Guest Post with Donna Alward. Author to The Playboy Prince & the Nanny
I’ll confess, I love royalty stories. Years ago, I wrote a book for Harlequin Romance called The Rancher’s Runaway Princess. You see, I wrote mostly Westerns for Harlequin, but this book was a sneaky way to indulge my secret love of glamour and fantasy: I took my princess, Lucy, and plunked her on a ranch in Alberta. The thing was, for most of her life she never knew who her father was. Finding out turned her life upside down. Of course, by the end of the story she goes back to Marazur, my fictional Mediterranean principality. She has two half-brothers, Raoul and Diego, who do their part to welcome her into the family.
Of course then I wanted to write the brothers. But more cowboys called my name, and then new series, and they stayed, lingering in the back of my mind. Finally last year I asked my editor at St. Martin’s if they’d be interested in the duet and she said YES! So The Playboy Prince and the Nanny was begun, to be followed by The Crown Prince’s Bride in January.
Princess Luciana (Lucy) and her family even have a few cameo appearances!
Why I Love Writing about Royalty
I’m a pretty low-maintenance chick. I certainly don’t go in for designer clothes, fancy cars, mansions… in fact I’m pretty sure I’d be wholly intimidated in that upper class/aristocracy kind of atmosphere, not to mention painfully gauche. Add in protocol and I’d be sure to make some horrible faux pas. But that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy a bit of a fairy tale now and again, and I adore stories with princes and princesses. It’s not just about the fancy clothes and all the royal trappings that go with the title. It’s the responsibility, too. The concept of duty and honour. And how quite often there is a price that must be paid for the privilege.
Of course having a driver and household staff and lush parties doesn’t hurt. But it’s that human side that goes with the glam that I just love.
That’s why Diego isn’t just a playboy prince. He was also a little boy who lost his mom at a young age, a teenager who knew he wasn’t in line for the throne and who was shut out of a lot of state business, and a young man who felt superfluous to the family when all he wanted to do was help and be needed. It’s why Raoul is the older brother with the responsibility of reigning one day, and also the added weight of looking after his younger brother. And it’s why, when tragedy strikes the family, all these things need to be dealt with so they can come together as a family and heal.
Of course, you know there are a couple of heroines in the wings. Rosalie Walters is a nanny who always puts family first – except for one time when she stood her ground. She’s no stranger to wealth, having worked for several posh families, but this is a whole other level of pomp and procedure. Falling for the playboy prince was really not in the life plan. J Neither is going to the ball in a gorgeous dress and a pair of glittering heels, or on a picnic on the battlements late at night. Despite the differences in their bank accounts and social status, they do have one thing in common. They believe in Family First.
The Inspiration behind the Princes of Marazur…
When it came to really sitting down and planning out the Princes of Marazur duet, I had to do some serious thinking about my princes. I’d already established them a bit in The Rancher’s Runaway Princess, but this was different. They had more of a walk-on role in that book, and now they were going to be center stage.
I knew that:
Raoul is the Crown Prince, and takes it seriously. That he’s married with a girl and a boy. That he and Diego lost their mother when they were very young, and that Lucy (their half-sister) is born of an affair.
Diego is the “Spare” heir, and he’s the one who rebelled as he grew older, establishing a reputation as a palace bad boy and playboy. Sure, he went to university, but he was more interested in the polo ponies and fillies of other sorts than really studying. I also knew that when the story started, he would need to be trying to shed that reputation, build some credibility, and be an asset to the family.
Sound like anyone else you can think of? #willandharry
I also found myself thinking about the remake of Sabrina that was out years ago, featuring Harrison Ford and Greg Kinnear. Now granted, this heroine isn’t going to fall for Diego and then really realize she’s in love with Raoul. But it does represent a bit of the dynamic between the brothers, much like Linus and David in the movie. Linus doesn’t think David will ever settle down, doesn’t think he takes things seriously, and David’s used to being underestimated. In the end, Linus learns to loosen his stranglehold on his responsibilities and trust David, who is ready to grow up and show there’s more to him than his past reputation.
Of course, once I started writing, the characters took on a life of their own and simply became Diego and Raoul, with their own issues and struggles and triumphs.
Five Surprising Facts about Diego Navarro
1. His best friend is an Irishman (Ryan) who occasionally lends his security talents to Diego’s endeavours. Ryan also has a younger sister, Brenna, whom Diego will never date unless he wants to have his legs broken.
2. He has a degree in European History, which he rarely uses, and a keen mind for bargaining, which he uses frequently when managing the Navarro stables and polo stock.
3. Despite being part of a centuries-old patriarchy, he’s a feminist and has a foundation dedicated to the education and training of African women to provide for themselves and their families.
4. His favorite dessert is sticky toffee pudding.
5. He loved his nanny, Mariana, dearly. When Rose arrives at the palace to care for his niece and nephew, he sees the same qualities he loved in Mariana: kindness, compassion, discipline, affection. What he doesn’t see: their difference in status.
No comments:
Post a Comment