Regency Romance Novels

Regency Notes

Guest Blogger, Linore Rose Burkard: Princess Charlotte of Wales

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Princess Charlotte:

Romantic Royal, Doomed Daughter

(Or, the Princess Who Should Have Been Queen)

by Linore Rose Burkard

Princess Charlotte of Wales
Princess Charlotte of Wales

Imagine if Queen Victoria never came to the throne because her cousin, Princess Charlotte Augusta (1796-1817), beat her to it. Of course this couldn’t have happened: Despite being as wildly popular to the England of her time as Princess Diana was to ours, Princess Charlotte never became the Queen she might have been, and by birth, should have been, for the simple reason that she died before getting the chance. Read on to catch a glimpse of Her Royal Highness, Princess Charlotte of Wales -Daughter of the Regent (later George IV). She was passionate, a sometime pawn of her warring parents, and a great favorite among the English during the Regency until her tragic death in 1817. She was a romantic ideal to her subjects, (even Jane Austen loved her) but a doomed daughter. A future monarch who would never reach the throne. [Read more…] about Guest Blogger, Linore Rose Burkard: Princess Charlotte of Wales

Tears in the Strand

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I spent this morning cleaning my desk, changing some of my posters and straightening a bookcase. My work room is still a mess, but as I constantly tell myself, ‘to start is to finish’. Straightening the bookcase I pulled out this one book called A Book of Beauty an anthology of words and pictures. It isn’t very big, but it has poems and words from various eras and authors. There’s one I have to share. It’s part of a letter from Charles Lamb to William Wordsworth written 30th January 1801. This gives a fantastic peek through time at Regency London. It makes me wish I could time travel, if only to follow this man in his adventures.

I have passed all my days in London, until I have formed as many and intense local attachments as any of you mountaineers can have done with dead nature. The lighted shops of the Strand and Fleet Street. the innumerable trades, tradesmen and customers, coaches, waggons, playhouses, all the bustle and wickedness round about Covent Garden, [Read more…] about Tears in the Strand

Working…learning…laughing…

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A jar of coloured sand
A jar of coloured sand

Knowledge is like one of those hideous sand sculptures that were really big in the late seventies; layers of coloured sand were poured into long strange shaped clear glass bottles and proudly displayed on window ledges…at least in the town I grew up in (we had lots of sand). If you want to learn about something you have to read numerous books from different perspectives and over time you build up a unique layered mental sand sculpture of whatever you study. Ever since I was a small child I’ve been fascinated by England and English history. For my fifth birthday one of my brother’s friends (who I didn’t know and whose mother must have put together the gift) gave me this small box with two tiny ceramic animals with the words ‘Wade England’ stamped on the base . I still have the seal, the bottom encrusted with childhood dirt. Even at the age of five, England was the land of fairytales and it fascinated me. It still does, but my interests have expanded. These past five years I’ve been studying various interests, one of them being French history. All this knowledge is poured into my mental bottle making new layers that flow together. [Read more…] about Working…learning…laughing…

The Absent Husband…

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The Absent Husband; the words conjure up an 18th century adventure story where a married Casanova has abandoned his responsibilities and ended reliving the plot of Robinson Crusoe. In my last post I mentioned finding online an old book, The Lives and Portraits of Curious and Odd Characters.  I was enthralled by one particular vignette, ‘Mr Howe, The Absent Husband’. I had to copy the article longhand into my Regency notebook. Later as I brushed my teeth for bed and made my hot water bottle (obviously not at the same time) I was still transfixed by this bizarre real story. Whoever the author of the original article, they manage to sound like Dr Watson writing up one of Sherlock Holmes’ unsolved cases. I shall transcribe my transcription and you’ll see what I mean. If you can think of a plausible reason WHY this man would do what he did that fits all the other facts…PLEASE share it…I beg you! (Most of the punctuation is original though I did add a few periods)

About the year 1706, I know, says Dr. King one Mr Howe a sensible well natured man, possessed of an estate of 700-800 pounds per annum; he married a young lady of good family, in the West of England; her maiden name was Mallet, she was agreeable in person and manners, and proved a very good wife. Seven or Eight years after they had been married, he rose one morning very early and told his wife he was obliged to go to the Tower to transact some particular business; the same day at noon the wife received a note [Read more…] about The Absent Husband…

Real Georgians…who were really weird…

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As the English says, I’m feeling poorly. I’ve spent most of the day lying in bed with the onset of a chest infection so I decided to read something. A few weeks ago I found a book at the charity shop that dealt with how London’s growth has been affected by wealthy people over the centuries. If it doesn’t sound like something to read while ill, you’d be right! After opening it I sat there feeling terribly confused…so and so married so and so’s daughter who inherited such and such from her uncle who was so and so and they spent the money buying such and such to make this or that… I started skimming and came across a number of interesting people and one of them was John Elews, an eccentric miser who lived in the mid to late 18th century. On looking him up on Google I came across this fantastic free on line book that was published in 1852, The lives and Portraits of Curious and Odd Characters. I think the book was originally published in the early 1800’s as it comments on eccentrics living in 1801 and 1810 as being recent. [Read more…] about Real Georgians…who were really weird…

Time travelling for the chocolate lover…

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Have you ever wondered what it would be like to travel back through time to visit a Regency chocolate shop? I have! The Universe has heard my silent wail of longing for the impossible; the other day I read an article in The New York Times that mentioned a chocolate shop in Paris that was built in 1800! The shop is still there with it’s original fittings and still selling hand made chocolate and though I suspect most of their recipes have changed you can buy dark chocolate pistoles (it looks like a chocolate coin without the wrapper) that were made for Marie Antoinette. (The business was running years before they built this particular shop.) I am so excited!!! Cheap it is not! It costs about 200$ for the average box of chocolates.

As I have not yet been to Paris (the Charles de Gaule airport doesn’t count as visiting Paris) I will visit au personne and see if the shop will sell me a piece of chocolate. Can you see me…walking up to equisite counter (looking like I’ve been under a spell, asleep in a bad second hand clothes store for the last twenty years) and smiling at the well groomed individual on the other side of the counter and saying, “Bonjour!” only of course I’d be so excited it would come out sounding like “Banjure”…and then saying in broken French, “I would like one piece of chocolate…” I can see the eyes glaze over in exasperation…surely they must humour weird Americans who want to watch their weight yet taste chocolate heaven? J’espere! So if you’ve ever wanted to travel back in time have a look at their website…I particularly recommend reading the history and the blips about each different kind of boxes of chocolate they sell…the person who wrote the English was French…very charming!!! To see Debouve & Gallais’s shop go here

One day I shall go to Paris and buy a large box of truffles. I shall find a comfortable corner surrounded by beauty and sit there watching the French world pass by to the glorious taste of chocolate. Hmmmmm…yummmm!

If you’re interested…here’s the article in The New York Times…warning…it may make you hungry or desperate to visit Paris and eat…