Our first and most fervent thank-you doubles as an apology to everyone in our lives whom we accidentally neglected in the process of writing this book. For nearly a year, we were down the rabbit hole of royals and research and world-building, writing and revising and cutting. We must have said the words “I can’t, I have to work” a thousand times, and we’re infinitely grateful that our friends and family heard them so patiently, and stuck with us, never taking our reclusive behavior personally. Special thanks in this regard goes to Carrie Weiner, who frequently put out our hair when it was on fire. We will be repaying her with infinite Diet Cokes and snacks.
We owe the world to our impeccable and indispensable agent, Brettne Bloom, whom we’re also lucky to call a beloved friend. Thank you to Elizabeth Bewley for the gift of Brettne when we needed her most; you are as sunny as your Royal We namesake but exponentially smarter. Thank you to Hachette for its support of us as authors, and for keeping us in the family by bringing The Royal We to Grand Central. We are grateful to the entire GCP team for all its hard work and enthusiasm, especially our brave editor, Sara Weiss, who stared down a first draft that was…well, let’s just say “longer.” Our copy editor Angelina Krahn was tireless in keeping our draft clean and our semicolons in check (no small feat there). Thanks to Mari Okuda for not killing us after we turned in our notes on our page proofs. And cover designers Elizabeth Turner and Anne Twomey worked themselves to the bone, and their design—using brilliantly funky artwork from Noma Bar—makes us as proud and excited as the words we put inside it. Thank you so much, all of you, for your collective genius.
We’re intensely grateful to Eliza Hindmarch for giving our manuscript a tireless and thorough “Britishisms” pass (any errors on that front are ours, for what we decided to call “artistic license”); to Annalisa, The Madam Editor, for helping us make sense of Britain’s approximately eighty-two million daily newspapers; to The Royal Order of Sartorial Splendor website and Ella Kay from the Court Jeweller for being indispensable resources about monarchial tiaras and other sparkly regalia; and to Julie O’Sullivan for helping craft the alternate history that enabled our Lyons dynasty to come to pass. Nick’s cryptic crossword clues originated in the Sunday Times cryptic 4561 by Tim Moorey, originally published on October 27, 2013. And we wouldn’t have any of our favorite details about the interior of Buckingham Palace if not for the hugely sympathetic and kind guides and guards there, who took pity on the two sad American women who idiotically showed up at the wrong time for their tour. Tickets are available on an extremely limited basis and we nearly missed what was our only window; thank you, everyone at Buck House, for accepting our tragic apologies and finagling us into the last tour of the day. We had the most wonderful experience there and no, we’re not just saying that because the tour ends with Champagne. Although that didn’t exactly hurt.
We also probably ought to acknowledge the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. It was November 2013 when we first suggested those two should have another baby right around the time our baby would be published, for optimal synergy. Apparently they took that to heart. Thanks, you two. You’re extremely thoughtful.
And last, but never least, we need to thank our own families (royally, if you will): Jim and Susan Morgan; Elizabeth Morgan; the Hamiltons and the O’Sullivans; Maria Huezo, without whom no deadlines would be met; Gail Mock; and Kathie Cocks (plus, we believe, a dose of extra luck from the Great Beyond, courtesy of Alan Cocks). We thank Dylan and Liam Mock for the cuddles and their indomitable cheer when we were too stressed to see straight, and Kevin Mock, for picking up way more than his fair share of slack. You are, collectively, the most sterling support system, and we love you like Gaz loves curry.