The Fascination of the Regency Era and why I write about it by Maggi Andersen

It’s was a brief fascinating era. There is so much for a writer to draw upon from Regency history. Romance, royalty, the ton, Napoleonic wars, and tales of espionage. That brief, spectacular period in English history, came about when King George III, was unable to rule due to porphyria, a sickness which rendered him insane. In 1811, his eldest son, George, an aesthete and a spend-thrift, ruled as Regent in his stead, until his father’s death in 1820 when George IV took the throne.
The beau monde, (or Haute ton) met during the London Season, which took place during the months when Parliament sat. At least on the surface, Society was a glittering, bright jewel, through which moved beautifully-dressed, wealthy people, dancing, flirting, while involved in parliamentary intrigues, and intrigues of a different sort. They attended soirées, Almack’s assembly rooms, (where no one could enter without a voucher and even Wellington was turned away because he failed to obey to the strict dress code), the Prince’s Carlton House dinners, card parties, horse racing, theatre and balls. All were held captive to gossip and scandal. Especially, if they publicly flouted the strict code of behavior set down to give society a design to ensure that estates and titles remained in the hands of hereditary peers. Young women were presented and then married off during a London Season, often, the marriages were arranged. Faithfulness wasn’t the norm in Regency society, however. Husbands frequented their clubs, took mistresses, and some wives took lovers. Bastards of any such union were treated badly, the men accepted on the fringe of society and the women ostracized. It follows that a few cuckoos found their way into the nest when it suited some gentlemen to accept them as their heir.
If the Victorian era has been likened to a duck swimming smoothly across a pond, while its feet paddle hard beneath the water, the Regency is more like a peacock. All show. However, beneath this glossy exterior, crime was rife; there was no established police force until Sir Robert Peel in 1829 set up the Metropolitan Police Force at Scotland Yard. Plots festered among the disadvantaged with illegal pamphlets written to urge revolt against the government. In Yorkshire, the Luddites smashed machinery, the Blanketeers marched on London, there was the Cato conspiracy, the Spa Fields Riots, and the Peterloo Massacre, which was a protest against the Corn Laws, and so badly handled a tide of dissent swelled against the government.
Throughout the turbulent years of England’s war with France, the Duke of Wellington’s spies operated in Spain, Portugal and France, and French spies infiltrated England. After Napoleon, had been imprisoned on Saint Helena, and the war ended, England continued to suffer under a government which struggled to steer England safely through years when the country’s resources were badly depleted. The English countryside could no longer feed the people. Where once they could live off the land, new by-laws fenced the land off, and drove them to the towns and cities to work in the factories under dreadful conditions. Lord Liverpool’s government feared the poison of the French Revolution would seep into English society with a similar bloody result.
The British intelligence came of age in the 19th century when it was developed as a key weapon against French power in both politics and war. One such man was part diplomat and part spy, Charles Stuart de Rothesay, later 1st Baron Stuart de Rothesay 1779-1845. He was no ordinary diplomat. I like to think of him as the first 007, and he inspired the third novel in my Dangerous Lords series.
These issues feature in many of my Regency novels.

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Captain Jack Ryder – The Duke’s Bastard, Regency Sons, Book 1. Just 99cents and available on most book sites deals with the death of Napoleon and tells the love stories of two ex-army friends.

The Dangerous Lords series also draws on some of these events. Three lords work for the Crown to keep Britain safe. Each with their own romance. There will be a further edition to the series in 2019.

Book One: The Baron’s Betrothal (Available on pre-order. Released 28^th June or read on Unlimited)

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London 1816
Guy Fortescue comes to England to claim his inheritance, Rosecroft Hall, abandoned over thirty years ago when his father fled to France after killing a man in a duel. But England proves to be a dangerous place - someone wants Guy dead. As Guy seeks to discover who lies behind the attacks on his life, he arranges a faux betrothal with Miss Horatia Cavendish.
Unfortunately, things don’t go according to plan. An aspiring poet, Hetty proves to have a mind of her own but in spite of that, Guy finds her far too alluring.
Dangerous....
Headstrong and lovely, Hetty agrees to the betrothal because it allows her to go to London where she can attend literary societies with her aunt. While her affection for Guy grows deeper, she must not forget the betrothal isn’t real. Guy will choose a bride from the beau monde - it will not be a colonel’s daughter from Digswell.
But Hetty is soon drawn in to Guy's life, more and more, and not entirely against her will. He is handsome and brave, and the attraction between them is undeniable. Soon, she can no longer resist her desire for him and the fact that someone is out to kill him only feeds her innate protectiveness of the man she is betrothed to. As attempts are made on Guy’s life, Hetty and his sister, Genevieve, work together to keep him alive, and a love that has been denied finally comes to fruition in the exciting conclusion.

Cheers,
Maggi

Maggi Andersen’s Website

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