King Frederick invited six of the most powerful and wealthy kings, princes and heirs to his castle while he decided which one would marry his only child, Katherine. One more arrives uninvited.

What on earth do they do for the months it takes to complete the tests???

Do they eat together every day? Every meal? Only on special occasions? Do they encounter each other in the halls and drawing rooms? Do they live like a big family? Does the princess have her own set of rooms she stays in so she doesn't have to see the other suitors? What kind of atmosphere do we have with six rivals?

My sisters and I talked it over and we decided there must be activities planned to keep them all occupied, picnics, dances, tournaments, etc. But King Frederick has a kingdom to rule, and his wife is dead. So who plans all these? Who coordinates them? How does he run a kingdom while dealing with a political bomb in his own home? How does anyone get in privacy without being confined to their rooms? How do the servants handle this?

In chapter five Prince Leslie talks to Derek about Prince Janin and the three eventually meet in the library. But how does Leslie get a chance to talk to Derek unless they all just wander aimlessly around the castle halls every morning? It's a big castle but... just wandering around freely doesn't sound like a very good idea to me. Keep in mind that we're dealing with six very rich and powerful spoiled brats with every reason to hate the other five and do all in their power to crush their chances of winning Katherine.

King Frederick has a horrible mess on his hands, but I think I have a worse one. How am I to get this book written with all this... stuff... going on? *sigh* Thoughts, suggestions, rambles, ideas, you know, the usual stuff...

I would suggest that at least one meal a day, they all eat together. Breakfast, maybe, they eat alone in their rooms, and possibly same with supper. Give them each their own suite of rooms; you don't want to stick them all together like one big family. Not if the king is trying to avoid them killing each other. The princess should also have her own suite of rooms.

The castle presumably has a steward/seneschal (and he probably has several people working under him). That's probably the man who will be arranging all the events to keep the princes occupied. I would suggest that extra servants were hired to help keep things running smoothly.

Even if there's an event planned for every morning, afternoon, and evening (while leaving time for the tests), I doubt that the princes should be required to participate in all of them. They would probably want to, especially if they thought they might get brownie points by doing well in whatever activity it happens to be, but there still might be times when someone's wandering around the castle. Perhaps there's one servant specifically assigned to each prince, who basically goes everywhere with him? Not much privacy, yeah, but they might be used to that.

There's my thoughts on the matter...hope it helps.

I read the book A Conspiracy of Kings, and for a good portion of the story several heirs, ambassadors, and rivals were staying at the same castle. As near as I can figure, everyone had their own suites. Everyone also had their own bundle of servants attending them. There were arranged meetings and shared meals, but if one power wanted to talk to another in private, he had to craftily make sure they "met up" by passing in the halls in such a way.

One ambassador once caught one of the kings while he was out in the gardens and invited him to drink, and the king couldn't very well properly refuse. The servant that was attending the king later got in trouble for allowing the two to meet up in private against another king's wishes.

Ultimately, you can be the master of your own rules of etiquette. I think Leandra's ideas are all good ones. Most of the event planning would be handled by various servants, and each prince would have his own suite attended by his own bundle of servants - some he brought with him, and some perhaps the king provided for him. They could wander public parts of the palace, but with some cleverness they could avoid crossing the paths of another prince in private where they'd be forced to speak with them. On the flipside, some careful planning can easily allow one prince to catch another alone. Not without servants, but without another interceding or inter-meddling heir.

Pesky servants.

*wonders if this is why she can't finish chapter three*

Phili! That book was good, but the first three were better! have you read the rest of the series?

No, I haven't, actually. I didn't realize it was part of a series when I picked it up... so it was a bit hard to understand, but still good. I'm pondering reading the rest of the series.

You must. read. the rest of the series!!! It's awesome!

But read them in order. I read them out of order and it kind of messed things up. Especially the Thief. The thief doesn't work if you've already read the Queen of Attolia.

These are some of my favorite books. So much so that I put them on my Christmas wish-list so I could have copies for my library. (And I got them, which is awesome.)

If they're all very rich and powerful they must have business to attend to. I would avoid having them go to dances and such activities because that's for mixed company and they all apparently want to marry the princess. I'd say only one meal a day together as well, most likely evening. When they're not doing business give them man things to do like fencing and hunting and such. I would think with their power they would keep their rivalries subtle enough to strike up a conversation in the library.

Doesn't the king have a chancellor? most kings don't really do all that much and a chancellor is very important.
(kind of like a vice president.)

Also I probably wouldn't let some uninvited dude in also