The Palace Papers: Inside the House of Windsor - the Truth and the Turmoil

The Palace Papers was an interesting & easy read. What I quite liked about this book was that we got to know more about Camilla, especially. I’ve long believed she got a raw deal in the press & especially from people in the United States.The Palace Papers focuses largely on the women—Camilla, Catherine, Diana (ugh) and Meghan. Camilla & all the torment she was handed was really the standout story for me. She seems genuinely interesting, a strong woman who is who she is & is fairly unapologetic about it. She’d be great fun at a dinner party.I believe Tina Brown gets to the point in terms of someone finally showing that despite her ability to use the press for her own gains, Diana was just as unstable, narcissistic and irritating as she seemed & while I’ve no doubt she loved her kids, she & Charles together were utterly toxic. I tend to believe that shows when it comes to William & Harry.Catherine is as dull as she seems, which is rather a good thing. She gets on with the job, which I actually like.Meghan Markle receives quite a bit of understanding in this book from my perspective. The one thing I, like the author, struggle to believe is that she didn’t do any research & didn’t understand why she wasn’t allowed to come in & do everything her way. If anything, as I read this book & thought back on the years of torment Camilla experienced, I found Meghan Markle to be fussing about nothing.As a dual citizen, I don’t believe Americans actually understand the monarchy in the least. The idea that Harry or Meghan was there to do anything other than supporting the Crown was obvious to anyone who understands what the monarchy does.All in all, this book was an easy read. The author was fair & ultimately, it may give some people who wish to learn a bit more insight in to this long held British institution. Britain is not America with nicer accents. This gives a taste of one of the major institutions that has helped to shape modern day Britain.

Meticulously researched and incredibly well written the book masterfully covers the immediate past and raises thought provoking questions about the monarchy future. Particularly relevant in the light of the current palace communication crisis. Highly recommended read.

The book is not the scandalous tittle tattling one might have been led to think but a fairly objective explanation of events with especially pertinent background information. Brown is particularly good at describing the social milieu in which the characters find themselves, or seek to find themselves. Despite the complaints from the Meghan fans about the unfairness of her treatment of Meghan, the only member of the royal family who gets torn to shreds is Andrew, but he deserves it for his sleaziness, arrogance and stupidity. The media, especially the tabloids and papparazzi also get hammered as Brown describes the truly awfulness of the hacking campaign carried out by the Murdoch crew. It was unbelievably horrible. Brown does devote considerable space to Harry and Meghan in trying to explain why they act as they do. Harry has been an angry, tormented soul since childhood, only finding some measure of purpose and contentment in the army. Unfortunately, he could not remain Lt. Wales as a. career. Meghan has been an ambitious, driven individual since childhood, torn by her desire to be somebody as well as to be an agent for good. It is evident that Harry wanted out of Royal life and Meghan was the catalyst that made it happen. In Brown’s opinion (and many others) the two thrive on drama and upheaval. The pre-wedding turmoil began because Meghan could not or would not understand how the Palace worked (thinking that Royal courtiers and staff were the same as contract employees at NBC studios, as in the Queen’s intimate Angela Kelley being just a costume aide) and the Palace could not understand Meghan’s California directness and let’s get things done attitude. Cultural conflict at its worst. Rather than trying to be a conciliator, Harry only fed the flames. It was a sad outcome because the Queen, Philip, Charles and the top level courtiers welcomed Meghan and were pleased at how much she could add to the royal mystique. The only entities who caused trouble from the beginning were the British media, especially the tabloids, who were their usual nasty selves. Brown comments that Meghan might have saved herself a bit of woe if Piers Morgan had been invited to the wedding rather than the George Clooneys. Only time will tell whether or not the Sussex attempts at media empire building will be successful. Brown seems to think that they have not yet accomplished much and that Diana’s media before her death were much better organized. The surprise for me was Brown’s treatment of Camilla and Catherine, as well as Carole Middleton. Her description of Camilla’s upbringing as part of the English county set was interesting and did much to explain Camilla’s behavior. Brown does not condone the affair or how it was carried out, but as a person Camilla comes across as a level headed, charming and attractive person with none of the emotional baggage that plagues everyone else, except Kate. For Catherine Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, there are nothing but bouquets. The girl who was seen as a rather innocuous, uninteresting, unambitious social climber has emerged as a compassionate, caring steel-spined rock for William and ultimately the Crown. She is certainly not a nobody but a thoroughly grounded, emotionally stable and intelligent player in the family drama. Brown is also complimentary to her parents, especially Carole, for their stability, their success as parents and as entrepreneurs. No typical English snobbery present in Brown’s treatment. She admires their middle class values. All in all, this is a readable and credible attempt to explain the current state of the Palace and the monarchy. The Queen, Prince Philip, Camilla and Catherine are lauded. Charles is given both warts and his halo. William is commended for surviving the trauma of his childhood and early youth ( he knew all too well what was going on in his parents’ marriage) and turning out to be a compassionate and thoughtful future king. Harry and Meghan are explained through the lens of their own childhood traumas (Meghan’s was probably far more difficult and fractured than she has admitted). Andrew and the tabloids get their just desserts. The thread running through this is family and what they do to us (PhilipLarkin’s famous one line comes to mind). The only individuals in the royal family who had a stable, normal childhood are Camilla and Catherine. Brown comments that one strength of the monarchy since George V has been marital support. George VI became an admirable king because of the unfailing encouragement and care of his wife. Philip truly was the strength and support of Elizabeth II. Charles and William may also be successful monarchs because of the women they married.

Covers the last 20 years of the British Royal Family. Excellent research with endnotes and acknowledgements. Tina Brown writes as a historian, without judgement or whitewash. Highly recommend for royal watchers and those with a casual interest in the House of Windsor.

I just started reading this book. It is great so far.

This book is well written and well sourced, as you would expect from Tina Brown. However, it is more of a condensed narrative of the lives of the royal family through the last few decades, than a revelation. There are little tidbits here and there but nothing much that is new to those who follow the royals. It is the contemporary royals people are most interests in and she does deal with Megxit and the fissure, but doesn't seem to have done much in the way of investigation. For instance, she calls out Harry for complaining during the Oprah interview about Archie not being given the title of prince when he knew English law prevents it until his father becomes king. But she glosses over Meghan's misstatements in the same interview. There is a lengthy chapter on the press's invasion of the royals privacy which has led Ms. Brown to sympathize greatly with them. There is also a discussion of the problems of being the spare royal child, especially the males. She points out that they are brought up in a world of privilege but no purpose, and little money other than the handouts from the queen and civil list. They are precluded from having remunerative careers because it would conflict with their royal (and neutral) status. This does elicit some sympathy for Edward, Andrew and Harry in that regard. However, this could easily have been covered in a magazine article.

4 1/2 stars. This book is a history of the House of Windsor encompassing the last 210 years and covers off most of the major players in the Royal Family. Brown has great credentials and is a meticulous researcher with a lot of contacts who helped her get the inside story on the Royals, the scandals, the sadness, the feuds, the friendships, the women on the inside and on the outside of the family. It is a very easy and fascinating book to read. The Queen, Prince Philip, the Queen Mother, Princess Margaret, Charles, Anne, Andrew and Edward and the Princes William and Harry and the women they love, Kate and Meghan. Diana was also featured as her life and her death reverberate in the family. Camilla Parker-Bowles and her story are also very interesting. There are lots of behind the scenes stories about the Royal Family and Brown keeps the reader interested and invested and turning the pages until the last one, even when we already know how some of it ends. A very good read.

Someone has to make a book just like this, out of the vestimenta of the royals but the closer people surrounding them as well the unknown details that cast their lives and gossips which eventually yields the greatest of all monarchy’s , no winners no losers but one Queen always de Great, Elizabeth II.Well done Tina and ready for the next “London bridge is down , long live the king”

Greta book and super fast delivery.

Très bien documenté

Very interesting and with great details explain the whole situation.Highly recommended