This was first posted on April 1, 2013, but it is just as relevant today (because today is also April 1!)
What is the origin of April Fools Day?
No one knows for sure, but it is speculated that it came about when the French calendar was reformed in the sixteenth century, moving the start of the year from March to January 1. Some people who clung to the old calendar and continued to celebrate the New Year from March 25 to April 1, had tricks played on them. The pranksters would stick paper fish on their backs. Thus they were called Poisson d’Avril, ‘April Fish,’ the name the French call April Fools even today.
April fools jokes have continued through the years. Near “our” time period a clever one was pulled off.
In 1860 a postcard was sent to several people admitting two to the Tower of London to view the annual ceremony of washing the White Lions on April 1. The invitees were instructed that they would be admitted only at the White Gate.
On April 1, several cabs were driving around Tower Hill looking for the White Gate—which, of course, didn’t exist.
April Fool!!
What was the best April Fools joke you played on someone or one someone played on you?
When I was in New York City for the Romance Writers of America annual conference, one of the highlights was a trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art with a group of friends, fellow members of the Beau Monde and Regency writers all. We spent the whole day in the museum.
This 1789 portrait by Sir William Beechey opened the exhibit. And, according to the Met, the Prince Regent was an excellent shot and an avid collector of firearms.
Here is a set of the Prince’s dueling pistols and their description:
A nice surprise at this exhibit was this 1815 gentleman’s navy wool tailcoat.
Next we wound up in a musical instruments section of the museum and among other beautiful instruments, we saw this early Italian pianoforte (1740) by the inventor of the pianoforte, Bartolomeo Cristofori.
On to the painting exhibits, there were surprisingly few items of British art, but there were these two treasures:
Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishop’s Grounds, ca 1825 by John Constable
Turner is one of my favorite British artists, so that was a real treat.
After a lovely, relaxing lunch in the fine dining room of the museum, we went in search of the room from Lansdowne House in London that Victoria Hinshaw said was acquired by the Met and on display. What a treat, we thought, to be able to see something she’d just talked about in her presentation on London mansions for the Beau Monde conference the day before. We walked through room after room of mostly French stuff until finally asking one of the museum guards. Turns out it was removed for renovation! Here, though, is what we might have seen, courtesy of Laurie Benson, my fellow Harlequin Historical author.
That was it!!! After a visit to the gift shop we were off to dinner!
The Lord’s Highland Temptation is available now as an ebook and mass market paperback.
Last year around this time I was in Scotland on Number One London Tour’s Scottish Writers Retreat. What a lovely experience! I simply had to put what I saw and experienced in a book. The Lord’s Highland Temptation is that book.
This book was also inspired by an idea I’d held onto for a while. Did you ever see the old movie My Man Godfrey? The original 1936 version starred William Powell and Carole Lombard. It was remade in 1957 with David Niven and June Allyson. A socialite passes off a vagrant as a gentleman and he becomes the family butler, with everyone in the family singing his praises–except the oldest daughter, who did not trust the man at all. In the end it is discovered the butler is a wealthy man and he and the younger daughter, who has idolized him the whole time, fall in love.
The movie bugs me every time I’ve watched it, because the screenwriters picked the wrong heroine! The tension was between the older sister and the butler. She was the one who should have wound up with him!
So I decided to rewrite that story and set it in Scotland in 1816. My Man Godfrey is a screwball comedy and my book is the sort of emotional story I always write, but I fixed that heroine problem!
This book has been getting some very nice reviews. It even received a starred review from John Charles in Booklist: “RITA Award-winning Gaston gracefully tips her literary cap to the classic film My Man Godfrey in her latest thoughtfully nuanced, sweetly romantic Regency historical. While she deftly explores such serious themes as family duty and survivor guilt, Gaston also celebrates the importance of kindness and compassion in our lives.”
Thank you, John Charles!
See more at my website.
Have you ever thought a movie or TV show picked the wrong hero or heroine?
October will be a busy month for me and my family. My daughter is getting married! So naturally, all I’ve been thinking about lately are weddings. You might think I would convince my daughter to have a Regency wedding, but – alas! – she’s always had a mind of her own. It’s too bad. A Regency wedding would have been lovely!
The Regency was a time of great drama and beauty, a time when lords and ladies were expected to marry well, but also a time when the concept of marrying for love had taken hold. From Jane Austen to Georgette Heyer to today’s Regency Romance authors, that concept of marriage for love is what we celebrate. At least my daughter’s wedding will be all about celebrating love!
Now, I was married a brazillion years ago, long before I started writing or reading Regency Romance, but after I started writing Regencies I realized I had actually had a Regency Wedding!
Here I am with my bridesmaids. Notice that our dresses are all empire-waisted. Notice the leg-o-mutton sleeves on my dress and the puffed sleeves on the bridesmaids dresses.
Now compare these dresses to two Regency Fashion Prints from the fashion magazines of 1815.
See the similarities?
I had a Regency Wedding!
Many Regency lords and ladies married in St. George’s, the church on Hanover Square in Mayfair, London.
My daughter didn’t want a church wedding, though. She wanted to be married outside in a garden. Too bad, because she might have been able to be married at the Prince Regent’s summer home, the Brighton Pavilion in Brighton Hove.
In a room like this:
Much too fussy for her, though.
But she did want a bit more fuss than those Regency couples who married in a hurry, eloping to Gretna Green, just over the border in Scotland. Here I am standing at the historic anvil. Regency couples were married “over the anvil” in Gretna Green. No, this isn’t another wedding photo. It is me with the tour guide at Gretna Green when I visited in 2005. I’m holding a copy of The Wagering Widowwhich began with a Gretna Green wedding.
Here are some quick facts about Regency Weddings:
Regency brides did wear white, but they didn’t have to. In the Regency, white gowns were popular for many occasions. Other colors like pale pink and blue were also worn at weddings. The older the bride, the darker the color. Wedding dresses were worn after the wedding, too. By the time Queen Victoria became a bride and wore white, the white wedding dress was well on its way to becoming a tradition.
Weddings could take place after reading of the Banns, a license, or a special license. Banns must be read for three consecutive Sundays in the parishes of both the prospective bride and groom. A license, purchased from the bishop of the diocese, did away with the banns but the couple still had to be married in the parish church. A special license, purchased from the Archbishop of Canterbury, allowed the couple to be married in a location other than a church and without banns. Licenses were never blank; different names could not be substituted.
Scottish weddings went by different rules. In Scotland couples could be married by declaring themselves married in front of witnesses, by making a promise to marry followed by intercourse, or by living together and calling themselves married.
Weddings could not be performed by proxy. Both the bride and groom had to be present.
Ship captains could not perform marriages. Couples could be married aboard ship, but only by clergy. (How many times have you read that plot?)
Brides had wedding rings; grooms did not. The bride could give the groom a ring as a wedding gift, but it was not part of the ceremony and didn’t symbolize he was married.
Lastly, here is a photo of my husband and me on our wedding day. Aren’t we cute?
I actually am very pleased at the choices my daughter has made and I cannot wait to share the happy day with her!
Has anyone attended a Regency-themed wedding? What was the last wedding you attended like?
I am the lady of this house, not an exalted country house, but a respectable one and I must not dally any further. I must prepare for Christmas, once again. It is a daunting task in this modern age – 1820. There is so much to do.
Once before I wrote about preparing for Christmas (see blog of 12/3/12). Alas, this year is no different…well, maybe slightly altered.
First I must check to see if Cook has prepared the Christmas pudding. She should have done so five days ago on Stir Up Sunday. I must discuss with her all the food we shall need for the holidays, because the rest of the family and some friends will gather here and they will stay through Twelfth Night.
I should send invitations to the families near here to come for a Christmas meal. I believe I shall have my daughter write them. She has a better hand than I. Soon it will be time to send the footmen out to gather greenery and we must hang a ball of mistletoe to generate some excitement during the party.
Then there are gifts to purchase. I shall make a list and have my husband’s people purchase them in London and send them to me here. Amazon, the butler in our London town house will see to it. And I must exert myself to embroider some handkerchiefs for everyone, because that is the sort of generous person I am.
Speaking of generous, we will also make up baskets of food for those less fortunate than we. I am certain the kitchen staff and maids might take an afternoon away from their duties to assist in filling the baskets. My dh, Lord P–, and I will, of course deliver them to the families. It will take the better part of the day.
It is such a busy time! What are you doing to prepare for the holidays??
I know one thing you can do. You can purchase my scribbling friend Darlene Gardner’s latest Christmas Romance, The Christmas Cupid. It is set 200 years in the future (2019), but I am certain you will love it.
Now I shall lie down for a bit. All this planning has quite exhausted me.
