His given name was Fitzhope, after his mother’s maiden name, but he was universally known as Fuzzhop for the large shock of extremely curly brown hair he had as well as his boundless energy.

None of this was particularly appealing to the Fitzhope family themselves, being blueblooded and wealthy as they were, but Cynthia Fitzhope had been a black sheep even before her brief, doomed, marriage to Fuzzmop’s father, and she remained so afterwards, keeping her ex-husband’s name and a large part of his fortune to pay for her son’s schooling.

While Fuzzmop himself was easygoing, his mother’s hovering and the highly variable amount of cash at their disposal, which was partially dependent on stock options won in the divorce, led to the boy being enrolled, unenrolled, reenrolled, and transferred between endless high-caliber boarding schools both at home and abroad.