Queen Philippa stepped into the villa with a pearly smile on her face. The Queen had watched with silent dissatisfaction as her husband had signed away his, and to a lesser extent her, power to the National Assembly. Philippa had been ready to rage and fight bloody tooth and bloody nail against it, but at the last minute, as the tides turned and the way the wind blew changed, her mother had convinced her to stay silent. The only advice that she'd gotten from her grandmother was that it was better to have a crown with limited power than no crown at all. Her grandfather had been prepared to intervene in the situation, but any plans he may have had died along with him, and her Aunt Louise was far less interested in the affairs of Colfico and the trouble of its queen.
So Philippa had decided to tackle the issue from an oblique angle. Which meant smiling and currying favor. If the people wanted democracy so badly, she would use that to her own advantage. She entered in a white tulle off-the-shoulders ball gown that ended in a wide skirt just past her knees. A three string pearl necklace looped around her throat, pale against her dark skin. More pearls were studded on her ears and circled her wrists. She wore her thick curly hair in a top bun high on her head, while her feet were adorned in white low heels. She walked with a clutch purse. She intended to indulge in the holy virtue of being charitable on this day.
