3 comments about Princess Margaret: A Life of Contrasts.

1. I was looking forward to this book because it was publicized as authorized by Princess Margaret. Also the writer has known her personally for twenty years.

   I was disappointed and am glad that I borrowed it from my library. I wouldn't buy it, but had been prepared to if I felt it added to my knowledge of the Royal Family. Many repeats of stories I've read before.




2. Princess Margaret was a complicated character, and I was hoping to really see her "life of contrasts" brought to life by Mr Warwick. That this book was authorized, and the author was a friend of the princess, perhaps worked against us in really gettomg a clear picture of the princess. I think that through years of friendship and loyalty [the only way you become a freind of a member of the royal family] Warwick may have left out some of the most complex and intriguing aspects of her story. Although a good "run down" of all the ups and downs of Margaret's life, there was nothing here that one couldn't get out of any other book about Margaret -- with the exception of the fact that there weren't the salacious rumors that have been in other books recently put out about the princess.
   It would have been interesting to get a better picture about what the princess felt about various things in her life and family-- beyond hating her grandmother Queen Mary (the most interesting tidbit of the whole book)-- but perhaps princess Margaret understood that old maxim that "you should never let daylight in on the majic"



3. A few weeks ago, I saw online a copy of the auction catalog for the estate of Princess Margaret. Bemused, I bought it to look at and only gradually did the sadness of the whole thing start to sink in.
   This particular biography spends a great deal of time chronicling the childhood, war years and the Townsend affair, but the last forty years of the Princess' life after that is glossed over. Why? It's as though she died once the Townsend thing was finished. The rest feels like a post- mortem. Her older years should be the more important part of her life, a time of growing up, reflection and maturity, but the author shies away from this. There are brief mentions of her 'spirituality' but one almost gets the idea it's when she was too sick to party that she settled down and pulled out the Bible for lack of anything else to do. There is only a glossing over of the 40 or so years of her life after Townsend and it's as though the author was told in no uncertain term, "Hands Off!"
   This approach is what is so disappointing about the biography and it shows up in the others previously written. Is the mythos of royalty that powerful that no one can write an honest assessment of the Princess' life?
   In any case, the facts of her life are so well known that newer insights would have been appreciated. She lead, ultimately a very sad sort of existence. Heir to her uncle's weaknesses, her behavior in addition to that of the the more 'modern' royals throughout the years brought the monarchy down into the mud. Then, for almost 30 years she became a shadow figure. What happened to her, what did she go through? None of this is explained, no interviews from currently living relatives or friends shed any light on this part of her life.
   What's tragic is that she never really seemed to find her place, what her special 'calling' might haver been other than as tabloid fodder. Even with his overly conservative text, the author makes it very clear with what isn't said.
   To top off all of this, the recent auction held by her children is unutterably sad and in poor taste. Couldn't they have sold the items in question through private channels? After all the years with their mother, etc, they fling yet more mud on her even in death. It's so pathetic.
   I wonder if they regret following her wishes to have her body cremated - Just think if they'd had her stuffed at a taxidermist, they could have made even MORE money selling her carcass too. . .

1 comments about In Private-In Public: The Prince and Princess of Wales.

1. This is a beautiful full color picture book that gives many pages of respectable information that focuses on Diana, Charles and their two precious children, when they were small.

   It covers Diana and Charles' activities, hobbies, trips, adventures, and their life being the parents of William and Harry when they were small.

   I bought this book in 1987, and it has held up beautifully. You can see Diana coming into her own, as well as her devotion to her husband and children. From pony rides to speaking engagements, charitable work, and life both at home and abroad, you will find a most beautiful portrayal in this book.

   Highly recommended as a treasure for your library.

No comments about Pickle the Spy - or, The Incognito of Prince Charles.

1 comments about The Duchess of Kent: The Troubled Life of Katharine Worsley.

1. The author's research and detail here is incredible. She presents a well-rounded and unbiased look at the Duchess of Kent, and as much as I admired the Duchess for her determination and faith, I was thoroughly disgusted by the Royal Family's cold and insensitive treatment of her. Although the book drags a little bit, I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in this subject.

5 comments about Prince of Pleasure: The Prince of Wales and the Making of the Regency.

1. I am ambivalent at best about Saul David's book "Prince of Pleasure".

   On the good side I think he is very readable and I did enjoy a great deal of this book. Unfortunately I don't think he brought up much to shed new light on the Prince and indeed some of the matters on which he emphasised he failed to distinguish between rumour and innuendo, and what was actual provable fact - the supposed love children of the Prince Regent's sisters for instance. Other people have presented far better researched and more compelling arguments on these things than he did.

   The book left wondering what there was really new in this that Christopher Hibbert has not discussed in his 2 volume biography of the Prince Regent Published some 25 years ago? If there was anything new about the Prince I think it was mostly window decoration.

   Also I was somewhat disturbed by a number of errors of fact in the book - none of which really destroyed or influenced the subject of the book as they were on peripheral issues - but nevertheless annoying - for instance he said the Earl of Barrymore (better known as Hellgate) had been shot by the soldiers in his regiment - untrue. He died in an accidental shooting when his sporting gun went off in his carriage. David implies that Harriette Wilson made a fortune from her memoirs - also not true.

   I also found it hard to agree with some of the interpretations he put on various quotes from people - to prove that the Prince had had an affair with Harriette Wilson for instance - or his assertion from a very ambiguous quote that Beau Brummell was Gay.

   David does have a very neat way of blending in the elements of history with the life of the Prince Regent which I also found very enjoyable. I wish he would footnote a bit more so it was possible to see where he drew his information from.

   One final quibble I have with this book is that "Prince of Pleasure" is a title that is already used by J B Priestley's 1969 work on the Prince Regent and the Regency period. This was a popular book and well known. I wondered if David had read it, but it doesn't turn up in his bibliography - a fact I find surprising for he must have come across it in his research. It just seems a bit cheeky to use the same title in a book on exactly the same subject and not acknowledge it.

   In the end I am left wondering what he has added that was not already known about the Prince Regent. Still it is interesting and readable.




2. George IV or the Prince Regent is the caricature monarch of English history. In the age of the scything cartoonist, the larger than life Prince was the ideal subject through his loves, sense of melodrama and overblown antics. David, wisely in my opinion confines himself to the period before his ascendancy to the throne, after which George, by virtue of his gout and his unpopularity became a subdued, sorry figure. David whisks us through all the major episodes, Mrs. Fitzherbert, his doomed marriage, the infidelity of both spouses and his eternal opulence and theatrics. There is such a wealth of literature both on the Prince and the Regency, that a new approach or a fresh insight is virtually impossible, particularly from a biographical standpoint. Hence the best an author can do under the circumstances is provide a rollicking read and a fun, lively approach and David measures up to the task. This is a thoroughly enjoyable book about a perenially endearing cartoonlike figure. No revisionist breakthroughs here, but a lot of fun.



3. He started off pretty, but it was only skin deep. He was vain and greedy. He was particularly irksome to both wives (secret and catholic Mrs Fitzherbert, "respectable" but dizzy Princess Caroline). But no-one is all bad - he loved his daughter, enjoyed parties and built a few memorable buildings. What a waste of a life. Despite the horrible cover, this is a solid book on the Prince Regent which will be read (or glanced at) by regency buffs the world over.



4. This is a good book about a bad man. While George IV is believed to have been a style setter and taste-maker, his life was so motivated by self-indulgance and egotism that even a biographer as talented as Mr. David cannot hope but to fail in his hopeless attempt to make the subject of this books attractive.
   George IV was the son of America's last king, George III. In his life there were hosts of empty headed women of easy virtue, massive tasteless building projects, flitations with radical politics, and more excess than the average Hollywood star of the moment. By his example, George IV makes Jim Morrison look like a choir boy. And what a bore he must of been as well!
   Mr. David attempts to make the prince likable, but one is compelled upon a dispassionate read of the facts to conclude with Thackery that he was little more than a cad with a crown. This is the opposite conclusion to which Mr. David attempts, and hats off to him for his efforts on behalf of this poor dead king's reputation. It is kind of difficult to feel any sympathy for a man who treated his wife so poorly, drank himself to excess, spent money fecklessly and in the end believed himself (rather pathetically) the victor of the battle of Waterloo.



5. I'm past halfway and feel I know enough of the book to judge. The title, subtitle and back copy are misleading. This book offers far more political history than cultural history and the focus on the Prince himself wavers so often I found myself wanting to sit Saul David or his editor down and deliver a stern talking-to. Prince of Pleasure? Prince of Politics is more like it, with one endless shuffle of the cabinet after another. As if that weren't enough, the writing is flat, though at times David gets slangy or jokey as if aware of his prosaic style. And as a historian, he;s inconsistent: we get endless gross detail about how unclean and unhygienic Princess Caroline was, yet she goes on to have many lovers--did no one else besides her husband and some courtiers early on ever comment? Or did she have a soap-related epiphany? Inquiring minds want to know.

No comments about The Letters of Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barret Barrett 1845-1846 vol II (1899).

No comments about Pleasures And Palaces: The Memoirs of Princess Lazarovich Hrebelianovich, Eleanor Calhoun.

1 comments about The Rise and Fall of the House of Windsor.

1. I had read this book before, but just re-read it this weekend.
   It is one of the best books on the British Royal Family that I have read. The author's insights and observations are right on target. It was published in 1993 before the tragic death of Princess Diana, but that does not change his thoughts on the problems of the monarchy. Nothing will change until the death of Queen Elizabeth II as she is too bound up in tradition to modernize. The whole family lives in a time warp.

   I recommend this book highly to anyone who is interested in the history of the House of Windsor and how it is crumbling.

No comments about The Greatness of Louis Xiv, (College).

4 comments about Brother to the Sun King: Philippe, Duke of Orleans.

1. The story of Philippe, brother of Louis XIV (also known as Sun King) is very exciting and iteresting. The book provides knowledge not only about Philippe, but also about his surroundings and with link to all possible things that were happening in France of that time. The description of his life is not like in most history books - you can even feel the atmosphere as you were there! You can also learn about Louis XIV from it and about their family realtions. The book covers both official and privat aspects of Philippe's life. Great book and very good work of the author!



2. As only brother to the Sun King, Louis XIV of France, Philippe, Duke of Orleans lived forever in the shadow of his older brother. Because of the numerous uprisings in France by a younger brother of the King, Philippe was taught from birth that he could never outshine his brother or be given any prominent place in his government. Because of this, Philippe led a fairly "wasted" life, perhaps best known for his flagrant homosexuality. Yet author Nancy Nichols Barker points out that when allowed to shine, the Duke was a competent soldier, lover of fine arts, good father and the founder of the Orleans dynasty which eventually ruled France. While the progeny of Louis XIV died out with the revolution, the descendants of Philippe populated the great Catholic thrones of Europe.

   The author does a good job with source material and especially the "psychological" background of her characters, such as Philippe and his two wives, Henriette of England and Elizabeth Charlotte of Palatine. The first marriage was a disaster but the second marriage flourished for a long time. Elizabeth Charlotte or Liselotte is given a major part of the biography and her background is presented in a very interesting manner. I would recommend this book highly to anyone interested in French history.




3. This book sets out to right a great wrong. The Duke of Orleans comes across as a petty and, at times, annoying figure in the Memoirs of St Simon. Ms. Barker's work does much to make up for what St Simon has done in the past. However, the work is flawed by Ms Barker's use of Freudian psychology to explain the Duke's homosexuality. This is probably the only real flaw in this book, but it is sufficient to undermine an unqualified recommendation.



4. Though I disagree with some of the author's opinions, it's always good to read and learn more about easily misjudged historic characters.