanted to let you know."

"I figured it was coming sooner or later." I said in response, "When is the interview?"

"I'm not too sure, they're telling us all of that today. I just know things are gonna get busy." Archie spoke

I took a deep breath, "Yeah. Is your Dad the only one that knows?"

He nodded, "Yup unless Aubrey told Alex."

"I don't think she did but then again you never know." I responded as we pulled up to security. They knew who we were immediately and let us in.

Archie took my hand and we walked into one of the many staterooms. At the table was Archie's sisters, his grandfather, his Dad and Ruth, and some people I didn't recognize. Everyone's head turned towards us as we entered the room.

"Well if it isn't the happy couple." Winston began as he motioned towards the two chairs for us, "Please sit."

Archie pulled out my chair, I sat down, and then he sat to my left.

"Well, what are we here for?" Matilda asked us as the caters began to serve the first course which was some sort of salad

I noticed that the king was looking at Archie and Archie was looking at me.

Archie held up my left hand, "We got engaged last night around the twenty-three hundred-hour."

All of his sisters immediately shrieked and began clapping their hands.

"Congratulations!" Victoria exclaimed, "Can we see the ring?"

I held out my left hand as they began to examine the ring.

"It's made out of Mom's sapphire and the center stone is from one of her favorite rings." Archie explained to his sisters, "Does it just look amazing on her?"

"It is gorgeous." Alexandra agreed with her brother, "When's the big day?"

Winston cleared his throat as I put my hand down.

"Archie, Alena meet the board. They will help with the planning of the wedding from the flowers to the dress but today we're discussing the date, taking engagement pictures, all of that jazz. I've notified the prime minister of your engagement but he isn't saying anything until we do. So we need a picture as soon as possible." he gave us the rundown

A woman with grey hair raised her finger, "Prince Archie, I'm sure that you're aware of the phrase 'Marry in May, rue the day' which was started by Queen Mary many many years ago. So we were thinking April 24th, which is a Friday at high noon."

It was at this moment that I realized that the control I was going to have over this wedding was going to be very minimal. We hadn't even gotten deep into the planning.

I looked at Archie and we nodded our heads.

"Yes, that works." I agreed to their proposition if it was even one, "Could we have a small, private wedding in California?"

Winston shifted in his seat, "I mean it's never been done before but I'd rather it be after the one here. No press or anything, correct?"

"Yes, Father, hence the word private." Archie brought to his Dad's attention, "We'd like the wedding to be in Westminster Abbey as well."

"I wouldn't want it to be anywhere else." Winston agreed, "Alena, I think it'd be best to quit your job especially before the wedding. Preferably within the next month."

I practically choked on my spit.

Quit?

Four years of education, a glowing resume, and a beautiful transcript for nothing basically?

I had to remind myself this is what you wanted, you knew what you were getting into.

I swallowed my pride, "Yes of course."

"We need to get wedding gown designers in here as soon as next week because the big day will come very quickly and this dress can't be anything short of amazing." a male advisor spoke

"The gown will be modest with flair it will be white of course. The bride will wear a crown from the late Queen Anne or the late Princess Frances. Both the Bride and the Groom's bands will be made from Welsh gold." he continued

Archie looked at me, "I think my mothers would look amazing on you."

Victoria nodded, "She does remind me a lot of Mother."

"Mum would've been head over heels for you." Matilda added as she looked me in the eyes

Those statements warmed my heart.

The things I would do to give them their mother back.

"I think it would be good if we go over a few questions before the engagement interview." The advisor with glasses spoke, I wish they stated their names or wore name tags

"Alena just because you're not a Brit native I think it would be good to have lessons with you. Just to teach you royal protocol and whatnot." she proceeded to say, "You are the mother of the country's future king or queen."

That statement was insane to think about.

I could have the future of a whole country in my uterus a year from now.

"Let's not rush them into anything just yet." Winston laughed nervously, "Let's try to make it through the biggest event of next year first."

Archie nodded his head, "I agree."

We talked more about the roles in the wedding, religion, the dress code, how we may need to live in the palace once we officially tied the knot, basically, we just talked about how much things would change. Just being a partner to Archie was practically nothing but being his fiancée and wife was everything.

They told me that I didn't have to be baptized into their faith unless I absolutely wanted to -I didn't really want to - but I knew I needed to do it. I couldn't give the press or the people more reasons to hate me.

After lunch, Archie and I were thrown into hair, makeup, and styling for the official engagement shoot. Following an hour-long photoshoot, we had a practice interview.

We were instructed to clean up some of our answers. For example, we didn't meet at a club but at a friend's birthday party.

I was introduced to my new assistants, Theodora and Iris. Theodora was in her fifties while Iris was in her late twenties so it was kind of like the best of both worlds. They were there to take care of small things for me, remind me about when I needed to be at the palace, it was going to be something to get used to.

But I was thankful for them.

Everything ran overboard but because of them, we were able to get a limo to bring my family to the rental property they were staying in.

"My Mom said that they just ordered some pizza and that we could come over." I told Archie as we got into his car

"Perfect." he responded, "Tomorrow is going to be long."

"I think this whole life will be." I joked with him

Archie smiled, "I think with me by your side it will be a tad for bearable."

"I think so too." I agreed with him

While Archie drove, I FaceTimed Peyton to catch her up on everything. She was still in Bora Bora for her honeymoon and she even woke up out of her sleep to hear our news. She was so extremely excited for us. Hopefully, she wasn't getting knocked up on that honeymoon.

We stayed at my family's place for an hour or two. It was nice to catch them up on everything that was to come even though we didn't really know what was coming either.

But at eight in the morning, the news of our engagement came out.

And gosh did the world go crazy.

I was scrolling through my burner account on twitter to see the reactions. Our names were trending on twitter along with 'royal wedding', 'black queen', and 'black'. Some Black Britians were tearing up at the fact that the next sovereign was going to be black and/or just at the fact that I was engaged to Archie.

And then there were the nasty comments, mostly about me being black but after seeing ten tweets I couldn't take it anymore so I just closed it out.

The day our engagement hit the news, we laid low. My family came over to our house and we just hung out for the day by watching movies and grilling.

Then the next day came.

The day of our interview.

My family came to Kensington just to talk to Archie's family and just support us. The interview was in one of the staterooms. There were tons of lights and cameras set up.

The woman who was interviewing us was very calm and not pushy. I think that helped to make things more comfortable.

She asked questions like when/how did the engagement happen, how did we first meet, how we managed to go between the US and UK, stuff like that.

It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be - then again we were only five minutes in.

"Alena, how do you think growing up in the states affected your view of the royal family?" she asked me

"Well growing up in the states, the royal family isn't a big deal so I never heard stories about him through tabloids or talk shows. Everything I know about him I got to know through him and what he shared with me no through social media." I answered her question

Archie squeezed my hand, "It was a nice, organic way to get to know someone. There were no perceived notions beforehand everything just grew by itself. I think it's not to be with someone who isn't in your circle, it's almost like a fresh start."

"On this topic, Alena, did you know what a huge deal it was to get involved with someone from the royal family?" she questioned me

No.

Sometimes I felt like I still didn't know.

"In the beginning, I definitely did not. I think both of us didn't." I looked over at Archie

He nodded, "I think especially since I'm next in line it's a bigger deal as well. Once we became serious, I tried to warn her and almost give her an out. I experienced first hand what this life could do to someone and I never wanted that for her. But I think our love overcame that. Even so, we tried to prepare ourselves but we can only do so much."

"Scrutiny?" she asked and we nodded, "It's no secret that you've taken action on tabloids. I think it's clear to anyone with ears, eyes, and a brain that must of it is because of Alena's ethnicity. What do you think your relationship will do for the future?"

"I think we shouldn't have to prove anything especially in this day and age but I'd like for others to see the world in the correct sense rather than in a distorted view." Archie began, "I think that she'll be amazing at her job and that we're a marvelous team."

"Prince Archie, did you realize what you asked Alena to do for you?" the interviewer asked him

It was a question we'd gone over a handful of times but it was going to be nice to hear his perspective on it to someone else.

"I did. We didn't date until after we knew each other for four months and we started to become serious very quickly. I talked about it to my sisters about what it meant. I remember telling Victoria that I knew that I was in love with this woman and I hoped that she was in love with me but I still had to talk to her. I knew that the day that she choose me, I'd choose her over anything really. Whatever comes my way, her way, or our way we'll tackle together as a team." Archie went on

I smiled as I looked at him, "I think we started to do that long before there was a ring on my finger."

Archie nodded, "She's capable of anything and I know she can move mountains but together we can move the world. We're both very passionate people. We'd like to start helping the young people in the commonwealth to build a better future."

My heart melted.

She's capable of anything - I had to remind myself of that sometimes.

We talked about how we wanted children in the near future, how we met each other's family, and how I wanted to connect with his mother's family and his legacy.

When it was over we both felt like a huge weight was lifted off of our shoulders. We had dinner with our families because mine had to fly home in the morning. It was an enjoyable evening but it was an even better time falling asleep with the love of my life right next to me.

"I hope things are different for our children's lifetime." I spoke as we laid in the dark

"I have strong faith that it will be." Archie spoke optimistically, "And I noticed that you said, children."

I looked at him, "I want a big family."

One wasn't enough and they could easily get rid of them. Having at least three would be hard to get rid of all of them.

"Oh yes, I want a bunch of heirs in this family." Archie agreed with me

We were thinking the same thing.

"What if we only had girls?" I asked him

"So? I honestly think if the world began dominated by females it would be a much better place. Just think about it." he told me

That was a thought-provoking opinion to go to sleep on.