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“Can you tell us more about the Regency Act, Henrietta? And how it may affect us all in the days and weeks to come?”
“The first modern-day Regency Act was passed in 1936, after Edward VIII took the throne when his son, who later became Alexander I, was only seven years old. Parliament wanted to ensure that there was a clear path forward if Edward VIII died before his heir reached the age of eighteen, and that involved creating the position of Counsellors of State—members of the royal family over the age of twenty-one who may perform most of the sovereign’s duties, should he be temporarily incapacitated or abroad. Traditionally these include the monarch’s consort and the first four adults in the line of succession, though as the royal family began to slim down in recent generations, the number has fluctuated. Now the heir to the throne is included, should they be over the age of eighteen, as well as the consort of the former sovereign.”
“The Queen Mother, you mean?”
“Indeed. Queen Florence, His Majesty’s grandmother, was also a Counsellor of State until her retirement from public duties shortly before her death.”
“And who are the Counsellors of State today?”
“Officially, the Queen, the Queen Mother, the Duke of York, and Princess Mary, now that she’s eighteen, are the only four Counsellors of State. Prince Benedict, of course, is still under the age of twenty-one, and Prince Edgar, the fourth in line to the throne and second son of Alexander I, does not reside in Britain, nor do his descendants. After him come the descendants of Edward VIII’s daughters, Princess Victoria and Princess Phillipa, none of whom have titles or are actively involved in royal life.”
“So in this time of great need, we are short a Counsellor of State.”
“Indeed. But there are several curiosities regarding the Regency Act of 2005, most important of which deals with precisely the situation we’ve found ourselves in now—what happens if His Majesty is incapacitated, either temporarily or permanently, before Princess Mary turns twenty-one.”
“Presumably the monarchy would become a regency, yes?”
“It’s possible, though a regency will only be established if His Majesty is permanently unable to perform his duties. In either case, after Princess Mary was born, the King worked with Parliament to outline a plan to ensure she would not be burdened with the full weight of the crown whilst still a teenager.”
“And this is where this…royal council comes in, yes?”
“Precisely. His Majesty requested that should he be temporarily incapacitated, or should Her Royal Highness be placed in a position of regent or monarch before the age of twenty-one, she be assisted by four individuals: the Counsellors of State, and should this equal less than four, then her closest blood relatives over the age of eighteen.”
“Which, until now, we all assumed was included to allow for Prince Benedict’s involvement, considering he was born the year before Princess Mary.”
“Yes. But it seems His Majesty has, as they say, pulled a fast one on us all. At the time the clause was drafted, he was very much aware that he had a second daughter—Evangeline Bright. And the statement from Buckingham Palace announcing the arrangement has made it clear that she was always the intended final member of the council, not Prince Benedict.”
“A rather unusual choice for His Majesty to make, considering Evangeline’s existence was only revealed to the public last summer.”
“ ‘Unusual’ doesn’t even begin to cover it, I’m afraid. Parliament almost certainly wouldn’t have accepted the wording as it stands had they known an illegitimate half sibling would be involved, and I’d imagine that this won’t help calm the inevitable chaos in the palace at the moment.”
“What should we expect from this royal council, moving forward?”
“It’s difficult to say, as such a council has never been established before, let alone placed in a position of authority over the monarchy. But I have no doubt that everyone involved wishes to work together toward the best interests of this country and its people, and with the experience of two queen consorts at Princess Mary’s disposal, we can only hope the transition—whether temporary or permanent—is as smooth as possible, given the tragic circumstances.”
“And if His Majesty, God forbid, succumbs to his injuries?”
“Should the unthinkable happen, then with the royal council’s continued guidance, Princess Mary will officially ascend the throne, and the United Kingdom will have our first queen regnant since the age of Victoria.”
—ITV News’s interview with royal expert Henrietta Smythe, 13 January 2024
I SPEND THE REST OF the morning in a much smaller conference room with Wiggs, the gray-haired palace lawyer who represented me during the investigation into Jasper Cunningham’s death, as he takes me through every excruciating detail of my meeting with Aoife Marsh.
For the most part, he’s sympathetic, but he has me repeat my story more than a dozen times, in different ways and from different angles, and I start to notice that his questions are designed to trip me up and catch me in a lie. And while I know that it’s his job to make sure he has as much of the truth as I do before he squares off with MI5 for me, especially with the stakes so high, by the time Suraj Singh strides into the room with a laptop tucked under his arm, my nerves are frayed and my patience is dangerously close to zero.
“Miss Bright,” he says politely, but instead of sitting down, he opens the laptop so I have a clear view of the blank screen. His suit is identical to the one he wore in the hospital the night before, and even though it looks clean and pressed, part of me wonders if he hasn’t gone home.
“What’s this about?” says Wiggs gruffly, eyeing the laptop. Singh taps a key, and the image of a human silhouette appears, its identifying features in shadow.
“This video was posted by the Army of the British Republic less than twenty minutes ago,” says Singh as he sets the computer down on the table, and before Wiggs can ask any more questions, he hits Play.
“—rocked the entire world with our message, and we’re only getting started,” says a pitched voice as the silhouette shifts. “We have shown our so-called rulers that they are not and will never be our betters, and that they sit on their thrones because we the people allow it. Because we the people tolerate their existence, not because they have any true power, and the time has come for us to refuse to stand by and endure the shame of their lechery and depravity in the name of our great country.”
A chill runs through me at the sheer loathing in those words, but even though there’s nothing really happening on-screen, I can’t tear my eyes away.
“For now, we must live in the shadows, loyal soldiers dedicated to a single cause. We rejoice in our suffering because we know it will lead to a future where the people will no longer have to live with the corruption, the theft, the evil with which our kings and queens built their empires, and we know that we alone have the will to stop them.
“But not all of us have remained hidden,” continues the voice, and the silhouette seems to lean closer to the camera. “We are proud of those who have risked their lives for our cause, and prouder still of those who have risked their legacies. To have their names among ours, to know that even those who live in the nest of snakes can see the cruelty and immorality of their existence—this is what sparks us all into action, for even those who benefit from the systems that have held the people hostage are able to see that justice must be served.”
