And that Lord Trentingham looked perplexed.
He’d been looking perplexed a lot lately.
“I still don’t understand,” he grumbled as they all walked back to Tremayne, looking forward to Chrystabel’s masterpiece of a wedding breakfast. “You all met just three days before Christmas. How can it be that four people fell in love so fast?”
Feeling happier than she’d thought possible, Chrystabel linked arms with her new father-in-law. “Obviously, it was a Christmas miracle.”
THANK YOU!
Thank you for reading A Secret Christmas! I hope you enjoyed it!
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To see more of Chrystabel and Joseph, look for Books 1-3 of Chase Family Series: The Flowers, whichare about their daughters! The first one is Violet. Please read on for an excerpt.
If you’ve already read The Flowers series and The Jewels series, next up is Lost in Temptation, the first of my romances featuring Regency-era descendants of the original Chase and Ashcroft characters. In the following pages, you’ll find an excerpt for that book, too!
If you'd like to learn more about the real people, places, and events in A Secret Christmas, please turn the page for my Author's Note...
BONUS MATERIAL
Author’s Note
Explore the Chase Family World
Excerpt from Violet
Excerpt from Lost in Temptation
Books by Lauren Royal
Free Historical Recipe Book
Contest
About the Author
Acknowledgments
Jewels of Historical Romance
Contact Information
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Dear Reader,
Oliver Cromwell is one of the most controversial figures in British history. Depending upon viewpoint, he’s been described as both a regicidal military dictator and a revolutionary hero of liberty. But few people today would support his decision to ban Christmas.
Following the execution of King Charles I in 1649, England was ruled by Parliament. Prior to the end of the English Civil War in September 1651, three months before this story starts, Cromwell had become the country's de facto leader. He was officially Lord Protector from 1653 until his death in 1658.
Cromwell and his fellow Puritans believed that everyone should lead their lives according to a strict interpretation of the Bible. They felt it was their mission to cleanse the country of decadence, and their decrees affected all aspects of society.
They believed that women and girls should dress in a “proper” manner. Dresses that were too colorful were frowned upon, and those that weren’t modest were banned outright. Makeup was banned: Puritan soldiers actually scrubbed off makeup seen on women in the streets. The theaters were all shut down. Most sports were banned. Swearing was punished by a fine for the first offense, and repeat offenders could be sent to prison.
But most controversial of all, the Puritans regarded Christmas as a wasteful, “popish” festival that threatened core Christian beliefs. Nowhere, they said, did the Bible claim God wanted Christ’s birthday celebrated—and so they set about banning all activities relating to Christmas, including going to church on Christmas Day. Shops and markets were ordered to stay open on December 25, and everyone was expected to go about the day as if Christmas didn’t exist.
The government outlawed every last remnant of Christmas merrymaking. Christmas carols were banned. Christmas puddings were banned. Christmas decorations were banned. In London, soldiers were ordered to patrol the streets and take, by force if necessary, any food being cooked for a Christmas celebration. The smell of a goose roasting could bring wrath down upon a family.
Like Chrystabel’s family, however, many people continued to celebrate in secret. And in not-so-secret, too, especially as the years of Cromwell’s Protectorate went on. Semi-clandestine religious services were held on Christmas Day, and the secular elements of the holiday occurred more and more often. On Christmas Day in 1656, Members of Parliament were unhappy because they’d got little sleep the previous night due to the noise of the neighbors’ “preparations for this foolish day,” and because that morning they had seen “not a shop open, nor a creature stirring” in London. Many writers anonymously argued in print that it was proper to celebrate Christmas and that the government had no right to interfere.
At the Restoration in 1661, when King Charles II returned to claim his throne and all legislation from 1642-60 was declared null and void, Christmas was celebrated with much joy and wide popular support. And it’s been that way ever since.
On a much less serious subject: The oldest mulled wine recipes do not have orange or lemon or any other fruit in them. But many modern mulled wine recipes do. I like to think that someone like Joseph might have first tried adding those ingredients!
Most of the homes in my books are modeled on real places you can visit. Tremayne Castle was inspired by Thornbury Castle in Gloucestershire, which is twelve miles from the city of Bristol, just where Joseph’s castle is in this story.
Thornbury Castle was built during the reign of Henry VIII, by Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham. But he didn’t get to finish it, and he wasn’t able to enjoy it for long. At the time, Buckingham was one of few peers with substantial Plantagenet blood, and he felt he should be in line for the throne. After a disgruntled servant betrayed him to the king, he was arrested for treason, tried, and executed on Tower Hill. King Henry claimed the castle for himself and spent ten days there while on his honeymoon tour with Anne Boleyn. It remained royal property until the death of his daughter Mary I, when it was returned to the duke’s descendants.
The beautiful Church of St. Mary the Virgin is next door to Thornbury Castle, and there used to be a timber bridge
