From observing Edgar, I’d become a pro at redirecting a personal question toward a larger issue. It’s how a movie star turns a gossip reporter’s third degree about a recent breakup involving a drunken street brawl and a trip to the emergency room into a plug for her new documentary on koala habitats.

“Carter is an invaluable asset,” said Edgar. “He’s wonderful at talking to people and drawing them out. He has an accomplished background in event architecture, and he’s accessible and open-hearted, traits which I’d very much like to emulate.”

Edgar reached out and took my hand. For a royal, this was an unprecedented signal. Edgar was openly gay, but today he was proving it. The moment would be forwarded and paused and praised and condemned, and it made me love Edgar even more. Sure, for most couples, holding hands is no big deal, and Edgar wasn’t angling for a Nobel Prize in LGBTQ PDA (Public Displays of Affection). But as Harriet and Edith were aware, the world isn’t always a safe or inclusive place, and Edgar’s gesture was seismic. As for me, I’d been anointed as the royal boyfriend, and for right now, that was swoonworthy enough.

“Your Highness,” said Caroline, “I appreciate your many good works, and it must be gratifying to have met someone to share your causes. But we’re all romantics at heart, so I’m speaking for fans everywhere when I ask, are you committed to one another? And I promise that we aren’t adding winged cupids over your heads or shimmering orchestral glissandos in the editing room.”

Edgar looked at me with such affection and trust. He’d told me he loved me and doing this had changed him. He wasn’t the guarded, wounded man I’d first met, the guy who’d been hurt before and had conditioned himself to loneliness. He’d made the leap. He’d dared to be happy. Abby was right, about everything.

“Yes, we are, Caroline,” said Edgar. “Deeply committed.”

“And Mr. Ogden?”

“Yes. That’s why I’m here, and that’s why I’m grateful to have met someone who—well, as my great-aunt Miriam told me at my sister’s wedding—he’s a catch.”

As everyone in the studio laughed and Edgar blushed, Caroline added, “Well, I think that’s all brilliant, despite my next question, which I’m afraid I must ask. Your Highness, are you aware of cell phone footage that surfaced a half hour ago, and has gone viral, of Mr. Ogden passionately kissing another man?”

Time stopped. What was she talking about? Edgar was still holding my hand, but his was trembling.

“I’m not certain what you’re referring to, Caroline,” Edgar told her, keeping an even tone.

“Let’s see the clip, where Carter seems quite smitten with someone who’s been identified as Callum Turner, an American actor.”