The Royal We Research Trip: A Sneak Peek

Heather and I went to England for a week at the start of 2014 on a research trip for The Royal We, our new book. Here’s the Publisher’s Weekly blurb about it, in case you missed it:

Creators of GoFugYourself.com Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan’s first adult novel THE ROYAL WE, about a young American woman who spends a semester abroad in England and falls in love with the man of her dreams — who happens to be the future King of England, a tale loosely inspired by the real-life courtship and marriage of Kate Middleton and Prince William.

We’re super-excited about the book, and we thought you might enjoy seeing some of the pictures I took on the trip. The book takes place (in part) at Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace and Oxford and London — that’s vague enough not to be spoiler-y, I think! — and we had a fabulous time kicking around England getting eyes on the places we’ll be writing about. We would have stayed even longer if we hadn’t needed to get back to cover the Golden Globes; it was really inspirational.

Click on each photo to read about what we saw, did, and might be writing about!

We spent a day at Windsor, which is where the Queen spends a lot of her time. While we were there, we got to take a special tour of the kitchens — which have been in use since the middle ages, and which boasts a still-in-use stove dating from Victoria’s reign. Unfortunately, they don’t allow photos inside. It was very fancy. You can imagine.

Buttresses! I just want to work the word “buttress” into essentially everything I write. This is St George’s Chapel, which a variety of Interesting Historical Figures are buried, including old Henry VIII, with Jane Seymour, AKA the Wife Who Died Before He Needed To Get Rid of Her. Ah, true love.

Speaking of, here’s Henry’s portrait — rather familiar looking, no? — hanging in the dining hall at Christ Church in Oxford. This is the dining hall on which the one at Hogwarts is based, but it does NOT have an enchanted ceiling.

Here we all, all bundled up for Oxford in January. You can tell how beautiful the building is, though.

It’s hard not to feel inspired thinking about going to school at a place as beautiful as this.

This is the nave of Christ Church Cathedral.

This greets you basically just as you exit the train at Windsor. There is NOT a scene in our book where anyone sits for a portrait on the side of a phone booth. Not yet, anyway.

Not that this isn’t inspiring.

A trip to London obviously isn’t complete unless you spend at least an hour and way too many pounds loitering in the Harrods food hall. LOOK AT ALL THIS CHOCOLATE.

We had TWO champagne teas, including this one at Sketch. It was delicious. Why don’t we get to eat tiny sandwiches every day?

But the most noteworthy part of Sketch are its bathrooms — you may remember them from a noteworthy episode of Real Housewives of NY. They are pods. You get your own personal pod in which to pee. Honestly, I kind of loved it. The pods are so private!

Heather and I also go to go on a tour of Buckingham Palace — no pics there, either. You’ll have to read the book to hear all about it, but suffice to say, it’s FANCY. At the end of the tour, they lead you out of this gate — the front gate — and it’s very exciting. We were the last two to leave and were escorted out alone. I’m sure all the tourists standing outside were wondering who we were.

Because it’s not a slideshow if there isn’t sexy Idris Elba involved. This is from an exhibit at the National Gallery, where we popped by to see the portrait of William and Harry (delightful) and the more questionable one of Kate, which was (surely temporarily) NOWHERE TO BE SEEN.

We also popped by Kensington Palace to say hi to Prince George.

Call it “research materials.”

Ah, London. You’re the best. We can’t wait to come back.