Sunday, March 18, 2018

An Invitation to a Royal Wedding

Ally Parker, the heroine of The Bridesmaid's Royal Bodyguard - part of the #invitationtoaroyalwedding series from Tule - was not only one of Hope Kennard's bridesmaids.

Hope wanted her wedding to take place from her home, Hasebury Hall, in the pretty Cotswold village of Combe St Philip and, at Hope's request, Ally agreed to take on the local PR element of the wedding.

This was no simple matter. The Kennard family had been a part of the village forever. The female line went back to the 13th century and Hasebury Hall had been at the centre of village life until Hope's father - short of liquid assets - had  become ensnared in a ponzi scheme and had gone to prison. The Kennard's were no longer flavour of the month in the village.

Ally had to engage the village in the wedding, make them a part of it,, make them feel that it was their celebration.

The wedding reception itself would take place in a marquee in the grounds of the Hall but she came up with the idea of inviting the whole village to a party on the village green, A marquee where a buffet would be served, sideshows, a carousel and for the evening, dancing and a hog roast. Here's just a taste - fizz, beautiful cake bouquet centrepieces from the WI and the carousel.

As a final touch, there would be a draw amongst the villages - a straightforward name in the hat job, no favourites - for a place in the churchyard to see the royal party and the bride arrive.

She was also creating a diary of the wedding, to be published for charity. With her background in journalism - she'd worked for the gossip mag Celebrity until she'd been ignominiously sacked without notice - she realised that there was a chance to raise a great of money for a charity to be set up in Hope's name, Hope for Children

For this she would be scouring the family archives for photographs and talking to the royal family on her visit to San Michele for the official announcement of the engagement at the ball for celebrating Prince Jonas's birthday.

Oh, that trip. That ball.

I forgot to mention Count Fredrik Jensson, the royal family's security chief. He didn't trust Ally an inch further than he could throw her. He was convinced she was using the chance to get up close and personal with the royal family to get her job back. That said, it couldn't be denied that there was a not so much a spark as a heatwave from the moment they first met which made the fact that he was determined to stay up close and personal to Ally - just to keep an eye on her - a lot more dangerous that keeping the royal family from harm.

Here are the books -  available in both paperback and ebook versions:



Here are the links -

Tule
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Amazon Australia
iTunes
Nook
Googleplay
Kobo
-

No comments: