Sophie Page & TO MARRY A PRINCE

Anne here, introducing my friend Sophie Page, who's written one of the best of the books timed to come out for the royal wedding — TO MARRY A PRINCE. Sophie has written many category romances as Sophie Weston. In real life, she's Jenny Haddon, former chair of the Romantic Novelists Association of the UK, co-author of Getting the Point, a guide to punctuation, and woman of many parts. She lives in the heart of London.  

The book starts with a classic "cute meet". Bella, the heroine, has been out of the country for a couple of years, counting fish on a tropical island. She returns to London and stays with her best friend Lottie, a rising, savvy PR girl. After a swift makeover and dressed in second-hand clothes, she goes with Lottie to a Very Posh Party. Jet lagged and a little overwhelmed by the crowd, she retreats to a deserted courtyard, only to bring down a curtain of ivy and several major potted plants. And out of the shadows steps a rescuer …

    'I think you'd better get out of there.'
    'I'm trying,' said Bella between her teeth. She was tearing at the ivy that had wound itself round her ankle. But the more fiercely she tore, the faster she seemed to be caught. 'This damned stuff won't let me go.' 
    'Let's have a look.'
    He hunkered down and considered her foot. From where she was sprawled she saw that he had springy dark hair. It looked as if it would sizzle to touch. And she was right, that shirt was silk. Nothing else had that sheen. Pearly white silk, as pure as snow, and here she was, looking like a compost heap. It was enough to make a girl weep.
    'Have I got twigs in my hair?'
    But he was concentrating.  'Hmm. You're certainly tied in pretty tight. Wonder if this ivy is carnivorous?'
    'Thank you for that thought.'
    'No problem.' He slid a finger under one of the tendrils and she yelped, as much from surprise as the increasing constriction. He looked up quickly and she had the impression of dark, laughing eyes and a determined expression.
    'No help for it. In the absence of a knife, I shall have to tear it off with my teeth.'
    He was serious?
    He was serious. He bent his head.

After a couple of brief meetings, Bella sees her his photo in a magazine and realizes who her mystery admirer is. Of course, he's a prince, and not just any old prince of the sort you often find lurking in darkened courtyards, but the Prince, the Prince of Wales, heir to the throne. Her reaction isn't what you might expect.

    She dropped the phone on the table top and rummaged for a hankie. She couldn't find one, so she blew her nose hard on one of the café's paper napkins instead. Granny Georgia would have called it sordid and Georgia would have been right, she thought.
    The phone rang again. She glared at it. But in the end she answered.'What?'
    'You know, then.' He sounded chastened.
    'Know? What do I know? I saw your photo in The Despatch and I know who you are, if that's what you mean.'
    He groaned. 'Hell!'
    'But I don't know why you wanted to play games like that. It's not honourable and it's not kind.' Her voice scraped. She wasn't going to let him hear her crying. Hell, she wasn't going to cry. She cut the call fast. 
    And stocked up on café paper napkins. She even managed to drink some of the latte before he rang again.
    'Bella, don't hang up,' he said as soon as she answered.
    'How do you know my name's Bella?'
    'You told me yesterday when I rang.'
    'Oh.' That took the wind out of her sails a bit.
    'Look, I've handled this badly, I admit.'
    'Oh, I don't know.' She sounded brittle and sophisticated, she thought. Also very angry. 'I think you handled it very well. Kept the girl distracted, avoided giving her a name, even when she asked. And she still didn't twig what a liar you are.'
    That stung him. 'I didn't lie!'
    'Yes you bloody did,' she yelled. 'And you know it.'
    This time she not only cut the call, she threw the phone at the cafe wall, where it broke into bits.
    Well, at least it gave her something to do. She went to buy a replacement, a smartphone this time. She'd got a job now.
    It rang as soon as the chip was in place.
    'Ignore it,' she told the startled salesman. 'A nuisance caller.'

And so we're off to a gorgeous, fun, rocky courtship.
 
Anne: Your heroine is a delight, and I loved her family as well — her famous explorer father who's also a rabid anti-royalist, her mother the snob who can't wait to show off the Prince to the golf club ladies, her stepfather who's cautious but kind. And then there's the best friend, Lottie, and the various members of the prince's household. You do minor characters so well. Who was your favourite?

Sophie:  I never think of them as minor characters, they're just people with their own story going on somewhere else. In this book, I have to admit I have a weakness for the King. I didn't plan it—I thought he was going to be just another inarticulate middle aged Englishman who didn't do soppy stuff like feelings. But then I found he had a passion for steam engines and ran away from string quartets and suddenly he was a real person. And then, when I never expected it, he started to critique Richard's strategy for proposing to Bella and that made me laugh so much I couldn't bear to cut it out. But he has a thoughtful, rather sad side, too, which I didn't discover for a very long time.    

Anne: Yes, the King was wonderful. Another thing I enjoyed about this book was the research you obviously put into it. You didn't just make up a convenient monarchy, you devised a very plausible alternative history for Britain. Tell us a little about it.

Sophie:  I've always loved history and the Georgian/Regency period is a favourite. So much started then – scientific discoveries, political ideas, travel, and the Congress of Vienna in 1815 reconfigured Europe. So I suppose I see it as a turning point, and that is why I went back to that period for the origins of an alternative monarchy, as opposed to the Tudors or the Stewarts, or even the Plantagenets. 

But I also felt a personal connection with the Regent's daughter, Princess Charlotte, who was a favourite of my mother's, after she saw Charlotte's alarming tomb at Windsor. Charlotte died in childbirth in 1817, aged 21. She was the only legitimate heir of King George III at the time. Victoria's parents did not marry until after her death. Indeed, Princess Charlotte's sister-in-law, the bossy Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, married the ageing Duke of Kent precisely in order to achieve an heir, and Victoria was the result. 

I like Princess Charlotte, who had a very thin time of it as a young girl, and I was glad to give her a happier ending. So I imagined that she and her baby son survived, she and Prince Leopold had several more children; that she succeeded George IV, with Leopold as her Prince Consort; and that she reigned in her own right until she abdicated in favour of her son Frederick in 1869. The Hanoverians had a bad record in terms of getting on with their sons, and I thought that Charlotte, tempered by Leopold might just break that particular curse. When she got into a paddy he used to calm her down, saying 'Doucement chérie, doucement.' So she nicknamed him Doucement. It sounds a nice, friendly marriage. He was certainly devastated when she died.

I gave her a country retreat in Scotland (not Balmoral, which was bought by Queen Victoria) because she loved dogs and horses and a good party, and no one does New Year like the Scots. Drummon House figures in To Marry a Prince, as does the royal New Year party. I don't know whether I was flattered or appalled when a Scottish friend emailed me this week to say she'd been to parties like that!   
(For more about Princess Charlotte go here.)

Anne:  Tell us about the hero of this book, Prince Richard.

Sophie: Oh he's a total sweetheart. I know that dark and damn-your-eyes is more immediately sexy but I really like good guys. I could see him as a small boy, terribly serious and wanting to look after his younger brother and sister, while his parents struggled with the really awful old grandfather King, who was totally wilful and more than a bit of a throwback, frankly.

So Prince Richard is really hard working and responsible and determined to do a good job but he's never learned to kick back and have fun or think too much about the things he wants for himself. When he meets Bella and she doesn't know who he is, for the first time in his life he's just a guy chatting up a girl at a party. And that unlocks a completely new side of his personality and he finds himself doing things that he never expected—and enjoying it. Though there's still quite an unreconstructed part of him that expects to order people around, including Bella, and it gets out of hand when he's trying to take care of her. He has to work on that. 

Anne: Something that sets this book above so many of the common-girl-marries-royal-prince stories I've read, is that you deal quite realistically with some of the problems such a relationship would have -- the twitter/on-line community, the press, and particularly the "behind palace walls" etiquette and procedure, and how it impacts on the relationship.

Sophie: I really don't know anything about current Royal protocol and I didn't want to research the present Court too closely, because this is a fantasy. But I had memories of various diaries I had read—like poor Fanny Burney being urged by Mrs Delany to converse with the Queen.'The Queen often complains to me of the great difficulty with which she can get any conversation, as she not only has to start the subject but commonly entirely to support it. And there is nothing she so much loves as conversation. And nothing she finds to hard to get.' That seemed like a sensible Court Rule: only the King or Queen can change the subject. It would keep the hundreds of people they meet every year from being too personal or political—or boring on for ever about their stamp collection. But it would be very difficult to adjust to, if you were used to the usual give and take of conversation.

As for celebrity, well I think that's the curse of our age. Everyone can see how people's private lives and even their sense of themselves, can be skewed by indiscreet photographs and unwary remarks appearing in the press. Purely by chance, and for a quite different and very sad reason, I had members of the Press ringing my doorbell a few years ago. It's a shock—and it doesn't take long to feel paranoid when a News journalist appears on your doorstep and there's a guy with a shoulder cam trained on you standing behind her. My imagination made that jump very easily. 
(For more about the alternative history Sophie created for this book, go here.)

Anne: This is your first single title, isn't it? I hope we'll be seeing more Sophie Page books in future. And so now we come to the Big Question: what will you be doing for the royal wedding?

Sophie:  London is just beginning to buzz about the Royal Wedding. My street is planning a street party—bouncy castles, the lot. There will be lots of screens in pubs and cafés and at least two big free screens in Trafalgar Square and Hyde Park, where people will be able to watch the wedding from inside the Abbey. And only this morning I got an email from a smart London restaurant, which is offering a Royal Wedding Day package, starting with Royal Breakfast on the Terrace, the wedding itself screened live, and then a Gastronomic Experience for lunch afterwards.

One of the nicest things, if you live in London, is to catch sight of the mounted escorts practising on their beautiful horses. I was walking through St James's Park in the sunshine and heard the jingle of harness and the clippety clop of hooves—and as I came round the corner, there they were, riding down the Mall, very correct, with just the odd horse snorting at the early morning traffic. Lovely!

Anne : Sounds gorgeous. Thank you so much for joining us on Word Wenches. 

Sophie: My pleasure, Anne. Thank you for inviting me. 

And now for readers, Sophie will be giving away a copy of TO MARRY A PRINCE to someone who leaves a comment. Will you be watching the wedding of Kate and Prince William or not? Did you watch the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana? What royal weddings have you seen? Share your royal stories.

*Anne again -- since amazon has run out of copies, you might try this site, which has free postage internationally. And while I'm on, here's a fab and fun slideshow of London in Royal Wedding fever.

Comments

[KellyHunterova]

Sophie, I'm a huge fan of your category romances and thrilled to bits that you're back writing longer length stories. Thanks to both you and Anne for such a gorgeous introduction to this story. I can feel a trip to Book Depository coming on...

[Sue K]

I will be getting up at the crack of dawn to watch William & Kate marry just as I got up early to watch the wedding of Charles & Diana. I am certainly going to buy a copy of To Marry A Prince. It sounds wonderful!

[Margay]

I did watch the wedding of Princess Diana and Charles, but I don't know if I'll be up early enough to watch William and Kate's. I'll catch the highlights on the news.

[Trish Morey]

Ah Sophie, what a gorgeous sounding book. Don't give it to me, I'm a sale. I"m following Ms Hunterova and making a bee-line for that book depository

Thanks to you and Anne for a lovely interview and thank you for another gorgeous book!

[Heather S]

I love the sound of this book! Adding to my Amazon wishlist now.

I didn't watch Charles and Diana's wedding (wasn't born yet). But I do hope to catch William and Kate's.

[MJ]

My grandmother and I watched Charles & Diana's wedding in Rotterdam Holland while we were vacationing there. As all the commentary was in Dutch, it was a bit hard to figure out who was who! I'll probably get up early and watch this royal wedding, too, and hope for a real Happily Ever After for Wills and Kate.

One side note: both of my daughters were born the same year as Princes William and Harry. And I told my daughter Kate that she'd marry Prince William. Guess I had the name right, but the girl wrong!

[Miranda Neville]

[Waves madly to Anne!] The books sounds wonderful, Sophie. So glad it's available for the Kindle in the US. You may not remember, but we met at the RNA conference in Greenwich last summer - I joined your group in the courtyard at lunch time. What a fabulous setting.

Of course I'll be watching the royal wedding. It's the only thing that gets me up that early (luckily they aren't too common).

[Elizabeth Kerri Mahon]

I was lucky enough to be in London when Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer, so of course I will be watching his son's wedding. I've watched every royal wedding including Charles and Camilla's. I've even entered at least 3 contests including BBC America's Royally Mad (you can briefly see me in the beginning of the first episode in my ballgown and tiara). My alarm will be set for 4am on the day.

[Irisheyes]

I did watch Charles and Diana. I was a teenager when they got married and thought the whole thing very romantic! Like so many others I hope Will and Kate's union has a better outcome.

I'm also very excited about TO MARRY A PRINCE, Sophie. I love these types of stories - kind of seeing behind the scenes and learning bit by bit that those in the public eye aren't always what they seem. It's great fun.

[Anne McAllister]

Wonderful book, Sophie/Jenny! I loved it. And I'm so glad Anne got you to explain your alternative universe so I could see how Richard's line came down. I want more books now, please! Yours are more fun than the 'real' weddings -- though I'm sure I'll catch a bit of this one.

[Sophie Page]

Kelly, so that makes us mutual fans, then. Thank you on behalf of myself and the Book Depository.

Sue K, I'm imagining you at a pre-dawn champagne breakfast watching the wedding in jimjams and tiara... enjoy!

Trish, Anne always makes my books sound mouth-watering, I agree. Do hope you enjoy my Prince.

[Sophie Page]

Heather, I didn't watch the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana either-- but I've seen extracts so many times on television that I sometimes forget. Hope you enjoy the book.

[Sophie Page]

Miranda, of course I remember. That was a great conference, wasn't it? Perfect weather, fantastic eighteenth century setting at the Royal Naval College and some pretty good talks to.

Did you get to see the photos people posted on their blogs? If not, I'll dig around and send you links to the best ones.

[Sophie Page]

Elizabeth, you've whetted my appetite. How could I have missed America's Royally Mad? Am off searching the Internet immediately . . .

[Hellion]

This book sounds swoonworthy! :)

And yes, I'm watching the wedding of Wills and Kate. Took the day off and everything (since America isn't exactly making it a national holiday or anything like England did.) Plan to have some food fare fit for a queen and root for my favorite royal couple.

I was very little when Di and Charles married, but I saw all the clips over and over, and even now, I think it's one of the most beautiful weddings I've ever seen. Even though the HEA didn't happen, I still think it was a very magical wedding.

I hope joy and stability in Will and Kate's marriage. I hope they get the HEA his parents didn't.

[Sophie Page]

MJ The Royal Wedding in Dutch sounds like a major guessing game. But The Wrong Kate is definitely a title to conjure with. Hmm. Thinks...

[Sophie Page]

Irisheyes -- I certainly remember quite hardened and cynical bankers getting a bit misty-eyed over the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Di. I don't think what happened afterwards changes the romance of the wedding day -- everyone was just so damned hopeful for them, even people who had seriously screwed up their own relationships.

[Sophie Page]

Anne, that's praise from a master and I am humbled.

what's more, for a woman whose natural choice of hero is a practical, down-to-earth cowboy, your tolerance for my Prince is truly impressive. He and I are deeply grateful.

[Sophie Page]

Thank you, Hellion. Swoonworthy is definitely an epithet I shall quote! Hope the book lives up to expectations-- as long as you have the sal volatile to hand.

[wendy p]

I did watch Diana and Charles wedding, and I will be propped up on my couch (in my very best pajamas) to watch Kate marry William. The day Diana died, I had the tv news on while at work, and sat in shock all night long as the news came in about her death. For days I was glued to the tv, watching, mourning the loss of such a wonderful caring woman. The most memorable moment of the whole thing was watching William great the mourners with his brother and thinking of how proud his mother would have been...now...I will have my box of tissues as I watch William again make his mother proud.

[Nicola Cornick]

Anne, thank you so much for inviting Sophie to the Wenches today and Sophie, thank you so much for visiting us! I absolutely adored this book. The characters are fabulous and Prince Richard may be a total sweetheart but he was still sexy as all get out. Loved all the alternative history too. Very clever. A total must-read!

[Miranda Neville]

I'd love to see your pictures of RNA, Sophie. I blogged about that day and you are mentioned, twice! If the Wenches don't mind, here's the link. http://mirandaneville.blogspot.com/2010/07/day-with-brit-romance-writers.html

[LynneW]

I'm confused - I wanted to order it and went to Amazon.com, but it doesn't seem to be available (other than through "other sellers"). Is it not available in the US?

How lovely to discover that an author I have long enjoyed as Sophie Weston is now writing contemporary alternative history. And I'm very much looking forward to reading it - once I can figure out where to buy it. And I'm so glad Princess Charlotte survives in this alternate world and has a long and happy life.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Welcome to Wenchdom, Sophie! As soon as Anne told us about your book, I ordered a copy from The Book Depository, and I look forward to reading it.

Like you, I have a fondness for Princess Charlotte, and she's a key character in my May book. Her death was such a pointless tragedy! I love the idea of reading your alternative history based on her survival.

Thanks for visiting us!

[Diane]

Yes, I plan to watch the royal wedding. Should those two words be capitalized? But I think I will have to stay up all night to do it. I live in US Pacific Daylight Time, and the wedding which I know will be carried by CNN, occurs eight hours before us by the clock. So if the ceremonies start at say 10.00 am in England, that would be 2:00 am for us. Nevertheless, I plan to give it a try.

Thank for such an interesting interview.

Diane

[Helen]

Whoo Hoo this book sounds so good I have heard a lot about it around the net and look forward to reading it. Congrats on the release Sophie.

I did watch the wedding of Diana and Prince Charles and loved it so spectacular and yes I want to watch this one as well I really think this wedding will out shine Diana and Charles wedding. It must be fantastic being in London and watching the rehersals I would love to be there the atmosphere must be great.

Thanks Anne for inviting Sophie along today great interview

Have Fun
Helen

[Anne Gracie]

Wow, what a lot of comments have come in while I've been asleep. I just popped a note on the post, suggesting that if people can't get Sophie's book at amazon, they should try the book depository, which has free postage to most places in the world. And I just checked and they haven't sold out yet. http://tinyurl.com/3k3gh7g

[Barbara Hannay]

Sophie -- another fan of your category books here. I've already ordered To Marry A Prince, and it should be here soon. I can't wait. And yes, I'll be watching the royal wedding. Am so easily sucked in by all that pomp and circumstance.
Congratulations!!!

[Barbara Elness]

I'm not sure if I'm going to watch the wedding of Prince William and Kate, but I certainly did watch Prince Charles and Diana's wedding. I do enjoy reading about the details of the wedding, so if I get a chance, I most likely will watch.
To Marry a Prince sounds like a delightful story, and I'm looking forward to reading it.

[LouisaCornell]

The book sounds delicious! What a great premise for a story! Can't wait to read it!

I sat up into the wee hours to watch Charles and Diana marry. I still have the VHS tape. And in an odd and sad coincidence, Diana's funeral is on the same tape.

I will watch William and Kate's wedding as well. Thank goodness I have the weekend off so I can catch up on the sleep I'll lose.

Who said they hadn't been born when Charles and Diana married? Oh, I feel so OLD!

[Dee]

Probably won't watch the upcoming wedding though I do remember watching it when I was very young (in Dutch coincidently like another poster).

I like the idea of an alternate history and I didn't really know much about her/ succession scramble that resulted in Victoria.

Sounds like a fun read!

[Sophie Page]

Goodness,so many lovely messages to get up to. It's 7.30 here in London and I'm on my second cup of tea.

Thank you so much to everyone who likes my Sophie Weston books. Actually, so do I and I was so sad when I couldn't do it any more. I don't know why it did, it just happened. I tried and Harlequin Mills & Boon were consistently kind and encouraging-- but we both knew that the stories I was writing were not category romance any more. Somehow, the subconscious had gone off on a different tack.

Lynne - I think Anne's right, and the Book Depository is your best source of TO MARRY A PRINCE. It's also on Amazon Canada, I'm told. I don't know why it isn't in the US.

Mary Jo - Thanks for the welcome. How interesting that we're both fans of Princess Charlotte. I shall look forward to reading your May book. Is that NOWHERE NEAR RESPECTABLE? If so, it's already on my wish list.

[Sophie Page]

Diane - Woo Hoo, another pyjama party!

Helen - It's been a slow start but I have the impression that the wedding atmosphere is just beginning to pick up in London. We've got lovely sunshine, which helps, and the cherry trees area out too.

[Sophie Page]

Hi Barb Hannay (waves) do hope you enjoy the book. You may recognise a couple of the places in it...

Barbara - there is something very dramatic about weddings, I think. All that 'as long as ye both shall live' and 'if ye know of any just cause or impediment ... speak now or for ever hold your peace.' No matter how much in love they are or how well they're prepared, that service gives them a moment when the door is open and one or both of them can bolt. I don't think I've ever been to a wedding when I didn't hold my breath when the couple are asked, 'Wilt thou...'

[Sophie Page]

Louisa - I know the feeling. But I comfort myself that you're as old as the books you read. And remind myself that I'm a fan of Diana Wynne Jones and Winnie the Pooh.

Dee - The Royal Dukes, all fat and middle aged, started trundling round looking for princesses to marry when they twigged that the House of Hanover succession was dwindling somewhat. I'm not sure of the date, though these history-soaked word wenches will be able to tell us. There's a reference to it in at least one Georgette Heyer (title, Word Wenches?) when the speaker thinks they are making themselves ridiculous. There's a tremendous biography of the Duke of Clarences's long term mistress, the tomboy actress Dora Jordan: MRS JORDAN'S PROFESSION by Claire Tomalin. She ran an admirable household gave him ten children AND paid for him often-- she had to keep working. She sounds enchanting.

[Jennifer Kloester]

Hi Sophie i loved this interview and will order the book from Book Depository with pleasure. I loved the to and fro of their phone conversation and I am really looking forward to learning more of the alternative succession to the British throne! I, too, am a fan of Princess Charlotte (and Prince Leopold)and I remember when I was doing the research for my first book how angry I felt with the doctor who attended her throughout her pregnancy and how incompetently he handled her labour! I always got the impression that Georgette Heyer felt the same way. The reference to the Royal Princes is in The Foundling (towards the end of ch.3) but I always loved the bit about Princess Charlotte in A Civil Contract where Jenny scores a hit by having the Princess's friend Miss Elphinstone come to her party with all the latest gossip!

[Anne Gracie]

Ho, Jennifer -- I just this minute sent off an email to Sophie saying that I remembered the Heyer reference to the undignified scramble among the royal dukes to find brides and get an heir, but couldn't think which book it was in. I told her I'd write to you, living expert on All Things Heyer.
And lo! you arrived with the answer.
Thanks so much for clearing that up.

[Annie West]

Hi Sophie, Hi Anne. Just wanted to say how much I love the sound of this new book and especially how much I appreciate the newly devised royal lineage! Tremendous. This one is going to be such a treat. Thanks for introducing us to it, Anne.

[Sophie Page]

Hi Jennifer-- so looking forward to seeing you in London in October and to reading your new biography of Heyer. Thank you for the reference. I really love The Foundling.(I admit that, when young,I wrote a fanfic novella with Gideon Ware as hero - be still my beating heart!) But somehow it's a book I always forget when I'm trying to 'place' one of her bons mots.

And Anne, there goes your excuse for sitting up deep into the night wading through all your favourite Heyers looking for it. I share your pain. Now I have no excuse not to do sums for the RNA.

[Sophie Page]

Hi Annie - do hope you enjoy the book. I had a lot of fun writing it.

[Deb H.]

I will definitely watch The Wedding of Prince William and Kate; recorded, due to having to work that day.
I did watch Prince Charles' and Lady Diana's wedding. I set my alarm for 3 a.m. and was all agog at the ceremony, pomp, and circumstance. It was so romantic for a 16-year-old and it is still a vivid memory for me.
I wish all the best for Prince William and Kate. They are a couple that knows about love and the hard work a relationship takes to be successful, I believe. I look forward to watching their wedding very much!

[Minna]

Yes, I'll be watching the wedding of Kate and Prince William. And I do remember watching the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana. Other royal weddings... Well, the most recent one was the wedding of the Swedish Princess Victoria and Daniel. And then there have been those royal weddings in Norway and Denmark.

[Maureen]

I remember watching Charles and Diana and I'm pretty sure I'll be watching William and Kate but I haven't seen any other royal weddings. The story looks like a fun one.

[Sophie Page]

Hi Deb - I think you're probably right about this royal couple. The world has moved on so much in 30 years, and the Royal Family more than most, I imagine. I join you in wishing Prince William and Kate Middleton well.

Hi Minna - Vogue put together a slideshow of royal wedding dresses http://tinyurl.com/6a67k5q . Poor, elegant Queen Alexandra was made to look like a tea-cosy in her crinoline, when she married in the 1860s. Grace Kelly, of course,is breathtaking.

And Maureen -- happy watching (and reading, if you do).

[Janga]

I'm late, but I wanted to say To Marry a Prince sounds delightful. I particularly love the idea of Princess Charlotte having a long and happy life.

I also love what you said about secondary characters: "I never think of them as minor characters, they're just people with their own story going on somewhere else." --Wonderful! That's exactly the way I feel about many of the books I read.

[Sophie Page]

Hi Janga - one of the greatest things about being a novelist is that you CAN give people you love a happy ending. There are several downsides but that one is an unalloyed joy.

[Melanie Friedman]

OMG! I had so much fun reading this article. I always wondered what IF Princess Charlotte had lived. And now you went there and I'm happy you did...I'm looking forward to reading this book!

And YES I saw Diane & Charles' wedding, and I'll be sure to watch their son's also. How can you not? We're romance readers and there's nothing better than a fairy tale come to life!

I LOVE ENGLAND :) I have a friend that lives there and he's an amazing photographer, so he posts a lot of his photos on FB, and I just feel like I know Brighton, London in all its seasons.

My best for your book and I so hope I win...my fingers are crossed and I'm not uncrossing them 'till then!

Melanie
melanieDOTfriedmanATsbcglobalDOTnet

[Kate]

I really appreciate all the research that needs to go into a book like this. I love finding out new facts. I have a book out of the library on the women who tried to take England's throne before Elizabeth the first. I find it fascinating to look at the family trees and see how related they all are. Inbreeding didn't do them any favors. LOL

[Sophie Page]

Hi Melanie I'm really cheered to find so many people who are as fond of/interested in Princess Charlotte as I am. And thank you, on behalf of England.

Hi Kate The trouble with research is that it can be addictive. You never want to stop and write the dam' book! Don't know how these Word Wenches ever get their wonderful books written.

[Sophie Page]

Thanks to everyone for all the interest. It's been a blast and I've learned a lot.

A combination of feline intervention and terminal inefficiency meant that I didn't post a proper hi and thank you to:

Margay - enjoy the highlights; am tempted by them myself. With televised ceremonies, you can eat wa-a-ay too much chocolate waiting for stuff to happen!

Wendy P - a lot of people will be remembering Princess Diana, I think, and wishing her son well.

Nicola - Gleeful if you find my Richard sexy. (You're doing well, lad; you've got a fan who's had her name in lights in Times Square.)

Finally, thank you so much to the Word Wenches for making me so welcome. It has felt like the nicest sort of visit -- like minds and a lot of fun. Hope to see you all in London some time!

best wishes
Sophie

[Pageturner]

My daughter is desperately excited about the Royal Wedding - she's nearly four. We just need to get the TV sorted before the 29th of April!

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