Crown Prince of Adano Ambrado was originally going to be a very different story in which Chrístõ and Penne both went on manoeuvres with the Guardia Real and were lost in the jungle. Thinking about it, though, I realised that it would be quite a silly thing for a King and his Crown Prince to do something like that together. If Penne wanted to go off doing something so potentially dangerous, he ought to leave Chrístõ in charge as his Viceroy. So this ended up being split into two stories – one about Chrístõ’s first day as Viceroy and the other about Penne lost in the jungle with his soldiers. This is, obviously, the first part. The other story is next month.

It is told in retrospect, as a tale to amuse Chrístõ’s students, 3c, and since Penne is on a royal visit to Beta Delta it is obvious no harm came to him, either. But even without that possibility, I think the stories are interesting. And they are contrasting stories, too. One is about domestic life as the ruler of Adano-Ambrado, the other about survival in a hostile environment.

That said, the palace is a bit hostile to Chrístõ. First he has the recalcitrant Secretary for Extra Terrestrial Affairs to deal with, as well as a plague on Adano-Menor, then a couple of troublesome citizens.

This idea of the King-Emperor receiving his citizens with personal petitions to him was, I have to admit, lifted from the film Princess Diaries Two. I thought that was a very nice idea and one Penne would get on board with. It’s not exactly democracy at work, of course. And dispensing favours to individuals is not a welfare state or anything close. But it is a way for a royal to see how his subjects live and the problems that beset them.

What this story is really meant to prove is that Penne doesn’t really need a Crown Prince as long as he has Corwen. The boy is passionately interested in the people his father rules and has sought to learn as much as possible about them. Chrístõ will, eventually, take a step back from Penne’s world. After all, they DO lose touch later in life, as shown in the Unfinished Business story, King-Emperor of Adano-Ambrado, when The Doctor is reunited with Penne on his death bed.

The attempted assassination was something of a last minute addition to the plot once I had decided that this would be a separate story to the one in the jungle. Obviously there needed to be a bit of action here. And as the students in 3c pointed out, there were plenty of suspects. I almost think this story could be a bit like the comedy film, Clue, which had three different endings. There are two obvious suspects within the story in the Secretary for External Affairs and Farra Gess, the murderer’s wife, as well as the rather deus ex machina follower of General Sorek that pops up so unexpectedly. I should let the readers decide which they think is the most likely suspect.

Meanwhile, what has happened to Penne….