THE GOLDEN PRINCE - Rebecca Dean
Broadway Books
ISBN: 978-0-7679-3056-7
December 2010
Historical Fiction

England - 1911-1914

The one thing that Prince Edward, heir to the British throne, wants in life is to be a normal person. His sheltered, strictly monitored existence is frustrating. As a seventeen-year-old cadet at Dartmouth Naval College , David, as he is called by his family, is as close to being free of his father's control as he's ever been. As he and his equerry, Piers Cullen, make their way back to London in David's new automobile, David takes a country corner too wide and knocks a young woman off her bicycle. Horrified and apologetic, the prince takes the woman back to her home, Snowberry, a lovely country estate belonging to her grandfather. There David meets Lily, youngest of the four Houghton sisters, and the girl he loses his heart to.

Lily falls in love with the handsome young prince, all the while knowing deep inside that since she is not royal, their relationship is tenuous, at best. She is aware, also, that Cullen will have to keep their stop at Snowberry a secret to protect not only his young charge, but also his own position at court. David is simply not allowed to mingle at will, so each visit will have to be choreographed carefully. The fact that Cullen also is attracted to Lily helps a bit with the plans to visit.

Prince Edward's strict and private upbringing is, of course, to prepare him to be king some day. The romantic and emotional young prince desperately yearns for love, which is given sparingly in his family. Everyone must behave royally, never show emotion, and certainly not marry a commoner.

Then there are Lily's sisters. Rose, the budding suffragette and the eldest, tries to be the mother their own mother isn't. When their mother remarried after the girls' father died, she moved with her French husband to Paris , leaving the girls for their grandfather to raise. Iris is the born country girl who wants nothing more than to be neighbor Toby Mulholland's wife. And Marigold, stunningly sexy, and knows it, she has no intention of living a staid, timid life.

THE GOLDEN PRINCE is a beautifully written, well researched novel about a man who would, eventually, affect the future of Britain with his romantic nature. This story gives the historical background to his upbringing, the rigid demands of his royal duties, and how, in his own way, David would always try to find love. The characters are realistic, and the historical detail really well done. THE GOLDEN PRINCE is an engaging, enjoyable story based on a true event in Edward's life, and I highly recommend it.

Jani Brooks