Author Archives: Diane Gaston

About Diane Gaston

Diane Gaston is the RITA award-winning author of Historical Romance for Harlequin Historical and Mills and Boon, with books that feature the darker side of the Regency. Formerly a mental health social worker, she is happiest now when deep in the psyches of soldiers, rakes and women who don’t always act like ladies.

The Duke of Wellington Tour

Updated on April 6, 2014 by Diane Gaston

The Duke of Wellington Tour
September 4 to 14, 2014

Diane: It is my pleasure today to welcome Kristine Hughes and Victoria Hinshaw of the fabulous blog, Number One London. Kristine, Victoria and I go way back. We became close during a tour of the UK, called The Romantic Road North tour, where Kristine was the tour’s historical expert (because she’s the author of The Writer’s Guide to Everyday Life in Regency and Victorian England from 1811-1901) and Victoria and I were Regency authors soaking up research material.

We also came together as admirers and researchers of the Duke of Wellington. I’m delighted to have them with us today to discuss their upcoming Duke of Wellington Tour scheduled for September of 2014.

In honor of the Duke of Wellington tour, I’m giving way a (very abridged) biography of Wellington by Elizabeth Longford to one lucky commenter, chosen at random.

Kristine and Victoria, can you tell us more about the tour?

Kristine: The Tour features sites associated with the life and times of the Duke of Wellington. As you well know, the Duke played significant roles during the reigns of four monarchs – George III, George IV, William IV and Queen Victoria, for well over half a century. Because of that, we’ve been able to put together a great itinerary. In addition to London, we’ll be visiting Kent, Brighton, Reading, and Windsor.

Diane: And we can bet you’ll come up with some unique adventure! Remember the Highwaymen who held up our coach at Belvoir Castle?

Kristine: Who could forget it!

Victoria: Don’t worry, we’ve include lots of unique opportunities on this tour, as well – a guided walking tour of St. James’s, a private dinner at the Grenadier Pub in London, a stop at the White Cliffs of Dover, luncheon at Wellington’s country home Stratfield Saye (below), and a river boat cruise in Windsor. Of course, we can’t tell you everything we’ve planned or they wouldn’t be secret.

Kristine: Yes, and it seems that the itinerary keeps changing, as well. We got an email from a curator at the Tower of London letting us know that they’ll be mounting a special exhibition on the Duke and his influence on the Tower that will be running at the same time as our visit, so we’ve substituted that for St. Paul’s.

Diane: How did you come up with the idea for the Duke of Wellington tour?

Victoria: The Duke of Wellington was an obvious choice for our first Number One London tour. We called our blog Number One London, the original address of Apsley House, because the Duke’s lifetime stretched across the periods of British history that we’re most interested in – Georgian, Regency and Victorian.

Kristine: The tour includes all the best bits from each of the historic periods. Most of the sites, such as the Tower of London, Brighton Pavilion and Windsor Castle will appeal to a wide range of people with varied interests, from medieval prisons to Edwardian dollhouses.

Victoria: Yes, and then there are the stately homes we’ll be visiting, Apsley House, Basildon Park, the Regency Town House, and Highclere Castle — all have elements that run through various periods of British history.

Diane: What part of the tour are you most looking forward to?

Kristine: Hands down, Stratfield Saye. I’ve wanted to visit the Duke’s country house for years, but it’s very rarely open. I’m looking forward to seeing the house itself, the portraits of the Duke’s favourites in the dining room and I’m especially looking forward to visiting Copenhagen’s grave. But I’m also looking forward to revisiting sites I’ve been to before, this time with the emphasis on their connections to the Duke of Wellington.

Victoria: I want to stand in Highclere Castle (below) and just take in all that magnificence. I have a real love/hate thing going with the story of Downton Abbey, but I have unconditional admiration for the costumes and settings. Can’t wait to see the Van Dyke and Reynolds portraits, for example, not to mention the museum of Egyptian antiquities from the Earl of Carnarvon’s expeditions. We’re to be given a private guided tour through the house and we’ve also included lunch on the grounds.

Diane: What part of the tour was the hardest to arrange?

Kristine: Highclere Castle, without a doubt. Due to the popularity of Downton Abbey, they’ve been inundated with requests for visits, which they now have to fit in against filming schedules, so “open” days have had to be reduced. I believe they’re booked up a year or two in advanced just now, so we were really lucky to have been able to schedule our visit around the Tour dates.

Victoria: We’ve also arranged for private, guided tours at other sites, as well, such as Apsley House. We’re trying to keep the tour numbers small enough so that we can see things that aren’t typically open to the public.

Diane: This just sounds wonderful. I can hardly wait. Of course, Kristine, you and I have an ongoing rivalry regarding “dear Artie.” What makes you think he’ll prefer you above me?

Kristine: Well . . . . (sniff, sniff) I have dedicated the last thirty years to researching the life and times of the Duke of Wellington, dear. Seriously, Diane, I look upon the two of us as the modern day Mrs. Arbuthnot and Lady Shelley. Each of us adores the Duke in her own way, though I perhaps have taken that admiration to a greater extreme than you have.

Victoria: Wait a minute – not only to extremes, but to fixation! Both of you are downright obsessive over the man. Which puts you in excellent company, by the way. Speaking for myself, I think my more measured approach would be far more appealing to the Great Man.

(Kristine and Diane exchange glances and sniff in unison)

Diane: I cannot recommend this tour highly enough! I’m hoping to come and I’d love to have some Risky Regencies friends accompany us. Remember to comment for a chance to win Wellington by Elizabeth Longford–Who wouldn’t want to win Wellington? (hmmm, Kristine???)

Email Kristine and Victoria with any questions or to make reservations at london20@aol.com

Or ask your questions here! Kristine and Victoria will be stopping by.

Click here for complete Tour details.

Join The Duke of Wellington Pinterest Page

And the Facebook page

Posted in Guest, Research | Tagged Duke of Wellington, Number One London | 16 Replies

Winner of Anne Gracie’s The Winter Bride

Updated on April 2, 2014 by Diane Gaston

The winner of Anne Gracie’s The Winter Bride is…….

Lynne!

Lynne, we’ll send your email to Anne Gracie and you should be hearing from her soon. If not, email me at diane@dianegaston.com

Thanks, everyone, for making Anne feel welcome!

The Riskies

Posted in Risky Regencies | 1 Reply

A Lock of Wellington’s Hair

Updated on March 31, 2014 by Diane Gaston

I’m still gathering comments for Anne Gracie’s giveaway, so if you want a chance to win The Winter Bride, check out yesterday’s blog.

Kristine Hughes of Number One London sent me this article about an upcoming auction at Christies, which includes a gold bracelet containing a lock of the Duke of Wellington’s hair.

The auction is selling heirlooms belonging to the Marquess of Londonderry and Baron Raglan, whose ancestors have connections to Wellington. Lord Castlereagh, later to become the 2nd Marquess of Londonderry, was Foreign Secretary during the Napoleonic Wars. He was also Wellington’s friend. The 1st Baron Raglan was married to Wellington’s favorite niece. The article includes interesting pieces of the family histories.

Baron Raglan must sell the heirlooms to pay for the upkeep of Cefnilla Court, the family property. The Marquesses of Londonderry sold their family estate years ago. It is now a hotel. It is not explained what prompted the current sale of these items.

The gold bracelet is valued at somewhere between 1500 and 2500 pounds. Affordable? At least more affordable than Robert Lefèvre’s Portrait of the Emperor Napoleon (£80,000-£120,000).

Would you pay 2500 pounds ($4160) for a lock of Wellington’s hair???? (I am tempted!)

Don’t forget to scroll down and comment on yesterday’s blog for a chance to win Anne Gracie’s The Winter Bride.

And speaking of the Number One London blog, come back next monday when I interview Kristine and Victoria Hinshaw on their upcoming Duke of Wellington Tour!

Posted in Risky Regencies | 5 Replies

Anne Gracie and The Winter Bride

Updated on March 28, 2014 by Diane Gaston

Anne Gracie is our guest today to tell us all about her latest, The Winter Bride, second book in her Chance Sisters Series. It was just announced that Anne’s first book in the series, The Autumn Bride, is a RITA finalist for Best Historical!

Here’s what reviewers are saying about The Winter Bride:

“Gracie has created a wonderful cast of characters…lively dialogue and tender emotions compel readers to relish every moment of the developing romance” —RT Book Reviews

“Charming…thoughtful and tender.” —Publishers Weekly

“…another delightful, emotionally complex romance…a romantic winner, with Gracie’s typical witty charm and sweeping emotion.” —Kirkus Reviews

Anne will be giving away a copy of The Winter Bride to one lucky commenter, chosen at random.

Anne! Welcome back to Risky Regencies.

Tell us about The Winter Bride and the Chance Sisters series.

The Chance sisters series are about four girls who come together in Regency-era London. Two are real sisters, but, being orphans and without any means of support, they band together to become a family, “sisters of the heart” rather than by blood. When they meet an elderly aristocratic old lady who is in an even more desperate situation than they are, they rescue her—and their fortunes change for the better. That happened in The Autumn Bride, the first book in the series.

Now we have — surprise surprise — The Winter Bride. This is Damaris’s story — she was raised in China as the daughter of a missionary, and came back to England as a penniless young woman. With secrets in her past, she has no desire to marry; a cottage of her own — security and safety— is all she wants.

Freddy, our hero, is a lighthearted rake, an elegant bad-boy with no interest in marriage. In line to inherit his father’s title, he’s rich, well connected and a catch. Freddy is pursued by muffins – his term for the kind of respectable, eligible girls bent on marrying and reforming him.

To keep the muffins at bay, Freddy offers Damaris a cottage in exchange for pretending to be his fiancée for a visit to his parental home. Of course it backfires.

What is risky about The Winter Bride?

Freddy isn’t the usual kind of romance hero — he’s very much a beta hero — a lightweight, funny rake, and women often get the better of him. Even Damaris’s employer says this of him:

“Tomcat in gen’leman’s clothing, that’s what ’e is—a rake through and through.”
“Rake? You thought—”
Mrs. Jenkins snorted. “I knew what he was the instant I clapped eyes on him! Dressed like that in his fancy duds at this hour of the mornin’. The cheek of ’im, thinking he could seduce away one o’ my girls in broad daylight.”
“But he wasn’t—”
“Bless you, my dove, you’re too young to recognize a Wicked Seducer when you see one, and I grant you that one is an ’andsome devil, and charmin’ as an oiled snake, I have no doubt!” She fixed Damaris with a gimlet eye. “But it don’t do for a girl like you to catch the eye of a gentleman, take it from me. He’ll soften you up with sweet words and little gifts and . . . and poetry, and you’ll think ’e’s ever such a nice fellow, then in the twinklin’ of an eye, he’ll ’ave your skirts over your ’ead, and there you’ll be, rooned forever!”
“But Mrs. Jenkins—”
“Rooned forever!” Mrs. Jenkins repeated firmly. “And we don’t want that, do we? Now, I’ve given him a piece of me mind—blistered ’is ear’oles good and proper, I did—and if ’e knows what’s good for ’im, he won’t be back to bother you again, so let’s get to work.”
Damaris nodded and resumed her seat at the bench. She had to press her lips together to hide the smile that kept threatening to break out. She could just imagine Mr. Monkton-Coombes’s face when he was confronted with Mrs. Jenkins, four foot eight of Righteous Indignation.

But Freddy comes into his own, and grows into a hero I hope readers will love.

You asked fans on Facebook to pick a favorite The Winter Bride book cover – North America or Australia? Which one won?

I think the Australian one, by a whisker. But why not let the Riskies readers decide?

Share with us one memory of your own “sisters of the heart.”

I’m the baby in my family and am far in age and geography from my blood sisters, but I have some wonderful friends who are my “sisters of the heart.” I have two friends I went to school with and we’ve celebrated every birthday since we were fifteen, and been there for each other for all that time. And right now I’m away with a group of writer friends who are very much my “sisters of the heart” — we go away for a week each year and write, and in between, there’s email and phones. We’ve been there for each other through death, divorce, illness and for all the joyful occasions. I love my “sisters of the heart.”

What do you like best about the writer’s life?

The wonderful friends I’ve made, some of whom I’ve only met in person several times. And it’s a blessing to be able to have the stories that blossom in my head come out as books and have readers enjoy them.

What is next for you?

You probably find this surprising, but I’m working on a book called . . . wait for it . . .The Spring Bride. (You’d never have guessed that title, would you? )
This is Jane’s story, but her hero is a surprise — a bit of a wild card.

Thanks so much for letting me visit, Riskies and Diane. I’m currently writing The Spring Bride, and since I know so many people are desperate for winter to be gone, here’s a question: what do you most love about Spring?

Remember. I’ll give a copy of The Winter Bride to someone who leaves a comment.

Diane here. Be patient. Anne is “Down Under” and may be asleep when you comment. She’ll drop by when daylight reaches Oz.

We’ll select a winner and announce on Wednesday.

Posted in Giveaways, Guest | Tagged Anne Gracie, The Autumn Bride, The Winter Bride | 42 Replies

Here’s Amanda……

Updated on March 24, 2014 by Diane Gaston

I’m yielding my blog day to Amanda, so you can all catch up on her post yesterday about her fabulous new Amanda Carmack mystery, Murder at Westminster Abbey!