LIFE IN THE FAIRY KINGDOM
The Queen has inherited a substantial amount of jewellery and has had created her own works. She loves precious stones of all kinds and admires well crafted work, regardless of which world it comes from. She is seldom seen without wearing several pieces of jewellery, often from head to ankle (Eileen thinks ankle bracelets an affectation so doesn’t bother). The Queen doesn’t have a favourite stone but her preferred setting is gold, as she considers silver a little on the “cold” side. Eileen prefers silver, thinking it sets off the darker stones better. Jennifer would have a fit if she knew how much jewellery her mother possesses. The majority of it is in Eileen’s old Palace quarters still but the fairy godmother did take with her some of her favourite pieces and Derek was told these were payment for her old job. Eileen has had them insured and has to pay a reasonable premium. She has also cursed the jewels. Anyone stealing them will become a poisonous toad (apt punishment in Eileen’s view).
The Queen’s preferred jewellery items are bracelets and rings. She tends to wear tiaras as her main headgear, saving the heavy State Crown for only the most formal occasions. She has had designed for her a range of wonderfully coloured scarves with precious stones sewn into them, some along the edge, some as a pattern of clusters. She never goes anywhere without wearing at least six different pieces. Each and every jewellery item is catalogued and comes with an inbuilt curse, the best theft deterrent or so the monarch believes. Her jewellers are a family firm of goblins, whose identity is officially kept secret for their sake, though it is widely believed every single goblin knows who they are and the rest of the realm can make a good guess! Having said that traditionally not naming this family remains. Nobody wants to upset the Queen by changing that. Even Eileen doesn’t (though she does it more out of respect for the goblins concerned!).
Every so often, usually when the Queen has a special birthday or on her accession day (which the realm celebrates but she spends quietly, reflecting on her late mother), the ruler allows selections of her jewellery, portraits and other objects d’art to go to some of the major settlements for a temporary tour. This is appreciated by the settlements chosen as these tours boost their tourism no end. And as each object is protected by a curse, the risk of theft is miniscule. The Queen selects each of the settlements in turn so over a ten year cycle, they are all covered. FNN films the tours, which in turn helps boost the visitor numbers to the settlements. Nobody is allowed to wear the jewellery but they can get up close and have a darned good look, which is enough for most.
The Queen has a specialist jewelller who cleans the stones and settings as and when required (mostly once a year but favoured pieces may need a second or third clean - the Queen is expected to glisten!). This jeweller is from the unnamed goblin jewel makers and it is rumoured in the realm at large there is a battle to the death between the two top candidates as to who gets the post. The goblins as a whole have denied that rumour, stating that they arrange the matter between themselves and then have secret ballot on it. However, they have found this is nowhere near as interesting a story and the annoying rumours persist, not helped by Roherum insisting as the goblins won’t say who the jewellers are there must be a conspirary meaning the duel theory must be true too. There is no logic to that - just because one thing is true doesn’t mean everything is true - but Roherum generally does not do logic. This surprises nobody.
The Queen’s preferred jewellery items are bracelets and rings. She tends to wear tiaras as her main headgear, saving the heavy State Crown for only the most formal occasions. She has had designed for her a range of wonderfully coloured scarves with precious stones sewn into them, some along the edge, some as a pattern of clusters. She never goes anywhere without wearing at least six different pieces. Each and every jewellery item is catalogued and comes with an inbuilt curse, the best theft deterrent or so the monarch believes. Her jewellers are a family firm of goblins, whose identity is officially kept secret for their sake, though it is widely believed every single goblin knows who they are and the rest of the realm can make a good guess! Having said that traditionally not naming this family remains. Nobody wants to upset the Queen by changing that. Even Eileen doesn’t (though she does it more out of respect for the goblins concerned!).
Every so often, usually when the Queen has a special birthday or on her accession day (which the realm celebrates but she spends quietly, reflecting on her late mother), the ruler allows selections of her jewellery, portraits and other objects d’art to go to some of the major settlements for a temporary tour. This is appreciated by the settlements chosen as these tours boost their tourism no end. And as each object is protected by a curse, the risk of theft is miniscule. The Queen selects each of the settlements in turn so over a ten year cycle, they are all covered. FNN films the tours, which in turn helps boost the visitor numbers to the settlements. Nobody is allowed to wear the jewellery but they can get up close and have a darned good look, which is enough for most.
The Queen has a specialist jewelller who cleans the stones and settings as and when required (mostly once a year but favoured pieces may need a second or third clean - the Queen is expected to glisten!). This jeweller is from the unnamed goblin jewel makers and it is rumoured in the realm at large there is a battle to the death between the two top candidates as to who gets the post. The goblins as a whole have denied that rumour, stating that they arrange the matter between themselves and then have secret ballot on it. However, they have found this is nowhere near as interesting a story and the annoying rumours persist, not helped by Roherum insisting as the goblins won’t say who the jewellers are there must be a conspirary meaning the duel theory must be true too. There is no logic to that - just because one thing is true doesn’t mean everything is true - but Roherum generally does not do logic. This surprises nobody.