Mrs Brown Page #3

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Finally, she finds her voice. She sounds nervous and edgy.

VICTORIA:

Mr Brown.

BROWN:

Ma'am.

VICTORIA:

You are here safely.

BROWN:

Aye, ma'am.

VICTORIA:

You are well?

BROWN:

I am.

VICTORIA:

And the pony?

BROWN:

She's well, too.

VICTORIA blinks at the sight of him. His presence is

bringing him back. A beat.

VICTORIA:

Your family sent cards. It was much

appreciated.

BROWN:

I'm glad of it.

In an effort to control her emotions, VICTORIA now sounds

the same severe note as at lunch. But BROWN, unlike

others, seems unaffected.

VICTORIA:

My husband was always very

complimentary in speaking of you. He

would have approved, I am sure, of my

calling on you in this way.

(beat)

I trust it does not inconvenience you

too much.

BROWN:

I've no family, ma'am, apart from my

brothers and sisters.

VICTORIA:

Yes.

(beat)

You have a brother in service here, do

you not?

(furrowing her brow)

I forget his name.

BROWN:

Archie.

VICTORIA:

Yes.

(beat)

That will be company for you.

BROWN:

Yes, ma'am.

Silence. VICTORIA starts to tire. She takes a sip of

water and spills a little on herself. Flustered, she

searches for a hanky but cannot find one. LADY ELY hurries

up with one of her own and the Queen dabs it off. BROWN

watches all of this with genuine concern. When VICTORIA

finally looks up, he stares at her in deep sympathy.

BROWN (CONT'D)

Honest to God, I never thought to see

you in such a state. You must miss

him dreadfully.

VICTORIA stares back in stunned silence. PONSONBY coughs

involuntarily. LADY ELY freezes. A beat.

VICTORIA:

You do not - he ... get him out.

(beat)

Get him out. Get him out!

Suddenly, BROWN finds himself tugged backwards out of the

room. LADY ELY rushes up to assist as VICTORIA shouts

herself into a fit of uncontrolled sobbing.

INT. OSBORNE HOUSE, BROWN'S QUARTERS - DAY

Some minutes later, BROWN is angrily unpacking a trunk.

His humiliation expresses itself in the extraordinary

ferocity with which he slams down every object.

His younger brother, ARCHIE, sits on the bed. He's in his

early thirties, bright, sharp and dressed in the same

distinctive kilt and tweed.

ARCHIE:

(telling it fast)

So the day they arrive, she greets the

Sultan and his family with barely a

word and then retires to her chamber.

The Sultan, not used to State

Occasions without a head of State, is

standing in the lobby waiting for

someone to tell him what to do. But

the court is under strict instructions

not to talk in the corridors so nobody

speaks to him, not a living soul, for

the whole afternoon. So now it's

dinner and everyone's standing round

the table -- still not a word --

waiting for Her Majesty to arrive.

One hour goes by, two, the Sultan's

getting a wee bit peckish to say the

least. So finally, his wee laddy

breaks for the cold meats and stuffs a

slice in his mouth. Well, the uproar

when she heard. You'd have thought

someone had stolen the crown jewels.

BROWN stares back, still pissed off.

BROWN:

So?

ARCHIE:

So, there are rules. Things you do

and things you don't do.

BROWN:

I was just telling the woman how I

feel, for God's sake.

ARCHIE:

You don't tell Her Majesty how you

feel.

BROWN:

I speak as I find, Archie.

ARCHIE:

Not down south you don't.

BROWN slams a drawer shut. ARCHIE lets it go and watches

his brother. A beat.

ARCHIE (CONT'D)

So what did Ponsonby do when she

started shouting?

BROWN:

I think he nearly ruptured his truss.

A beat, then both men burst out laughing.

INT. OSBORNE HOUSE, SERVANT'S HALL - DAY

The clatter of voices and banging doors as under servants

hurry about with plates, knives and forks, laying the Upper

Servant's huge table for dinner. ARCHIE leads BROWN

through this rush of activity.

BROWN:

How much?

ARCHIE:

Seventy a year.

BROWN:

Not bad, not bad.

ARCHIE:

How about yourself?

BROWN:

Sixty.

ARCHIE:

(grinning)

That's pretty good for a ghillie.

BROWN smiles dryly. They pour themselves a drink from the

table.

BROWN:

Prince Leopold? Is he the one who

bleeds all day? So what does his

valet do? Wash his poultices for him?

ARCHIE:

It's better than shovelling horse

sh*t.

BROWN:

If you were looking for promotion, you

should have picked one of the

healthier ones.

ARCHIE:

She's hardly a full hamper herself.

BROWN:

(beat)

It's only grief makes her like she is.

ARCHIE:

Three years, John. Is that not a bit

long to be grieving?

BROWN:

She loved him.

ARCHIE:

Come on, man. There's love and

there's ...

BROWN:

What?

ARCHIE:

You know what I mean.

BROWN:

I'm not sure I do, Archie.

ARCHIE:

There's love and there's behaving like

you do because there's nobody to tell

you not to.

Hold on BROWN. He lets it go and moves on. Across the

hall, he spots the pretty ASSISTANT DRESSER watching them.

BROWN:

Which one of us is she flirting with?

ARCHIE:

The good-looking one.

BROWN:

Aye? Then she's obviously not got

enough to do.

ARCHIE:

You work the system right, you could

ask her yourself. Just be thankful

you're not working for Household. The

Queen never lets them out of her

sight. But wee spats like us can slip

through the net, easy.

A beat. BROWN stares straight at him.

BROWN:

I'm no wee spat, ARCHIE.

INT. OSBORNE HOUSE, UPPER CORRIDOR - MORNING

The next day, VICTORIA and her ladies are hurrying down a

corridor on her way into the dining room. VICTORIA

suddenly stops and stares out of the windows. Her

entourage are several steps past her before they realize

what's happened and scurry back to take up their positions

behind.

Now we see what has caught her attention. BROWN is

standing in the courtyard below, by his pony. She watches

him for a moment, then without reacting, walks on.

EXT. OSBORNE HOUSE - AFTERNOON

Some hours later. It is now raining.

A gaggle of ROYAL GRANDCHILDREN hurry out of a carriage

from their afternoon recreational while their NANNIES

frantically try to keep them dry under the umbrellas. John

BROWN stands tall and erect on the gravel while they rush

around him, laughing and giggling.

INT. OSBORNE HOUSE, UPPER CORRIDOR - EVENING

Rain on the window. VICTORIA is walking in the opposite

direction down the corridor with her entourage. She stops

at the same place as before.

VICTORIA:

(as if she had not seem him

earlier)

Who is that?

Lady Ely peers through the rain.

LADY ELY:

It's Mr Brown, ma'am.

VICTORIA:

What is he doing there?

LADY ELY:

He appears to be ... standing by his

horse.

VICTORIA:

I made no request to go out riding

today.

(beat)

How long has he been there?

LADY ELY:

I don't know, ma'am.

(nervously)

He was observed earlier, I believe.

At this moment, PONSONBY comes down the corridor.

VICTORIA:

Sir Henry, Mr Brown is standing in the

courtyard. I have no wish to go

riding.

PONSONBY:

I'm very sorry, ma'am. I can't

imagine -- he was certainly given no

instructions.

VICTORIA:

Please make sure it does not happen

again.

PONSONBY:

Of course, at once.

VICTORIA takes one last look and walks away.

INT. OSBORNE HOUSE, PRIVATE SECRETARY'S CHAMBERS - NIGHT

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