Chapter 44: Cardiff Royal Grammar School

“Is this the boy? I must say he does not look Arabian,” remarked the bursar looking at a photograph of Prince Ghasaan in western dress, “perhaps he should use a British nickname?”

“His British passport is in the name David Price and it is as much his name as Prince Ghasaan,” snapped Nicola, “but he will be treated as a Prince, seventh in line to a throne.”

“A fairly insignificant throne,” he replied.

“Well, if you don’t want him here...” her voice trailed off as the Headmaster came into the room.

“You must be the Princess Aludra,” he greeted her, “I am the Headmaster.”

“Yes, Headmaster, but I think we are probably done here. It has been made clear that your bursar does not think the Prince is a suitable boy to study at your school, and that his title of Prince is from, I quote, a fairly insignificant throne, unquote.”

“Nonsense your Highness. I just had an interesting conversation with His Majesty, the boy’s father...”

Nicola interrupted him, “The correct honorific is His Magnificence, may he live for ever. What did he say?”

“He convinced me that we should be happy to take the boy. I understand that you have an Oxford degree, as does he?”

“Yes.”

“A first in both cases I understand?”

“Yes.”

“That speaks well of the academic bent of the boy, and a home environment conducive to study. You must have misunderstood the bursar.” He waved and that unfortunate man went out of the room, obviously discomfited by the Headmaster’s comment.

“Now, your Highness, it is a little unusual for a boy to start here at the old Common Entrance age, but a move of house does occasionally mean someone has to move schools. Can you give me any idea of his knowledge of languages?”

“Well he speaks English and Arabic, of course and has studied French and German. He has some Russian also, but not very extensive. Yn anffodus, mae’n siarad dim Cymraeg.”

“I am ashamed to say that I also speak almost no Welsh. And other subjects?”

“He has studied Physics, Chemistry and Biology, and of course Maths, but he does not seem inclined to the science side of things. He has some knowledge of Latin and Ancient Greek, but as I know nothing of those languages I don’t know how much. His knowledge of world history is sadly lacking.”

“As it is now almost the Easter holidays I propose that he comes in for talks with his teachers for a few hours, but starts properly in the Summer Term. Will he be a day boy, or boarding?”

This was a question that Nicola had not considered. “What do you recommend?”

“I suggest that he becomes a weekly boarder as he lives so close, but that he participates in all the school activities at the week-ends. I assume that transport is not a problem?”

“His chauffeur will take care of that,” Nicola replied, and then realised that few, if any, of the pupils at the school would have their own private staff, let alone a full time chauffeur and two full time bodyguards.

“His chauffeur?” the Headmaster’s eyebrows rose.

“We have one each,” she explained.

“Ah. I see,” said the Headmaster, “His Magnificence mentioned bodyguards. What is that situation?”

“There are two of them, but they will not accompany him beyond the school gate, of that I can assure you,” said Nicola, remembering the turmoil caused by Sharifa’s entourage in Oxford fifteen years earlier, “They will attend sports fixtures and go on external visits, but be as unobtrusive as possible. In return we may be able to help with some of the visits.”

“In what way?”

“I’m sure His Magnificence can be persuaded to lend an aeroplane for foreign visits, and I can help with an entrée to some places. We do have some interesting contacts,” offered Nicola, mentally crossing her fingers that the Emir would help if his son asked.

“Yes,” the Headmaster answered, “I was told that I was just to ask the Embassy in London for anything we wanted.”

Nicola then broached her greatest fear, “I do wonder how he will adapt to life here. Especially as he has been raised in a harem, and has now reached an age where he is ... beginning to be interested in the opposite sex. I have made it clear to him that any females he may meet outside Kobekistan are out of bounds to him until he and they are sixteen, and that the retribution for the slightest infraction will be dire from his father. I have also installed certain Kobekistani ... shall we say devices ... in our house and told him that they will be used. The assigned British police do know about these and will not object to their use.”

“Why might he have a problem?”

“The harem of the Emir of Kobekistan, His Magnificence Mahmoud Abdullah, may he live for ever, contains some sixty wives and concubines plus a number of their children, with associated servants, and the Prince has lived in that harem for all his life. The general attitude to women in Kobekistan is very different from in the western nations. Also the dress code there is extremely revealing and the children are taught the technicalities of sex from an early age, especially the girls,” admitted Nicola.