Unofficial Royalty

I discovered this site long before I began writing for it as The Royal Scribe.

Always an enthusiast of history and royalty, I spent many a coffee break, lunch or stolen moment on the job soaking in the latest royal news. Frequently, the news on these pages served as both solace and inspiration, and I could never get enough.

Vacations abroad from the U.S. whetted, rather than quenched, by appetite for research and travel, and I soon found myself realizing my personal reading and scribblings meant more to me than the corporate world in which I felt trapped. When reading the royal news was my only true pleasure, I knew it was time to begin a new journey in my life.

So, in late May 2002, I left my life in America behind to travel, research and write about royal history. Not one to do things by half measures, I started my journey by becoming immediately enveloped in the Queen's Golden Jubilee.

While inspecting the parade route, I managed to make new friends who were camping out along a prime spot of real estate immediately against the barricade on The Mall, not far from the statue of Queen Victoria and Buckingham Palace. They welcomed me with open arms, and I spent the days with them getting an up close and personal view of the processions - even shaking hands with Prince Charles - and my nights comfortably in my hotel.

Now, almost nine years later, I find my royal journey has brought me full circle, though in very different circumstances. Back in London in time for the wedding of Prince William to Catherine Middleton, I'm now married nearly seven years and am the author of a newly published book on royal history based on columns I originally wrote for this site.

Less than two years after the Queen's Golden Jubilee, I went from being a devout reader of this site to a weekly columnist. For two wonderful years, I wrote as The Royal Scribe, and - with the help of my husband, a Spaniard I met in England - I helped develop the Spanish Monarchy pages.

Just as the site had helped me to discover my true ambitions to travel, research and write, it also opened up new opportunities for my writing. That and the trials and tribulations of life brought my tenure as The Royal Scribe to a halt, but I remained a devotee of the site, as always.

Both during and after my time as The Royal Scribe, a good friend of mine constantly told me I should publish my columns as collections of themed essays in book format. Earlier this year, the idea was brought up again, this time by a publisher.

With great sentiment, I went through my my articles and found so many natural groupings, and the publisher decided to publish several eBooks in various categories. It's more than a little bit ironic that the first of these books, "An Unusual Journey Through Royal History," should be released as I descend on London yet again at the heart of a significant royal occasion.

It's both thrilling and sad. Thrilling to have a book comprised of articles that originally appeared on this site that for so long has been a home of sorts, and sad that those original articles will no longer appear on this site. The good news is, each of the 18 articles in first book is completely updated and revised, while still  remaining true to the original style and format.

As the title suggests, this first book is filled with articles addressing unusual or little-discussed aspects of royal history: from tattoos to circumcision, and court dwarfs to last words. It also includes one article that was published elsewhere. This should serve as the model for other books like it, as well as some original works, and I hope you will read and enjoy this and future works as much as I've enjoyed writing and compiling them.

I am very grateful to Geraldine Voost for giving me the opportunity to write for this site starting back in 2004, and for her continued friendship ever since. I'm also immensely appreciative of all the wonderful readers who wrote to me while I was a columnist and for the many friends I made as a result.

I have no doubt that some people thought I was a little bit crazy when I gave up a comfortable and secure life that bored and stultified me to find a place in life that made me as happy as I was when I visited "the land of the royal news." But for me, it was only the beginning of a very fulfilling and personal journey through royal history that continues to this day.

Until next time,
Victoria "Tori" Martínez

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Tori's book can be purchased on any of the following sites: