I never really liked Queen Vashti.

She was beautiful, the magazines raved. A perfect wife for the crown prince Xerxes of Persia. And I have to admit, she was hot. Hair like sunlight and eyes like the sky. But she always seemed to me like an airhead. All show and nothing in that head of hers.

Oh well. The royal family always put and emphasis on pretty children. After Xerxes became king, I knew it wouldn't be long before a whole line of pretty royal children made their appearance.

After the third year of his reign, there were still no royal children. All of Xerxes' groupies (yes, he had groupies. The old king's emphasis on pretty children had produced a really, really handsome crown prince. And he was barely twenty.) started becoming more hopeful. I was never a groupie, of course. He's just a man, no sense in going all ga-ga over him. And besides, he's outta my league. I have my God, and I'm content with that. My friends always go "But Esther, you're really pretty, you know. And that Shethar guy is really keen on you."

But whatever. I'm digressing here.

Xerxes decided to have a banquet when the visiting ambassadors came to town. Trade with the countries involved was apparently very important and Xerxes wanted to put on a show.

Therefore, for six whole months, he put on show after show, displaying Persia's wealth and glory, etc, etc. At the end of it all, he threw a huge party at the palace.

What happened during the party was totally unexpected. Actually, knowing Vashti, she's thought she could get away with it. Her beauty was so extreme, or so she believed, that she could run her husband the way she terrorised her serving maids.

If her husband wasn't the king of Persia, she might have just gotten a scolding.

The story goes that Xerxes got a bit tipsy and called for Vashti to be brought before him so he could show her off in front of his guests. Come to think of it, I would've gotten a bit annoyed at that. I'm not a POSESSION, I'm a WOMAN. Anyhow, Vashti refused to turn up, under the excuse that she needed her beauty sleep.

Next thing she knows, Xerxes is blowing his top and yelling at her. Not a good sign. She apparently thought it would all blow over, but then the reporter who was stationed at the event wrote an article on Vashti's 'disrespect'.

That just added fuel to the fire, and so when the divorce became public, it wasn't really a big surprise.

But, as usual, the tabloids and the Persian Pages raised a huge storm over it and out came funny stories like the Queen's habit of cutting her toenails every two weeks on a certain day and saving the clippings to make into tea or something. That was disgusting.

And obviously, they made a fuss out of Xerxes new method of choosing a wife.

A beauty pageant.