State of Romance: Let's celebrate Will and Kate's anniversary
Today is the fourth anniversary of the royal wedding of Prince William and Katherine Middleton. Romance fans reveled in the pomp and pageantry of the royal wedding at Westminster Abbey. In celebration of this special anniversary, State of Romance visits London.
The city was recorded as Londinium in the year 121 as a Roman settlement on the River Thames. As the capital of England, it is home of Westminster Abbey, Tower of London, St. Paul's Cathedral, Globe Theatre, Buckingham Palace, British Museum, Tate Gallery and London Eye. I draw upon my favorite romances to capture London's cultural influences.
Historical romances thrive on the aristocratic roots of London society, including Victoria Alexander's My Wicked Little Lies (referencing London's famous tea service in The Langham Hotel), Elizabeth Boyle's The Viscount Who Lived Down the Lane, Shana Galen's Lord and Lady Spy and Jennifer McQuiston's Diary of an Accidental Wallflower. Historical fiction with strong romantic elements include Michele Diener's Tudor novel In a Treacherous Court and her Regency novel The Emperor's Conspiracy.
London is the perfect setting for historical cozy mysteries with romantic entanglements in Catherine Lloyd's Death Comes to London (Kurland St. Mary Mystery series) and Andrea Penrose's Sweet Revenge (Lady Arianna Regency Mystery series). Historical paranormal romance draws on London's dark shadows in Teresa Medeiros' The Vampire Who Loved Me (Cabots book two) and Lydia Dare's The Wolf Next Door (Westfield Wolves book three).
British authors have won over American readers with contemporary romance, including Hester Browne's The Runaway Princess, Jenny Colgan's Meet Me at the Cupcake Café, Michele Gorman's The Curvy Girls' Club, Sophia Kinsella's Undomestic Goddess and Jill Mansell's To the Moon and Back.
No trip to London is complete without a visit to 221B Baker Street, home of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. A stroll through Kensington Gardens brings romance fans to the Italian Fountains where Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) fights Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant) in Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones's Diary: Edge of Reason. I had the privilege of watching the filming of this scene between two of romance's leading men.
Add to the list of romances set in London by using #stateofromance on Twitter. Next week we hop the pond back to the U.S. to visit New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment.
Kim Lowe is an Air Force veteran, Air Force spouse and romance book blogger at SOS Aloha. You can reach her at sos.aloha@yahoo.com.