I probably shouldn't be... but I am. There is scant historical and genealogical literature on this particular family, but what little there is has been done to death and done quite thoroughly. The family is actually of fairly recent origin, the current iteration probably doesn't date beyond the last four or five generations, as far as I can find.
For my current research, I'm focusing on their involvement with the paranormal. You'd be surprised to find out that their involvement with the paranormal actually rivals ours (the Plumbs), and has been going on for quite a long time, even though the Queen herself will never admit it.
To begin, though, I must recall my very first visit to Vanderburg Palace. It was right before Crown Prince Sebastian's wedding to Ella Carlisle.
Prince Renauld had asked me to check the palace out for ghosts. I had never been to the palace before, so I was more than a little intimidated. Imagine -- me -- intimidated.
Anyway, I saw a ghost -- had the nerve to try and taunt me --
-- and I took out my trusty blaster and blasted him back to the afterlife where he belonged.
The palace has been haunted by ghosts for quite sometime, in particular the ghost of a butler who used to work there by the name of Gregor Bellemy.
Mr. Bellemy was a longtime servant of the Vanderburg family, and his ghost is reputed to scare away anyone else who tries to 'replace' him. The queen keeps his ashes on her desk, and on occasion the ghost haunts the castle at night. The rumor du jour in Hidden Springs is the butler may have been the biological father of Crown Prince Sebastian and Princess Francisca. The queen has never, in fact, divulged his identity, and may go to her grave with that secret.
Now there are rumors that the deceased Prince Renauld's ghost now haunts the palace, and that his daughters are desperate to find a solution to bring him back to life.
And recently, Queen Catarina's youngest daughter, the raven-haired Princess Anastasia, got married, to much fanfare. No one in Hidden Springs seems to know exactly who her new husband, Prince Lucian, is or where he even came from. Rumor is Queen Catarina herself has never even met him, even though it was because of her ultimatum that Anastasia even got married in the first place. I mean, seriously, she's never met her daughter's husband?? When and if my daughters get married, I would like to meet their spouses! And according to Lindy Gifford, the palace beat writer at Simstyle magazine, Queen Catarina and Princess Anastasia have not spoken to each other for some time, even since before the wedding. (And you know I don't read Simstyle or follow the palace beat, I leave that to Satis)
Adding to the mystery, Anastasia's twin sister, Princess Alexandra, has showed up with a companion of her own, a 'fellow cadet' called Patrick. They're said to be frequently spotted (along with, apparently, my son AJ) at the town's sports bar. No one in Hidden Springs seems to know who Patrick is, either, and, according to the royal flight academy, the name 'Patrick' doesn't appear on the list of cadets.
From what I've gathered from my sources in Hidden Springs and the couple episodes of the reality show I caught, when Prince Renauld passed away, he left his twin daughters a substantial amount of money. He also left them three (!) palaces, including one in Monte Vista that apparently belonged to his family. But it took them awhile (and a lot of maneuvering on their part) for them to gain access to it, because their mother tried desperately to keep them away from their inheritance. She only started releasing the money when Anastasia announced her engagement.
I do love a good mystery. But this one is a doozy that will likely test all of my years of paranormal expertise.
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