How to Engage an Earl

I love finding little gaps in recorded history. Bits of fact that send my mind pondering what if.

Like How to Seduce a Duke, the second book in my Royle Sisters series, How to Engage an Earl further explores a great unknown in Regency era history.

Maria Fitzherbert, a Catholic widow, and the Prince of Wales were married secretly. At this time, not only was such a union illegal, but public knowledge of Prinny’s marriage to a Catholic could greatly jeopardize his chances of being named Regent.

The Tories, led by William Pitt, the Prime Minister, opposed rule being transferred from the ailing king to the Prince of Wales, and did everything in their power to prevent it. At one time, the Tories were even rumored to have obtained the couple’s signed wedding register page (proof positive of the illegal marriage) with the intent of using it against the Prince of Wales. Suddenly the register disappeared.

Who took the register and why? What happened to it?

My mind fixed on this question, until suddenly I knew. Well, in the Royle sisters’ Regency world I knew and suddenly the story began to unfold.

Sometimes, a little artistic license is needed on my part to bridge the gap between fiction and historical accuracy. For example, for story reasons, I created a span across the sparkling Serpentine dividing it from the Long Water, since George Rennie’s bridge would not be built until 1826.

The Cockspur Street home of the rakish Laird Allan, Earl MacLaren sadly no longer exists, but just a stone’s throw away, Carlton House (the Prince of Wales’ residence) is still as beautiful as it was in 1815. It is not hard to imagine Anne and her sisters walking by and staring up at the line of windows wondering if the man they believe might be their father was looking down at them.

Be sure to Read Between the Lines of How to Propose to a Prince, where some of the Regency era’s most famous historical figures come to life to reveal the biggest “what if” of all—are the Royle Sisters the secret daughters of the Prince of Wales and Maria Fitzherbert?

(posted 11.01.07)

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