[joeysteele]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

I still think she's only alive today because she's absolutely determined to outlive him. If he dies next year she'll simply sit back with a look of peace on her face, and quietly slip away.

Her ghost appears in the room, young again, and sees a 10-year-old Charles, desperately scrabbling towards his old lifeless body, "I have to go back! It's my time! Let me go back!!" he cries through snot and tears.

"Come now, Charles" says the queen, sympathetically. "It was never to be your time. Deep down, you always knew that."

But she doesn't have the stern, hard look of the mother he remembers from his childhood. She is the queen no longer. She has done her duty, and done it well. Finally, finally, the weight of responsibility no longer lies with her. She reaches out for the young Charles, and hugs him close. The sort of deep, maternal hug he had always craved as a child but had always eluded him.

"We can go now." she says, gently.

Charles reaches up and she gently takes him by the hand, smiling down at him. He smiles back, and wipes the tears from his eyes. A light appears - radiant, blinding... welcoming. "Hurry it up, will you!" comes a voice from the other side, with a mischievous - and youthful! - laugh. "It's Father! He's been waiting for us." Hand in hand, the three walk into that light together. Tomorrow, King William V will lead the nation in mourning. But Elizabeth and Charles have nothing more to mourn. Finally, they are free.

In the following years, King William reunites the monarchy. He locks Andrew in the tower, and builds bridges with his brother and sweet Meghan. It's not long until their own children are laughing and playing, together. This olive branch inspires the nation in finding the balanced path. Both major political parties disband and a new, modern government for the 21st century forms - a beacon of true democracy that the world soon follows. Climate change is solved, the borders are opened in friendship and harmony, every country thrives and no child goes hungry. In the years to come, humanity begins to explore the stars, settling new worlds, encountering new civilisations. The first great colony ship is named aptly; HMS King William V... but the crew just call it "The Conqueror", as that was how he was known. the second William the Conqueror - not conquering through war or fear, but with love. And it all began that day... the day Queen Elizabeth II outlived her son.

A fascinating read that TS.