Robert Noble

Robert Arthur Noble, also known as Crown Prince Robert of Lovia (1894-1938), was the eldest child of Arthur II of Lovia, and Queen Lucy's twin brother. Although Robert had been expected from birth to inherit the Lovian throne, his poor relationship with his father and adherence to Marxist-Leninist views resulted in him first renouncing the Lovian throne and then leaving Lovia for good. After volunteering in the Spanish Civil War, he was killed in 1938 at the age of 43.

Early life
Robert was born on August the 1st, 1894, seventeen minutes before his twin sister Lucy. His childhood was relatively peaceful, since his mother was determined to shelter him from public life and Noble City politics, and he spent much time with his maternal grandparents in their home away from the palace. Nonetheless he was very popular with the Lovian public, as he was a mature, attractive child who conducted himself well on the few occasions he was required to appear in public. His relationship with his mother Queen Amelia, his grandparents and his sister was excellent, though he got on less well with his brothers Noah and James, with whom he fought frequently as they grew older. His father the king was almost a stranger to him for the first ten years of his life. Robert was known as a thoughtful, inventive child, who would become very excited by an idea or game for a short time before abandoning it and moving on to something new.

When Robert reached the age of twelve, his parents removed him from the public school in Noble City where he had been studying and hired two private tutors to teach him what was deemed necessary for a future king. He also had lessons with his father. Robert quickly came to hate this new form of education, and struggled with having the teacher's entire attention on him constantly. His mother was surprised with the poor reports she received, since Robert had always done well in school. Robert's relationship with his father also suffered at this point.

As he entered his teenage years, the young prince escaped from the palace whenever possible, either to play with his non-royal friends or to visit his grandparents, who led relatively normal lives. They were Protestants of fairly moderate views, and Robert attended church with them a number of times, and at the age of 13 became a devout Christian. Though this disturbed the King, his mother told him it was just 'a phase.' Soon, however, even Robert's grandparents were alarmed by his fervour, and Arthur was positively angry. After a confrontation, he forbade his son to visit his grandparents or to attend church, an instruction that was consistently disobeyed. Four years later, though, Robert became as convinced an atheist as he had formerly been religious. His father was delighted, but it did nothing to improve relations between them, and at the age of eighteen he left for Britain to study at University College London, contrary to his parents' wishes.

Life in Britain
Beginning his studies, Robert quickly became involved in several radical political movements, which were staunchly opposed to the war which had just broken out in Europe. By 1915, he had joined the British Socialist Party, and became very active in party organization and political action. He graduated in 1916 with a degree in history.

After an incident following an anti-war protest in 1916 involving Robert injuring a policeman, he was imprisoned for two months, which caused rather a scandal in both Britain and Lovia. While incarcerated, Robert wrote to his father officially renouncing all claim to the Lovian throne. The generous allowance he had been provided with by his father to live on dried up, but following his release from prison, he began work as a schoolteacher and deputy editor for The Call, the BSP's official newspaper. He was imprisoned once more in 1917 for anti-war activities and once again in 1920 for distributing pro-Soviet propaganda.

Life in the Soviet Union and in France
In 1923, he was expelled from the UK, and decided to relocate to the Soviet Union. There he was given an affectionate welcome by the authorities, who gave him the nickname the Comrade King. Robert, who had begun learning Russian since the Communists had seized control of Russia, continued as a teacher, this time of English. He married a German Russian, Anna Fisher, in 1926, and that same year they had a daughter, also called Anna. After a while, though, he felt uncomfortable in the USSR, realising that he was not trusted. In 1928, after Trotsky was expelled from the Party, Robert decided to leave. Travelling under the false name of Robert Novikov, he reached France with his wife, daughter, as well his wife's parents and young brother and settled in Paris. Beginning his new life once again, Robert ceased involvement in politics and began his work once again as a teacher of English. He joined the French Communist Party in 1930, but did not involve himself in controversial actions as he had in his youth.

Robert suffered a major blow in 1932 when his wife Anna died giving birth to his second son Frederick. Within a few months Frederick too was dead. Anna's family was shocked at the scale of Robert's grief. Yet a year later he had married again, this time to an American, Shirley McGovern, who also taught English at the same school. His relations with his first wife's family were damaged badly and his seven year old daughter Anna remained with them, being brought up by here grandparents. Robert had two children with his second wife, Rosa (1934) and Karl (1936). His relationship with his wife remained unstable, particularly after she found out he was having an affair.

Spanish Civil War
In 1936 civil war broke out in Spain and Robert was recruited by the Communist Party. Both he and his wife seemed happy to have a reason to separate, and Robert departed in October. Although he was older than most of the other recruits, he distinguished himself in training and later in battle for his martial spirit and recklessness, and rose up the ranks of the army, fighting in several battles, firstly around Madrid in late 1936 and then in the battles of Malaga, Jarama, Guadalajara and Belchite in 1937. In early 1938, Robert was one of the first soldiers to enter the city of Teruel following a successful Republican attack, and was made a lieutenant in reward for his service, but before long Franco retook the city with the aid of German and Italian air power. Robert had begun to see the futility of the war and according to his diary considered desertion at one point, but did not as he did not wish to return to Paris. The Republican armies were steadily forced back and Republican territory was split in half, but in July the Republicans attempted to win back lost ground. Robert succeeded in crossing the Ebro river with his men, but after Nationalist bombing destroyed his communications, leaving a large number of Republicans trapped on the wrong side of the river, they suffered from lack of supplies, including ammunition. On the 1st of August, Robert was ordered to form part of the force attacking the town of Gandesa, but the hilly bare terrain provided little cover and virtually the whole of Robert's platoon were killed. Robert was shot three times and died of blood loss later that day at the age of 44.

After death
In Lovia, Arthur II died two months after his son and Robert's twin sister Lucy took the throne. She immediately secretly authorised an investigation to find her twin brother. It was not until almost a year later that Robert's in-laws the Fishers were tracked. Through them the Lovian investigators learnt of Robert's death in Spain a year before. The investigators made their way to Spain but were unable to locate Robert's body, and returned to Lovia.

Lucy offered to adopt Robert's three children, but both the Fishers and McGovern refused.

Children

 * Anna Noble (1926-1999)
 * Frederick Noble (March to July 1932)
 * Rosa Noble (1934-)
 * Carl Noble (1934-2009)