The Duchess in the Dorm (part 1)

Lizzie had taken all of the A-levels and GCSEs in her own name. Her marks were amongst the highest of her class at prep school and she was offered admittance to Cambridge, Oxford, and even Sandhurst. As for the latter, she did not think that a military career would be conducive to her mission to save the old family estate. Her late father had graduated from Merton College, Oxford so that school was a natural choice and she accepted. He had been a second cousin of her Majesty the Queen and even though Lizzie carried the same name, she was either a great grand niece or second cousin once removed or some such thing. It was beyond her as to why anyone in London would care about her one way or another.

Even though she was little-known and never did anything to rate a story in the tabloids, she took the offered option of enrolling in college as Elizabeth Wilson. Identifications and transcripts had been arranged and with a bit of luck, she could retain her anonymity as a student for as long as possible. On one fine late August morning, Lizzie was quietly eating a light breakfast with her mother in the small dining room. "Mother, I know that you disagree but this is the right decision for me and I made a promise to father."

Lady Jane sipped her coffee and thought for a moment. "Yes, my love. I understand and will support you in this adventure for two years and then we will reevaluate the situation."

Lizzie ground her teeth and thought silently. We shall see about that.

On Monday the 20th of August, nineteen-year-old Elizabeth Wilson nee Windsor double-checked her packing list as provided in her Oxford welcome package. She intended to live the austere life of a student for the next four years. It was a great relief for her to leave the trappings of the aristocracy behind; at least temporarily. She brought her two suitcases and one overfilled backpack downstairs and out the main entrance where the driver was waiting. "Brandon, please put these in the boot. I'll say my goodbyes to Lady Jane and be right along subsequently."

The older man, who'd been working for the family since before Elizabeth had been born tipped his cap. "Yes, my Lady."

Lizzie looked up at the sky straightened her long leather coat. The forecast from ITV4 was for a bright morning with increasing clouds and rain in the afternoon. She went back into the main house and found her mother in the solarium enjoying the view of the magnificent gardens while drinking tea and reading the morning paper. The well-dressed, attractive 41-year-old gestured to the teapot. Lizzie shook her head. "Sorry no, I had a cuppa' whilst I was packing. Brandon is waiting to take me to the train station."

Rehashing an old discussion, Jane gestured with her hand. "I can have him take you all the way; it's only about a two-hour drive."

"No mother, the train will be just fine. I just want to arrive like most of the other students and blend in with everyone else you see."

"Very well. I shall miss you dearly my love, please ring when you get settled."

Lizzie pointed to the new iPhone in her jacket pocket. "I will, and you have my new number. Please don't give it out to anyone else. Only you, Thomas, and my friend Annie have it."

With that, Jane stood up, the two of them hugged cordially and Lizzie turned to leave in silence. Outside the main entryway to the 440-year-old Manor house, the plain black four-door Volvo sedan was waiting. Lizzie took one last look around at her family estate and got into the back of the car. She rode in silence the 20 minutes or so to the train station in the nearby town. The first ten minutes of the drive were all on her property. They arrived at the station and her driver unloaded the two bags. Lizzie smiled at him. "Thank you, Brandon, I'll see you at Christmas break."

"Good luck lady Elizabeth, I know that the late Duke would be proud of you."

Lizzie nodded silently, put the heavy book pack over her shoulders, and picked up a suitcase in each hand. She had packed the cases evenly and knew that she would have no problems negotiating the train and transfers without needing help. She had purchased an annual student railcard and could take the train anywhere she needed to go. She ran the orange card with her picture on it through the card reader on the turnstile and walked up the steps to the platform. Less than two hours later, she arrived at Merton College, Oxford which would be her home for the next 18 months.

The small college consisting of less than four hundred students was a dream come true for Lizzie. She lived in a dorm consisting of four single rooms and a common area shared with four other students. Her roommates were all quite different and were from four corners of the island nation. One was of mixed British-Indian descent from Manchester, one a striking and very tall blonde girl from the West End of London, and the last was a pale-skinned young woman from Scotland who had pale blue eyes and bright red hair.

As all first-year students did, Lizzie took a combination of general education topics as well as subjects which were to direct a student to his/her major field of study. At Merton, one studied law, biology, mathematics, economics, and language. Lizzie knew from day one that her field of study was to learn what was needed to make her family's estate from the 16th century relative and prosperous in the twenty-first century. International business, green energy, sustainable farming, and several other topics were high on her list. Before she could get to the good stuff, Lizzie's first semester at Oxford was in a word or three, boring, administrative, and somewhat pedantic. The paperwork of registering seemed to be endless. She tested out of first-year English, math, French, and even with that she was forced to attend seminars on sensitivity, conflict resolution, and uncounted lectures on not running with scissors and the like. But after all of that chaff, she loved her classes; and excelled in every subject. As an English woman, she especially reveled in the history of her island nation. From the time of the Celts to the Romans and then to the Angles, Jutes, Saxons, Vikings, and Normans. They were her and she was them. Oxford also challenged the young Duchess with science and advanced mathematics. Elizabeth balked at first at this part of the curriculum but soon embraced it as part of her well-rounded University education.

The best part of Oxford for Lizzie was that she met many new friends and none of them seemed to care who she was. During her first semester, she nodded knowingly on several occasions at other minor members of the royal family whom she passed in the halls or the quad. Apparently, they were also keeping low profiles and taking advantage of one of the finest universities on the planet. Lizzie's first-year roommate was named Diana. Her father was an MP and he was grooming her to take his seat in Parliament when the time was right. She had also been named after that Diana. She was, of course, studying law as had her father.

One Friday afternoon late in the fall, Lizzie's roommate Diana asked quietly. "Elizabeth, we've all been working very hard lately. How about we take the evening for a bit of fun? A small group of us are on the first few legs of an around-the-world pub crawl, care to join us?"

Lizzie hesitated at first and then smiled at the tall blonde woman. "Yes, Di. That sounds wonderful; I really do need to get out more!"

The cute woman smiled and gestured to Lizzie's outfit. "Right then, you'll need time to change. See you in half an hour?"

Lizzie chuckled. "Yes Ms. Diana, I assure you that I will be presentable."

Lizzie put her books down on her desk and left the common room and walked down the cold hall to the communal washroom to get ready. She had thus far kept a low profile during her first few months and had not got out much. She felt that this night was a good opportunity to step out if only a bit. She changed out of her usual dorm attire which consisted of baggy sweatpants and oversized sweaters and into something much more befitting her station. She knew that dear mum would be mortified at what she wore on a day-to-day basis around campus.

She put on a knee-length black skirt, well-fitting green silk blouse, buttoned to the top of course, and tiny diamond stud earrings. They were not particularly valuable but were a family heirloom and originally belonged to the fourth or was it fifth Duchess of High Garden? Lizzie let her long blonde hair down for a change, combed it nicely, and sprayed on an ever so light amount of Joy and walked into the common area of her dorm room. Diana was waiting and gave a low whistle. "Why, Ms. Wilson, you do have an actual wardrobe, don't you. Where have you been hiding this lovely girl?"

Lizzie gave her friend an offhand smile. "Diana, I'm just trying to keep a low profile, you understand?"

Diana laughed. "Yes, of course, Lady Elizabeth."

Lizzie rolled her eyes. "I'm not lady anyone yet, just a lowly Uni student!"

Diana and Elizabeth met up with one other girl from their dorm and they made their way through the pleasant late fall mist to the first pub on the list of 12. Lizzie had no intention of making it past number two on this night! At their first stop, The Bull and Bear they were joined by four young men and one woman thus keeping the numbers even at four to four. The group of eight arrived at the first pub on the circuit early enough to get a large booth. Lizzie was strategically placed between a young law student named Richard and a larger man with a florid complexion whose field of study was evidently rugby and its associated game theory. Lizzie smiled at her companions and they all made their orders. "A Carlsberg light for me please."

Richard was more studious than the rest of the group and tried to engage Lizzie in conversation, not about sport. "Ms. Wilson, how did you choose Merton?"

Lizzie shrugged. "Richard, please call me Lizzie. To answer your question, my father matriculated from here, it was a natural, and you?"

Richard stared into his drink. "Yes, mostly the same I'm afraid. Father and grandfather attended, so I didn't have much choice."

Lizzie reached over in a friendly gesture and gently touched Richard's hand. "Yes, I understand. The family obligations can be a bit overwhelming at times can't they?"

He stared into her eyes. "Elizabeth, you are, ah from the old High Garden Estate?"

She nodded warily. "Yes indeed. I was born there and have lived there my whole life and hope to continue to do so in the future."

Richard smiled. "Yes, quite a lovely property. I took the tour when I was a boy."

"Yes, the main house, Elizabethan chapel, and Iron Age hill fort are open to the public during the summer. In many ways, we are just custodians of the Manor after all."

He raised his brows. "Indeed."

Elizabeth had always been a good and conscientious student and received excellent marks during her first full semester. In mid-December at the end of the term after her last final examination was completed Lizzie planned to return home for a well-deserved Christmas holiday. That holiday went quite well; one year later it was another story.