Note: this post contains character spoilers for Royal Affairs. For a less in-depth introduction to Laurie Beaumont, check out their introduction post.

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I knew I wanted at least one “approved” potential romantic interest as a fellow Archambault student, and I wanted to show someone whose background is pretty typical for people at Archambault. Being from a very wealthy financially-focused family puts Beaumont at an advantage compared to other characters in terms of how much the Queen is likely to be happy about the PC spending time with them.

I knew I wanted Beaumont to be extremely rich; I knew I wanted them to be very focused and hard-working; as I figured those out, I wanted a pinch of additional vulnerability, so I brought in their orphan background and things clicked for me.

Beaumont is the most angst-heavy of the Royal Affairs characters by a fair distance. They’re also the most restrained and withdrawn: maybe they’d have been different if their backstory had gone differently but I think they were likely never much of an emotionally-open or enthusiastic person separate to that. Either way, I loved writing them with their pet, Patch: with their pet, they feel less self-conscious and more able to be openly emotional.

The way they treat the PC was something that needed some care. In early drafts, they ended up sometimes responding so poorly to seemingly innocuous interactions that playtesters were concerned that Beaumont despised them – which wasn’t my intention at all! That said, I did want to show that there’s a gap between Beaumont’s internal life and how they physically behave or what they say. They don’t deliberately show a lot of energy in general; nor do they care much for Westerlind aristocracy’s social niceties. Nor, really, do they find it easy to project a lot of energy if it’s asked of them.

Beaumont is a very determined character, and they have a strong core of conviction about what they value. Although they don’t particularly care about universal suffrage, they may sometimes come to care about Estell Trevelyan, for various reasons, and act protectively of them as a result. They’re a character who can cause problems for the PC under some circumstances, thanks to that determination; under others, they can be a powerful ally. 

Beaumont may be brusque and sometimes prickly, and I had a lot of fun writing some of their more blunt dialogue. But they have a lot going on in their head too. Some of their storyline is about them opening up to vulnerability. They take a lot of pride in being self-sufficient and dealing with things on their own terms, but that isn’t healthy for anyone to do all the time, of course. Westerlin has a culture that rewards stiff upper lips, pushing through difficulties, and being an exceptional achiever. It also has a rudimentary understanding of mental illness or wellbeing. Beaumont (and indeed other characters from the Creme de la Creme series) is a product of that culture, but perhaps they can reach a better state of mind by the end of Royal Affairs.

The hothouse school environment is ideal for showing characters dealing with – or struggling with – the current pressures of adolescence and the looming ones of adulthood. Which is all part of why I return to these rarified settings.