Bloomsbury falls for faked Sun King diaries

A biography of the Sun King Louis XIV's mistress has been put on hold after it was discovered that its author, Veronica Buckley, unwittingly used a fake diary as her primary source material.

While writing her book, Madame de Maintenon: The Secret Wife of Louis X1V, Buckley thought she'd hit gold when she came across a book by French author Francois Bluche. Called Le Journal secret de Louis XIV, it purported to be the monarch's diary and was studded with detailed information about his daily routine. She quoted from it at length.

However, Bluche's book only imagined what the King's journals would have been like, piecing together a picture from information gleaned from historical documents - Louis (pictured) did not keep a diary, at least not one that has yet been discovered.

It is a mistake that is costing Buckley's publishers, Bloomsbury, dearly. They have had to postpone the book for two months while they excise the offending passages. This will give them time to "tip in" the pages - in effect, and gluing new ones in. The publication date has now been delayed by two months, to July.

Needless to say, this has caused red faces at Bloomsbury, who only last week were accused of spending too much time pampering to the whims of its most bankable star JK Rowling, and giving too little attention to other authors on its list.