She was called the "Queen of Romance" in her day, though I suspect there are many romance readers today who have never heard her name. And yet, she is credited with writing more than seven hundred romance novels over the course of a seventy-year career. With her big hair, plumed hats and pink dresses, she became something of a caricature of herself in her later years. But she also did a lot of good in her long life, working diligently for many charities, and I think she was entitled to do as she pleased.

There are those who might dismiss her work as fluff, and perhaps some of her later novels might merit that description, but not her earlier work. The novels of Barbara Cartland gave me a lot of pleasure in my early years as a Regency romance devotee. May I share some reflections on the work of Barbara Cartland?

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Last week I wrote about Chinese paper-hangings in the Regency, and mentioned that one set of these very expensive papers may have had special significance in the life of a young girl. In 1806, the Prince of Wales made a gift of a full set of Chinese paper-hangings to the mother of a woman who would later become his mistress. However, the facts seem to suggest this gift was actually made in an effort to gain custody of a child in order to please his current inamorata.

How a set of Chinese paper-hangings may have been an attempt to sway the choice of who had custody of the little girl who gave the Prince his nickname ...

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Last month I wrote a general article about paper-hangings in the Regency. That was the first in a series of articles I have planned on various aspects of paper-hangings. In this article, I am going to focus on one of the more expensive and fanciful genres of paper-hangings, those imported from China, and the imitations of those papers made in Europe.

The Prince Regent was very fond of Chinese papers, and used them lavishly in his residences. And, of course, only the very best, and therefore the most expensive, papers would do for him. It was one of the reasons he was so heavily in debt for all of his various building and decorating projects. Following the Prince's lead, Chinese papers began to appear in a number of great houses across England, and retained a certain popularity even into the Regency.

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Well, by now, it might be. But there were no "grandfather" clocks anywhere during the Regency because the song by which they acquired their name had yet to be written. However, by the beginning of the Regency, nearly every affluent household, and some more prosperous middle-class households, were in possession of a very expensive, free-standing clock in a tall wooden case resembling a coffin.

This symbol of prosperity would begin to loose its status even before the debut of the song which changed its name. By the beginning of the reign of William IV, brother of the erstwhile Prince Regent, the Industrial Revolution had set its sights on that most complicated device, the clock. From about 1830, most clocks were no longer made by hand, they were made by machine. Other technological factors had also come into play which reduced the consequence of these once purposeful clocks.

The development and importance of the long-case clock during the Regency and how its name was changed ...

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