Meghan Markle's Mom Inspired The Latest Romance From Literary Star Jasmine Guillory

The world can't get enough of Meghan Markle, the American actress turned Duchess of Sussex, and now her mom has inspired a new book. Jasmine Guillory's Royal Holiday is a romance novel based on Meghan Markle's mother, Doria Ragland, and it's coming this fall to the delight of romance readers everywhere.

Royal Holiday, out on Oct. 1, 2019, centers on Vivian Forest, the mother of a successful stylist, who accompanies her daughter on a business trip to the UK. While her daughter works her styling magic within the royal family, Vivian falls for the Queen's Private Secretary. Although this romance hasn't happened to the real-life Doria Ragland, readers will have just as much fun reading about an unassuming American mom's adventures in royal-adjacent love.

Public interest in Doria Ragland surged after Meghan Markle married Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, in 2018, but she has yet to become the subject of a romance novel. However, this isn't the first time authors have been inspired by the lives English royalty and those adjacent to them. In the eight years since Harry's brother, Prince William, tied the knot with Kate Middleton, authors have given birth to a number of new, royal-wedding-themed books, including Meg Cabot with Royal Wedding, Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan with The Royal We, and Jennifer Robson with The Gown. Now, Jasmine Guillory is out to make her own mark on the royal romance scene with this new novel.

Guillory is perhaps the perfect person to write this story. Her first book The Wedding Date got rave reviews when it landed in stores in Jan. 2018, and her second book The Proposal was a New York Times bestseller and selection for the Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine book club. (Her third book, The Wedding Party, is out this summer — you can start reading it on Bustle now!)

The author was inspired to write her latest novel thanks to a tweet about Ragland. On Nov. 4, 2018, librarian and Two Bossy Dames co-host Margaret H. Willison tweeted a link to a W magazine article about the royal family's Christmas plans, writing: "I... NEED a charming romance about the single mother of a new Duchess falling in love with an appropriately aged royal retainer while spending Christmas at Sandringham."

Guillory tweeted back the same day, replying, "I VOLUNTEER AS TRIBUTE," a statement she told Hello Sunshine was "a joke (I swear!)." On Thursday, Guillory responded again, this time with a tweet introducing Royal Holiday to the world.

Jasmine Guillory's Royal Holiday comes out on Oct. 1 and is available for pre-order today. You can read an excerpt right now on Hello Sunshine.