Delve into the story of a secret Royal from Warwick

And people who now live in and around the town will have the chance to discuss the work with its author at Warwick library soon after publication.

Olive, Princess of Cumberland (1772-1834): A Royal Scandal by Miles Macnair is, says the writer, “a tale of seduction and corruption, of artists and courtiers, state secrets and court cases and special agents” - not to mention “inconvenient children” who were never quite certain who their parents had been.

The result of four years’ research and based largely on letters and documents never published before, the book unravels the mysteries of the scandalous life of Olive Wilmot and, in the last chapter, offers some solutions to enigmas that have frustrated historians for nearly 200 years.

Having been baptised in Warwick, Olive spent her early life in St John’s and her teenage years in Barton-on-the-Heath and throughout her life had a long and complex relationship with the then Earl of Warwick, George Greville.

Miles, who lives in Shipston-on-Stour, has worked in industry and for a stock-broking partnership and had several works published, including his biography of the neglected railway pioneer William James, articles in historial journals and a paper on the Central Junction Railway 1820.

He has also edited his mother’s letters from Gibralter, which recounted her husband’s dashing exploits in command of a Royal Navy destroyer during the opening months of the Spanish Civil War.

Olive, Princess of Cumberland will be published by Brewin Books in October, priced £24.95, and Miles will be at Warwick library on Wednesday November 2 at 7pm as part of Warwick Books book shop’s programme of Meet the Author events.