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The Wicked Wit of Princess Margaret
Celebrate the rapier-like wit of the royal rebel, the late, great Princess Margaret—or "Ducky" as she was known behind closed doors. Even as a child, Princess Margaret was noted for her theatrical and witty demeanor. Her sister, now Queen Elizabeth II, remarked that parties were always better with Margaret in attendance as she made everyone laugh. She made John Lennon blush and Pablo Picasso was infatuated with her—and she made no secret of her intolerance for the dim-witted, the disobedient or the boring—and her one-liners are legendary: On considering that Elizabeth would one day be Queen, Margaret’s response was one of sincere commiseration, "Poor you," she told her. Attending a high-society party in New York, the hostess asked politely how was the Queen? "Which one?" Margaret replied coolly, "My sister, my mother, or my husband?"
- GenresNonfictionBiography
172 pages, Hardcover
Published November 1, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
August 28, 2020
I am so confused. It’s not a bad book– but it absolutely didn’t meet the expectations I had for it. The narrative is just a long succession of facts without any bit of analysis, facts which sometimes do not have any correlation between one another, though the book is divided in chapters. It got me very frustrated and although I did learn things about Princess Margaret, I feel like this was very incomplete. I also found the handling of the speculations of her sexual life very badly written and presented to the reader.
Moreover, and this is a special note for the kindle edition, I deplore the fact that all of the quotes included in the book were not directly referred to the place the author got them from. We are just thrown with the bibliography at the end with no means of checking anything. I do not know if that’s the case with the hardback edition but it was quite unpleasant and again- frustrating.
Moreover, and this is a special note for the kindle edition, I deplore the fact that all of the quotes included in the book were not directly referred to the place the author got them from. We are just thrown with the bibliography at the end with no means of checking anything. I do not know if that’s the case with the hardback edition but it was quite unpleasant and again- frustrating.
August 4, 2025
Three and a half stars.
A good and entertaining book. I liked the idea it was built on because it allows the reader to see more of the subject's personality. I didn't know very much about Princess Margaret prior to reading this, so it was a surprise that more than half of Margaret's wit (and of this book) is Margaret being impolite, rude, spoiled to people around her. Credits should go to the author for making reading about such an unlikeable character, enjoyable. I also liked that the good things about Margaret were not left out, and that the author was quite impartial. Something I didn't like was the way Margaret rumoured affairs were introduced (I found it distasteful and I would've let that paragraph out), nor this particular idea:
"There was something about the persona of Princess Margaret that sent normally sane men a little crazy. In his book Ma'am Darling, Craig Brown writes that artist Pablo Picasso had erotic dreams about her, admitting to his friend Roland Penrose: 'If they knew what I had done in my dreams with your royal ladies, they would take me to the Tower of London and chop off my head!' Picasso would sometimes include the Queen, too."
"Normally sane men" were, what, bewitched by the Princess? I fail to see how any "normally sane man" would think and even publicly speak of a woman, Princess or not, in such a manner, and I also fail to see how said woman is to blame.
Otherwise a captivating read.
A good and entertaining book. I liked the idea it was built on because it allows the reader to see more of the subject's personality. I didn't know very much about Princess Margaret prior to reading this, so it was a surprise that more than half of Margaret's wit (and of this book) is Margaret being impolite, rude, spoiled to people around her. Credits should go to the author for making reading about such an unlikeable character, enjoyable. I also liked that the good things about Margaret were not left out, and that the author was quite impartial. Something I didn't like was the way Margaret rumoured affairs were introduced (I found it distasteful and I would've let that paragraph out), nor this particular idea:
"There was something about the persona of Princess Margaret that sent normally sane men a little crazy. In his book Ma'am Darling, Craig Brown writes that artist Pablo Picasso had erotic dreams about her, admitting to his friend Roland Penrose: 'If they knew what I had done in my dreams with your royal ladies, they would take me to the Tower of London and chop off my head!' Picasso would sometimes include the Queen, too."
"Normally sane men" were, what, bewitched by the Princess? I fail to see how any "normally sane man" would think and even publicly speak of a woman, Princess or not, in such a manner, and I also fail to see how said woman is to blame.
Otherwise a captivating read.
September 30, 2022
Another book I enjoyed!
March 1, 2021
Likeable easy read.
Fun tidbits of info on HRH Princess Margaret...nice for some bed time reading. I bought this while viewing The Crown on Netflix since Princess Margaret was, to me, the most compelling character in the Royal family.
Fun tidbits of info on HRH Princess Margaret...nice for some bed time reading. I bought this while viewing The Crown on Netflix since Princess Margaret was, to me, the most compelling character in the Royal family.
July 22, 2022
Princess Margaret was a very complex persona. She could be either very kind or unapproachable at times. Despite her many privileges,her life was far from a fairytale. This book had lots of interesting facts about the late Princess. It s worth the read.
December 31, 2021
Brilliant book, very funny and interesting. I would definitely recommend this book to royal family lovers.
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May 31, 2022Good Book with lots of insight to Princess Margaret!
January 6, 2023
This one wasn't as good as the renditions of Queen Elizabeth or Prince Philip. It needed more pictures and more quotes from Princess Margaret than other people about Princess Margaret.
April 28, 2023
My first piece about Margot, let's see what the others bring along.
June 15, 2025
More a concise biography of the late Princess than a celebration of her wit.
March 3, 2022
What a sad person
A very long bibliography to this book suggesting much research and therefore a reliable and accurate biography. The book is divided up into numerous sections (almost like sound bites) within the main chapters at times seemingly not connected
and a little annoying as they interrupt the telling of the tale. Over all it does not really portray the princess in a favourable way and that may be the reality. As a consequence reading about someone who appeared to be so unpleasant was not a particularly enjoyable experience as the negative outweighed the positive. The Princess allegedly was a private person apart from her public duties. It's probably best she was the younger daughter as had she been Queen it's doubtful there would be a monarchy today, based on this account of her person
A very long bibliography to this book suggesting much research and therefore a reliable and accurate biography. The book is divided up into numerous sections (almost like sound bites) within the main chapters at times seemingly not connected
and a little annoying as they interrupt the telling of the tale. Over all it does not really portray the princess in a favourable way and that may be the reality. As a consequence reading about someone who appeared to be so unpleasant was not a particularly enjoyable experience as the negative outweighed the positive. The Princess allegedly was a private person apart from her public duties. It's probably best she was the younger daughter as had she been Queen it's doubtful there would be a monarchy today, based on this account of her person
June 17, 2022
If you’re a fan of the royals this is a fantastic easy read full of anecdotes of interest.
A book easy to pick up and put down and not filled with enough depth to make interesting and learn without needing to delve further.
A book easy to pick up and put down and not filled with enough depth to make interesting and learn without needing to delve further.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews