Romance novelist Barbara Cartland dies in England

May 21, 2000
Web posted at: 3:51 p.m. EDT (1951 GMT)

In this story: No sex, please What women want Twice married The lady's a dame RELATED STORIES, SITES

LONDON -- Dame Barbara Cartland, the romance writing queen whose readers could always count on a tall, handsome hero sweeping up a beautiful, innocent heroine, died Sunday. She was 98.

Regarded as the world's most prolific author, Cartland wrote a staggering 723 books with sales of 1 billion copies, translated into 36 languages. She was step-grandmother to the late Princess Diana and was just two months away from her 99th birthday.

"Dame Barbara's books brought happiness and contentment to her millions of readers around the world," said her son, Ian McCorquodale. "Her many letters told her that her books brought light and love into people's lives when all seemed dull and dreary."

	MESSAGE BOARD
Who in the romance book industry will fill Cartland's shoes? Go to the boards.

As heartwarming as her works might have been, Cartland never could never be accused of playing for the cheap and tawdry.

Sex was unwelcome in a Barbara Cartland novel. A lover of pink chiffon, she preferred tales of feminine virtue and manly ideals.

"Dame Barbara was a great believer in family values and spoke strongly during her lifetime on no sex before marriage," McCorquodale said.

Cartland wrote her first novel at 21, eventually becoming so proficient that she could dictate her newest book to one of a relay of secretaries as she reclined on a sofa in a glamorous frock.

She kept to a strict schedule, producing 6,000 to 7,000 words in an afternoon, and could finish a book in seven afternoons.

Reviewers generally ignored her work and she did not pretend to be a great writer. But she was immensely popular.

The appeal of her virginal heroines seemed to grow as society grappled with infidelity, divorce, abortion, drugs and AIDS.

"Personally I want to be loved, adored, worshipped, cossetted, and protected. Judging by the romantic boom, this is what women all over the world want, too," she said in 1977, pointing out that she was a bestseller in Europe, North America, Turkey, Singapore, India, Philippines and Sri Lanka.

"The permissive society has been an awful, crashing flop," she once said. "There's no reason for all that pornography, which is quite disgusting."

But she insisted she was no prude, and was fond of France "because it is the only country where you can make love in the afternoon without someone hammering on the door."

In 1927 Cartland married Alexander McCorquodale, a wealthy Scot. Their daughter Raine was born in 1928. They divorced in 1933.

She continued writing novels and working for newspapers, and in 1936 married Hugh McCorquodale, a cousin of her ex- husband.

They had two sons, Ian and Glen.

Raine was married in 1948 to Gerald Legge, who later became Viscount Lewisham. They divorced and Raine married the 8th Earl Spencer, whose daughter was Princess Diana.

Hugh McCorquodale died in 1963.

In 1991, Cartland was made a Dame of the British Empire. She said she was sure the honor was not for her contributions to literature but for her efforts on behalf of charities and the gypsies.

Asked where her ideas for so many books came from, she told The Associated Press: "Prayer.

"I say a prayer. I really do. I say, 'Please God, get me a plot.' It's absolutely extraordinary: Then a plot comes."

Her family said a small family funeral service and a memorial service would be held. No dates were given.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Romance novelist reflects on life of a princess
September 4, 1997

See related sites about BOOKS

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.