“But you wore it. Do you want to wear this one?” he asked her.
“Me? Oh,God,no. I’m fine with being a noble lady, and I haveneveraspired to anything higher. I spend my whole life partying and being pretty so I can have my picture taken, and doing whatever I want, whenever I want. Royals have a fully booked schedule every day, from six in the morning until midnight. You could not pay me enough to be the Princess of Monaco.”
Maxence considered what she’d said. “You don’t just ‘have your picture taken.’ You have three million Instagram followers.”
“I like my life the way it is, Maxence. I’m horrifically rich, and I play with being a ‘social media influencer’ along with my cousins because one doesn’t need skills or ambition to do it, and it amuses me. I parade around in pretty dresses and am named to the magazine lists like the Ten Sexiest Royals under Thirty. I have an income that lands me squarely in the upper one percent that I don’t have to work for. I am famous and yet can claim to be a private citizen to piss off the paparazzi. Every now and then, I allow myself to be photographed at Monaco’s more prestigious social events. If I want to doanything,I can do it. Why would I want to lock myself up in a castle to greet dignitaries and fritter away my life deciding who gets the contract to import soybeans?”
Because someone has to do it.
She said, “When I do something that I don’t want people to see, I don’t take a picture of it. If you’re a prince or princess, the paparazzineverleave you alone. They’realwaysthere. I don’t want to be a real royal, and I would never marry one. I wouldn’t even date a royal if you threw one at me.”
“An excellent argument, Marie-Therese. However,” he turned, “Uncle Louis, you’re like me, a spare heir. You were trained to do this job even though there was little chance that you would ever inherit the title.”
His uncle nodded and shrugged, his elegantly cut suit jacket rippling as he did. “The education I received both informally and in business management has served me well in the import company I dabble with.”
Ah, royal humility. No one admitted to working at a job. It was sogauche.
Maxence had already looked at Louis Grimaldi’s holdings. The import-export business netted a reasonable profit on the hundreds of millions of euros they produced in sales each year. Louis had ceased to withdraw a royal income some decades before because he drew a substantial salary from his company.
He was a model minor royal rather than a wastrel, like many of Maxence’s other relatives.
Maxence asked his uncle, “Uncle Louis, how is your health?”
His smile didn’t waver. “I certainly can’t complain.”
“Can I ask you some more intrusive questions?”
Louis lowered one cottony-white eyebrow a fraction of an angle. “Your concern about my health is noted.”
Marie-Therese was looking back and forth between the two of them. “Uncle Louis, are you okay?”
His eyebrow descended slightly farther. “Of course, I’m fine. If this is about my lumbar surgery a few years ago, it wasentirelysuccessful.”
If Max’s plan advanced and the cousins decided on Louis, Max could ask more questions about his health at that time.
Maxence settled back in his chair and straightened his blue silk tie. “What do you think will happen at the Council meeting?”
Marie-Therese spoke up. “I think there’s going to be a great brawl if you’re not the candidate.”
“There doesn’t have to be a brawl. I was speaking with Alexandre about his voting bloc of cousins.”
Louis said, “Some of the older generation are quite put out by Alexandre’s high-handedness. Blocking even the most preliminary of business was not seen as good form.”
Marie-Therese said, “It doesn’t matter what people think of Alexandre. He said he’s not going to stand for election even if someone put his name forward. He can alienate or politically seduce anybody he wants to. Much like you, Max.”
Maxence inclined his head to examine his uncle Louis more closely. “And how would you feel about your family’s votes at this Council? Would you be willing to vote for something unconventional?”
Louis nodded. “I suspected that was the reason you asked for this meeting. I’m not a young man, Maxence. My politics have become more conservative as I’ve gotten older. I am a great believer in the constitution as it currently stands, and I would not like to dissolve the monarchy in favor of a more democratic style of government.”
Maxence blinked. “Is that what they’re saying? That I want to abolish the monarchy?”
Louis said, “There are rumors, and you just asked if I would vote for something ‘unconventional.’”
“I didn’t meanthatunconventional.”
Although abolishing the monarchy certainly had a ring to it. There’d been a time in Max’s life when he wanted nothing more than to set the world on fire and watch it burn, and his own hereditary monarchy would have been an excellent starting point.
Maxence said, “It seems to me that Monaco has been a monarchy for the better part of a millennium, with a few interruptions. The monarchy is part of Monaco’s charm. Since ninety-five percent of our revenue comes from tourist and other non-casino sources, it is important to preserve Monaco’s ‘charm.’”
