A Delightful Suprise!

What a truly delightful suprise! It seems that while I was otherwise engaged in affairs de state, and dealing with that pesky Stagonian matter, young Mr. Shaw and my lovely bride, Lady Katherine, conspired to make me a present. It seems that in Lady Katherine's homeland there is a charming and artistic family by the name of Knotel (I understand that correctly written, the "o" has that curious "umlaut" character of two small dots above it, making it sound like "oy", but every time I attempt to transcribe it, my quill ends up malfunctioning and causing a horrible mess). It seems also that Herr Knotel, a gifted painter in his own right, has two young sons who delight in portraying military uniforms and equiment. Apparently Mr. Shaw, knowing my mind on such matters from our many discussions, and the lovely Lady Katherine, took all of Shaw's notes on the uniforms and colours for my new Force de Militare and had these two young lads prepare an exquisite set of illuminated plates for me depicting my lads in all of their splendour!

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I must admit that I am so moved by this that I will only be able to post two of these plates at a time, as I am still contemplating them and savoring this moment. First up for your review Dear Reader are the hearty lads of my Guards Brigade and my Irish Brigade of "Wild Geese". I can already imagine the parade de militare that I will hold at the main drill field outside New Gaellia, where all of my citizens might see the brave lads in their new finery. I only wish that those damnable cartiers would deliver the uniforms that I have purchased so that my tailors may begin the required alterations to them. Perhaps I will speak with Don Carlo to see if he has, in some small way, an influence over the cartiers. The man does seem to be able to bend people to his will in the most charming of ways!

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Respectfully, Sir William