Kit - 2. Kit Chapter 2

Two days after celebrating Christmas in the Northern Hemisphere for the very first time, Uncle Mathias and I travelled to the city of Torino, which was about 1 ½ hours drive south-west of the villa, and after the tour of that school, which took most of the afternoon, we headed back to the villa for a night of rest, as we would be touring the second school the following day.

Even though the International School of Milan was a far better school, they only allowed boarders from the age of 14 upwards, so I was too young to be able to board there, but Uncle Mathias informed me that I could live at home with him in Milan, once he has secured a place to live, which we would be looking at options while in Milan.

The only other problem there would be with the move to Italy, would be that I would be commencing at my new school, half way through the Northern school year, instead of the start, although one good thing with my current school in Perth is that, the school has the IB programme there, which is what I would be studying in Italy as well, so the transition will be a little easier, even though I would be leaning mostly in Italian.

After some discussions with Mr de Lancia, I decided that I would attend the International School in Milan, as a day student, well at least until the end of the school year there in June, then we would review the situation, and for the final two days, in Italy, we were busy looking at a place to live in Milan.

Eventually we found a small apartment, that would not be too expensive, and it would be reasonable easy for me to travel to and from school each day. Back in Rome, in the late afternoon on our last day, we stayed overnight at the same hotel that we stayed at before, and the following morning we boarded a flight to Heathrow, London, and from there were flew directly to Edinburgh, Scotland, where we would be spending two days, before we fly to Douglas, on the Isle of Man, where we would stay for two days.

From there we would fly to Cardiff in Wales, were we would spend two more days, and continue on to London for the final day, before we make the long trip home, to pack up what we need to bring back to Europe with us and put the rest into storage.

After a long trip home, we spent the nest week packing up everything, sending most of Uncle Mathias’s personal belongings into storage, so we would be only taking what we need which is one extra suitcase extra. The house would be closed up, and checked on periodically by a security company, as all the furniture and white goods would be remaining in the house.

Uncle Mathias also arranged for a gardener to maintain the gardens once a month, to make sure everything remains alive and in good order. Once we had completed everything, and spent our last two days in Perth in a hotel suite, we boarded a plane once more, heading back to Italy, to start our new life there.

Surprisingly, I managed to settle into my new school quite easily, and I was soon up to speed with all of my chosen subjects, as well as the core subjects of Mathematics, English, Italian, Physics, Environmental Science, Chemistry, Geography, and Physical Education.

The other subjects that I chose, were Music, only because I am a reasonable flute and clarinet player and I was in the school choir at my school in Perth, also Arts as I am fairly good at sketching and watercolour painting of scenery, economics & accounting, plus German and French.

By the end of the school year in late June, I had a number of good friends amongst the students, and with 7 weeks summer holidays ahead of me, and with Uncle Mathias busy with work and unable to take time off to have a short holiday with me, I was left in a bit of a holding patten so to speak.

I was uncertain what to do, until I received an unexpected invitation from one of my school friends, to spend three weeks with him at his family home in Liechtenstein, and I was thrilled when Uncle Mathias said that I could go, so I began to pack and waited for more information on my travel details.

What puzzled me a little is that my friend Marcus Dewson was from Melbourne in Australia, yet he has a family home in Liechtenstein, and the day after receiving the offer for the holiday in the small European Principality, my mobile rang with the caller ID being Marcus.

“G’day mate, are you ready for your adventure holiday?” he said to me when I answered the call in his typical Australian accent, which made me laugh. “Yeah mate, packed and ready to go, but one question, how come an Aussie bloke has a family home in the Principality of Liechtenstein?” I asked.

“Ha, ha, ha. I was wondering when you were going to ask me that. I am of noble blood, but you must keep that to yourself, no one else is to know, ok?” Marcus replied, “What? Noble as in royalty?” I exclaimed a little too loudly, “Steady on mate, I will explain it all soon, now grab your luggage, and step outside, as your chariot awaits,” Marcus said to me before ending the call.

I peered out the front window, and spotted Marcus standing near the open rear door of a Limo, smiling broadly, which made me laugh, as I sent a text message to Uncle Mathias. “Heading off now, Marcus has a Limo waiting for me outside. Don’t work too hard. See you when I get back. Kit” using my family pet name that only my Uncle called me when no one else is around.

“Ok, have fun and stay safe, Uncle M,” came a quick response, as I closed the front door behind me, making sure that it was locked, before heading to the limo to start my adventure. “So how are we getting there, by air, boat or by road?” I asked Marcus as I settled into the comfy seat next to my closest friend.

Marcus laughed at my comment, “For one thing, there is no oceans or seas to get us there by boat, and the rivers would take us too long, as will driving there, so we are going by private plane to Vaduz,” Marcus replied. “Ok, so how is it that you are of Noble blood as you put it?” I asked.

“I am a very distant cousin to the current ruler – Prince of Liechtenstein, way back in the late 1930’s, when Prince Franz ruler of Liechtenstein at the time, died childless, instead of the crown passing on to the 1^st cousin, the crown jumped down to the Grand Nephew, skipping my side of the family tree all together.

Although my mother is still officially a Countess, she has never used her title, since moving to Australia, and when I was born, instead of me been given the title of Count, I am just referred to as Lord, and that was decided by the Prince at Vaduz,” Marcus explained.

“Wow, so what do I call you then? Lord Marcus the Great?” I asked, and Marcus laughed at this comment, “No you silly friend of mine. I will always be just Marcus to you, but officially I am Lord Marcus Dessewffy, of Liechtenstein,” Marcus announced. “Wow, that is a mouthful, just Marcus,” I commented.

“It is actually a lot longer than that, but had been shortened down to just Dessewffy, to make the name a little more modern, and that was changed to Dewson, to fit in better with Australia,” Marcus said to me. “So, have you been to this family home in Liechtenstein?” I asked, “Yes, a number of times, I have been attending our school since the age of eight, so on weekends and holidays, when there is an official event there, I always receive an invitation to attend there as well as at the palace too,” Marcus replied.

“Ok. So where are we going to be staying, and what do you have planned for our holiday?” I asked, “We have two villas, the one we will be staying in isn’t grand or anything, just our holiday home, while the main villa we rent out to holiday makers during the peak seasons. I planned to take you hiking up in the mountains, plus we are going to be doing a lot of showing you all the sites,” Marcus informed me.

The flight to Liechtenstein was uneventful, but it was awesome to be in an executive jet, with just Marcus and I as the only passengers, and when we landed, I asked if we were in Liechtenstein, and Marcus informed me that the country was too mountainous and small to have its own airport, so the business airport at St Gallen, in Switzerland is the closest one to land at, which is 52 kilometres north of the city of Vaduz by road.

After another Limo ride, we finally arrived in the capital city of Liechtenstein, and we continued down the main motorway for about four more kilometres, before turning right, then right again and finally left into a small road, stopping at the last property on the left, which was at the end of the road.

“This is it, our home for two weeks,” Marcus announced as we climbed out, and I looked at the huge house, which has three levels, as the front door opened and three people stepped out. “Hallo, Meister Marcus, willkommen zuruck,” the gentleman said in German, welcoming Marcus back to the place.

“Hello Hans, this is my good friend Kye Seabrook who is from Australia,” Marcus said to the gentleman in English, who was dressed in a suit. “Hello Master Kye, welcome to the Dessewffy Holiday home,” he said to me in clear English. “Danke Herr Hans” I replied in German, and Marcus chuckled.

“He has only been learning German for a year, so he is getting better, and his Italian is even more fluent,” Marcus said to Hans, who nodded his head in understanding, “This is my wife - Anna, who does all the cooking and house -keeping, and our oldest daughter - Maria, who assists her mother, we all are bilingual,” Hans said introducing me to the two ladies, before he and the other two staff gathered our luggage from the limo, and followed Marcus and me inside.

After a tour of the ground floor, not including the staff areas, we headed upstairs, where Marcus led me into a large bedroom, “This is your room during your stay, and as you can see out the window, you have a great view of the river from here. That river by the way is the Rhine, which is also the border with Switzerland, so everything over there is all of our neighbouring country,” Marcus informed me.

All I could say was “Wow” as the view was spectacular, as I looked out across the paddock to the Rhine River and Switzerland beyond that. Once we had settled in, with Marcus having the bedroom two doors from mine, we headed back downstairs, where Marcus asked to use the vehicle to show me around the region. Once we were in the modern Range Rover, we spent the next half an hour driving around, with Marcus pointing out key points of interest.

When we were approaching an enormous Castle, Marcus slowed down. “This is Vaduz Castle, the home of our ruling Prince, and where they have a lot of the official events when royalty and dignitaries from overseas come to visit,” Marcus informed me, as we continued to drive, and turned down a narrower road, with some cleared area on one side and a wooded area opposite.

When we slowed and stopped next time, it was outside a large Villa, that looked extremely impressive, as it also has a round turret in one corner. “This is our family villa, and it is closed up at the moment, and the staff looking after us, also work here too,” Marcus said to me, just as his mobile began to ring.

“Hmm, blocked number. “Hello, this is Marcus,” he said answering the call and placing it on speaker. “Hello Marcus, do you know who this is?” came a response, which made my friends face go a little white. “Err, yes sir I recognise the voice, how may I help you?” Marcus responded, as he glanced over in my direction.

“Where are you at the moment, as I recognised your families vehicle drive past a little while ago,” the caller asked, “At the family Villa just down the road sir,” Marcus replied. “Good, stay right there, I will be right over,” the caller said before ending the call, and Marcus stared at his phone for a good minute, before putting it away.

“Who was that? I shouldn’t I ask?” I said to Marcus, “You will find out very shortly my friend, and when he arrives just stay calm and be polite, and you will be fine,” Marcus said to me, which had me really confused, and moments later I saw a similar vehicle to the one Marcus was driving, heading in our direction. “Ok, so who is this mystery person?” I asked.

“My cousin, the Ruling Prince,” Marcus replied, as we watched the vehicle slow and pull up alongside the other car, and a gentleman, dressed in very spart casual stepped out of the vehicle and approached up, and Marcus bowed, and I followed suit.

“Your Royal Highness, it is good to see you again, looking well too,” Marcus said to the Prince, “Thankyou cousin, it is nice to see you too,” the Prince replied before glancing in my direction, and once again I bowed, “Sir, I am Kye Mathias Seabrook, good friend and classmate of this rogue beside me,” I said with a hint of a smile, and the Prince laughed before taking a step forward and offering his hand to shake, which I did.

“I like this young man Marcus, you make sure that you look after him, while he is visiting our little nation,” the Prince said to me, “I will do just that Sir. Now how man be of assistance to you,” Marcus asked. “We have a delegation of youth from Switzerland, Austria and here gathering for a two-day Youth Forum, but there has been a bit of a mix up with the booking of a venue for the actual forum side of the event.

“I have spoken to your folks, and they are happy to allow us to use this wonderful villa, and I would like you and your staff, plus some additional staff that the forum organisers have arranged, to host the two-day event, starting this Friday with a formal dinner,” the Prince announced.

“Wow, sir that doesn’t leave us much time, who do I contact to get briefed on everything?” Marcus asked, “Leila, one of my assistants will be over shortly, and your three staff have already been contacted, and are preparing to move over to here,” the Prince responded, “Very good sir, leave it with us, we will happily host this event,” I said before Marcus could say anything, and the Prince smiled before returning to his vehicle and leaving.

“Wow, talk about throwing us into the fresh cow pads,” Marcus commented as we watched the Prince drive away, and I screwed up my face at what he just said then laughed. “I will happily get some for you if you wish,” I commented.

“What? Oh! No thanks, I will pass on that, too smelly,” Marcus replied and we both laughed. “You do realise that I come from a farming background, don’t you?” I asked Marcus, “No I didn’t, and I will still pass thanks,” Marcus said.