Chapter 35
The chances of Crystal and Jeff having a multiple birth were small; their chances of having triplets minute. It had come as a complete surprise to them and to the Queen and although it was a thrill to think of three babies at once, the birth of three contemporaneous heirs was not a straight forward event.
The country's laws of succession were still governed by male-preference primogeniture: the first born son, no matter if he were born after an older sister, still inherited. A daughter would only become Queen if she had no brothers living or a brother had not left a living son or an uncle was living or if he was dead, having left a living son.
The inheritance regime was antiquated, laid down in the mists of time when the strongest male in the tribe became leader through trial by combat. Jeff had always found it an interesting and reasonable system: when groups only survived because they dominated others, a physically strong leader able to take them into battle was essential. The German tribal leaders who had taken on the Romans for so many years had been mountains of men, symbols of physical power.
The country had often overlooked potential queens of age and sense in favour of infant males, resulting in disaster. When Jeff read up on it he found that it was only in very recent times that even the socially advanced Scandinavians had changed the law to allow a first born daughter to inherit.
'My God,' Jeff thought, 'I might have three of them.'
The Swedes and Norwegians were enlightened but until recently the Danes had maintained the old system. Jeff read,
"The Danes had suffered a number of military debacles characterised by infighting among the nobles. In 1660 the Danish King seized absolute power by passing new laws that eliminated the special political privileges of the nobility and proclaimed the Crown fully inheritable giving the King defacto absolute power. Prior to this the Danish King was elected from within a few royal families who, through intermarriage were from the same family line. By this process the present Queen Margrethe of Denmark has a direct line to King Gorm the Old in the 900s.
"The introduction of absolutism meant that until 2009 Denmark operated on a system of male-preference primogeniture. A royal daughter could only inherit the throne if she had no brothers living and any deceased brothers had not left living issue. On her birth in 1940 the present Queen, who is the eldest of three daughters of King Christian IX, was not the heir to the throne as her father had brothers living. In 1953 the constitution was amended allowing females to inherit.
"In 2009 the Danish Parliament unanimously voted in favour of a new succession law that was approved in a referendum on 7 June 2009 ensuring that the eldest child of a monarch, regardless of gender would inherit the throne."
Jeff pondered on the facts as they presently stood. The arrival of their triplets meant the first born boy, if there were one, would be Crystal's heir, even if a girl were born first. The children would then be placed in the order of succession in the order of their birth. If they were all girls or all boys the first born child would be the heir. 'The thing's ridiculous,' he thought. 'Look at the Queen, no-one could be stronger or better.'
He put the books away and turned off his computer. It was time to bring the law into the twenty first century: he set out to add fuel to a small fire that had been lit in Parliament for a change in the law.
As a result many new people entered Crystal and Jeff's lives including the royal family's constitutional lawyers, humming and aahing about changing 'a perfectly reasonable law'. Jeff, knowing he supported him completely, set Sir Robert on them.
A very civilized discussion ensued in which the matter progressed to Sir Robert's satisfaction. However, after yet another new person entered their lives a new urgency in changing the succession law became apparent.
Jeff and Crystal had their first appointment with a perinatologist. He was a nice guy, young, apparently brilliant and extremely concerned about their babies. Rob, as he asked them to call him was an obstetrician specialising in the care of high risk pregnancies.
He laid out some facts about having a multiple birth and said to Crystal,
'You have little to no chance of carrying your babies to term. It is likely you won't get past thirty three weeks. As you are now thirteen weeks, there are only twenty to go. In the remaining weeks you will have to put on a considerable amount of weight, about fifty pounds of quality, to ensure your babies have the chance of adequate nourishment. We'll talk about diet and supplements in a moment.'
Jeff took a breath and said with some irony,
'Please go on; so much good news.'
'Because they won't be born at full term your babies may be low birth weight, under five and a half pounds and may need intense inpatient care by a team of specialists.' He smiled, 'We can try to overcome that with diet and rest to reduce the risks of a premature birth.'
'Rest?' Crystal asked. 'You do know that I have a daily schedule that is booked up for months.'
'Not any more. Her Majesty rang me yesterday and asked me about it and we agreed the present schedule poses a significant risk to you and your babies. It will be cut to the bone. If I had my way you'd do one engagement a week but we've compromised on two.'
He looked very serious as he said, 'Your Royal Highness, you have to understand that there's a lot of jostling for resources going on in there. These babies are now growing at a rapid rate, draining your system to sustain themselves. There being three of them means if you use up too much of the energy you absorb in your diet travelling and being on your feet all day as you have been, there is less for them. There are consequences of that.'
He decided to give them the hard facts,
'Many multiple pregnancies end with the death of one or more foetus. We monitor each of them for stress. If one shows signs of decreased development or deceleration in the heartbeat we have to consider intervention.'
Crystal was beginning to feel fragile and it became worse when he told them,
'Twenty percent of triplet pregnancies abort spontaneously at about twenty weeks because of the pressure on the womb.' He stood up and walked over to the front of his desk and perched there,
'I don't want to frighten you but your pregnancy is high risk and your position just makes it worse. If you slow down and look after yourself I hope we can keep your babies in the womb to at least thirty or even better thirty three weeks to give them the best chance of avoiding under development.'
'One more thing, after about 20 weeks, you probably won't be able to work or function normally because of the size of your womb. I suggest you invest in slip on shoes and grab rails for the bath. And remember no hot baths, only tepid.'
They all laughed but agreed Crystal would be leading a greatly reduced public life for the remainder of her pregnancy. The final news was,
'The scan shows you are carrying dizygotic triplets, essentially a set of identical twins from one fertilised egg and a third, developed from a second fertilised egg. The twins share the same DNA while the third is genetically unique.
'You have twin girls and a son. He's the one out on his own and will possibly be the biggest of the three. We have two placentas so that helps with development. We'll discuss the actual birth a bit later on.'
At home Crystal said as Jeff downed a much needed whisky,
'I think we'd better start looking for nannies. We're going to need more than one.'
So the search began for at least two extraordinary individuals to care for their precious babies. It wasn't easy. In the meantime getting dressed was becoming a problem.
'I feel like I'm carrying around a huge pumpkin,' Crystal said to Jessie.
'You are getting big very quickly Ma'am. The dresses from last week just won't fit.'
'Well, what am I going to wear? I have to leave in an hour and my stomach remains naked.'
Jessie went to the bed and held up two beautiful tube dresses in wool jersey,
'Constance sent down some things this morning. She's making you new things as fast as she can.'
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'They're beautiful,' Crystal said.
'And stretch, with swing coats to go with them.' Jessie said.
'Bring them on. I'll have the dark pink and the low heels please Jessie. The soles of my feet are hurting again.'
Finding something to wear that kept up with her expanding womb was a challenge for Crystal but nothing compared to the challenge of finding nannies for the babies. Nannies were essential because Crystal and Jeff were working parents. They couldn't and wouldn't even if they'd been able to, take the babies around with them. It just wasn't practical. As for tours, there were times when the three little ones would have to stay at home. The right people to care for and love them in their absence were essential.
They read applications and distinguished CVs, interviewed an assortment of hopefuls and came up empty. They were looking for someone to take charge of a small staff, probably two nursemaids and run everything. After several weeks they didn't like any of them enough to hand over their babies into their care. Crystal and Jeff weren't the only ones with opinions; Smith and Jessie chimed in with their views, gained from peeping around the door,
'Not right Sir', 'No Ma'am, not that one, not kind enough.'
Even Archie and Terri, who sometimes watched from a chair, expressed often incisive views that mirrored Jeff and Crystal's own. It was becoming a problem. They needed their people in place before the babies arrived to have them settle in and help organise two nurseries, one at Claremore and one at the palace. Both had to be functioning before the birth.
'What are we looking for?' Crystal asked Jeff as she watched her dress move up and down as the babies jostled for room,
'They have to be kind but not a push over, efficient because even with help three at once is a challenge, we have to be able get on with them so they have to think like us and they have to love these kids. Where do we find such a paragon?'
It was Henry, Crystal's grandfather, who came to their rescue. He suggested they have an old friend of Crystal's mother come in. It was odd because Crystal thought she knew of most of her mother's friends. But there was no oddness when they met Mrs Foster.
Mary Foster was Adelaide's contemporary and about forty five. She and Crystal's mother had been at school together but Mrs Foster had been a scholarship girl and become a nanny at eighteen. She knew and wanted nothing else but to be their children's nanny. Crystal had the strangest feeling when she met her,
'I feel as though I know you.'
'I visited your mother when you were born and she wanted me to stay. I did for a while when she went back to her duties. You were a very beautiful baby.'
'Then why did I have another nanny when I was little? Why didn't you stay?'
'I went off, foolishly, and got married. It didn't last but by then I had been replaced and your mother, bless her, was gone. I didn't feel I could come back.'
Jeff looked at Crystal who nodded. He said to Mrs Foster,
'We need you straight away Mrs Foster.'
'I know Sir, Her Majesty told me. My bags are upstairs; I moved in this morning.'
In the next month Mary, as she insisted on being called, engaged two assistants, Angelica, a thirty year old dynamo and a surprise, Adam. He was the gentlest man Crystal had ever met and even passed Jeff's vetting. The team went to work.
When Mary Foster and her 'A Team', as they became known in the Palace, set about the task of creating a nursery for three royal babies it quickly became apparent that Jeff and Crystal's current accommodation wasn't up to the task. Mary explained that not only did they need a nursery, they needed adjoining rooms for her and her staff, a kitchen, a large children's bathroom and a playroom.
'They'll be crawling and then up and walking before you know it,' was her terrifying prediction.
Crystal and Jeff also wanted the babies to sleep next to their own bedroom. In the end it was decided that the two bedroom suite that had been their home for over a year was to be vacated for a very large apartment at the other end of the Palace.
The apartment hadn't been used for some time but when the dust sheets came off the beautiful rooms glowed in the sun that flooded in through its many windows onto mellow parquetry. A long gallery ran down one side; 'perfect for tricycles', Jeff said to the portraits of Crystal's ancestors who hung on the panelled walls. The conversion of one room to a kitchen and some new bathrooms was all it needed.
'Will it be ready in time?' Jeff asked the Palace architect.
'Yes Sir. I understand we have fifteen weeks.'
'And counting,' Jeff said.
Mary and Crystal decided on baby furniture and ordered three of everything. The baby clothes they received as gifts made Crystal cry: exquisite hand knitted bootees and little cardigans, tiny hats and mittens. They would all be used and every one was acknowledged with thanks by Crystal herself. She was approaching the twenty week milestone. Rob, the perinatologist, was seeing her every week and monitoring the babies with ultrasound. The scans showed an already crowded womb with three thriving babies.
'All right so far,' he said with a grin.
Archie and Terri were working full time as well because Crystal's body ached: she had muscle, bone and ligament pain from the stretching and pressure of her womb. She moved Archie and Terri from one side of her bump to the other and back again.
She really needed a second hot water bottle. When Chloe arrived for the weekend she brought Crystal a loan, Rufus and Isobel.
'I hope they help,' she said to a grateful Crystal. She said to Archie and Terri who were looking a bit stiff, 'It's not as though you don't know them and you can't be everywhere at once.' They admitted the truth of this and the four settled down to easing Crystal's aches and pains.
At twenty two weeks a relieved but waddling Crystal said to Jeff,
'I'm as big as a house.'
'With a second floor and extensions.'
'You brute.'
'It's a very nice house though, with pretty windows and the extensions aren't too bad if you like mobile homes.'
It was the truth, when one baby was asleep one of the others was awake, kicking, stretching, digging her in the ribs, giving her heartburn and generally making Crystal's life a misery.
'How many weeks?' she asked Rob.
'Eleven if we're lucky.'
'No time off for good behaviour?'
'Not a day.'
The Palace was one thing, happily Claremore was another: their nursery was already in place, built when the house was renovated for them. Mary only wanted minor changes and two extra rooms were prepared for Angelica and Adam. They arrived there each Friday relieved to be at home.
A new addition to their weekend party was Adam, Mary's assistant. At the twenty week mark Rob had suggested Adam stay with Crystal, monitor her blood pressure each day and give her some massage.
'Why Adam?' she asked him.
'He's a highly qualified pediatric nurse, didn't you know?'
'No, Mary found him.'
'He's something of a find; you're very lucky to have him. He could work as the head of any pediatric nursing unit in the country. I wish I had him.'
'Why doesn't he?'
'He can't stand hospitals.'
Adam was also a motor bike fiend and, when Crystal was settled each morning with Jessie on guard, he often rode with Jeff on the estate. Jeff was curious about him as well and said,
'You could make more money working in a hospital, why work for us?'
'The glamour,' he joked but then he told Jeff the real reason,
'I was working with very premmie babies. I lost my tolerance for watching them die.'
'But what if ours come early?'
Adam smiled, full of confidence,
'They won't. Those little buggers are all hunkered down; Rob will probably have to prise them out.'
Jeff appreciated his confidence and when Crystal reached thirty weeks everyone heaved a sigh of relief. Every day after that was a blessing. She had given up all work but would not stay in bed. She mov
ed around as much as possible and practised some quiet yoga to relax.
At thirty three weeks at their Friday appointment Rob asked Crystal to remain in town until the birth. She agreed and went back to the Palace to ponder their miracles,
'Grow,' she said, 'No underweight babies allowed.'
It happened at nine in the morning on the following Sunday when they were having breakfast in their new apartment,
'My waters have broken. Oh Jeff, it's all over the new upholstery.'
'Don't worry about that, where's Adam?'
'Upstairs.'
Jeff pulled on the bell so hard Jessie came running.
'Ring Rob and get Adam please, we're going to have some babies.'
Adam rode in the ambulance with Crystal to the hospital and with the consent of the hospital authorities stayed right through Crystal's natural birth. There was no need for a caesar; their babies caused no trouble at all. As the first was born Rob said to Jeff,
'All that business of changing the succession law was a waste of time.' He said to Crystal as he placed the baby on her chest,
'Here's your son.'
Their twin girls were born at twenty minute intervals. All scraped through the low weight barrier. The boy, to be named Henry for his great-grandfather, tipped the scales at nearly six pounds.
'No wonder he was born first,' Rob said, 'He's such a bruiser he muscled those girls out of the way.'
'Do they have names?' he asked an exhausted Crystal.
'Yes they do. The first will be Adelaide and the second Charlotte.' Suddenly she realised, 'Jeff we don't have all the other names.'
He leant down and kissed her, 'We've been a little busy,' he said.