With Baby Sussex due in just a matter of weeks now, and Meghan Markle (opens in new tab) taking it easy at Frogmore Cottage ahead of their new arrival (opens in new tab), it was looking like it could be a little quiet on the royal news front. Oh, but don’t worry—someone’s written a romance novel inspired by Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland (opens in new tab), so that should be enough to keep us all ticking over for a while.
Revealed by Vulture (opens in new tab) to be a thing that is really happening, The Royal Holiday is a book that’ll soon be coming your way. Quiet and unassuming Doria, who likes to remain out of her daughter’s duchess spotlight (opens in new tab) as much as possible, inadvertently sparked the fiction book back in November last year.
It all started when reports claimed that 62-year-old Doria, who lives a private life in California, had been invited by the Queen herself (opens in new tab) to join Meghan, Prince Harry, and the rest of the royal family for Christmas. That news lead to a tweet from royal family fan Margaret H. Willison, who joked/stated that she would immediately “NEED a charming romance about the single mother of a new Duchess falling in love with an appropriately aged royal retainer while spending Christmas at Sandringham.”
Having read this news, I know NEED a charming romance about the single mother of a new Duchess falling in love with an appropriately aged royal retainer while spending Christmas at Sandringham. https://t.co/pn3DFqLR4HNovember 4, 2018
And, of course, someone really did that. Romance writer Jasmine Guillory (opens in new tab) happily stepped up to the task, and has written the heartwarming story of Vivian Forest. Her daughter, a successful stylist, asks Vivian to accompany her across the pond to style a British royal, and it’s not long until Vivian falls for Malcolm, the Queen’s private secretary.
Well...let me introduce ROYAL HOLIDAY! Coming October 1, 2019! To see the cover, read an excerpt, and get links to preorder, click here: https://t.co/ZV31AHMDSgApril 11, 2019
Unfortunately, as far as we know, there’s no truth to the charming story, and Doria Ragland has in fact not fallen for the Queen’s IRL private secretary, The Rt. Hon. Edward Young CVO. It’s a real shame, actually.
Anyway, The Royal Holiday will go on sale October 1, and will sit nicely on the bookshelf alongside Meghan Markle’s charity cookbook (opens in new tab), and maybe also that autobiography that her dog wrote (opens in new tab) last year. Wow, my literature tastes are really broadening by the day.
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