We may have fought a war to get away from George III, but Americans have become awfully fond of his descendants, and that’s largely thanks to Queen Victoria and her family. Victoria’s reign, from ingenue queen to model wife and mother to regal matriarch, changed the way Britons thought about the Royals – and it had the same effect across the pond.
By the mid-19th century, the British Royal family was giving a very relatable middle-class vibe, a complete turnaround from Georgian debauchery. The royals were a lot like us, they were starting to think, just with the extra fairy dust of titles and such.
The newspapers and magazines of the time took great interest in the royal family, following their activities in the deep-dive detail we would recognize in modern royal coverage. From Christmas trees to holiday retreats to bonnets, Victoria, Albert, and their nine children were a consistent draw.
So, when Victoria sent her eldest son on a goodwill trip to North America in 1860, it was a sensation. The first full-scale Royal tour outside the British Isles, it was an enormous undertaking, pushing the limits of travel at the time, from the July day the Prince’s ship left Plymouth England, through much of Canada and the northern U.S. until he finally returned in November.
The trip pushed the limits of the star attraction, too. Eighteen-year-old Albert, Prince of Wales, known in the family as Bertie, may have been the heir to the throne, but he had grown up as anything but the favored son. His older sister, Victoria, Princess Royal, was book-smart, charming, and their father’s favorite, leaving him very much in the shade as the family ne’er do well.
Since the Crimean War, Canadian leaders had been urging the Queen to visit, and failing that, one of her sons. Finally, when Bertie was eighteen, her advisors prevailed upon the Queen to send him. He had a long, packed itinerary, starting in Newfoundland and moving west through Canada. It was September by the time he took the ferry from Windsor to Detroit, heading east, drawing huge, cheering crowds everywhere he went, from Chicago to St. Louis to Pittsburgh and ultimately to Washington D.C.
Along the way, the young prince showed he was more than up to the task, showing gracious royal demeanor as he toured sites, greeted dignitaries, and performed the countless social obligations imposed on him. He also showed some strength of character in the one notable controversy of the trip: he flatly refused to take a side trip to a plantation in the South.
In October, toward the end of the tour, came one of the highlights: several days in New York, including a grand ball at the Academy of Music. From cheering crowds to twittering society matrons, most of the City was delighted to welcome him. An Irish-American regiment boycotted his parade, which makes perfect sense, considering many if not most Irish-Americans at the time would have had a first-degree connection to the Great Hunger.
The New York stop, and what might have happened during it, are the central mystery in A FATAL WALTZ. Ella Shane’s new husband, the Duke, is doing “a favor for a friend,” forty years later, trying to determine if the Prince might have had an entanglement with a young lady he danced with at the Academy of Music Ball (the waltz of the title!) – and what might have come of it. No spoilers, but the matter could threaten the succession to the British Throne, and some people will do anything to keep those secrets in the past. The Duke, and eventually Ella, will have their hands full!

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