A modern Cinderella tale complete with paparazzi and talent
shows, this is a great excuse to revel in the doings of a
royal family that needs to get with the times. PLAYING
THE ROYAL GAME introduces Allegra Jackson, fired from her
publishing job in London for not returning the boss's
advances. She meets a handsome man while drowning her
sorrows in defiant champagne. Not only is he a financer,
but after some conversation he reveals that he is Alex,
Crown Prince of an island in the Mediterranean called
Santina, and he has been betrothed to a women he does not
love, and is trying to think of a way out of it without
besmirching the lady.
Allegra, slightly giddy from the bubbly, agrees to pretend
she and the prince have fallen in love and wish to marry.
The plan is that her wildly unsuitable family will shock
his parents and public, and Alex will be urged not to marry
for some time. Initially Allegra accepts a hefty cheque and
ring to play along, but she is adamant that there will be
no sleeping together. The press are all over the story very
fast, and Allegra's family are invited to accompany her to
Santina. Here, her football star dad gets tipsy and makes
an impromptu speech, just as he would at home, and her
talent show winning sister sings just as if it was a
karaoke night. Shock ensues but guess what, the public love
the Jacksons and want their new princess to be one of
them. Allegra's determination to see something of
the island leads her to elude her driver and shop and drink
coffee, and far from being in danger she is respectfully
loved by the islanders, who seldom see their queen. The
royals are set against such loose behaviour. Meanwhile the
couple at the centre of the chaos, forced into close
proximity, are discovering an unforeseen attraction - if
only they were not so resolute not to wed!
Carol Marinelli has obviously mixed and matched from
genuine royal goings-on to create this fun tale, and she
spares us the cliches in order to get with the real people.
I liked it a lot more than I'd expected and while I was
hoping for more detail about what the rulers actually do on
this island, there is enough location description to make
it feel a long way from home for the Londoner. I'll be
looking out for more of her work.
It seemed like every girl's dream: fall in love with a
prince and be whisked off for your very own glamorous happy-
ever-after—a royal fairy tale for Allegra Jackson and
Prince Alessandro Santina.
Allegra's headline-grabbing family hardly prepared her for
a life of public duty, and sinfully delicious Prince
Alessandro has always seemed virtually allergic to the idea
of settling down in Santa Maria.
Out of all the flamboyant, beautiful women his name's been
linked with, the heir to the throne picked ordinary Allegra
with the family from hell….
Is everything really as it seems regarding the tabloid's
engagement of the year?
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