Royal Estates Speculations

(Year 234, Spring) In Mazaloom kingdom there are eight royal estates, one for each of the nation's eight regions. According to recent strategies the total number of royal estates was reduced as a direct result of smaller budgets. Maintenance comes with a bill, and the size of the current royal family would probably not justify more than eight estates, anyway. Thanks to the recent regional reform, the Crown owns no estate in today's region 5 San Myshuno, but in former days this area included Del Sol Valley, where we find the royal palace. So, in a way region San Myshuno is well represented.

Top left to bottom right (numbers refer to region): 3 Royal palace Chateau Peak in Del Sol Valley, 1 Hafen Herrenhaus in Nordhaven, 2 Wyvern Hall in Britechester, 3 Villa Vigna in Tartosa, 4 Chateau Marigold in Ravenwood, 6 Sunneva Challet in San Sequoia, 7 Casa de Cha-cha in Ciudad Enamorada, 8 Queen's Stables in Newcrest.

All estates are listed with some details on the Royal Palace Office's webpage (RPO). Occasionally royals spend holidays away from the royal palace, or they might move for a couple weeks according to bigger events where they tend to engagements over numerous days. The additional estates can also be used for social events or accommodate stately guests. Basically each estate is operated by a live-in Tenant who might also work as the estate's butler, but for bigger occasions staff members might be borrowed from the royal palace.

The eight estates are owned by the Mazaloom Royal Trust and administrated by the RPO. New tenant agreements must be approved - or even suggested - by the Royal Chamber. Both instances will naturally benefit the Crown Princess and perhaps also the next in line, namely Prince Bazil. All members of the royal family can request an estate, but they will not neccessarily be offered the one they want.

Royal routine is that princes and princesses growing up will place their request either following their young adult birthday or their university graduation. Their first address is seen as temporary, perhaps not even a full ten years agreement, because they might request a grander estate when marrying or if they get on the royal pay-roll. The member of the royal family will technically be seen as a tenant on a ten years agreement, with no ownership but with a certain responsibility when it comes to assisting administration incl. maintenance. They might also function as official hosts for stately guests, and the RPO can still host a party in the estate, with no way for the tenant to protest. This rarely happens when there are children in the household, though.

The benefit of being a tenant is that the estate will be fully equipped from day one, of course on a higher standard than most homes. The clear disadvantage is that it is all rented and it might be hard giving your home a personal touch. There might be a couple informal rooms that can be fully private. Tenants will need RPO's approval to redecorate, and the older estates might even be protected by historical concerns, meaning you will practically reside in a museum. However, you will get used to all this. Members of the royal family will not pay rent for staying at these estates, and the Mazaloom Royal Trust can handle all maintenance needs. Regular bills must be paid by tenant, though, and they get quite hefty for the larger estates.

The available estates

Let's start with the main estate, the royal palace Chateau Peak, residence of the monarch, located at The Pinnacles in Del Sol Valley. This is the grandest build of them all, including three full stories plus staff area and storages in the basement. Only third story is fully residential, used by the monarch's household, but there are also several suites intended for important guests. Those suites can also be used temporarily by members of the royal family. Many unmarried royals stayed for several years at the palace after growing up. Queen Venezia has expressed that today's solution where private section and official facilities like the throne room and press center are in the same building, is less practical. She more or less suggested to split these functions, mainly due to lag. No such action was officially debated yet, but this could hint that the monarch's household, might like to use one of the other estates as their additional private residence, periodically. King Tarriot has spent shorter periods at Chateau Marigold in Ravenwood and at Hafen Herrenhaus in Nodhaven, while Queen Venezia has favored Casa de Cha-cha in Ciudad Enamorada, but officially there exist no routine of a secondary residence outside the royal palace.

Currently Wyvern Hall (Britechester, region Rossie) is occupied by King Tarriot's only brother, Prince Royal Blaise and his family. Prince Blaise moved in following his wedding in Year 203. Before that King Tarriot had used Wyvern Hall as his main address for a few years. Blaise and Duella now use the estate on a long term agreement, but we assume their contract must be renewed every ten years, like anyone else. This year their youngest child, Prince Marquis, grows up, and because Wyvern Hall is a major estate, it is expected that Blaise and Duella will move into a smaller estate if requested. Perhaps when their agreement needs renewal nine years from now?

There are six more estates spread all over the nation, where of four are seen as less grand. There are six young members of the royal family in need of a residence over the next ten years or so. If they all follow tradition, all royal estates will be occupied unless some stay at the royal palace or prefer a less formal address for their future family. 

Just like Prince Royal Blaise got his estate, Crown Princess Emireza, Prince Bazil, Prince Cecil and Prince Marcuz will most likely request one estate each. Also children of Prince Blaise are members of the royal family, so probably Princess Evendice and Prince Marquis might request a royal estate as well.

Today some of the six estates are occupied by renters. Sunneva Challet in San Sequoia is rented by the Pepperstones, and Villa Vigna in Tartosa is rented by King Tarriot's halfsister, Baroness Amalia de Vert. She is neither a member of the royal family nor the royal House of Luxe-Hamper. Queen's Stables in Newcrest is tended by live-in security from the royal palace, and the estate will require a certain equestrian interest. There exists an agreement affecting Chateau Marigold in Ravenwood, too, but it covers only the Keepers section and will not prevent a member of the royal family to move into the main section of the chateau. Only Hafen Herrenhaus (Nordhaven, region Windenburg) and Casa de Cha-cha (Ciudad Enamorada, region Advorton) are vacant with no running agreement.

So, let's speculate a little - where will the next generation royals settle?

A matter of timing?

While the Crown Princess will definitely be offered the better options, she will probably not be the first young member of the royal family to request one of these estates.

Year 236 Princess Evendice, daughter of Prince Royal Blaise and Princess Duella and currently only 6th in line to the throne, will be the first to graduate from university. She is currently single, and it is hard to say whether she will be fine with a smaller estate two years from now. If she needs room for a family, she might prefer looking elsewhere.

However, there might be nearly ten years until the youngest princes will request their estates, meaning Evendice could occupy one smaller estate for one full agreement periode (ten years) without affecting those ranking higher than herself. Casa de Cha-cha seems like the obvious offer at the moment.

Year 238 Prince Marquis, Princess Evendice's brother and 7th in line to the throne, will graduate from university - if he decides to get a degree in the first place. He is too far down in the line of successors to be strongly affected by royal protocol, so he might not be offered an estate until King Tarriot's four children are all settled. 

Because of this, he might just as well stay with his parents at Wyvern Hall until he marries or his parents eventually move elsewhere. After marrying, it might be more interesting for him to request one estate, and that might also be a better timing, concerning his four cousins who rank higher.

Around Year 239 - five years from now - Crown Princess Emireza is finally expected to request an estate. She becomes young adult in Year 236, but following tradition she will head for university to get her History degree. Royals normally get their degree in just 3 years, meaning she might not need any estate until Year 239. 

She might be the only one to actually request a specific estate. The Crown Princess is fond of horse riding, and although Casa de Cha-cha is located in a region where equestrian tradition stands strong, only Chateau Marigold offers a stable. Also, Marigold comes with a district packed with old conflicts and shady local politics making for good practice for a future monarch.

When family building comes on the crown princess' agenda, she might be offered to choose between Wyvern Hall in Britechester and Hafen Herrenhaus in Nordhaven. Because Prince Blaise has a contract until about Year 243, it will all be down to timing: If the crown princess is in a hurry, Hafen Herrenhaus might be the only option, and as the heir to the Crown it might build a tradition residing the same estate that her father, the King, often stayed at. Also, Hafen is probably the only location where the addition of a small stable will be possible. Her equestrian interest might get less focus later in life, though.

Year 241 Prince Bazil might request his first estate. He becomes young adult in Year 238, and being 2nd in the line of successors, he will get a History degree, just like his sister. When not on campus he will probably stay at the royal palace.

He is expected to find a spouse within those five years, so maybe he will then be offered Wyvern Hall, which is already a tradition for the #2 heir. What year it will be available is a different matter, so his uncle Prince Royal Blaise might affect this, as well. Prince Bazil might head for a smaller royal estate while waiting, especially if he marries.

Year 240 the twins, Prince Cecil and Prince Marcuz will become young adults, but it is difficult to predict what year they will request their estates.

It is likely that Prince Cecil will get a degree, but he will probably be free to choose his own pace and direction, meaning he won't necessarily move straight to campus either. He might even spend 4 years rather than 3. He is the most creative of the four, and he might aim for a degree covering Fine arts, like his mother, the Queen.

He is not really into equestrian sports, meaning Queen's Stables in Newcrest won't be actual. Sunneva Challet in San Sequoia seems like a better bet.

Prince Marcuz is already focused on an Athletic or Military career, and he might skip a degree and rather focus on building a career directly. Currently being a Military School student he won't need a degree to reach Officer level within 3-4 years. A degree might be required if he aims for a higher Military position, though, like a future Gran Marshal.

Royals normally get a degree, after all they are expected to handle quite important community positions later in life, but the tradition shows that this is more important the closer you are to inheriting the Crown. The fourth child will often be under less pressure. 

The twin princes might depend less on a royal estate, or they might deal with this later in life. It makes little sense to guess their address ten years from now.

We must also take into consideration that some of the royals might marry into royal families of other nations, meaning they might not reside in Mazaloom at all. Nobody will be offered an estate for vacational needs, only. For such needs there will be several possibilities to spend a brief period in one of the already occupied estates.

Size matters?

It might be logical to offer the smaller estates first, then offering the larger ones to members ready to start a family. If our speculations work out, Crown Princess Emireza will first settle in Ravenwood, then at Hafen Herrenhaus in Nordhaven. There might be a geopolitical side to this all, too. Wyvern Hall is located in Britechester, which is pretty much mid nation and not very far from the royal palace which is located a bith farther south. It might be strategically wize that the Crown Princess settles at Hafen Herrenhaus in order to involve the northern parts of the nation more.

If this strategy is chosen, Prince Bazil might first be offered Sunneva Challet in San Sequoia, then Wyvern Hall once he marries. There might be a short wait before Sunneva Challet is vacant, which might open for a couple years abroad to build alliances and learn about foreign cultures. Two years might be enough for him to find a spouse, meaning he might just skip the smaller estate all together and just wait for Wyvern Hall. As his older sister will take over the royal palace eventually, she will probably not be offered Wyvern Hall, anyway.

We can not forget Princess Evendice who might request an estate already in Year 236. She is far down in the line of successors, but the oldest of this generation. If Marigold is reserved Emireza, Evendice might be offered Casa de Cha-cha in Ciudad Enamorada.

Also Prince Marquis will be in need for an esrtate before the twins. With Emireza at Chateau Marigold, Evendice at Casa Cha-cha and Sunneva Challet still rented by the Pepperstones, Prince Marquis will probably be too far down the line to request one of the royal estates. When Prince Cecil and Prince Marcuz request their estates around Year 240-243, Sunneva Challet might be available to one of them.

Queen's Stables in Newcrest is dedicated the royal horses, but the residential build is actually quite nice, if rather small. It could still work as a starter residence for a member of the royal family, of course some interest in horses would help. Currently members of security staff from the royal palace stay there as Keepers, also tending to the horses. This can easily change at a wink from the Royal Chmber, but it will probably take some equestrian skills and ambitions. This far only the Crown Princess would have this interest, but she will need something more grand than Queen's Stables.

So, in the long run, it might be likely that Crown Princess Emireza settles at Hafen Herrenhaus (Nordhaven) and Prince Bazil at Wyvern Hall (Britechester). Princess Evendice at Casa de Cha-cha (Ciudad Enamorada) and Prince Cecil and Prince Marcuz at Chateau Marigold (Ravenwood) and Sunneva Challet (San Sequoia). Then only Prince Marquis will not stay at a royal estate, but this could just as well be Prince Marcuz. Prince Marquis is up to get a Biology degree, so he might be into animals, but tending to the royal stables for life time might be a bit too much to ask.

If King and Queen wants an additional private residence, the next generation will lack one more estate, but this would be too speculative as it would form brand new traditions. Besides, King Tarriot privately owns a smal property in Tartosa, that might be available to one of the lower ranked princes, but if so, the Royal Chamber won't be involved and the renter will need to pay rent like regular renters do.