22/500
The Royals the Lives and Loves of the British Monarchs by Leslie Carroll
Published 2011
175 Pages
ISBN: 9781435136205
I found out about The Royals via @onechicgeek on twitter. I was intrigued, mainly because it features 'rare memorabilia'. At the time I bought it, it was exclusively available through Barnes and Noble. Now it has finally come to Amazon!
The Royals is entertaining and the memorabilia is interesting, though the handwriting is impossible to read. Namely Princess Elizabeth (Future Queen Elizabeth I) letter to her half-sister Queen Mary begging her for an audience. Luckily the author gives transcriptions of these documents, otherwise you'd miss out on the point of them.
Reproductions of memorabilia include the execution warrant for Mary, Queen of Scots, William and Catherine's wedding invitation, the Instrument of Abdication, a ticket to Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee ball, as well as a 1901 funeral card for her. Also included is a reproduction of Charles and Diana's Official 1981 Wedding Programme, which, when compared to the original, is nicely done.
My main problem with this book is that there is some gossipy information that seems to be stated as fact: The Queen and Princess Margaret were conceived by artificial insemination. Prince Philip had numerous affairs. Yes, there are rumors about these things, but neither have been proven. So why perpetuate them? I'm not familiar with royal history beyond Queen Victoria, so I can't judge whether there are any other factual errors. Though one review seems to think there are several in the Tudors section of the book.
Were it not for the memorabilia inserts I probably would not have bought The Royals. In all honesty, while this book is a fun read, it would be unremarkable without them.
© Marilyn Braun 2012
Thank you for enjoying this article. If you use the information for research purposes, a link to credit the work I've put into writing it would be appreciated.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Contact Form
Featured Post
If being royal is so extraordinary, why do the royals want to be ordinary?
Being royal is clearly not all it is cracked up to be. Gilt here and there. Liveried footmen abound. Church bells ring on your birthday. Red...
Search This Blog
Popular Posts
-
I've written several reviews for this blog but I don't believe I've ever written one about a magazine. Given the amount of inter...
-
Embed from Getty Images In my quest to track down Diana's auctioned dresses to the current owners, I've started running into detai...
-
"Diamonds are a girl's best friend", and so the song goes. But royal engagement rings are somewhat different. Despite some fab...
-
When Princess Charlotte is christened on Sunday July 5th, she will traditionally be given five or six godparents/sponsors. Prince William ha...
-
If you check the top left hand corner of the blog, just above recent articles, you'll see that I welcome questions on royalty. I love an...
-
Best known as the mother of Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, she was part of a family that can trace their ancestry back to 1557. Born on ...
-
Out of the six children of King George V, Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester seems to get the least amount of notice. Having been long oversha...
-
Why didn't Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester become king when George VI died? By everything that I know, as the next male in succession, ...
Blog Archive
-
▼
2012
(53)
-
▼
April
(6)
- Video: Scenes from London April 28th & 29th 2011
- Can Catherine Cambridge walk on water?
- Royal Book Challenge: The Royals by Leslie Carroll
- Royal Book Challenge: A Hundred Years of Royal Sty...
- Royal Book Challenge: Frances by Max Riddington an...
- Royal Book Challenge: The Royal Tombs Of Great Bri...
-
▼
April
(6)
No comments:
Post a Comment