David Seow's Blog, page 18

Another Teaser

©Soefara Jafney

A Royal Adventure makes it to the Sunday Express!! Yay

A Royal Adventure makes it to the Sunday Express. A Big Thank You to Royal Editor Camilla Tominey for a wonderful article.

Click Here to Read Article

#FF One of My Favourite Pieces of Mail

Everyone who knows me knows that I'm a big royal supporter and I have been incredibly lucky to have had the honour of meeting a few royals over the years, but I have to say that I got the biggest surprise when I received a parcel from the royal post late last week.

the envelope
Now maybe I'm a huge supporter because I'm a children's book author and I've always liked listening to stories about kings and queens, or maybe it's because  support for the monarchy was passed down to me genetically via my British grandmother, but I digress.

I recently  wrote to HRH the Duchess of Cornwall, saying that as a children's book author, I appreciated her championing children's literarcy and that I remembered that HRH the Prince of Wales wrote The Old Man of Lochnaggar, but I had never been able to get my hands on a copy of it. I sent her two copies of my self- published books  for her to read to her grandchildren.



Then late last week I received a registered package in the royal post and I puzzled for a moment and then it struck me. I ripped it open and out fell a copy of The Old Man of Lochaggar! Then I pulled out a small envelope that was embossed with a "C".


I grabbed the letter opener and I found a letter which was addressed to me and I would tell you what the Duchess wrote but that's private and confidential - I know I'm bad, aren't I? Ok, the gist of it was that she thanked me for the books and said that she was sending a copy of The Old Man of Lochnaggar because I hadn't been able to get one here.

I was floored! Gobsmacked! shocked and very, very touched and humbled  that she would take the time to write back and furthermore take time to send me a copy of the book. It's needless to say that I'm thrilled. 

So here's a big thank you to HRH The Duchess of Cornwall for her very kind and thoughtful gesture. It is much appreciated. I look forward to reading HRH's book and will be discussing it on my blog right here! Stay tuned.

Bologna Children's Book Fair and London Book Fair Here We Come.

Look who have been given their copies of A Day with the Duchess

As you all know, in addition to being a royalist, I'm a huge movie, TV and sports fan and when I have the opportunity to meet some of my favourite celebrities, I like to give them a copy of one of my books. Here are some snaps of some of my favourite celebrities accepting their copies of A Day with the Duchess.


David Gandy
Gary Barlow
Mark Owen
Matthew Settle with The Lion Dance and A Day with the Duchess
Michael Owen

Charlie Cox

Royal Inspiration Part Deux

In 2011,  I followed the news of The Royal Wedding with great interest. Then when it was announced the Cambridges were coming I was all agog with excitement. I asked my friends Catherine and Sarah if I could borrow their kids because they were cute and I was sure that they would help me attract the royal couple over.  Well they both gave me the same answer: NO!



So I went to Gardens by the Bay in the hopes of meeting the royal couple with my Mum and niece. We met the Adeney family there and my mum got chatting with them and gave Alice Adeney one of the bouquets we were going to give the Duchess.


After waiting for hours in the blazing sun, the royal tram came by and stopped right in front. The Duke walked in one direction, while the Duchess came right over to us. My niece handed her a pencil sketch I had done of her and my mum gave her a photo that I had taken of Princess Diana and a copy of my children’s book Blow A Kiss. I shook her hand and remained relatively speechless. And then she was off.


The Duchess accepts a copy of Blow A Kiss




A reporter later interviewed my mum about what she discussed and she was quoted in Hello, saying that I had given Celine a Dion a copy of one of my books and shortly thereafter she was expecting. About two months after we gave the Duchess my book she was expecting too! What a coincidence! LOL
 A literary scout even approached me with interest in my book.


The Duchess holding her copy of my book Blow a Kiss +Raymond Liw




As there were no souvenirs commemorating the royal visit, I decided to write a children's book about it. I tried to self publish the book before my publisher suggested making it part of my Sam, Sebbie and Di-Di-Di series of books and that's what I did. A year and a half after the royal couple's visit.

Later that year, Chloe Howard of Royal Central kindly interviewed me about the book and several blogs and magazines picked it up. And at that time I was already thinking of a sequel that would be set in London and would include Prince George, his new sibling and Lupo.
Well, the book is in production and will be out in May. Thank you to Chloe Best of  Hello Magazine online for writing a story about it and to all the other magazines who have featured it. I haven't had an easy time as an author all these years, but the recent attention for  my new book A Royal Adventure has really boosted my morale.
Thank you everyone and I can't wait for the new book to be out. I will be giving away a copy of the book once it is hot off the press. Stay tuned for details.

Royal Inspiration Part Duex

In 2011,  I followed the news of The Royal Wedding with great interest. Then when it was announced the Cambridges were coming I was all agog with excitement. I asked my friends Catherine and Sarah if I could borrow their kids because they were cute and I was sure that they would help me attract the royal couple over.  Well they both gave me the same answer: NO!



So I went to Gardens by the Bay in the hopes of meeting the royal couple with my Mum and niece. We met the Adeney family there and my mum got chatting with them and gave Alice Adeney one of the bouquets we were going to give the Duchess.


After waiting for hours in the blazing sun, the royal tram came by and stopped right in front. The Duke walked in one direction, while the Duchess came right over to us. My niece handed her a pencil sketch I had done of her and my mum gave her a photo that I had taken of Princess Diana and a copy of my children’s book Blow A Kiss. I shook her hand and remained relatively speechless. And then she was off.

The Duchess accepts a copy of Blow A Kiss



Photo from the Internet. @Getty Images.
A reporter later interviewed my Mum about what she discussed and she was quoted in Hello, saying that I had given Celine a Dion a copy of one of my books and shortly thereafter she was expecting. About two months after we gave the Duchess my book she was expecting too! What a coincidence! LOL
 A literary scout even approached me with interest in my book.


The Duchess holding her copy of my book Blow a Kiss +Raymond Liw




As there were no souvenirs commemorating the royal visit, I decided to write a children's book about it. I tried to self publish the book before my publisher suggested making it part of my Sam, Sebbie and Di-Di-Di series of books and that's what I did. A year and a half after the royal couple's visit.

Later that year, Chloe Howard of Royal Central kindly interviewed me about the book and several blogs and magazines picked it up. And at that time I was already thinking of a sequel that would be set in London and would include Prince George, his new sibling and Lupo.
Well, the book is in production and will be out in May. Thank you to Chloe Best of  Hello Magazine online for writing a story about it and to all the other magazines who have featured it. I haven't had an easy time as an author all these years, but the recent attention for  my new book A Royal Adventure has really boosted my morale.
Thank you everyone and I can't wait for the new book to be out. I will be giving away a copy of the book once it is hot off the press. Stay tuned for details.

Royal Inspiration

Some people may wonder why a Singapore-based author is writing children's books about the royals. I'm a royalist since my paternal grandmother was English and both my grandfathers and my  parents were educated in the United Kingdom. Royals have always fascinated me as I have always thought they stood for something noble, something good and that has inspired me to write about them/
My first book featuring royal a character was about a fictitious child emperor in The Littlest Emperor. But let me take you back to the beginning  to my very first encounter with an actual royal personage.



I was about 7 years old and I accompanied his parents to watch my Uncle Philip play polo with the Prince of Wales in Singapore. My parents wisely prevented me from speaking to the Prince because all I wanted to ask was what it felt like to fall off a polo pony. 
I had my first glimpse of Princess Diana in 1981 right before she married the Prince of Wales.  I stood outside the gates of Buckingham Palace as she sped off to watch the ladies' finals at Wimbledon. 

It would be eight long years before I was to see her again.  But came within hand-shaking distance of  her twice when the royal couple paid an official visit to Hong Kong in 1989. As you can tell from way back then I did not have what it takes to be a royal press photographer and I still don't.

Princess Diana in Hong Kong 89 ©David Seow

 I finally had a chance to exchange a few words with the Princess in 1992 while I was on a college summer program with the University of Portland. Some of my classmates and I brought my visually impaired friend, Shannon, to meet the Princess of Wales at the Royal Opera House.  
Princess Diana @ The Royal Opera House. ©David SeowWe were so thrilled to have met her that we accidentally left Shannon behind in the tube station. After a few panicked minutes, I would say about ten, we found her in the lift, trying to find her way out of it!  To say she was not amused wouldn't be untrue.
Princess Diana shakes my hand. (I found this photo on the internet 23 years after
meeting her)
The next time I met the Princess was when she was attending a luncheon. By the time she departed, the flowers I brought for her were already wilting, yet she walked across the street to meet me. I was so nervous that I curtsied as she took my hand and that elicited a giggle from the Princess.
©David Seow
A policeman later told me: “She’s not likely to forget you. No bloke has ever curtsied to the Princess.” Not wanting to end his summer program on such an awkward note, I accompanied my classmates to the Princess’s next public event at BAFTA at Piccadilly Circus.
©David Seow
Sure enough when the Princess emerged, I started babbling like an incoherent baboon. Something along the cringe-worthy lines of  “You’re so beautiful. I love you!” OK, I warned you it would be cringe-worthy.
" I remember you." ©StacyMartzall


She lowered her head (I was shorter than she was in heels) and gazed at me with those cornflower blue eyes and smiled. I remember you. You’re so sweet. You gave me flowers last Tuesday.” Took the flowers from my hands and continued to smile sweetly as I stood there with my mouth agape until she departed several minutes later. Now, she didn’t have to say she remembered me but that was the kind of person she was.
But it was to be another two decades before I even thought about writing about members of the Royal Family.
To be continued....

Another teaser from A Royal Adventure

Prayers for Pakistan