Past, Present and Passion

Across the Pond and Past

Kelsey managed to just stay focused and get everything done and made it to her flight on time. Thankfully, she was flying first class and had some privacy. She figured that if she did get emotional at least she could be alone, but she was determined not to. After settling in and having a glass of wine, she decided to take a better look at the information about her new job. She hadn’t even had a minute to open the binder Meredith had given her. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a lot of info. Most of it was speculation on what this person may or may not have, the family never made their collection public and were very private.

The client’s name was Andrew Scottsfield. His parents had died and he was an only child. Kelsey assumed he must be older to be ready to get rid of the large collection of antiques and collectibles they had amassed over the years. Most of the information she just skimmed since it really didn’t give her anything of substance until she came to the last page. Meredith had researched the family name and printed out a genealogy. This could really give them an idea of the quality of items the family could have. Her eyes traveled up through the tree until she got to her name that made her gasp.

Princess Lizette of Spain? She couldn’t believe it. Princess Lizette was Andrew’s great seven times grandmother! Kelsey had been fascinated by the story of Princess Liz since she first saw the painting of her at an art show in middle school. Very little is known about her, but her painting became quite famous for the beauty, simplicity and questions surrounding it.

Princess Lizette was the youngest child out of eight. By the time she came along her parents had the children they needed to carry on their lineage and enough children to marry off to create strong bonds with her neighboring countries so she was basically left to her own devices. She was raised solely by a governess who was very kind and easy on her. She was sweet natured and quite beautiful but usually forgotten by her family. At a very young age she took to horse riding and was quite accomplished at it. When she was 18 her father‘s kingdom was struggling financially and he decided he needed another beneficial marriage. Lizette was married to a prince in Denmark the she had never met and sent there alone. It was said that their marriage was happy enough but he was not a very healthy person and just two years after they were married, the prince passed away at the young age of 22. Thankfully, Lizette was able to become pregnant with an heir before he died and six months after his death gave birth to a son. After that there’s not a lot of information about her, it seemed she lived a very private and quiet life in the palace. We know she eventually remarried and had two more children but because of some weird royal law, they were only given the title of Duke and Duchess.

It appeared that the Duchess line is where Andrew’s family was from. When Lizette turned 50, her son, who was now king, commissioned a painting by by a well-known artist at that time. It’s a topic of a lot of discussion in the art community because of how beautiful the painting is but also what she is holding in the painting. Usually royals, if they were to hold something in a painting, it would be of some sort of significance. Maybe a family heirloom or a piece of famous art or jewelry but Lizette was holding a small iron box. It looked like a jewelry box but it also looked quite crudely made, yet covered in jewels of all different colors. There’s much discussion about the look of the box. Did it look that way simply because the artist didn’t accurately paint it? Or if it really was such an odd object to be held by a queen mother.

Unfortunately the box seems to have been lost and no one has seen it in person. Kelsey liked to imagine how she received it. Maybe a gift from her son who fashioned it when he was a child? There’s really no way to know. But if she was a relative of Andrew‘s family, maybe Kelsey could find some more information about her, shed some light on her story.

For the first time Kelsey felt real excitement about the job. It felt as if she was back to her old self, her old feelings. It felt good. She put away her information and settled in for a nap. Now she really couldn’t wait to get to England.

Once Kelsey landed in London she found her car service and settled in for a two hour drive to the countryside. They arrived in the small village of Chipping Camden late in the afternoon and Kelsey was quite delighted at how adorable it was. Everything she loved about the English countryside, thatched roofs, cobblestone streets, a huge old church and flowers growing everywhere. She knew she was going to have a wonderful time exploring this little town but she also couldn’t wait to spend her weekends in London seeing a show or another small town checking out some other antique shops. The possibilities were endless!

When she arrived to her own cottage that had been rented for her for the month she felt like she was in a movie. Kelsey stood outside the house, beaming in the adorableness of it all. It was small and cozy, the front yard was completely covered in flowers and the door was a comforting yellow. It was so bright and cheerful. She made her way inside and found the bedroom, hauling her suitcase up on top of a chair. She really wanted to unpack but her stomach had but yelling at her for the past two hours. She was starving! She would unpack later. She found the restroom and realized how crazy she looked so she decided to freshen up before heading into town. She had seen a pub on the way and she was sure she could get some good fish and chips there. She changed out of her traveling clothes, splashed some water on her face and tried to smooth down her hair a bit, but honestly, she was too hungry to care.