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32.

I told Elf and Jason that I wanted to propose.

Congratulations, both men said.

But then Elf said he’d need to do some fast digging, find out the protocols¹. There were strict

rules governing such things.

Rules? Really?

He came back days later and said before doing anything I’d need to ask Granny’s permission.

I asked him if that was a real rule, or the kind we could work around.

Oh, no, it’s very real.

It didn’t make sense. A grown man asking his grandmother for permission to marry? I couldn’t

recall Willy asking before he proposed to Kate. Or my cousin Peter asking before he proposed to

his wife, Autumn. But come to think of it I did remember Pa asking permission when he wanted to

marry Camilla. The absurdity² of a fifty-six-year-old man asking his mother’s permission had been

lost on me at the time.

Elf said there was no point in examining the whys and hows, this was the inalterable rule. The

first six in line to the throne had to ask permission. The Royal Marriages Act of 1772, or the

Succession to the Crown Act of 2013—he was going on and on and I could barely believe my

ears. The point was, love took a decided³ back seat to law. Indeed, law had trumped⁴ love on more

than one occasion. A fairly recent relative had been…strongly dissuaded…from marrying the love

of their life.

Who?

Your aunt Margaret.

Really?

Yes. She’d wanted to marry a divorcé and…well.

Divorcé?

Elf nodded.

Oh, shit, I thought. This might not be a slam dunk.

But Pa and Camilla were divorcés, I said, and they’d got permission. Didn’t that mean the rule

no longer applied⁵?

That’s them, Elf said. This is you.

To say nothing about the furor⁶ over a certain king who’d wanted to marry an American

divorcée, which Elf reminded me had ended with the King’s abdication⁷ and exile. Duke of

Windsor? Ever heard of him?

And so, heart full of fear, mouth full of dust, I turned to the calendar. With Elf’s help I circled

a weekend in late October. A family shooting trip at Sandringham. Shooting trips always put

Granny in a good mood.

Perhaps she’d be more open to thoughts of love?

1 protocols   

n.礼仪( protocol的名词复数 )；（外交条约的）草案；（数据传递的）协议；科学实验报告（或计划）

参考例句：

• There are also protocols on the testing of nuclear weapons. 也有关于核武器试验的协议。 来自辞典例句
• Hardware components and software design of network transport protocols are separately introduced. 介绍系统硬件组成及网络传输协议的软件设计。 来自互联网

2 absurdity   

n.荒谬，愚蠢；谬论

参考例句：

• The proposal borders upon the absurdity.这提议近乎荒谬。
• The absurdity of the situation made everyone laugh.情况的荒谬可笑使每个人都笑了。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 trumped   

v.（牌戏）出王牌赢（一牌或一墩）( trump的过去分词 )；吹号公告，吹号庆祝；吹喇叭；捏造

参考例句：

• That woman trumped up various baseless charges against him. 那个女人捏造种种毫无根据的罪名指控他。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Several of his colleagues trumped up a complaint to get him removed from the job. 他的几位同事诬告他，使他丟掉了工作。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

6 furor   

n.狂热；大骚动

参考例句：

• His choice of words created quite a furor.他的措辞引起了相当大的轰动。
• The half hour lecture caused an enormous furor.那半小时的演讲引起了极大的轰动。

7 abdication   

n.辞职；退位

参考例句：

• The officers took over and forced his abdication in 1947.1947年军官们接管了政权并迫使他退了位。
• Abdication is precluded by the lack of a possible successor.因为没有可能的继承人，让位无法实现。