THE ADMIRAL'S DAUGHTER (book 8 in the Kydd series) has been officially nominated for the Mountbatten Maritime Literary Award.  The awards dinner is on October 30 in London and notable names that are involved include the First Sea Lord, Lord Selsdon and Lady Mountbatten. Lord Mountbatten, after whom the award is named, was Britain's First Sea Lord and closely related to the Queen.

Julian and his wife Kathy were also guests when Princess Anne officially opened the revamped Ivybridge (Devon) library earlier this week. One of the items currently on display in the library is an incredible model made by a Stockwin fan, of the ship Teazer which featured in one of Julian's novels. The model took 2 years to make, its progress was monitored on the Stockwin website during that time, and the maker then generously presented it to Julian as a gift. Julian has given it on loan to the library during their reopening celebrations.

Princess Anne (shown here with Julian) was presented with a copy of his latest novel COMMAND. Her lady in waiting told the Stockwins that she would probably start reading it straight away in the helicopter home!