Abigail Tamblin-Illéa-Schreave is a historical figure in The Selection Series. She made an appearance in the novella The Queen as the Queen of Illéa. She was the mother of King Clarkson and the grandmother of Prince Maxon.
Biography[]
Abby was the wife of Porter Schreave, ex-wife of Justin Illéa, mother of King Clarkson, and grandmother to Prince Maxon.
Abby was first introduced to Illéa when she entered the Selection. She won the crown and got married to Prince Justin, the grandson of Gregory Illéa. One theory is that Abby liked Prince Justin, but cared more for his cousin, Porter. Only three years after her marriage, Abby conspired to kill her husband and Abby ended up poisoning him. To continue the royal lineage, Abby Illéa married Porter and became Abby Schreave, becoming pregnant with Clarkson well before the wedding. Although married, Porter turned wary of his wife as to how easily she disposed of her first husband. Clarkson grew up to the sounds of his parents screaming, occasional violence, and accusations. Eventually, the passion between Abby and Porter faded.
During Clarkson's Selection, in The Queen, she wasn't kind to the Selected. She was constantly drunk and the girls feared her. She erupted in the Woman's Room at them after a rumor came about that one of the Selected, Tia, slept with Clarkson, and Abby kicked Tia out by dragging her out of the Women's Room by her hair. She later yelled at the rest of the girls, saying none of them will take her crown and giving them instructions on how Ladies act: "I am queen," she said to them. "And I am beloved. If you want to marry my son and live in my home, you will be everything I tell you to be. Obedient. Tasteful. And silent. From now on your only job is to show up, be a lady, sit there, and smile." After telling them this, Amberly smiled, as Abby said, but Abby took it wrongly and slapped Amberly hard, knocking her to the floor. After the incident, the girls tried to stay as far away from her as possible. Abby was also seen at a meal drinking by the Selected girls though none of them said anything to her.
Personality[]
Abby was reckless, somewhat violent, untrustworthy, and an alcoholic. She conspired to the murder of her first husband, argued a lot with her second one and seemed to hate more people than she loved. She was power-hungry, and did not want to give up her crown even after Clarkson married. Her son Clarkson was raised in a problematic environment. This would form his character into a strict and short-tempered king in the future, sometimes violent towards his son, Maxon, caning and whipping him for mistakes or bad decisions. On the outside, she seems kind and tries to evoke a perfect, acceptable, queenly image but in truth, she is cruel and politically ambitious. Queen Abby was someone who seemed to care about her public appearance a lot. She was so deeply in love with Porter that she agreed to poison her own husband, Justin, in order to marry Porter and thus allowing him to become king beside her, although their affections ended and gave way to domestic violence. She was strong-willed and driven, a woman who would do anything to get what she wanted, even if that meant reaching her goal with devious, unconventional, and unethical means.
Appearance[]
She tends to wear overpriced and extravagant dresses. She cares much about her appearance and would argue about her reckless spending on outfits with her second husband, Porter Schreave, as Clarkson points out.