Mama, please don’t say that. We’ll find another way. What else should I say? We owe the clinic, we owe the landlord, and your job applications keep getting rejected. Then say you’ll get better. Say we’ll overcome this together. That’s all I want to hear. Then don’t give up.
We haven’t reached the end of our story. Bring me that brown box over there. This one? Right. Open it. The old wooden box carried memories Grace had hidden away for many years. I’ve seen this picture before. Look underneath it. Is this Prince Alexander? Yes. He was only 7 years old then. He looks so innocent.
You never showed me this photograph before. I kept many things from my years in the palace. You always told me you worked for Queen Elizabeth, but you never said you were this close to the royal family. I served the Queen personally for almost 15 years. 15 years? I thought you only worked there for a short time. I started as an ordinary palace maid.
Later her majesty chose me as her personal assistant. Then why did you leave the palace? I became sick. At first it was just tiredness. Then I started missing work regularly. The doctors advised me to rest, but the illness kept getting worse. Did the Queen know what was happening to you? She knew everything.
In fact, she refused to let me leave. She refused? She paid for my first treatment herself and continued sending money even after I stopped working. Then why did you cut off contact with someone who cared about you that much? Then Grace reached for the one thing she had protected for years, a letter she had never found the courage to deliver.
Take this letter to Queen Elizabeth and tell her Grace has finally come home. What do you want me to do after I give it to her majesty? I want you to ask her for work, not money. Work for me? Yes. Any honest work she believes you’re capable of doing. Mama, I studied accounting. Do you really want me to work as a palace maid? [snorts] My daughter, no honest work is ever beneath anyone.
Right now, survival is more important than pride. I know we don’t have the luxury of choosing anymore. Exactly. You said those same words yourself a few minutes ago. I’m not ashamed of honest work. I just don’t want anyone to think I’m using your relationship with the queen. You won’t be asking for charity. You’ll be asking for an opportunity to work.
