My historical romances are all set in Britain, during the Regency period — so called because King George III was suffering from a mental disorder and so his son, the Prince of Wales, was named as ruler — regent — in his place. The Regency period formally ran from 1811, when the king descended into madness for the last time, until 1820 when he died and the Prince of Wales became King George IV. The Regency period roughly coincides with the Napoleonic Wars and includes the War of 1812 between Britain and the United States.
The Regency was a period of great contrasts — tremendous wealth and desperate poverty, glittering society and horrible battles, manors with hundreds of bedrooms and hovels where shared blankets were the norm. Among the aristocracy, marriages were often made to further alliances of money and power, and had little to do with love. But in the world of the Regency Romance, all those contrasts are used to further our lovers’ desires.