All the King's Daughters (Novel Series)

***All the King's Daughters*** is a series of epistolary young adult novels written by Maryam Wells, and is also the title of the first volume, published in 20-. The series revolves around the lives of four close, but very different sisters from a fictional British royal family. The series explores the four sisters as they contend with their personal and public lives under the spotlight that comes with being a royal. The books are noted for containing many popular culture references from the 2000s that influence some of the plot.

Maryam Wells wrote *All the King's Daughters* after the success of *My Life as a Royal Princess* series. She stated that What if a royal king of England, who was first in line to the throne had daughters instead of sons. She calls the series *Sisters*, a TV series from the 1990's in modern-day London in the royal family. She calls it "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" meets "Gossip Girl" meets "The Crown".

*All the King's Daughters* has received both praise and criticism for many of its storylines, which have dealt with difficult themes including violence, bisexuality, murder and abuse. It has been criticized for various storylines, including the 2010 baby swap storyline, which attracted over 6,000 complaints, as well as complaints of showing too much violence and allegations of national and racial stereotypes. However, *All the King's Daughters* has also been commended for representing real-life issues and spreading awareness on social topics. The cast and crew of the show have received and been nominated for various awards.

## Synopsis

*All the King's Daughters* focused on four very different sisters from a fictional contemporary British royal family, who must struggle with both common and atypical family dramas while in the public eye. Their father, King Cyrus, had become King from the moment his other, The Queen has passed away and now faces huge responsibilities as the new King. Their mother, royal by marriage, was often the sensible, level-headed, strict, but caring mother to all four of her daughters. Growing up as the Prince of England, the sisters' father was told that he would have an heir and a spare. But he had daughters instead, while his younger brother, Richard had sons, whom Cyrus had envied.

The series had many storylines that showed life in the royal family wasn't a fairy tale. The oldest daughter, Alexandra, who turned 30 in the third book, begins to feel the pressure from the royal family to find a suitable man and marry, at the same time, deals with the fact that her former boyfriend maybe dating her sister. The second-oldest daughter, Theodora, a free-spirited princess of the family, spends her time partying and making out with men and women. She begins a secret relationship with Alexandra's ex-boyfriend. Georgiana, the middle sister and the level-head of the royal sisters, has a shocking on and off affair with the head of security of the Royal family. Francesca, the youngest princess, is a college student and the independent young woman in love with a man she couldn't have no matter how hard she tries. All four sisters are known as the Famous sisters in the world, beating out the Lane Sisters who are reality stars in the series *Living in the Fast Lane*.

## Characters

* **Princess Alexandra Charlotte Mary Alice Cromwell**: Eldest sister Alexandra was somewhat superficial and snobbish but remained protective and close to her sisters. In the third book, she celebrates her 30th birthday and her parents believe that it was time for her to find a suitable man to marry. She is courted by young Lords and sons of foreign ambassadors, Prime Ministers, and political figures. She begins a relationship with Pedro Mendoza, the son of US Senator from California. She is much fashionable than her sisters and is an avid supporters of American fashion brands. She has an adversarial relationship with her younger sister, Theodora.
* **Princess Theodora Catherine Louise Anne Cromwell**: Free-spirited second sister Theodora was a recovering alcoholic who had been in rehab prior to the beginning of the series. Upon her return to Cornwall Palace, Theodora is told by her parents to grow up and set an example on all of England about being a proper princess. Theodora would often clash with her father throughout the series. Theodora continues to be rebellious. She also clashes with Alexandra, due to her snobbish attitude towards her.
* **Princess Georgiana Elizabeth Caroline Beatrice Cromwell:** The third and most level-headed and responsible sister in the family, Georgie always made responsible decisions when it came to the choices she and her sisters made. During the series, Georgiana had many health problems like Vertigo, rheumatoid arthritis, and lupus. She has a on and off affair with Tom Jasper, the head of security for the Royal family, which began when she was 16.
* **Princess Francesca Helena Eleanor Matilda Cromwell**: Youngest sister Francesca was a college student at the University of Westminster, majoring in Liberal Arts. She is more of a feminist and despise the fact that women do not have rights. She moved into campus to escape the media frenzy that surrounds the royal family Though in college, she still visits the palace and attends royal events and functions with her family.
* **Queen Beatrice Victoria Cromwell:** Beatrice, the sisters' mother and the family matriarch, was the queen consort of England. She comes from an aristocratic family where she, her mother, and sister have the title of Lady. As a royal, she was named "Princess of Royal Style". In arc 3, Beatrice, at age 48, discovers she is pregnant with her fifth child. In *The New Royal*, she gives birth to her fifth daughter, Princess Samantha.
* **King Cyrus:** Cyrus, the sisters' father and family patriarch is the King of England.
* **Prince Richard, Duke of Albany:** Cyrus' younger brother. While Cyrus is known as the "Heir", Richard is known as a "spare". He was married to Penelope, Duchess of Albany, whom he has two sons with, until their divorce. He made headline news when his close friendship with a millionaire turned child molester and rumors that he had a child with an American woman. He is known for being a womanizer. He later becomes one of the main characters in the series' spin-off, *Keeping Up with the Royals*.
* **Penelope, Duchess of Albany:** Richard's ex-wife. During her marriage to Prince Richard, she had two sons, Prince David and Prince Henry. Like Beatrice, she was also a style icon and was known as the "Duchess of Royal Style" She was shunned from the Royal family after an interview with a reporter revealed her badmouthing the family. She is in a relationship with her former bodyguard.
* **Prince David of Albany:** Richard and Penelope's oldest son and Cyrus' nephew. He is known as a Richard's heir.
* **Prince Henry of Albany**: Richard and Penelope's youngest son and Cyrus' nephew. He is known as Richard's spare.
* **Tom Jasper:** The Royal Head of Security for the Royal Family. He has an affair with Princess Georgiana, which began when she was 15. When they continued their affair when Georgiana entered her 20's, Tom resigns as Royal Head of Security out of fear the affair would be exposed.
* **Chester Rollins:** The Royal Butler to the Royal Household. He was the trusted confidante to the four princesses.

## Trivia

* Cornwall Palace (Blenheim Palace) where the show was filmed was the birthplace of British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill.
* Richard's (Stephen Billington) sons David and Henry were loosely based on Prince Andrew's real-life daughters Beatrice and Eugenie and King Charles III's sons Prince William and Prince Harry.
* The series was described as *Keeping Up with the Kardashians* meets *Gossip Girl* meets *The Crown*.
* In the series, Princess Alexandra was known as a teen idol throughout her teens. She was on the covers of *Teen Beat*.
* In arc 3, at 48 years old, Queen Beatrice became pregnant with her fifth child. In The New Royal, she delivers her fifth daughter, Princess Samantha.
* Queen Beatrice and her daughters do not wear animal print clothes because it goes against their advocacy of wild animals like Leopards and Zebras.
* Many storylines in the series were based on real life events that occurred with the real-life royal family.
	+ The divorce between Prince Richard and Duchess Penelope were based on the divorces between King Charles III and Princess Diana and Prince Andrew and Sarah, Duchess of York.
	+ Penelope, Duchess of Albany's interview with a reporter was based on Princess Diana's interview with Martin Bashir.
* Brandon Boone breaking into Cornwall Palace and into the bedroom of Princess Georgiana was based on the Michael Fagan incident. While the Michael Fagan incident took place in 1982, the Brandon Boone incident took place in 2011, when Princess Georgiana was 16.
* The relationship and marriage between Princess Theodora and American restaurant manager Michael Pierce were based on the relationship between Prince Harry and American actress Meghan Markle.
* Princess Francesca was voted "One of *All the King's Daughters'* most annoying characters".
* Princess Alexandra was voted "One of *All the King's Daughters'* most hated characters".
* Princess Francesca was voted "One of *All the King's Daughters'* most loved characters".
* When the character of Melanie Owen - eventually one of the show's most notorious villains - was introduced in --, she was the girlfriend of Lord Andrew Granvile. Even after she was -- following the events, it was never clear on her true vendetta on the sisters.
* Princess Alexandra seducing Lord Andrew Granvile for a bet was heavily influenced by Cruel Intentions (1999).
* Three of Francesca Cromwell's love interests are far different in origins.
	+ Her on and off love interest Dean Harper is Canadian, while his portrayer, Brent Laughtery, is American.
	+ Her ex-fiancé, Mark Hughes is American, while his portrayer, Landon Liberon is Canadian.
	+ Her ex-lover Diego Alonzo is Brazilian, while his portrayer, Bobby Brazier is British.
* The daily drama of this novel series was set in the modern day-London in an alternate reality featuring a fictional British royal family, where the King and Queen do not have sons, just daughters.
* Diego Alonzo was voted one of the most sexiest characters in the series.
* Both Queen Beatrice and Duchess Penelope had the most expensive wardrobe to date and both Elizabeth Hurley and Geri Halliwell-Horner had a big say in what her character wore each day. Beatrice and Penelope's huge hat collection is also one of the most treasured items on set.
* Penelope Tate was voted "One of series' most annoying characters".
* Prince Richard was voted "One of series' most disliked characters".
* Melanie Owen was voted online as one of series' "Most evil characters".
* Duchess Penelope was voted online as one of the *All the King's Daughters'* "Most evil characters", especially over her manipulation of Mia Atkins into letting Penelope's son, Prince David be involved in her pregnancy and their baby's life.
* The Kissing Cousins" relationship between Princess Georgiana and her second cousin, Robert Cromwell was voted online as the most maddest storyline" in the series.
* Maryam Wels, author of the *All the King's Daughters* series modeled the rivalry between Princesses Alexandra and Theodora off of Betty and Veronica from *Archie* comics, Alexis and Krystle from *Dynasty*, and Kelly and Valerie from *90210*.
* The Royal Princesses TV series is based on the best-selling novels "All the King's Daughters" written by Maryam Wells.
* Maryam Wells, author of the *All the King's Daughters* series based the series on several series.
	+ Like the 90's TV series, *Sisters*, it centered around four close, but very different sisters. They both showed one of the sisters being an alcoholic.
	+ Like the 2007 TV series *Gossip Girl* and the books, it featured blogging and texting.
	+ Like *Keeping up with the Kardashians*, it featured a family especially sisters. Both the mothers in both series are known as the "Glamourous Mothers"
	+ Like *Crazy Rich Asians*, it featured a crazy, wealthy family.
	+ Like *The Crown*, it featured the drama centering around a royal family from England.
	+ Like *Dynasty* and *Dallas*, it centered around the drama of feuding families (The Royal Family and the Granville family).
* Maryam Wells, who wrote the *All the King's Daughters*, created several characters like the Lansburys, who are members of the Royal family due to Queen Anne's younger siter, Grace marrying Edward Lansbury, who was a noble blood.
	+ She also created Dean Harper as the guy Princess Francesca is in love with and could never have.
* Every episode ends with "Tune in next time for more juicy gossip centering around these crazy royal sisters in *All the King's Daughters*".
* The Royal Variety Performance was featured in the series.
* All four main characters (Alexandra, Theodora, Georgiana, and Francesca) appear in every book of the series.
* The sisters' own parents have sisters. King Cyrus has two sisters; Princess Helena and Princess Louise and Beatrice has one sister, Clarissa.
* Wells based Prince Richard and his ex-wife, Duchess Penelope on real-life ex-royal couples like Charles and Diana and Andrew and Fergie However, Prince Richard is written as a womanizing royal and a snob, while Duchess Penelope is written as a stuck-up, fame-hungry, socialite, pampered princess.
* Brent Daughterty (Dean Harper) is an American actor whose character is Canadian, and Landon Liberon (Mark Hughes) is a Canadian actor whose character is American. Also, Bobby Brazier (Diego Alonzo) is a British actor whose character is Brazilian.
* Princess Louise, the younger sister of King Cyrus is modeled off of Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh.
* Some of the outfits worn by real-life royals are described in the novels.
* The first novel originally had Princess Alexandra celebrate her 30th birthday, but it was moved to the third novel.