“But we have been married for nearly five months, my Lord,” Isolde protested good-naturedly as she slipped her arm through his.
John smiled down upon her upturned countenance. “I wish the world to know of your beauty and your intelligence–to see you as I do. As my incomparable Isolde! Permit the best of the beau monde to proclaim you as the love of my life. For years, I held everyone at arm’s length–afraid they would turn from me if I permitted them too close. But you have shown me I can embrace the unknown and no longer fear being shunned.”
Isolde leaned lovingly against his arm. “I promised to fill your house with love, John Swenton. You are my life.”
Finis
“Mine honor is my life, both grow in one. Take honor from me, and my life is done.”
- William Shakespeare
Children of the Realm
James Kerrington (with Elizabeth Morris)
Daniel Kerrington – September1805
James Kerrington (with Eleanor Fowler)
Amelia Kerrington – December 1815
Philip Kerrington – January 1819
Sebastian Kerrington – April 1821
Brantley Fowler (with Ashmita**)
Sonali Fowler – June 1810
Brantley Fowler (with Velvet Aldridge)
Edward Fowler – August 1817
Louisa Fowler – June 1819
Euan Fowler – January 1822
Aidan Kimbolt (stepfather/uncle/guardian to Susan Kimbolt’s issue)
Aaron Kimbolt – February 1812 (son of Arlen and Susan Kimbolt)
Aidan Kimbolt (with Mercy Nelson)
Thomas Kimbolt – December 1817
Felix Kimbolt – November 1819
Jasper Kimbolt – January 1821
Alma Kimbolt – November 1822
Daphne Kimbolt – May 1824
Gabriel Crowden (with Grace Nelson)
Luis Crowden – June 1816
Chantal Crowden – March 1819
Julien Crowden – June 1821
Thierry Crowden – August 1823
Anya Crowden – September 1824
Sienna Crowden – April 1826
Marcus Wellston (with Cashémere Aldridge)
Margaret Wellston – March 1818
Lionel Wellston – March 1818
Rhys Wellston – February 1820
Giles Wellston – February 1820
Finlay Wellston – November1823
Carter Lowery (with Lucinda Rightnour Warren)
Piers Lowery – May 1819
Callum Lowery – November 1820
Mylo Lowery – October 1822
Poppy Lowery – March 1824
John Swenton (with Isolde Neville)
Iróna Swenton – February 1820
Violet Swenton – January 1822
Rory Swenton – December 1823
Cameron Swenton – February 1825
Freya Swenton – June 1827
Hugh Swenton – November 1828
Henry “Lucifer” Hill (with Hannah Tolliver)
Benjamin Hill – September 1818
Robert Hill – October 1820
Children from Families Related to the Realm Members and Featured in the Series
Thomas Whittington (with Georgina Kerrington) from The Scandal of Lady Eleanor
Eleanor Whittington – April 1815
Chalmers Whittington – May 1817
Bernard Whittington – December 1819
Lawrence Lowery (with Arabella Tilney) from A Touch of Velvet, A Touch of Love, and “His American Heartsong”
Nicholas Lowery – December 1817
Richard Lowery – November 1819
Diana Lowery – September 1821
Penelope Lowery – October 1823
Ernest Hutton (with Louisa Lowery) from A Touch of Love and “His American Heartsong”
Ethan Hutton – October 1810
Lisette Hutton – July 1813
Amanda Hutton – November 1817
Roman Hutton – June 1819
Edith Hutton – September 1821
Campbell Laroche (with Maria Lowery) from A Touch of Love and “His American Heartsong”
Harry Laroche – November 1816
Ailene Laroche – January 1818
Pamela Laroche – March 1820
Ira Laroche – December 1822
Stewart Roxbury (with Delia Lowery) from A Touch of Love and “His American Heartsong”
Catherine Roxbury – February 186
Devon Roxbury – April 1819
Caroline Roxbury – June 1821
Joseph Roxbury – October 1823
Matthew Warren (with Sadia Cotto) from A Touch of Love
Simon Warren – May 1812
Prince Henrí Josef D’Anton of Rintoul (with Satiné Aldridge) from A Touch of Honor
Rupert Stephan Luis D’Anton – February 1818
Historical Notes
Palais Auersperg and Prince Vinzens
The Palais Auersperg is a baroque palace at AuerspergstrBe 1 in Vienna’s Josefstadt district. It was built between 1706 and 1710 on the land of the former Rottenholf estate. In 1749, Prince Joseph of Saxe-Hildburghausen was the first to use the palace. Prince Johann Adam of Auersperg, friend and confidant of Emperor Francis I and Maria Theresia, bought the Palais in 1777. As Johann Adam of Auersperg’s second marriage produced no heirs and the children of his first marriage had passed, he adopted his nephew Carl Auersperg (1750 – 1822). Carl became prince in 1795. Unfortunately, Carl, too, remained childless; therefore, he and his wife Josepha adopted Prince Vinzens Auersperg in 1812. Vinzens accepted his inheritance in 1817.
[Although Auersperg was a real-life character, his journey to England is 1818 is a fictional incident created by the author for the purpose of telling this story. It is not based on facts.]
Lord Sidmouth
Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth, was a British statesman and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1804. Elected to the House of Commons as an MP for Devizes, Addington became Speaker of the House in 1789. In March 1801, William Pitt the Younger resigned as Prime Minister, and Addington assumed the position. However, in May 1804, an alliance of Pitt, Charles James Fox, and William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville, took advantage of Addington’s inability to manage a Parliamentary majority and drove Addington from office.
Yet, Addington remained a political force serving as Lord President of the Council from 1804 to 1806 and in the Ministry of All the Talents as Lord Privy Seal and again as Lord President in 1807. In 1805, he was created Viscount Sidmouth.
In June 1812, Addington became Home Secretary. During his reign, Sidmouth countered revolutionary opposition and was responsible for the suspension of habeas corpus in 1817 (included in A Touch of Love), as well as the passage of the Six Acts in 1819. His term saw the Peterloo Massacre of 1819 (the setting for “His Irish Eve” from His: Two Regency Novellas). He left office in 1822.
Thomas Bruce, Lord Elgin
Thomas Bruce was the 7th Earl of Elgin and the 11th Earl of Kincardine. He was a Scottish nobleman and diplomat, infamous for the removal of marble sculptures from the Parthenon in Athens. He succeeded his older brother William Robert, the 6th Earl when he was but five years of age. After a time in the 3rd Guards, Bruce was named the temporary envoy-extraordinary to Austria to replace the ill Sir Robert Keith. Following that post, the earl was named envoy-extraordinary to Brussels (until the conquest of the Austrian Netherlands by France) and then envoy-extraordinary to Prussia in 1795.
After marrying Mary, daughter and heir of William Hamilton Nisbet of Dirleton, Bruce accepted the role of ambassador to the Ottoman Empire (1799 – 1803). He was praised for his success in extending British influence during the conflict between the Ottoman Empire and France.
With the advice of Sir William Hamilton, Bruce employed the Neapolitan painter, Giovanni Lusieri and several skillful draughtsmen and modelers. Originally, beginning in 1800, these men were to make drawings of ancie
nt monuments. However, Elgin managed to secure a firman from the Porte, which permitted Elgin’s workers not only to “fix scaffolding round the ancient Temple of Idols (the Parthenon) and to mould ornamental sculpture and visible figures thereon in plaster and gypsum, but also to take any pieces of stone with old inscriptions or figures thereon.”
Finding the sculptures in a sad state of deterioration, Elgin was moved to capture the ancient marbles. The collection, known as “the Elgin marbles,” consists of “portions of the frieze, metopes, and pedimental sculptures of the Parthenon, as well as of sculptured slabs from the Athenian temple of Nike Apteros, and of various antiquities from Attica and other districts of Hellas.”
At his own expense, Elgin had the pieces transported to England. There was great debate on both the Continent and in England, but a Parliamentary committee vindicated Elgin of committing a theft of the “Marbles.” Great Britain bought the collection for 35,000 pounds in 1816. To this day, they remain in the British Museum. (Mary Beard, Lord Elgin–Saviour or Vandal? BBC History. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/greeks/parthenon_debate_01.shtml)
Catholic Marriages and the Church of England
The Hardwicke Act for the Prevention of Clandestine Marriages went into effect in March 1754. Certain rules were designated for those who wished to be married in England. Prior to the passage of this Act, the couple simply spoke their vows before a clergyman of the Church of England. These informal marriages encouraged bigamists and were difficult to defend in court cases. The Hardwicke Act made marriages public and standardized. The calling of banns for three successive Sundays became a requirement. Only a license from the local bishop or the Archbishop of Canterbury could usurp this obligation. A special license, requested by the aristocracy, cost five pounds in 1811.
Couples were married between the hours of eight and noon by an ordained clergyman. Two witnesses were required. Only Quakers or Jews were exempt from this law. All others, including Roman Catholics, were married in the parish church of the Church of England. Even those with a special license had to be married by an ordained clergyman.
Roman Catholics were required by law to be married first by an Anglican priest before speaking vows before a Catholic priest. However, often Catholics turned to their own rites first, but the marriage was not valid by law unless the couple married also in the Church of England.
The Hardwicke Act was not the law in Scotland or Ireland or the English colonies, only in England and Wales. Therefore, Catholics in Ireland could be married by a Catholic priest without the banns being announced. Yet, a Protestant marrying a Catholic had to speak vows before a Protestant clergyman. This was the law throughout most of the 1800s, including the Regency Era.
Bayham Old Abbey
Founded in 1207, Bayham functioned as an abbey until the 16th Century. It is located near Frant, East Sussex, England. The ruins were modified in the latter part of the 18th Century as part of the Bayham Abbey mansion park and became an English Heritage property in 1961.
[The ruins described as part of this story are based on Bayham Old Abbey, but it is obvious to anyone with a map, Bayham is not near Brighton. The ruins described are fictional and are used to advance the plot line. The author hopes the reader accepts the creation of this plot device.]
John Loudon McAdam
A Scottish engineer and road builder, John Loudon McAdam is often referred to as the “Colossus of Roads.” He invented a process called “macadamisation,” which involved the introduction of coal tar to bind the road surface’s stones together. The modern term “tarmac” comes from the words “Tar Macadam.”
McAdam moved to New York and became a “prize agent” during the American Revolution before returning to Scotland in 1783, where he purchased an estate in Sauchrie, Ayrshire. He became a trustee of the Ayrshire Turnpike, and his interest in road building increased dramatically. In 1804, he accepted the position of general surveyor for the Bristol Corporation (Bristol, England). During Parliamentary enquiries, McAdam advocated for changes in road construction. In Remarks on the Present System of Road-Making and Practical Essay on the Scientific Repair and Preservation of Roads, McAdam suggested the road’s surface should be raised above the surrounding ground and constructed from layered rocks and gravel in a prescribed manner. Crushed stone bound with gravel covered a base of large flat stones, and the road was made slightly convex to aid in drainage.
Other Books by Regina Jeffers
Jane Austen-Inspired Novels from Ulysses Press:
Darcy’s Passions: Pride and Prejudice Retold Through His Eyes
Darcy’s Temptation: A Pride and Prejudice Sequel
Captain Wentworth’s Persuasion: Jane Austen’s Classic Retold Through His Eyes
Vampire Darcy’s Desire: A Pride and Prejudice Paranormal Adventure
The Phantom of Pemberley: A Pride and Prejudice Mystery
Christmas at Pemberley: A Pride and Prejudice Sequel
The Disappearance of Georgiana Darcy: A Pride and Prejudice Mystery
The Mysterious Death of Mr. Darcy: A Pride and Prejudice Mystery
“The Pemberley Ball” (a short story in The Road to Pemberley anthology)
Regency Romance from Ulysses Press:
The Scandal of Lady Eleanor – Book 1 of the Realm Series
Regency and Contemporary Romance from White Soup Press:
A Touch of Velvet – Book 2 of the Realm Series
A Touch of Cashémere – Book 3 of the Realm Series
A Touch of Grace – Book 4 of the Realm Series
A Touch of Mercy – Book 5 of the Realm Series
A Touch of Love – Book 6 of the Realm Series
His: Two Regency Novellas (includes “His American Heartsong,” a Realm series novella and “His Irish Eve,” a sequel to The Phantom of Pemberley)
The First Wives’ Club – Book 1 of the First Wives’ Trilogy
Second Chances: The Courtship Wars
Honor and Hope: A Contemporary Romantica Based on Pride and Prejudice
Coming Soon…
The Prosecution of Mr. Darcy’s Cousin: A Pride and Prejudice Mystery
Angel and the Devil Duke
A Touch of Emeralds: The Conclusion of the Realm Series
Coming Soon…
The Conclusion of the Realm Series
A Touch of Emeralds
by Regina Jeffers
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