No comments about The Gardens of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother: A Personal Tour with the Marchioness of Salisbury.

2 comments about Prince Eddy: And the Homosexual Underworld.

1. So much bunk has been written about Queen Victoria's grandson -- that he was Jack the Ripper or at the very least connected to the Ripper murders, etc. Here at last is a responsible, intelligently researched and extremely readable look at "Prince Eddy" and the real scandals that plagued his short life. Aronson does a wonderful job of depicting the homosexual underworld of Victorian Britain, bringing up some enlightening "home truths" for those who foolishly think that homosexuality is only an issue for our time. I would commend this book to those interested in gay history, in royal watching, and in the Jack the Ripper case as well -- it is informative and rewarding on all three topics.



2. "Prince Eddy" is a lively recounting of London's Cleveland Street Scandal of 1889 and the involvement in it by Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale (a/k/a Prince Eddy). Part biography, part history lesson, part crime novel "Prince Eddy" captures the sexual mores of the Victorian Era quite well and along the way paints a very unflattering portrait of a mostly forgotten royal. As the eldest son of the Prince and Princess of Wales (later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra) Prince Eddy was 2nd in line to assume the throne and a horrible potential heir and monarch. Born premature Prince Eddy showed little intellectual curiosity and indeed may have been what Victorians termed "feeble minded" if not mildly retarded. As a result of his stunted intellect and ambivalent sexuality Prince Eddy wound up in the center of a homosexual rentboy scandal that threatened to publicly implicate him. Many other gentlemen and aristocrats were exposed in the scandal, many of whom were quite close to Prince Eddy and were it not for the intervention of the royal family and their retinue of courtiers he likely would have been found out. Scrupulously researched utilizing police papers released in 1975 by the Public Record Office concerning the case, and the letters of one of the other participants in the scandal, Lord Arthur Somerset, Aronson has confirmed the Prince Eddy's involvement beyond a reasonable doubt.
   
   Aronson details the whole of Prince Eddy's dissolute and sordid life including his heterosexual relations and engagement to Mary of Teck. Aronson dispels the many myths about Prince Eddy's death in 1892, including those that he was spirited away to an asylum to prevent his ascension to the throne and he explains how Mary of Teck wound up engaged and subsequently married to Eddy's younger brother George (later King George V and Queen Mary). It's frightening to think how close someone as incapable of ruling as Prince Eddy came to just that. Prince Eddy was long implicated as London's notorious Jack the Ripper, which Aronson thoroughly debunks. Well researched, thoroughly footnoted and well written "Prince Eddy" is perhaps the definitive book on this pathetic and forgotten royal. Presented in a factual manner the book is nonetheless a lively pageturner.

2 comments about Witness of a Century.

1. Frankland did a cursory job in his biography of Arthur. His exploits in Egypt under General Garnet Wolsey were not as in depth as I would have liked, but did a good job in his relationship with Queen Victoria. Arthur lived through some of the most turbulent times in Britain and Frankland did an admirable job in bringing those events with the aspect of Arthur in them. If someone is an Anglophile or even more so a fan of royalty or Queen victoria then they will enjoy Frankland's biography



2. This was a good biogaphy on the Duke of Connaught, the author has done an excellent job in explaining/detailing Prince Arthur's miltary and then later, diplomatic career. However, the author did not focus enough, in my view, on his relationships with his family; particularly his children and grandchildren.
   
   At the time this biography was published the Queen Mother; Princess Alice, Duchess of Glouster; and Queen Ingrid of Denmark were still alive; couldn't the author arrange an interview with any of these three individuals? If not, there was always the Royal Swedish Archives; he could have searched for any letters, etc. belonging to Crown Princess Margaret of Sweden.
   
   Also the author did not mention that Queen Elizabeth was his godaughter, and he barely mentioned the Duke's reaction to the abdication of King Edward VIII. Finally, although he did not live to meet Queen Margrethe, he must have gained knowledge of her birth in 1940 through various sources (Crown Princess Louise of Sweden for an example) before he died in 1942.

No comments about The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin: Including an Autobiographical Chapter. Edited by his son. Volume 2.

2 comments about Diana: The People's Princess.

1. Diana: The People's Princess is a lavish picture book provides a close-up of Princess Diana's life, providing over a hundred photos and a lively text which chronicles the progress of her life both before and after her marriage to Charles. Fans of Diana who want a coffee table celebration of her accomplishments will find Diana: The People's Princess to be satisfying and colorful.



2. This book covers Diana's entire life including baby pictures of her. The color photographs are large-size and high quality. The book is suitable to place on a coffee table. The informative text fully explains the more than 125 photographs included in the book. If you like Diana you will love this book and not be disappointed. Enjoy!

No comments about The Richest Man in the World.

1 comments about From Coloman the Learned to Bela 111.

1. Good Points: This book covers the reigns of the 12th century kings of Hungary following a straightforward reign-by-reign approach. It is well researched, so if you're interested in the period, you'll find the facts that you want in here. You probably can't find this amount of detail in another English-language book, and I certainly knew much more about this period than I did before I opened the book.

   Downsides: It's expensive and not very long -- presumably inevitable for a small monograph. The writing is a bit unpolished (I suspect that the author is writing in his second language) although there is never a problem in understanding what is being said. The book is stronger on facts than analysis (it would be interesting, for example, to know why the Byzantine emperor Manuel I was so determined to overthrow Stephen III).

   I also thought that the space used for the two chapters that did not focus on a single ruler would have been nmore effectively devoted to a couple of extra reigns (either before or after the ones covered). One was on the laws of Ladislas I; without a chapter on Ladislas's reign, it just didn't fit. The other was on the investiture controversy. That story wasn't specific to Hungary, and has been told elsewhere.

No comments about Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother: The Life that Spanned a Century 1900-2002 (Illustrated London News).

No comments about The Life Of Charles XII, King Of Sweden.

2 comments about Royal Sisters.

1. you will stay up all night to finish this gem, I know i did, it was so fantastic right now i'm loaeded up on caffeine just to finish the work day because i was so addicted on this book that i HAD to stay up all night to savor every little word in this masterpiece! READ IT!!!!!!



2. Helen Keller once wrote, "Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved." These words perhaps portray the making of the future Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret of Great Britain from their celebrated birth to their early adult lives. Anne Edwards, an experienced biographer who has written books such as "Queen Mary and the House of Windsor", "Ever After: Diana and the Life She Led", and "Sonya: The Life of Countess Tolstoy", among many others, is no stranger to the British Royal Family. Her thorough research on the subject, extensive notes, and detailed descriptions highly contributed to the understanding of a reader who started out not knowing much about the hierarchy of the British Crown. A book about the adolescent and early adult lives of the two princesses, I found it to be at times, like chicken soup for the reader's soul. It teaches the lesson of not being bitter and jealous through unfavorable and painful experiences and to love from the bottom of your heart by giving all you have. The royal sisters Elizabeth and Margaret have gone through so many unfair and trying circumstances together, and have truly succeeded in carrying out the message that "the great use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it" (William James)--just look at all their contributions to the world!