Rosa’s True Rags to Riches Story
Today on the blog, Annie Seymour discusses the true rags to riches story that is her inspiration of her novels Secrets of the Royal Maid and the newly released The Royal Maid Finds Love. I think Seymour's article gives credence to my belief that inspiration is all around us—we just I have to be observant.
Secrets of the Royal Maid was published April 2026: https://shorturl.at/MfCHl
The Royal Maid Finds Love, will be published 22 October 2026: https://shorturl.at/dpFhS
Rosa’s True Rags to Riches Story – The Royal Maid Finds Love
I remember seeing Jeffrey Archer speaking at a luncheon and being asked where he got his ideas from for his best-selling novels. ‘People tell me their stories. I’m never short of ideas,’ he smiled.
And so it was that Rosa’s story was gifted to me by her daughter, Jan. I was writing the Royal Station Master’s Daughters’ series at the time, a trilogy of untold stories about a real royal station master, Harry Saward, and his life at Wolferton Station on the royal Sandringham estate during WWI. Its owner, Richard Brown, was an enthusiastic supporter of my books and kindly displayed them in his workshop. One day Jan visited the station and spotted them. She mentioned she had her own royal story to tell about her parents who met while working for the royal family during WWII, and Richard put Jan in touch with me.
Jan and I arranged to meet and my jaw dropped as she told me her mother’s story. I was instantly hooked – and knew I had to write it.
Rosa was a poor pit miner’s daughter from Merthyr Tydfil in south Wales. At seventeen-years-old she saw a sign in a shop window advertising for staff to work in a big house in London. She was fed up with life at Merthyr as her best friend had recently taken up a position in a house in London, and she urged Rosa to do the same (this part is fiction. In the first of this two-book series, Secrets of the Royal Maid, Rosa plucks up courage to apply for the job. During the interview she is told the position is at Buckingham Palace, this information initially being withheld for security reasons as it could attract applicants from spies.
To her great delight Rosa is offered the job. It was a huge step for her, having never been to London before, and moving to the capital city at a time when it was under constant air attack. But Rosa was gutsy and took everything in her stride. She had a cheery can-do attitude, though worried if she was good enough to work in the royal household because of her impoverished background. She need not have worried. People in the royal household, including the royal family, warm to her bubbly personality and rosy cheeks. But it’s not all smooth sailing, and in The Royal Maid Finds Love, Rosa finds herself embroiled in a royal security scandal and questions whether the royal guard she has set her heart on can be trusted. Is he really her Prince Charming?
A lump formed in my throat when I finished Secrets of the Royal Maid and getting to know Rosa as a real person as my words hit the pages. As an author I had to make assumptions about her life, staying true to her character, while weaving royal anecdotes told to me by Jan and dramatic wartime events of the day that I fictionalised.
Both books contain shocking murders that are based on true crimes I discovered on the National Archives website. When Princess Elizabeth turned eighteen years old, she was made a Counsellor of State and became able to represent the King on state if he was out of the country. One of her first duties was to commute a death sentence. This is referred to in biographies and history books, but there is no mention of what the case was about and whose life was being spared. I wanted to find out and discovered the two cases I included in my books; an infanticide killing in Secrets of the Royal Maid, and a murder-suicide in The Royal Maid Finds Love. I cannot say that either of these crimes were the one I was searching for, but having read the files from these court cases, I felt compelled to include them as the nature of them are very much of a bygone age.
My research for The Royal Maids series started at Dowlais Library in Merthyr Tydfil where I met historian Huw Williams. After spending the morning chatting with him, my mind went into overdrive as Rosa's story began to take form in my head and I couldn't wait to start writing her story.
People ask why London houses advertised for Welsh girls to work for them. Huw explains, ‘Rosa’s story is a reminder of how in past times many of Merthyr Tydfil’s young inhabitants sought a career in London. Domestic servants in the cities’ big houses were well sought after as being eminently sensible, totally honest, imbued from a chapel disposition and a strict upbringing in God-fearing Welsh homes. They were always considered diligent and many secured promotion through the ranks of that profession. It was a joyful revelation to know that in real life, Rosa’s change of fortune on leaving Merthyr and a life of poverty ended with her working as a royal maid.’
Huw fact checked my book for historical accuracy and will host a launch I am holding for The Royal Maid Finds Love at Cyfarthfa Castle in Merthyr Tydfil, taking Rosa’s story back to where she was born, on Thursday, 22 October, and I am thrilled to be joined by Jan.
The Royal Maid Finds Love ends with Rosa being invited to our past Queen Elizzabeth’s 90th birthday party at Buckingham Palace – only this time Rosa dresses up to the nines and is a guest of Her Majesty, and has maids waiting on her. My editor believes these final pages will bring tears to readers’ eyes, so be sure to have tissues at hand.
I hope I have done justice to Rosa and am indebted to Jan for sharing her mother’s story. I asked Jan how she felt when reading the two books, and she replied: ‘To read some of my mother’s life story in your books brought tears to my eyes, and my heart filled with pride. I cannot thank you enough.’
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