Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, is releasing a book with the leading romantic fiction publisher Mills & Boon.
Her Heart for a Compass is Ferguson’s first novel for adults, and is based on the life of her great-great-aunt, Lady Margaret Montagu Douglas Scott.
The Duchess has previously written children's book series Budgie the Little Helicopter, non-fiction about Queen Victoria, and her own memoirs.
She said: “It all started with researching my ancestry. Digging into the history of the Montagu-Douglas Scotts, I first came across Lady Margaret, who intrigued me because she shared one of my given names.
“But although her parents, the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch, were close friends with Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, I was unable to discover much about my namesake's early life, and so was born the idea which became Her Heart for a Compass.”
The book has been described as an “immersive historical saga” that “sweeps the reader from the drawing rooms of Victoria's court and the grand country houses of Scotland and Ireland, to the slums of London and the mercantile bustle of 1870s New York”.
Ferguson’s other culture credits include conceiving the idea for the 2009 movie Young Victoria, starring Emily Blunt and written by Julian Fellowes.
She was a producer on the film and Princess Beatrice, the daughter of the duchess and Prince Andrew, had a small part.
The new book will be published on 3 August.
