Leslie Carroll - American Princess: The Love Story of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry

B ecause current events have moved at supersonic speed, I have a village to thank for the spectacular haste with which this book had to be written and produced. First, to my agent, Irene Goodman, who believed me from the start when I told her that Harry and Meghan would get engaged and that their very coupledom was newsworthy. To my editor and fellow fan of all things British monarchy, Rachel Kahan; to Jen Hart, queen of Morrow paperbacks; and to the phenomenal art department and my PR team at William Morrow, Anwesha Basu, Bianca Flores, and Amelia Wood. To Margaret Evans Porter, my C of E Sherpa and fact-checker, for her astute suggestions; and whose eagle eye caught me drifting from royal weddings into Four Weddings and a Funeral , saving me from a disastrously laughable Freudian slip of the fingers. To Elizabeth Kerri Mahon and Kirsten Erickson McElroy for keeping me posted on the steady stream of news flashes from both sides of the pond as I wrote like the wind. Thanks to Susan Wald for her spot-on acorn remark. To Teri Gilman for her long and exhaustive hours of genealogy research; and to Jordan Auslander for helping to delve into the mystery of whether Meghan might have had a Jewish ancestress. To my grandparents for encouraging me to become an Anglophile, an actress, and an author. To my royal-watching mother from Beverly Hills, who as a starry-eyed teen avidly followed Princess Margarets ill-fated romance; and who also permitted me to wear her souvenir tiara from Harrys grandmothers coronation onstage; and to my father, my real-life Robert Zane: thank you for getting it. Andalwaysto my husband, Scott: not only for providing perspective on the in-country experience in Afghanistan but for being kind, patient, loving, and supportive, no matter what. Scott and I share a wedding day with Meghan and Harry, so I have a feeling that they too will forever be just as lucky in love!

N ative New Yorker LESLIE CARROLL is the author of twenty books in three genres (as well as a contributor to a twenty-first book with an essay on how she met her husband while he was serving in Afghanistan). Among her published titles are a series of five nonfiction volumes on the loves and lives of European royalty. She also wrote the text for an illustrated coffee-table book on a thousand years of British royalty commissioned by Sterling, the publishing arm of Barnes & Noble. Her titles have been translated into eleven languages; and some of her novels have been optioned for TV and motion pictures. Leslie is considered to be one of Americas experts on European royalty and is a frequent media presence whenever the House of Windsor marks a milestone. She flew to London for the royal wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, and provided numerous eyewitness interviews that day for print and radio, from The Wall Street Journal to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, among others. Leslie has had multiple appearances on the Travel Channel, Rick Stevess travel show, and Canadas History Channel series as an expert speaking about various controversial royals. The Chicago Tribune has described her historical nonfiction as an irresistible combination of People magazine and the History Channel. A professional actress who had a survival job for years as a real-life Rachel Zane, Leslie is also an award-winning audiobook narrator, specializing in bringing historical fiction alive for the listener. On her paternal grandmothers side, she is a descendant of Nathan Marcus Adler, Chief Rabbi of the British empire during the reign of Queen Victoria. Visit her at www.lesliecarroll.com.

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Below is a list of volumes used to research this book, as well as suggested reading for those who wish to delve deeper into other Windsor marriages and the royal affairs and marriages of past British dynasties. Its also a reading list for those who wish to know more about how far the British monarchy has come with regard to the issue of divorce, as well as the topics of marriage to Catholics and the royals of the past who had romantic relationships with prominent actresses.

Andersen, Christopher. William and Kate: A Royal Love Story . New York: Gallery Books, 2011.

Aronson, Theo. Princess Margaret: A Biography . London: Michael OMara Books Limited, 1997. [chapter 23 copyright 2001]

Bedell Smith, Sally. Prince Charles: The Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life . New York: Random House, 2017.

Birmingham, Stephen. Duchess: The Story of Wallis Warfield Simpson. Boston: Little, Brown, 1981.

Bradford, Sarah. George VI. London: Penguin Books, 2011.

Brand, Emily. Royal Weddings. Great Britain: Shire Publications, 2011.

Brown, Tina. The Diana Chronicles . New York: Doubleday, 2007.

Cawthorne, Nigel. Sex Lives of the Kings and Queens of England . London: Prion, 1994.

Coxe, Howard. The Stranger in the House: A Life of Caroline of Brunswick . London: Chatto & Windus, 1939.

David, Saul. Prince of Pleasure: The Prince of Wales and the Making of the Regency. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1998.

Denny, Joanna. Katherine Howard: A Tudor Conspiracy . London: Portrait/Piatkus Books, Ltd., 2005.

Feuchtwanger, Edgar. Albert and Victoria: The Rise and Fall of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. London: Hambledon Continuum, 2006.

Fraser, Antonia, ed. The Lives of the Kings & Queens of England , revised and updated. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998.

Fraser, Antonia. Royal Charles: Charles II and the Restoration . New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1979.

Fraser, Flora. The Unruly Queen: The Life of Queen Caroline. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1996.

Heald, Tim. Princess Margaret: A Life Unravelled . London: Phoenix, 2008.

Hewitt, James. Love and War . London: Blake Publishing, Ltd., 1999.

Hibbert, Christopher. Edward VII: The Last Victorian King . New York: St. Martins Griffin, 2007.

. George IV: The Rebel Who Would Be King . New York: St. Martins Griffin, 2007.

. Queen Victoria: A Personal History . New York: HarperCollins, 2000.

. Queen Victoria in Her Letters and Journals . New York: Viking Penguin, 1985.

Higham, Charles. The Duchess of Windsor: The Secret Life . Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley, 1988.

Holme, Thea. Caroline: A Biography of Caroline of Brunswick . New York: Atheneum, 1980.

Irvine, Valerie. The Kings Wife: George IV and Mrs. Fitzherbert . London: Hambledon and London, 2005.

Ives, Eric. The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn , 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2004.

James, Susan. Catherine Parr: Henry VIIIs Last Love . Stroud, Gloucestershire: Tempus Publishing, 2008.

Joseph, Claudia. Kate: Kate Middleton: Princess in Waiting. New York: Avon Books, 2009.

Junor, Penny. Charles: Victim or Villain? New York: HarperCollins, 1998.

King, Greg. The Duchess of Windsor: The Uncommon Life of Wallis Simpson . New York: Citadel Press, 2000.