I know my Royal books as only a confirmed Republican champagne
socialist can. I read them all with a strong suspicious gaze, entrenched in my
lefty feminism.
I am always looking for books at the sweetspot of fairness,
a certain objectivity, and clever, funny commentary. If they are somewhat bitchy,
all the better.
The i newspaper asked me to pick my favourites, in the
light of the new book by Charles Spencer on his sister, Diana Princess of
Wales, who died 29 years ago.
“Of course they can’t answer back” is the cry of those who defend the British Royal family. Read a few of these books and you would conclude They Never Shut Up – they are full of details coming from direct sources.
As I say in the piece
Troublesome parents, difficult children, sibling fights – maybe you can get all that at home, but it’s always encouraging to read about the problems of the rich and privileged, which is probably why books about the royals are so enthralling.
There’s an awful lot of angry brothers in the list below…
You can find my piece at the I here, though it is probably
paywalled.
You can expand and peer at this, and also get some idea of the titles from the top illo
and looked at Royals on the blog:
A King's Story by The Duke of Windsor
Abdication: you can't be fashionable AND Royal
My Memories of Six Reigns by Princess Marie Louise
Princess Diana is an expert on clothes
I’m struggling to rake up even a scrap of interest in the royals at the moment, though Dianaworld is still on my list. Such a lot of trouble would have been saved if Charles had just married Camilla at the outset…
ReplyDeleteSovay
Ditto. And well said. 👏👏👏
DeleteI don't feel like that! I really enjoy the royal chitchat and scandal.
DeleteI fully expect that the Royals could have created all kinds of other trouble if he had married Camilla back then
There are times when I enjoy the royal soap opera and other times (as now) when they all just annoy the XXXX out of me …
DeleteSovay
I can understand that even though I feel differently
DeleteI mean, they always annoy me - entitlement, privilege and too much money - but I enjoy the show
You picked some really interesting books, Moira. With so many books about the royals available, it's hard to know which books are clear-eyed and factual and which are not. I see there's a Hilary Mantel there; that one especially interests me. What a writer she was..
ReplyDeleteI tried to make it a varied selection, so I appreciate your kind words Margot.
DeleteI kind of choked on your first sentence--over here a Republican socialist is a contradiction in terms, and calling a person that could be hazardous to your health! The use of "Republican" to describe a proponent of republics also wouldn't fly here, where Republicans support a wanna-be dictator....
ReplyDeleteI'm in the UK and I use British phrases!
DeleteWhen I was living in the US I enjoyed a conversation where one person accused another of being a 'liberal'. The Brit recipient was absolutely outraged, because liberal to her was wishy-washy centrist and she was a proper left-winger.
Political terms are one of those areas where we are "separated by a common language"....I knew what you meant, but I couldn't help reacting as an American!
DeleteI’m always thrown during American elections by the red states and the blue states - in the UK a red constituency would be socialist and a blue one, conservative.
DeleteSovay
Yes indeed Sovay, as Marty says - the common language doesn't always work
DeleteIt confuses me, too. The coloring derives from television newscasts & used to alternate between elections.
DeleteThat's a fascinating detail, that it wasn't fixed....
DeleteBeing Canadian, you'll understand that I pay particular attention to the political goings-on south of the border. The American red and blue throws me so much that on their election nights I find myself searching for the "R" and "D'"designations to really get a sense of where things are heading.
DeleteI've always found it interesting that the colours red and blue indicate pretty much the opposite throughout the Commonwealth. In my country, the Liberals are red and the Conservatives are blue. The socially progressive Conservatives - a vanishing breed - are known as 'Red Tories.' In New Zealand, the centre-left Labour Party is red while the centre-right National Party is blue... and on it goes.
Do not get me started on the American "color," "labor," and "center."
Always - divided by common language, as Marty says above! Colours shouldn't be important, but are, and are always assumed to have a long important history. But apparently, pink for a girl and blue for a boy is a recent invention, as is red for Santa Claus.
DeleteIs this in the paper today, Moira? Chrissie
ReplyDeleteIt was in yesterday's Chrissie, they took a while to put it online
Delete
DeleteGeorge Orwell said that George V's father, Edward VII made turn-ups fashionable. He was at the races and it was raining, so he turned up his trousers. When the rain stopped Edward rified of my father and I intend to ensure my sons continue the tradition.(or his (soom to be ex, no doubt) valet) forgot to turn them down and created an inadvertent fashion.
Edward said "My father was terrified of his father and I was terrified of my father and I intend to ensure my sons continue the tradition.
DeleteIt's sad really, and no doubt was true of many similar families that weren't even royal.
DeleteI did think Duke of Windsor's memoirs were full of interesting stories. He had to wear a special costume for his investiture, and he hated it because he knew he would be bullied at Naval College because of it.
From what I gather (which may have come from left field somewhere) both Edward VII & Edward VIII were great disappointments to their fathers regarding "royal" behavior. Neither father was exactly easy-going, but no doubt there were faults on both sides. I have the impression that Edward VIII was not good "king material" and that Britain dodged a bullet when he abdicated. JMO of course and I'm sure someone will speak up in his defense!
DeleteWell to be fair, Edward VII was only 20 when his father died, early days to be judged.
DeleteEdward VIII was a difficult fellow to make sense of, but he likely would have made a perfectly good king with the right advisers and support: it is very convenient to follow the Royal line that we all ha a narrow escape, GVI was a much better option, it was hard on him to have to take over (all of those things? really?). Queen Mother (GVI's wife) certainly got to direct the view of all this, helped by living so long and being 'popular'. They have created a massive and surprisingly unquestioned view of the situation.
I was fascinated to learn recently that George V nearly died in the 1920s - so nearly that the future Duke of Windsor raced to his sickbed. If he HAD died then, EVIII would have ascended to the throne before he met Mrs Simpson, and presumably everything would have been very very different - even if he had met her later. I think it would make a great alt-hist novel for someone....
Maybe things would've been all right if he'd never met Mrs Simpson, but that's a big if. A royal who could be bullied because he had to wear traditional garments at an important ceremony doesn't sound to me like a great candidate for the crown. He'd have to face much worse during his reign considering the high standards royalty had to meet. Given his actions after he'd fallen for Mrs Simpson, he didn't seem to have much understanding of those standards. Maybe I'm biased because I don't go for all that romantic "sacrifice for the woman he loved" and I've never cared for what I've read about Mrs Simpson. I can't even imagine her as Consort.
DeleteThe royals' version of events hasn't been unchallenged. Michael Bloch wrote several books sympathetic to the Windsors and his publishing of their correspondence was a best-seller.
DeleteIsn't that victim-blaming? They weren't traditional, they had been designed for the event. King Charles, William, Kate and Harry were all bullied at school - are the prospects not good in your view?
DeleteBloch's versions defended the Windsors, but did not make the other points I mention.
My mum’s currently reading up about the Mass Observation project (which started in Britain in the late 1930s and was aimed at getting a better understanding of what “ordinary people” thought about issues of public interest) and reports that one of its first topics was the Abdication; it found that Edward VIII had been widely popular as Prince of Wales and remained so, and that most people were a lot less bothered by the fact that Mrs Simpson was a) American and b) divorced than religious and Establishment leaders thought they ought to be. So if he’d stuck to his guns …
DeleteIf she’d made it to the Queen Consort role, I wonder if she’d have been allowed to be Queen Wallis? I didn’t think that was her first name so looked it up; it turned out to be Bessie, which is a name suitable only for cows so I don’t blame her for changing. However she could perhaps have expanded on it and become Queen Elizabeth, as her bête noire the old Queen Mother did.
Sovay
No no, plainly she should have chosen Ermyntrude! I think Queen Ermyntrude has a real ring to it 😀😀😀
DeleteHaving talked in my youth to my slightly bolshy, generally unimpressed older relations, I very much agree with the MO conclusion
Claud Cockburn expressed the same view about the abdication in The Devil’s Decade. The alternate history possibilities, both vital and minor, are endless. Would diplomacy have been more effective? Would the Moseleys have been treated differently? Would Princess Elizabeth have married Philip? Would Ermyntrude have become a classic name?
DeleteNerys
You definitely should be writing the alt-hist investigation, you are full of great ideas
DeleteActually, Moira, I have just fished that copy out of the recycling bin! My eye must have passed over the headline without noticing the magic words 'Moira Redmond!' Really enjoyed your brief but incisive summaries. It all makes me glad that I was not born into the royal family. Chrissie
ReplyDeleteOh that's great, glad you find it! It's awkward when they separate the online production from the print one. I assumed it was going to be in Saturday's, and was terribly surprised myself when I was reading through Friday's paper and found it...
DeleteI too find them incredibly annoying, but sometimes enjoy the soap opera. I did read, and I'm not sure why, Charles Spencer's book about his time at a terrible school, where he was sent when he was seven. That must have a negative effect, to put it mildly, on a person.
ReplyDeleteChristine
Yes indeed, I didn't read that one, but it sounded very upsetting. Weirdly in the new book he keeps saying how happy their childhood was....
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