The Game of Hearts: True Stories of Regency Romance

Felicity Day

IN late March of 1810, a certain Mrs Spencer-Stanhope of exclusive Grosvenor Square wrote to her son bemoaning how dull London was because no ‘matches’ had been reported and ‘the flirtations’ had not yet begun.

The Regency ‘season’ was on the verge of springing to life and for the doting ‘mamas’ of Britain’s wealthiest families, romance (and scandal!) was at the beating heart of the social whirl of lavish balls, ‘at homes’ and fashionable assemblies.

This famous age of love and elaborate courtship has long captured the hearts of readers – from the enduring wit and entertainment of Jane Austen’s novels to the much-loved tales of Georgette Heyer – while contemporary Regency romance fans have been bowled over by frothy, feel-good TV costume dramas like Bridgerton. But how close to the reality of aristocratic courtships over 200 years ago are these scandal-laden adventures and sexy romps which have become such a favourite with readers and audiences down the decades? Did Regency London truly witness a place where dashing heroes and independently minded heroines flirted, fought and side-stepped scandal, all the while in the single-minded pursuit of the perfect match? And who were the real women who went looking for love in the age of elegance, and what were their lives really like?

Harnessing what she calls the perfect pairing of romance and the Regency, debut author Felicity Day (pictured left) – who enjoys writing about British history and heritage – brings us a candid, enthralling and hitherto unseen insight into the competitive world of the Regency marriage mart and the intriguing match-making, plotting and campaigns of the ruthlessly ambitious Bon Ton mothers. These are the fascinating real-life stories of rakish husbands and rich heiresses, and true tales of lost and long-lasting love… outrageously romantic adventures which some readers might well have thought were more products of lively imaginations than actual events from the past. From the day that carriages start to roll into town, cards of invitation begin to be propped up on chimney-pieces, and match-making mamas plot out their campaigns, Day takes us behind drawing room doors and into high society ballrooms and boudoirs to unearth the extraordinary seasons of the Bon Ton.

Using diaries, letters and stories of scandal from the newspapers, this fascinating exploration reveals the real women of the Regency world – their loves, their lives, their opinions and adventures – by following six leading ladies and their family, friends, and contemporaries as they move from matchmaking to matrimony and beyond.

Meet the reluctant debutante Lady Sarah Spencer who felt overshadowed by her famously beautiful mother and preferred life at her family home, Althorp in Northamptonshire, to the social whirl of London. Discover the scandalous story of Lady Augusta Boringdon, whose notorious love life involved infidelity, adultery, separation and divorce, and marvel at the trials and tribulations of Frances Anne Vane-Tempest whose interfering aunt took Frances’s betrothed, Charles, Lord Stewart, to court to try to put a stop to their marriage. And these are just some of the super-rich young women caught up in the high points and hazards of what ‘fashionably impure’ courtesan Harriette Wilson called ‘the game of hearts.’

In the hands of Felicity Day, the undeniably dazzling nature of Regency rules of romancing proves to be as irresistible and exciting in reality as it in a raft of novels… it was an age when ‘flirting meant lingering looks, locked eyes across the dance floor and the fleeting touch of hands,’ and it all took place in magnificent ballrooms bathed in the rich atmospherics of candlelight.

But Day’s compelling and thoroughly researched book is so much more than just an account of extravagant courtship customs as she digs deep into the archives to unearth the very human stories of a collection of truly captivating lives. And by showcasing the voices and opinions, hopes and desires of the women who actually lived and loved through it all, we discover that truth really is stranger than fiction when it comes to Regency romance!
(Blink Publishing, paperback, £10.99)