Chapter Text
June 1987
Lieutenant Commander Timothy Laurence entered the side door of Buckingham Palace on a bright and sunny Thursday morning. He had gotten up earlier that morning to take a stroll around London to get some fresh air before starting his duties of the day in his role as equerry to Queen Elizabeth II.
Over the past few months of working at Buckingham, he had met a lot of new people, many of which included members of the Royal Family. He quite enjoyed working with Queen Elizabeth, but it was his encounters with her daughter, the newly bestowed The Princess Royal, Princess Anne, that had surprised him the most. Prior to his appointment, he had always had a secret crush on The Princess, but he had heard so many rumors about how blunt and even rude she could be that he was leery over the thought of encountering her. Truth be told, he was more nervous about meeting her than anyone else in the family including Princess Margaret.
Yet the first time he met Princess Anne; it was like an instant connection. She was anything but rude or blunt. She was quite engaging and instantly made him feel at ease. Over the last few months, unbeknownst to anyone, they had formed a friendship; she had even referred to him as her friend on several occasions. She had shared with him about many issues within her own life – from marital issues to how she felt in comparison to her sisters-in-law and so forth. While he did not always have many things to say in response, he often felt that his listening and the words he did say meant a lot to her.
It was during some of their talks when she admitted to being addicted to chocolate, which surprised him as she was so petite in size. He remembered accompanying her one evening to one of the kitchens within the Palace on a great hunt for anything chocolate. So, this morning, as he was out on his walk, he noticed a shop, which had recently opened, displaying a sign boasting having the world’s best chocolate. He immediately thought of her and knew that she would be able to validate the truth behind the shop’s sign. So, in addition to purchasing himself a coffee and morning sandwich, he selected a few pieces of chocolate and had them wrapped in a delicate box to leave on her desk for her to find when she arrived later.
As he strolled the quiet hallways, as it was still early enough that most of the workers had not shown up to begin their day yet, he took a few moments to revel in the quietness and glance at some of the artifacts and pictures adorning the walls. Even working here for a while now, he felt he always found something new every single day to study and admire. Quietly, he made his way into The Princess Royal’s office. He was not certain as to whether her personal office door would be unlocked, but surprisingly, the door was opened as her personal secretary must have already been somewhere within the Palace. He dropped the small box off on her desk and retreated to the hallway advancing toward his own office. Even though every day working for The Queen could be different, there were some days that were much heavier and busier than others. Thankfully, in looking over the agenda, today seemed to be a lighter day, much to his relief as he was hoping to be able to talk to The Princess Royal a little more after work.
Not long after he had situated himself at his desk, which currently was located in a makeshift room outside Her Majesty’s private office as his office and several others were undergoing small refurbishments that required them to be temporarily relocated, he began working on some small tasks while a few of the other office assistants began to arrive. Everyone seemed to get along very well. Even though he loved to be on a ship at sea, he was beginning to adjust to finding his life behind the desk and accompaniment of The Queen on engagements to be enjoyable. Half an hour after he had arrived, everyone stood to attention as Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth, entered the office suite and greeted everyone with warm morning wishes before retreating into her office to begin her morning review of the infamous red box.
Shortly thereafter, there seemed to be a commotion out in the hallway. Lieutenant Commander Laurence immediately stood from his desk as the head of security for the Royal Family stormed into The Queen’s suite followed closely by a few other security officers. Tim assumed there must be some sort of security breach, but he had not been alerted to anything. William Heseltine, Her Majesty’s personal secretary, also had stood and greeted the officers.
“Gentlemen,” he paused before continuing. “Has there been a breach in security? Or what is the concern to barge into the office unannounced?”
It was only then that Tim noticed Peter Gibbs, the private secretary to The Princess Royal, was also amongst the throng who had entered the office. He pondered whether the chocolates he dropped off had prompted some type of security concern if The Princess had alerted someone to the box. He had left a small note, albeit unsigned, with the box so he suspected she would have figured who they were from unless someone else encountered them first and set off the alarm bells. Attempting to dismiss that notion, he became concerned that something else may have happened.
“We have a serious situation regarding The Princess Royal that needs to be addressed with Her Majesty immediately.”
Heseltine nodded his head and motioned for Tim to announce the presence of everyone to Her Majesty, which he immediately did. As he was about to depart the room, Heseltine pulled him back and asked him to remain.
“Good morning, gentlemen,” The Queen replied while still seated behind her desk. When she glanced up and saw the looks of sheer concern etched on each of their faces, she stood and closed the space to where they were standing. “Mr. Heseltine, what is going on?”
“Your Majesty, of that I am not certain. Security, along with Mr. Gibbs, came in moments ago and asked to speak to you immediately regarding a serious situation pertaining to The Princess Royal.”
Tim watched Queen Elizabeth closely, and he was in awe with how she could maintain such stoic facial expressions, even when something serious could be ongoing particularly regarding someone in her personal family. He watched as she simply nodded her head.
“Do go on,” she commanded and cast her attention toward the security team.
“Your Majesty,” one of the security officers stated and bowed his head before continuing. “We received a distress signal from The Princess Royal’s protection officer about an hour ago. Shortly thereafter, our office received an anonymous phone call from a passerby who found the officer unconscious beside of the car, and the driver also unconscious and seriously injured.”
“And just where is my daughter?” The Queen interrupted and watched as the men exchanged warried glances.
Tim was pretty sure his stomach had just done a flip-flop; he honestly thought he may be sick. Now, he only wished it had been the box of chocolates that set off the security scare. Nonetheless, he maintained his stoicism and silence nearest the door.
“Of that, Your Majesty, we are uncertain. When our team arrived at the scene, as her car was travelling to Buckingham Palace from Gatcombe Park, we found the car in a ditch beside of the road. Her protection officer, who had previously been unconscious, was slowly coming to and was sitting upright in the grass opposite the vehicle. Several passersby had stopped to aid him, but he was very fuzzy. All he could remember was that their car had been rear-ended and knocked off the road. The driver, who had passed out in the car, had already been transported to a local hospital as he apparently had some bleeding due to the impact. The Princess Royal was not in the vehicle nor anywhere in proximity when we arrived. Her purse and briefcase were both still within the car.”
Queen Elizabeth inched closer toward the men. “You are telling me that The Princess Royal has been kidnapped?”
No one knew what to say. In that moment, Tim felt his fight or flight mentality kick in. She was his friend, yet deep down, he would be lying to himself or anyone if he said he was not in love with her. He had never stated the fact to her or anyone else, but how he felt toward her was unlike anything he had felt for anyone else. Since she was married, he did not dare reveal his feelings, as he was not even sure if she had any similar feelings toward him, though he was pretty sure she did based on some of their times together. However, for the interim, he did not act upon his feelings as he needed to maintain the level of friendship and friendship only to keep his mind pure. Yet, in this instance, he was ready to risk his own life to go find her, even though he had no iota of information as to who or where she could be.
“It appears so, Your Majesty,” Peter Gibbs finally spoke up and responded.
For the next half hour or so, the gentlemen attempted to brainstorm with The Queen on how to even begin the process. Their only hope would be that somehow a ransom demand would be made to reveal any sort of intentions or information. Until then, the security team left Her Majesty’s office to attempt to return to their offices and obtain more information from their officers at the scene. Investigations had to begin, even security teams from outside the Palace needed to be involved. They were ordered to keep things out of the public until Buckingham was ready to issue a press release, which they knew would be immediate should the media get wind. Their orders were to report immediately to Mr. Heseltine any information that was discovered.
After they left the room, only The Queen, Mr. Heseltine, Mr. Gibbs, and Tim remained. He had again tried to return to his desk but was continually motioned to remain instead.
“Mr. Gibbs, are there any engagements that The Princess Royal was supposed to take part in today?” Her Majesty inquired.
“Her morning and afternoon were scheduled for in office meetings only with immediate staff. This evening, I believe, she was scheduled to be at a gala dinner with Princess Margaret at the Savoy.”
Her Majesty nodded and studied him for a moment. “Work with Princess Margaret’s office and ensure that she does attend. Relay to them that The Princess Royal will not be able to attend. You can notify the organizers, as well. If they ask why, I’m sure you can come up with a good reason but do notify Princess Margaret’s staff that it is imperative that my sister attend this function, as we know how she sometimes must be persuaded to attend.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” he replied and resumed his position beside of Mr. Heseltine.
“If she has anything on her agenda for tomorrow, it may not be a bad idea to go ahead and postpone them, just in case,” she added to which he simply nodded in agreeance. “Additionally, I suppose we need to ask Captain Phillips to head into Buckingham, provided he is in the country. Mr. Gibbs, can you send word for him to come here at once, and for the nanny or whomever to pick the children up from school? We need to keep them close by and away from the ears of the media or even their friends who may get wind of this somehow.”
"Of course, Ma’am. I will reach out to Captain Phillips right away, as well as inquire about how he would prefer to handle the children as to whether he will be bringing them in with him or the nanny.”
“Also, please ensure that her personal belongings, that were found within the car, are retrieved and brought here to my office for keeping.”
Mr. Gibbs momentarily glanced at Mr. Heseltine before simply nodding in acknowledgement as he was curious as to why The Queen would want to keep her daughter’s personal belongings under her lock and key and not stored either within the security office or The Princess Royal’s office itself. However, he was not about to question or disagree with a direct request from The Sovereign.
Eventually, after a few more moments, Her Majesty dismissed the trio, and they all returned to their posts. Tim, though seated at his desk, found it quite difficult to even focus on anything as his mind was solely thinking about The Princess Royal, his friend, Anne, and her wellbeing. He felt helpless sitting there doing nothing, but with little to no information to go off, he remained there to aid in any aspect he possibly could.
He had never personally met Captain Phillips, aside from seeing him briefly at family gatherings, but knowing the things that The Princess had relayed to him about Mr. Phillips and the state of their marriage, Tim wanted nothing more than to punch the man square in the face. He worried about the children and whether they would be told and how they would react. He knew Anne cared deeply about her children, and truth be told, after Christmas at Sandringham, he had bonded with little Miss Zara. With his mind running a mile a minute with so many varying thoughts and scenarios, he barely realized his desk phone was ringing.