The Palace Papers

by Tina Brown

The riveting inside story of the British royal family since the death of Princess Diana, from the Queen's tightening grip to the defection of Harry and Meghan - by the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Diana Chronicles.
_________________________________

'Never again', became Queen Elizabeth II's mantra shortly after Diana's death. More specifically, there could never be 'another Diana' - a member of the family whose global popularity upstaged, outshone, and posed an existential threat to the British monarchy. Picking up where The Diana Chronicles left off, The Palace Papers reveals how the royal family reinvented itself after the traumatic years when Diana's blazing celebrity ripped through the House of Windsor like a comet.

Tina Brown takes readers on a tour de force journey that shows the Queen's stoic resolve as she coped with the passing of Princess Margaret, the Queen Mother and her partner for seven decades, Prince Philip, and triumphed in her Jubilee years even as the family dramas raged around her. She explores Prince Charles's determination to make Camilla his queen, the tension between William and Harry who are on 'different paths', the ascendance of the resolute Kate Middleton, the disturbing allegations surrounding Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein, and Harry and Meghan's stunning decision to 'step back' as senior royals. Despite the fragile monarchy's best efforts, 'never again' seems fast approaching.

Full of powerful revelations, nuanced details, and searing insight, The Palace Papers will irrevocably change how the world perceives and understands the royal family.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, History, Audiobook, Royalty, British Literature, Politics

573 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 26, 2022

About the author

Tina Brown, Lady Evans (born Christina Hambley Brown) is a journalist, magazine editor, columnist, talk-show host and author of The Diana Chronicles, a biography of Diana, Princess of Wales, a personal friend. Born a British citizen, she took United States citizenship in 2005. She became the editor-in-chief of Tatler magazine at the age of 25, and rose to prominence in the American media industry as the editor of the magazines Vanity Fair from 1984 to 1992 and of The New Yorker from 1992 to 1998. In 2007, she was named to the Magazine Editors Hall of Fame. She has also been honored with four George Polk Awards, five Overseas Press Club awards, and ten National Magazine Awards. She is currently writing a non-fiction work on Bill and Hillary Clinton.

Reviews

[Petra X · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review. I expanded the reading notes into a review. What I learned from this book: I thought Meghan was ridiculous accusing members of the Royal family of being racist because one of them wanted to know how dark the baby might be. I live in the Caribbean, everyone asks that in a mixed race family, it's not considered rude in any way. My second son who is Black (brown we call it, quite dark) has a baby by an Amerindian woman who is a pale copper with wavy black hair when she doesn't bleach it blonde. Everyone wanted to know what colour the baby might be. Half-way actually, a pretty light caramel with loosely curled hair. Discussing colour only implies racism if you are a racist, if you aren't it's the same as discussing hair or eye colour.

BUT, there were examples of real racism, not directed against her but against all non-Whites that seem to be utterly accepted by the aristocrats who grow up thinking they are so much better than the rest of us and that admission to Oxford or Cambridge or politics or top jobs in the City is more about their families than academic achievement (see Nicholas Coleridge on himself in The Glossy Years: Magazines, Museums and Selective Memoirs). They don't think twice about making off-colour (pun!) jokes, racism is part of their dna.

The author says that if Meghan had known Emma Thynn, the Marchioness of Bath, it might have helped. Emma is the stunningly beautiful daughter of a Nigerian billionaire, brought up in the upper middle class way in the UK, and friends with Ceawlin Thynn since childhood. But when they married the mother said to him, think of what you are doing to 400 years of bloodline, and neither she nor her husband who had 40 or 50 'wifelets' as he called them and a vast collection of porn paintings, refused to even attend the wedding. They continued living in the same house, Longleat, but since it has 130 rooms, they didn't actually have to see each other. Ever.

That upperclass snotty, often racist environment must have been very daunting for Meghan. I can also see how her very American out-there personality and the British reserve (even more so in the aristocratic servants of the crown) must have been interpreted less as friendliness and being go-ahead and more as being pushy and aggressively expecting employees to do what she wants. Stat -as they say on US medical dramas.

The author asserts that the Queen Mother who was a sort of upper-class pub landlady type and dressed like one too, and Princess Margaret held some very unreconstructed views on race to their dying day. PMargaret was a piece of work though. My ex-godfather he ripped me off for a lot of money, so he's ex says he woke up in bed with her the morning after a party in Chelsea. He's probably lying though, but maybe not. He did go to those sort of parties. For more on PMargaret and her antics Ma’am Darling: 99 Glimpses of Princess Margaret - very bitchy and very funny.

So I hadn't really realised that Meghan's problems were a lot due to being an American where the more press coverage you get, the more you are a celebrity, the better 'jobs' and higher income you can then expect don't apply to the Royal family. Her husband was a stepping stone to this, but he comes across as a wet, disgruntled at always being second to his brother, malcontent who was only too delighted to have the opportunity time and again on Oprah and elsewhere to slag off his family, and that Meghan rather than the prime mover was just the catalyst. Interesting.
__________

Very enjoyable and well-written book. It reads like a 40+ year old soap opera, the story and characters being written in prose for people who didn't follow the show. Actually that's exactly what it is.

You know what is very strange about Meghan Markle and her wedding? She gets pilloried for not inviting any of her half-siblings or anyone else on her father's side of the family, and for inviting people she has never met, like the Clooneys, or only for a few minutes like Oprah, but no one ever says how come she didn't invite a single person from her mother's side of the family?

Meghan has two uncles and an aunty on her mother's side, almost certainly first cousins too. Yet they are never mentioned and weren't invited? Meghan seems to have split from every single member of her family apart from her mother, and seems intent on not having anything to do with her husband's family and has split him off from them too.

Somewhat sociopathic really. She just seems to love her mother, her husband and children (and Oprah) and everyone else, including best, best friends are discarded for any or no reason. She's a self-confessed liar too. In the court case, which she won, against Associated Press for printing the private letter to her father (although she didn't sue Hello for doing the same but then it was friends that leaked it, not her father who wanted to address the situation and probably sold it ), she had to admit that she collaborated fully with Omid Scoby in his book Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family, chapter and verse and made suggestions on what he should write about, which chapters she wanted, and had merely 'forgotten' to tell the court that. Easy thing to forget, a hagiographic book about yourself you directed...

But that's just Meghan. She's very beautiful but a viper. She thought being married to the popular prince and having pulling power meant she could up the money and her appearances as she was a rising star. But the Royal family is not about celebrity. It's about precedence and duty, that's how it works. The media might make them celebrities for those it thinks might get them more views (meaning Meghan but not Princess Anne, which has endeared Anne to many who think she will make a far better Queen that the up-his-own-arse Charles, who funds his many personal charities (doing up the grand houses he buys to preserve them 'historically') by selling access to himself for royal invitations to assorted wealthy Arabs, mostly Saudi Arabians.

But the author thinks that what the Royals are all about is making sure there is a monarchy, that the family firm with it's vast income, enormous privilege and adulation of the masses continues. By any means necessary, which mostly means turning up at whatever function or factory their presence is deemed to be useful or being sent by the Foreign Office on tours to places that might want to ditch the Queen as head of state.

In the recent royal tour by the Wessexes - Sophie was once caught in a sting taking money in exchange for royal introductions, every island except St Lucia wanted out. Grenada's and Antigua's planned demonstrations were so threatening, those islands were struck off the tour (and they went back to St Lucia for another day of bowing and scraping).

They might have been welcomed in the British Virgin Islands where there is a fight going on this week about whether the constitution should be suspended and direct rule from London, shades of colonialsim, imposed, due to the enormous corruption of the government and the Premier being under arrest in Miami due to his drugs running and money laundering :-) Most of the populace is firmly behind it though, giving up the vote for a couple of years to get the place straightened out is welcome news to them. But then, unlike Jamaica, Grenada and Antigua, the BVI are very wealthy islands.
___________

The author is an equal opportunity writer and none of the royal family come off any better than Meghan in this book. It's very fair it does present the good as well as the bad. But with Meghan it's hard to present the good in quite the same way because Meghan is all about Meghan and fails to understand that the Royal family is about service and popularity means the Queen and Prince Charles are worried she might do a Diana and totally overshadow them. I don't think that helped Meghan at all especially since she lied about being committed to Royal duty and still had active accounts with her PR companies in the US as well as her agent!.

The marriage is a stepping stone. There will be a billionaire producer or Senator that lures her away from her prince at some point. Or, if she plays her cards right, he will be caught out being naughty and she will divorce him and not remarry, that way she gets to keep her title!

She didn't see that wanting to be a working Royal signing up with Disney, Netflix and Spotify should be a conflict, nor that keeping expensive jewellery from Arab princes accused of murder was given to the Firm really and not her personally. But the Royal family are not Hollywood where popularity means more money, more media exposure, and more people actually paying attention to your drivel.

The Royal family is all about service, getting publicity for charities and being nice to everyone you never wanted to meet, like the supervisor in charge of the machinery churning out 5,000 new toilets a day. That's their job. It might be boring, but the pay and the rewards are stupendous.

She didn't really have any competition - she's beautiful an well dressed since Charles gave her a clothing allowance of #500,000 GBP a year. Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, whose extreme manipulations to get herself married to the heir to the throne, are detailed in the book. She is too thin and wears old-fashioned boring clothes, very Wallis Simpson, very upscale Marks & Spencer's, and never says anything of note so for all the bigging up of her great beauty (more like quite pretty) and the occasional amazing evening dress, she was no threat to the beautiful, extroverted Meghan. Charles isn't going to get his nose put out of joint by having a wife or daughter in law who takes all the attention away from him, oh no, he's been through that one.

It also is very bad form to look as though you were enjoying meeting people and acting very nicely whilst on a major royal tour (Australia) and then telling Omid Scobie and other members of your inner cirle who leak things on your behalf to the Daily Mail once or twice a day (or perhaps that was her PR company), that you hated every minute of it. No one cares what the Queen actually thinks, and she is very careful not to say anything memorable anyway, only that she shows up! This is not to say Meghan didn't do some good stuff, she did, but got bored and wanted fame and money and people to listen to her opinions.

But all of the Royals are pretty awful in their different ways. Charles who is stuck between a rock and hard place - he can't be king until his mother dies and no doubt he loves her - the conniving and wicked Camilla with her huge hats, who never let Charles alone, not even the night before his wedding to Diana, the manipulative and much cleverer than she looks Katherine, the Teutonic Princess Michael of Kent, daughter of a high-born Nazi officer and her husband who loves Putin and all the top Russians and encourages trade with them, for a price. The modern era with the internet has done the Royals no favours at all. There is nowhere they can hide, personally, but they manage to do that with their money though.

The only one that seems to have come off well is Princess Anne. There was one nice anecdote of her daughter Zara (also a money-grubber, trading off her connections as well as her genuine sports prowess to do a lot of advertising, but not in the UK, her brother Peter, advertises milk in adverts on Chinese tv) remembering her mother coming in after a ball, full make-up and evening dress and pulling on her wellies to go out and feed the chickens and collect the day's eggs.

But chapters are reserved for Andrew whose genuine triumph as a serving officer in the Falklands sometime last century was the high point of his life. Everything else was downhill after that, including his money-hungry spendthrift and very corrupt wife, Fergie, or whatever she is to him nowadays not married but living in the same house. He's at rock bottom right now, having slid all the way down on the greasy slope of sleaze, arrogance, corruption and just being a generally unpleasant person with even more unpleasant friends whose aquaintance with the truth is just that, an acquaintance, a rather distant one. He lies too. Virginia Roberts, the whistleblower, herself a proven liar and procuress for even younger girls for money, said he sweated a lot. He said he didn't, but with the recent law suit he settled for $12M (Mummy paid) I bet he was sweating them

I like schadenfreude as much as anyone about very rich people who obey only the laws that suits them and give us sham smiles to assure us that they are just like us, when it's patently obvious that actually they are much worse characters than most of us. On the general corruption of the Royal family and how they make money and hide it from their loyal subjects, read, … And What Do You Do?: What The Royal Family Don't Want You To Know. Shorter, just as good for a bit of schadenfreude exposing ALL the Royal family for their corruption, and a lot shorter and more political.

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐
I don't know how to write a review for this. There's so much information! This is my first book about the British royal family, any royal family really.

I don't find this book biased as some reviewers have said. The spotlight is on everyone and it's not all pretty. There's more about Charles, Camilla, and Diana than I initially thought. Also included is the Andrew-Epstein scandal. I thought Harry and Meghan would be the most interesting section (starts at 70%) but to my surprise, their story didn't capture my attention.

I find that the writing flows really well for the most part. Even though I didn't think I would finish this 18-hour royal marathon, I did. I enjoyed the juicy gossipy details. A lot of drama and not all is glamorous. The Palace Papers is an entertaining book, but little new info from what I've already read or heard on the web. I guess I'm a Royal follower! 😄👑

The audiobook read by the author is good. She reads rather fast so there's tiny room for fast playback speed.

[Tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finally got around to reading this. I own the physical hardcopy and I did listen in part to the audiobook read by the author, Tina Brown. I enjoyed her book on Diana years ago so I knew she'd write another good one.

I didn't learn anything knew but I would recommend this to anyone who is just getting interested in the British Royal Family now. Tina does a great job explaining "the system" and how it's run. It's extensive as it starts from the beginning of the late Queen Elizabeth's reign and includes all of the scandals and historical events surrounding her family. It ends after the Harry and Meghan scandal and Prince Philip's death.

Everyone has their own opinion on Harry and Meghan and William and Catherine so I won't get into my feelings on that. The book does give you a better understanding on what was happening around that time and the climate in the country. There are so many layers to that story and the outcome.

It's a good one if you want to learn about the British Royal Family and Tina Brown's writing is easy to read and she presents the subjects quite fairly and with honesty.

[JanB · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fairly lengthy book, with plenty of juicy and dishy details that I didn’t know about the RF, which made this book enlightening as well as engaging. It seems no matter how much we think we know, there is always something new to learn.

Tina Brown leaves no stone unturned when exposing the intricacies of the House of Windsor, aka The Firm. Every member of the family has a spotlight on them, with some coming off more favorably than others. The author also shines a spotlight on the news media who relentlessly hounds the royals (and other celebrities).

I found the first part of the book interesting, but my interest flagged a bit when the narrative turned towards the Prince Andrew/Epstein scandal and Meghan and Harry. Too much time was spent on Meghan’s rather boring background, career, and history. I was also disappointed that the author didn’t expose the many untruths and exaggerations in the infamous Oprah interview and their many complaints.

This was a buddy read with Marialyce and while we both enjoyed very much enjoyed the book, we were deeply disappointed in the authors kid glove treatment of these two.

I was left with a deeper admiration for Queen Elizabeth. In this age of social media and oversharing, her philosophy of “Never Complain, Never Explain’ is part of the allure and mystique of the Royal family, and likely the secret to the longevity of the monarchy. Her overriding concern, despite personal trials, was her duty as monarch, always putting the people's needs above her own. All of which makes Harry & Meghan’s behavior even more unseemly and self-serving. I hated wasting a minute of my time reading about these two.

Luckily, the future of the monarchy seems to be in good hands with King Charles and Camilla, and of course Prince William and Princess Catherine, who seem to be following in step with the Queen's philosophy, but with a modern flair.

[Debbie W. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why I chose to listen to this audiobook:
1. I have always had a great interest in the British Royal Family;
2. although I never purchased it then, I noticed this book at a local bookstore shortly after Queen Elizabeth II passed away, and it's been on my radar ever since;
3. my hold finally became available on Libby; and,
4. September 2023 is my "Memoirs & Biographies" Month.

Praises:
1. through her extensive research and interviews with the right people, including royal sources, author Tina Brown has produced a most comprehensive, objective look at the Royal Family (and other notables) since the death of Princess Diana. Although I enjoy following the Royal Family, I gleaned a lot more information that I was previously ignorant about;
2. I borrowed a hardcopy from my local library to peruse the 16 pages (and end pages) of several black & white and color photos, some of which I've never seen before;
3. I was truly surprised when I realized that my borrowed audiobook is a REVISED EDITION! Instead of ending at Prince Phillip's death (as in the original edition), I was privy to listening about the Queen's Platinum Jubilee as well as her death and subsequent funeral. This revised edition is an excellent way to "wrap things up";
4. Brown's writing style had me riveted, intrigued, amused - even laughing out loud at her witty remarks and downright crying during the somber moments; and,
5. Brown even narrates this audiobook! One special treat is her hilarious imitation of King Charles (formerly known as "Prince" 😉).

Teeny Niggle:
Initially, Brown's oratory speed seemed quite fast, but as the story progressed, she appeared to slow down (or maybe I just got used to it.)

Overall Thoughts:
Brown's book comes across as fair and honest. She doesn't supply gooey sappiness to anyone, nor is she mean-spirited.
I enjoyed this book so much that I will be purchasing a personal copy in the very near future to use as a reference book in my home library.

For all royal watchers, I highly recommend reading the revised edition (dated February 7, 2023.)

[Lois · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't reread this but revisited this in December as part of my look at the books released about Harry & Meghan in the lead up to the release of Harry's memoir, 'Spare'.
I don't really have any new thoughts.

Original Review Spring 2022:
This is actually over 55% about Charles, Diana and Camilla.
The Fab 4 don't enter as major characters until much later.
I did not learn or read anything new at all, not a new tidbit of gossip, not a new behind the scenes story, nothing.
It pretends to treat Meghan's situation with new eyes but fails to deal realistically with her situation at all.
The Royal Family was using Meghan to prove they weren't racist as well as for social relevance & clout. They also instigated and exaggerated hit pieces about her to cover for Wills affair and Andrew's pedophilia.
To pretend otherwise is disingenuous.
Worst of all the Palace took advantage of racism in the British public to keep this nonsense and bullshit going.
Apparently older Brits, cause younger people love Meghan & Harry🤷🏾‍♀️, wanted her to leave but are now furious that she's gone. They keep her relevant, US papers cover the Sussexes considerably less than UK papers.
Wills and Kate, especially Kate, were jealous of the attention and thought they could be ugly behind the scenes and no one would ever know.
Then Meghan & Harry sued and it came out that the House feeding the papers hit stories on Meghan were actually the green with envy Cambridges🤷🏾‍♀️
In the irony of all ironies Will grew up to be his Dad and Harry grew up to be his mum.
She would be unbelievably proud of him.
They've left, they continue to be globally relevant and the Brits continue to be red-faced and angry.
They can and no doubt will die mad.
The Sussexes don't need the Royal family which has been proven repeatedly. They are just living their lives and remaining relevant.
Kate and Wills have to work at it and I do feel for them. Kate's face when the kids asked for Meghan & Harry at that school engagement was fucking priceless.
My guess is as the Commonwealth continues to jettison Britain the loss of The Sussexes will continue to be missed deeply.
After all the Cambridges were received poorly and the Jamaicans specifically said they don't feel that way about the Sussexes.
The truth is Wills blew this with his jealousy and it will impact his reign.
At some point he's going to have to answer for his racist concerns over the color of Archie's skin.🤷🏾‍♀️
It's gross.
This is literally a rehash of previous tabloid nonsense its mostly boring and I'm glad I was able to pirate this🤷🏾‍♀️

[Bethanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written, meticulously researched, well sourced, including people from the inner circles who can't be named for a variety of reasons. Rather than being a hagiography, a la Morton or Scoobie, or a hatchet job (the preference of Piers Morgan or Lady Colin Campbell), Brown has tried to be as balanced as possible in writing about people who live in what is essentially an ancient institution that has to be dragged into the 21st century.

I see members of the Sussex squad seem to have dismissed the book when they clearly haven't read it; the timeline is focused on the Windsors in the 25 years since Diana died. However, for background Brown does delve into the past writing about problems that the royal family has had to deal with in the last hundred years, including Edward VIII, the War of the Wales, and the problems with the Yorks, under a chapter titled "The Duke of Hazard" (clever).

What becomes quite clear is that in order for the institution to survive, the people at the heart of the monarchy must subsume their personalities and desires, and that the institution in and of itself is what matters. Not the individuals. However, the Windsors are human like the rest of us, some better behaved than others (if you didn't think Prince Andrew couldn't get any worse, hold onto your hats), and I think that it must be a pressure cooker existence for them, especially those considered "senior royals," because of the savage British tabloids and their appalling, destructive practices.

Quite frankly, I had read some stories regarding the phone hacking scandal, but Brown goes into depth about the lows that UK tabloids go to in pursuit of "stories," and I'm disgusted that they're allowed to continue their bad behavior with few consequences. The red tops were brutal with Meghan Markle, along with other members of the family, and to see that editorial decisions are made because this or that figure has had too much of an "easy ride" lately is nauseating.

I don't think that Charles and Camilla came off too well, unless you were already aware of the issues that Brown detailed in her earlier book, "The Diana Chronicles." Then you could understand why Charles wanted relief from someone so unsuited and unsupportive. The whole Epstein/Andrew mess is well detailed, including a lengthy section on the past traumas of Virgina Roberts Giuffre who recently got her settlement courtesy of HM. I had no idea that the girl had been abused, raped, and trafficked prior to her work at Mar-a-Lago. Considering her history, I think she deserves every penny from the settlement, and I hope that her lawyers don't take a huge chunk as a fee.

Brown was also very detailed in her narrative regarding the difficulties that William and Harry have gone through, between the drama of their parent's marriage, and the red tops making their lives misery in the name of a scoop. She's clear that Harry was already chafing in the system long before Meghan came along, as well as the fact that he not only blamed the tabloid press for his mother's death, but also for the destruction of two relationships that mattered to him, and exposing his position during his first deployment, endangering his fellow soldiers in Afghanistan.

After reading this, I've downgraded my opinion of Meghan; I have to feel for Harry, as I think that it was his heart's desire to settle down and start a family. Brown clearly illustrates the culture clash between Meghan's ambitious, forceful way of doing things, and a palace system that preferences the established hierarchy, and she just didn't understand it, nor did the courtiers understand her. Brown essentially has written that Meghan has confused the monarchy with celebrity, and they are two different things. The fact that certain elements of the gutter press exacerbated her grievances by being overtly racist didn't help. Personally, I would have had a little more respect for her if she'd given it a few more years instead of bolting in 20 months. I think that she's gotten a lot of the blame for taking Harry away from his home country, but Brown implied that he wanted out before he met her. In a way, she reinforced his own negative feelings about the system.

I think this book was an interesting read, not just because of current events, but because with the Queen's reign winding down, you realize you're witnessing the end of an era. This is not the same as a scholarly, footnoted biography, but having read Brown's writing since her Vanity Fair days, I feel pretty confident that this is as close as we will ever get to learning about the Windsor's lives without the positive or negative spin that certain writers are determined to add. At the end of the day, they're human and fallible like the rest of us. Brown's prose is breezy yet erudite, and witty at times. It's a pity that the family doesn't have more people around them willing to give them feedback that is transparent and honest, because for all intents and purposes, growing up in that family ensures they have no idea what ordinary lives are like outside of their grand estates. Having said that, I still believe a constitution monarchy is a valid form of government. HM has been a steady hand, and once he ascends and has to become apolitical, there's every indication Charles can be just as steady.

[*TUDOR^QUEEN* · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Stars

I really loved one of this author's older books "The Diana Chronicles" ...so much so that when I saw this new book coming out I pre-ordered it. I never pay for full price kindle books-always wait for sales-so that shows you just how much I love her writing and reporting. I was there at midnight on release day downloading the book!

I have to honestly say I enjoyed "The Diana Chronicles" just a bit more, but still really enjoyed this one. As with other books like this, it takes you on a refresher course through Windsor history to touch upon The Queen Mother, Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip, Prince Charles and first wife Princess Diana, and longtime affair with Camilla Parker-Bowles ending with their marriage. Of course it also covers Prince William and wife Kate, and his brother Prince Harry. Harry's serious romances prior to meeting wife Meghan Markle are explained.

This would be a great book for someone who doesn't know a lot about the Windsors, to get a thorough overview. It's also quite enjoyable already knowing a lot about them. Tina Brown has inside connections to all the players and puts out a no holds barred perspective. I love her frank assessment of each royal, and I trust her reporting. I got the most out of reading the saga of Prince Harry meeting Meghan Markle and their wedded history to date. I've read about them in other recent books involving the royals, but this book definitely had the most detailed information.

The book says it's over 800 pages, but when I hit just over the 50% mark I was surprised by the kindle book completing and offering me to rate it on Goodreads. The book "proper" was actually done at that point, but the rest is photos and an expansive volume of end notes.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m a little embarrassed by how much I enjoyed this. If you enjoyed The Queen or The Crown you will probably like this as well.

Brown covers the history of the Windsor family all the way back to the beginning of the Queen’s reign, but focusing on the last two generations. This is the first book on the family I’ve read since Camilla has officially been added to the fold, and it was interesting to get a little bit fuller picture of her background and story. The childhoods of Kate and Meghan were interesting as well.

As much as I liked the biographical stuff, the background details were (for me at least, as an American) the most interesting part of the book. There was a lot I didn’t know - the British social structure that allowed for Charles and Camilla’s affair to happen with no repercussions, how the royal family is paid, the complete power the monarch has over the family/monarchy.

But ultimately this book is about all the individual people and their relationship to Elizabeth. Elizabeth and Charles. Elizabeth and Phillip. Elizabeth and Andrew. Elizabeth and Diana. Elizabeth and the battle between William/Kate and Harry/Meghan. Elizabeth has always been the main protagonist, and it’s hard to imagine any of this without her.

In the current royal war I am definitely Team Cambridge. The fact that I care at all is a testament to the monarchy’s ability to bring about interest and goodwill for Great Britain.

[Melindam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was well-structured, thought-provoking, entertaining and -as far as I could tell as a non-UK citizen and a non-fan of any royals- rather well-balanced and unbiased.
I found that Tina Brown showed both sides of the royal personages she wrote about, both the positive and the negative (well, maybe not in the case of Prince Andrew, but let's not ask for the Moon, that guy seems to be his own worst enemy!) without gushing or being vindictive.

But then, maybe it was more entertaining for me as an outsider, because I could adopt the "not my circus, not my monkeys attitude".

[Tatiana · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a page-turner full of gossip and deep backstories. But all these royals are useless, so I still don't understand why people are interested in them (and why I keep reading Tina Brown's books).

[Kristine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really found this book fascinating. It gave a balanced account of each member of the Upper Royal Family since Diana’s death. Tina Brown does seem quite connected and in touch with the ins and outs of Royal Life. I liked that you learned about each person and their good points and bad points while trying to appear properly content while supposedly always being available to serve and do one’s duty for the UK.

I did learn about Kate Middleton which I really didn’t know much about, Camilla was presented in a much more fair way, Harry’s military service was new to me, as were some of the qualities about William and his need for stability. Meghan, was in the book, but not that much which I liked since she seems always to want the spotlight. I had heard about her life already. It was fascinating to learn about all the others in this endless drama.

What could possibly go wrong when sisters-in-laws are pitted against each other? Photos of each go viral within seconds. Your place in the family is decided by birth order. William will always get a better position since he was born first. Yet, that is how this all functions. It is actually quite sad since William and Harry were quite close after their mother died.

The Queen and those on Top are actually the Ones who want Privacy and try to keep quiet about their life. That was the Queen Mother, The Queen, Prince Phillip, Prince Charles, and Camilla. They are not flashy or ones to attract much interest except the country appears interested in seeing The Queen show up for events.

It does not seem all that easy to be a Royal. I can understand why one of Harry’s long-term girlfriends decided this was not the life for her. People are always looking at you and it really takes a certain type to properly fit into this life. Sometimes, serious social climbers get in the way and pretend it’s all a mystery why so much attention is being thrown their way. Diana had come into herself and actually I believe wanted to do some worthwhile help. She did learn how to use the Press sometimes to her advantage and other times it hounded her. She had won the heart of the nation and the world. Harry and Meghan are not Diana though. So, perhaps Never Again even in this incredibly fast paced world and where information is instant. Your story still has to capture people’s hearts and I am uncertain that is happening here.

What will happen with all this? I am guessing somehow The Monarchy will prevail and stand as it is. Listening to how one finds their place in this crazy world was interesting. It certainly is not as dull as then Queen Elizabeth would have preferred.

[Margitte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Time for reality, I guess. I've read this book a few weeks ago, and found it fascinating.

Thing is, I was thinking about the family who crowned themselves kings and queens in less civilized times(and wars), slapped a barrel-full of medals on their army, navy and other uniforms, which they did not really work for, indulge in the wealth of a nation's taxpayer's money, and act as the most effective but also most expensive diplomats for their country. And they are highly successful. Often I watch the crown jewels and wonder how many people in the colonies died for them in different ways, either by brutal wars or inhumane mining practices. Or walk through the British museums and watch how many artifacts from archaeological digs elsewhere are now treasures in the conqueror's countries. And for some extra measure, they endow each other with titles to die for. Really useless, if you think about the Earl of this and the Lady of that. Who cares, except the devoted Brits who were forced to believe that it is important.

But that's my ignorant self in action. I looked at the number of books written about the Royals. On Goodreads alone you will find different lists, but the longest one contain 193 books. Venture off onto the internet. You will find a few thousand more.

I wanted to read one. This one would have to do. And so it did. The author mentioned the 'blabbing bromides'- those on network talks-shows and magazine covers who talk about things they don't know nothing about and their right to have a voice'. Sadly. Uh well, sadly, those bromides are writing books as well, and parade in their masses on social media such as Youtube. I guess the power-play and dirty tricks of the vintage newspaper-journalists should be regarded differently. Money talks. What else is there to say.

Why I enjoyed this book.The author remained true to her mission in her powerful, passionate prologue:

From said prologue:
My focus for this book is the ensuing twenty-five years up until today. But as we shall discover, the fascination of monarchy is that its themes—and its problems—repeat themselves over time through its reliably fallible and all-too-mortal protagonists. To understand the House of Windsor as it is today, one must understand the forces, human and historical, that shaped it.

I have structured The Palace Papers into chapters centered on the key individuals who have molded the monarchy’s recent history: Diana, Camilla, Charles, Philip, Margaret, Andrew, and, more recently, William, Harry, Kate, Meghan, and their families.We shall travel back in time, from World War II to the lurid nineties, from modernizing millennial Britain to the “Peak London” of the Olympics, from the angry divisions of Brexit to the shared pain of a world pandemic. We shall meet prime ministers, influential courtiers, powerful spin doctors, lowly hangers-on, lovers, rivals, and even outright enemies. We’ll parse the layers of aristocracy as well as the complex relationship between the royals, the media, and the public.

Above all, I hope we will get closer to understanding the woman who matters more than anyone else: the Queen. The book in your hand is the one I wish Meghan had been able to read before she packed up her house in Toronto and boarded the plane to England to plan her wedding to the younger son of the heir to the British throne. She would have learned that no one is a bigger brand than the Firm.

She applied a wry wit with comments like this: This was a crowd that could well afford the best Harley Street dentists, but you could root for truffles in the forests of bad teeth.

As for Diana: Ever since the death of Diana in 1997, the Queen had made it clear to all those who advised her that it could never happen again—the it being Diana’s explosive celebrity, the problem of the British monarchy being upstaged, outshone, drowned out by one overweening, dangerously popular member of the family other than the Queen or the heir to the throne. The refrain most repeated at the pinnacle of the Palace was “We don’t want another Diana.”

The press, the public, and the younger generation of the Windsor family needed to be schooled to understand that the Crown is not a “platform,” nor is the extended Royal Family the monarchy. The sovereign is the monarchy and the direct heirs are the only ones who truly count. They and all others watching the Queen’s birthday flyover by the Royal Air Force from the Buckingham Palace balcony are there to serve, support, and promote not themselves, but the Crown. They are high-born scaffolding.

Princess Diana’s global fame, so unplanned for when she was first earmarked by the Queen Mother as the perfect English rose to pluck for Prince Charles, hit Buckingham Palace like a meteor. Her heat singed the Queen’s tiara. And it made all the royals question their own performance and relevance for the first time.

I enjoyed this book tremendously. Neutral, to the point, with a ruthless spotlight on the role of the vintage press and the paparazzi.

A refreshing experience after trying to avoid the latest hoo-haa around Harry and Meghan. I hope to read his book soon, I'm actually looking forward to it. Doesn't matter what he regarded as the truth, what is more important is how he feel about events in his life.

As I see it, after reading this particular book, as well as the previous read, Harry: The People's Prince by Chris Hutchins, a few thousand people, make it hundreds of thousands, even a few million, made a buck out of the Royals'lives. They come in all shapes and forms - in media, books, social media, TV shows, newspapers, 'influencer websites', podcasts, Youtube bromides, you name it. Actually every single one of them is a bromide, and every single one of them cashed in on the Royal maxim of 'Never complain, never explain.' They could say what they want, the Royals did not respond. Until woke feminist, Meghan came along, to turn Prince Harry into a social phenomenon: he is telling his own story in his own words, and cashing in on it. Man, now everybody hates him for doing that! Myself: I'm very okay with it. It is about time. Doesn't matter what I think or feel. It's payback time for Harry. As far as Meghan is concerned: she got what she wanted, just in another way. The price might be too high. I wish them well.

Tina Brown's book brought much insight into the current events. It can be regarded as a thorough, fair, well-balanced run-up to Harry's revenge.

She is one journalist one can still respect. For that reason, five stars it will be. She impressed me.

[Marialyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are at all interested in how the Royals act and react , this book might be the key to that issue. It follows the very regal Queen Elizabeth who found herself pulled into a more modern world after the death of Princess Diana. It is a story of how the Royals perceive life through hundreds of years of tradition and the way things were and are for them.

It seems like a life of glory, riches, and traditions, that many of us seem to envy, but it is a life that is filled with obligations, of one lacking privacy, and of one that while glamorous, is filled with luxury, and responsibilities. The Royals have been born into this, most adhering into traditions, and desperately trying to be the monarchs they have been trained to be.

The author covers sensitive topics that including Diana, who definitely had her own issues and did everything she could to hurt Charles not considering that what she did to him would also be done to her boys. She speaks of Andrew, the supposed favorite child of Elizabeth's, who has become a pariah in the family, justifiably so. She speaks of Diana's much-loved boys who had to coped with their parents' behavior, their father carrying on many years long affair with Carmilla and the most embarrassing taped phone conversation between Carmilla and Charles.

Family rivalries, the innuendo, the blood sucking media have made life for the Royals complicated and often difficult. William and Catherine, due to ascend the throne someday, seem to be preparing a path that will allow them being closer to the people they rule. Charles and Camilla also seem to be striving to restore the dignity of Queen Elizabeth's reign.

I will not say too much about Henry and Meghan, since I am not in their fan club, but for one thing, for a couple who want privacy, their faces seem to be prominent in the media. They both seem to be self-serving and dedicated to besmirching the monarchy for monetary and notoriety reasons. It is a shame that so soon after the death of Queen Elizabeth, they stepped in to assure reputations would be ruined. It was a big sign of both jealousy and searching to be number one, which will not happen being the "spare" as Harry claims he is.

At any rate, this book is fascinating and I did learn some new things about the family. Jan and I enjoyed the bulk of the story, but both agreed the author cut Meghan a lot of slack when relating her sob story.

[Rebekah · Rating 5 out of 5]

In The Diana Chronicles by Tina Brown, I felt like I was getting the straight scoop. Or at least as straight as is possible. In addition, it was entertaining, seemingly agenda-free, balanced, eye-opening, and juicy. Alas, it relentlessly barreled towards the tragedy of Diana's death, which, to put it lightly, put a pall on my wholehearted enjoyment of reading the story. All of the above adjectives also apply to The Palace Papers which, in addition, is sometimes laugh-out-loud-funny. There is a neverending stream of revelations and "Who knew?" moments involving Camilla and her first husband, Thomas Markle, The Spencers, the Queen Mother, and too many more to mention. I approached this one with more enthusiasm because as I write this, the main characters’ story isn’t yet finished. There is hope that everything will turn out all right for this crazy family.

In Tina Brown’s wry and clear-eyed analysis of the royal family’s characters and actions, no one escapes unscathed. Of course, some are more scathed than others. There is entertainment to be found on almost every page. If you can’t stand Prince Andrew and who does, you will take great pleasure in TB’s recounting of his degrading fall from grace. He’s even worse than you think he is. If you love the Queen, you will be discomfited to learn of the many times her habit of “ostriching”, that is, stubbornly ignoring red flags in order to avoid confrontation, has caused embarrassment and disaster. If you like Kate you may be disappointed that, yes, it’s probably true that she schemed and planned to catch William before she even knew him. And to keep him. And thank God she did. Catherine and William both as a unit and individually come off the best. As does her family, especially her mother. Also, Camilla. A lot of time is spent on Camilla and she emerges as somewhat of a heroine. And one you’d most like to be your dinner partner. Charles though mostly living up to his reputation as an “eccentric drip too needy, too vulnerable, too emotional, too complicated,[and] too self-centered,” in the end comes off pretty well. Why isn’t “Charles more celebrated for his strenuous progressivism, and for his demonstrably humane labors? Ironically, he cared about many of the things the liberal bible The Guardian espoused, and to which the [royalist and conservative] Murdoch press was instinctively hostile.” Surprisingly, Harry’s 2 most famous ex-girlfriends, Chelsy Davy and Cressida “Cringe de-la Cringe” Bonas, both come across as great girls that Harry would have been lucky to land. The despicable acts of the British tabloids drove Chelsy away. With Cressida, it was both the tabloids and Harry’s inability to manage his hatred of them.

William and Harry can only be understood in the context of their mother, so there is a lot of still interesting analysis of Diana and rehashing of her adventures. Volatile Harry idolizes his mother. He has inherited a lot of her qualities, both good and bad. He is more Spencer than Windsor. But he doesn’t understand her as well as sensible William. He was sadly privy to more of her unfortunate behavior and he is more Windsor than Spencer.

And what of Meghan and Harry? Whoo Boy. It is complicated. A lot of time is spent recounting Meghan’s history and trying to understand and explain her. In many ways, it all comes down to her non-understanding of British and Royal ways.

Meghan’s curious failure to prepare for a vocation that was the royal equivalent of taking the veil was a surprise to many of her former colleagues... Meghan as an actress had always been known for “doing her homework,” exhaustively grilling anyone who could help her for “notes.”

And the converse is true. Shouldn't the Royal household made an effort to understand her and explain things to her? “She found it draining to traverse the chasms between her California effusiveness and British understatement. It was her earnestness versus their irony, her explicitness versus their words unsaid.”It was a clash of cultures rather than personalities. “The British work ethic is a frustration for any alpha American hell-bent on “hitting the ground running.”William advised Harry and Michelle Obama advised Meghan to “take time”. Harry, to marry Meghan, and Meghan to make positive change. Neither of them listened. Maybe they would have, but time is something that Harry, wanting a family, and 38-year-old Meghan did not have a lot of. It’s a darn shame. She started off so well. "As one former Palace adviser put it to [the author]: Very impressive. Very strong, very motivated, brought up to think she can change the world. It’s a very American type; we don’t have them here.” And she could have been just what the doctor ordered for the royal family. Now her platform is gone.

Meghan comes across as self-important, but, until her star aligned with Harry’s, uncomfortably aware that her actual social and professional status (6th on the call sheet) was not keeping up with her (very) lofty ambitions. Harry and Meghan are both too much alike. They are both temperamental and combative. They fuel each other’s distrust of everybody else and revel in their “us against the world” mentality. He did not want her to conform. That would not have suited his purpose. The other royal couples are successful because they balance and steady each other, not egg each other on. “My strength and stay.”
 

...perhaps the most powerful survival element of the monarchy has turned out to be marital love. Without the caring resolve of the Queen Mother, George VI would have been a stammering introvert who could never have led the country in its hour of need. Without Philip’s bracing loyalty, the Queen could have been a lonely conformist, run by her courtiers. Without finally being allowed to marry Camilla, Charles would have suffered a slow death of the soul instead of his late flowering into an unapologetically happy man. And without Kate’s serene empathy, William might have collapsed under the pain of his childhood and the weight of his future. Diana’s two boys have each found the sustaining love that eluded her, even though in Harry’s case he chose to leave rather than allow his wife to be crushed by the media and the Palace machine.”

Ever since Harry was forced out of his chosen military career, which suited him perfectly and would have been the making of him, he had been unmoored and desperately unhappy. His escape, thanks to Meghan, was probably for the best. But can he weather the challenges of his new life and the necessity of making his own way? Given his history? Can Meghan’s ego be satisfied with her diminishing influence? And what about the rest of the Windsors? Can their institution survive the death of the Queen? It’ll be interesting.

https://rebekahsreadingsandwatchings....

[Beverley Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're only ever going to read one book about the British Royals then make it this one. It's a hefty tome but not a paragraph is wasted on filler or fluff.

Chock a block with anecdotes, some hilarious and some maddening. It's a very balanced and detailed account of the British Royal family since the death of Diana. It has a small prologue covering the dreadful Sussex/Oprah interview but doesn't dwell on the proven mistruths. It's all been said.

Detailed history and anecdotes of the Queen, Queen mother, Prince Philip, Princess Margaret and Charles and William growing up. It is meticulously researched and a surprisingly fun read. As I said, it's a very big book and I will update this review when I've read about the exiles in Montecito.

I note all the Sussex stans are throwing their toys out of their pram in their reviews. Get a life, not everything is all about Harry and Meghan, including this book.

OK, finished now and it was a really good read and a very fair account, no favourites here.

I note many one star, one sentence reviews from Sussex fans who, quite clearly haven't read the book. Really, an 800 page book you read in an hour after publication? Too funny. Had they done so they would have found not only a fair account of the Sussexes behaviour, but actually a rather generous account. I'd rather not find so much about them due to their irrelevance in Great Britain and irrelevance to the Royal Family. They played a game and they lost, close the door on the way out please!! Also they're no longer Royals, so I feel we should leave them to get on with it now. No more books about H&M please.

All in all it was a good read and the anecdotes just go to prove that the Royal family are more similar in many ways to the average slightly dysfunctional family, at the mercy of the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.

[Lucy Heckman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Extremely biased book against the Sussexes. And overpraise of the Cambridges. She also makes negative remarks about Diana. Brown seems to have an axe to grind.

[Cassandra · Rating 1 out of 5]

Warning-rant incoming....

I picked up this book at the library thinking Tina Brown was actually a journalist and there hasn't been a good deep dive into the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha since the post-Diana's death books. I was wrong on both counts.

There are at least two "hell of a story" struggling to get out of this tome and Brown overlooks both of them. The first concerns the absolute psychological hell of being branded a "spare" in infancy and the mark it makes on that person's life and incidentally does not spare the firstborn either. Primogeniture is hell enough in a family without the constant reminder that you were born to be the backup to your elder sibling. It destroyed Margaret whose overindulgence by her father masked her complete irrelevance to the royal family as an institution as she slid further and further down the succession list. The fact that her older sister and the palace institution had the power to compel her to give up a marriage and deny her a life of meaning is chilling. Brown just sees her as silly and petulant. Ok, but who made her that way?

Let's not even get into how Andrew was also spoiled rotten to make up for being the spare and his grandiosity and appalling moral character can be traced to that fact. He is the beloved son of the sovereign but he'll never be the heir and it has destroyed him (and many young girls with him). It's also helped make Charles into an arrogant know-it-all, but I digress.

Harry appears to have broken this pattern perhaps due to the early death of his mother, his army service, and his marriage to an educated American woman with outside contacts in the entertainment and global charity networks. He also had his own global contacts from Sentabale and Invictus. He found a way to get out and try to live a meaningful independent life. What does this mean for Charlotte and Louis-no idea as Brown never connects the dots. What she does do is spend a lot of time taking snide potshots at Harry and Meagan for refusing to be badly treated by the Firm. More on that later.

The second big story concerns the women who have climbed the social ladder with cunning and tenacity-yes, you- Camilla Parker Bowles, and Kate Middleton. There are swaths of this book dedicated to how wonderful Camilla is, how funny, and down to earth, and sexy...on and on. How very bourgeois to be concerned about stalking rich men and gaslighting a young woman. Yes, we know she's going to be Queen Consort and access is all-important but spare the reader the hagiographic details, please. Being a rich man's mistress and helping to blow up two marriages is not that delightful and hilarious. She belongs in a Henry James or Edith Wharton novel and not as a heroine.

Kate can be in those novels with her--her college stalking of William is truly impressive and her mother's strategy sessions obviously paid off for her, but the painting of her as some sort of madonna is over the top. There is a story here about cheating and body dysphoria as a coping mechanism but perhaps fear of liability is a factor. I'm an American though and I don't care.

The nastiness about Harry and Meagan is all through the book but you wonder how quickly it would have turned if Tina Brown had gotten an interview instead of Oprah Winfrey. All that vitriol from the British rat press has so much to do with how the Sussexes have cut off the UK media from access to their activities and their children. The anti-Americanism and racism of Kensington Palace aides towards Meagan obviously angered Harry but when nothing was done to protect his child (who was targeted by white supremacists in the UK) it's obvious why he got them all out. And where is older brother William in this mess? Conspicuously absent/silent. It was his aides and his office causing Meagan such misery so why didn't he stop it? He certainly spoke out about the wedding. Harry was the spare and just had to take it?

Ugh. Enough. Perhaps an American journalist who isn't so concerned about access and Birthday Honors will eventually write a definitive account. Or maybe it will be Harry's book? It sure isn't this one.

[Cathy Lowther · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a giant snore. Save your money, its basically nothing more than a rehash of what we, the public already know. There is nothing riveting about this book.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

With the recent passing of HRH Queen Elizabeth II, it was fate that this book by Tina Brown became available around the same time. Always one to enjoy a bit of historical explaining when it comes to royalty, I was intrigued to see what Brown had to say about the royals and some of the characters who have made headlines in the last few years, scandals and successes alike.

Brown presents the book as being a great means of exploring the backstories and more recent happenings of a number of royals. She seeks to give the reader a better understanding of the context into which the current tabloid headlines base their comments. This permits the reader to better fit the pieces together and provides a concrete understanding of how these royals lived such over-the-top lives.

While Brown’s book does delve into a number of the scandalous activities a handful of royals found themselves, I feel that it would be a waste of time to list them. Those who are interested in reading this book, as I was, are surely aware of the gist surrounding these events, but seek more of the details or context. Brown does well to offer that, providing the reader with great anecdotes.

The structure of the book seeks to explore each of the royals on their own, but also to show how their lives intertwine. There are certain moments where the likes of Charles, Andrew, and William are all compared, though there is an effort to present their differing views as part of the larger picture. This enriches the narrative and provides the curious reader with a better all-around analysis of a single event.

While there is no way to dodge that there are some scandalous moments depicted within the pages of the book, Brown seeks not to make it smarmy or overly controversial. Rather, she provides the reader with some great insight and seeks to delve a little deeper to help the reader better understand what took place, rather than sensationalize the event at hand.

As the book was published earlier in 2022, much of the comments surrounding the future of the royals comes into greater clarity now that HRH Queen Elizabeth II has died. With the ascension of Charles III to the throne, some of the expectation of the royals have shifted, or their roles become more important. While Brown could not have predicted the reality when she penned this book, a great deal is coming to pass now, as I watch the news and see how things at Buckingham Palace have changed. An oracle without necessarily knowing it.

When taking a look at the book itself, the reader can feel a sense of enjoyment as they learn about the central royals without feeling the need to take a shower to cleanse themselves from all the disgusting reporting. Brown paces the book to explore a number of the key royals in a respectiful and courteous manner, without treating them like glass figurines. In full chapters, Brown addresses characters and themes that enrich the storytelling experience. She pulls on a number of key events and gives context, which provides the reader with a better view of the horizon before them. I found her writing clear and concise, making me want to learn a great deal more when time permits.

Kudos, Madam Brown, for a highly insightful piece. I am ready to learn more about the royals and you seem to be a wonderful vehicle for my education.

Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/

[jrendocrine at least reading is good · Rating 3 out of 5]

First - this is a LONG book. The first half, about the elder (and recently passed) Windsors was as dull as dishwater (they probably are IRL), and I used it to effectively get back to sleep in the wee hours of the night.

When Meghan and Harry meet in the final (but still LOOOONG) chapters the book is more interesting - but tells a very sad tale. I actually believe that Meghan, slim / beautiful / shiny, and maybe even in love with Harry, didn't know what being part of the Firm entailed - not sure I did before this book (and I've watched the Crown!) She saw her chance for celebrity and glitz and glamour, and what she got was Frogmore Cottage. Harry, smitten forever with his smart (really, Northwestern) partner, becomes increasingly unhappy because she is unhappy.

Oh so very sad for everyone. I hope the Montecito crew can just let the Firm go, and live their celebrity lives. Why not? That would be a win, the US has lots of room for shiny sparkly people. The loss would seem to be William and Harry's friendship - but their immediate families are more important.

[ꕥ Ange_Lives_To_Read ꕥ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I watched Diana Spencer marry Prince Charles on a crappy portable TV when I was away at Girl Scout camp in 1981. So, I have always found the Royal Family sort of fascinating, but I haven't read any books about them until this one. This seemed a balanced and very interesting history of the various members from the Chuck and Di era till the present day. I learned a lot about them that I didn't know. I didn't expect to come out of the book with a more sympathetic view of Harry and Meghan. I am not a fan and I don't respect their behavior after "stepping down," but I got a little more perspective about what made them tick. The one member of the family who was presented with absolutely no sympathy whatever was Prince Andrew. I never realized what a complete disaster of a person he has always been.

I was very sad that Queen Elizabeth died right as I was in the middle of this book, as reading it I became a big fan of hers. One of the stories about her that I liked best was how she agreed to do the James Bond/jump out of the helicopter thing at the 2012 Olympics, and kept it a secret, because she thought her grandsons would get a kick out of it. (If you haven't seen it, it's available on YouTube and it's a hoot.)

[BAM doesn’t answer to her real name]

Make it through my exclamatory paragraph to reach the review. Keeping the first paragraph as part of my year in books

This comment is not a reflection on the content. I simply got introduced to Mahnskin this week and I CANNOT STOP LISTENING TO THIS ITALIAN HOTTIE RAP LIKE ITS GOING TO SAVE HIS LIFE! Also Iggy Pop does a song with them so ummm yeah IGGY POP
I’m also over my fabulous Italian crush NOT but I have library books due soon so I’m going to have to break up with him

Ok I finished the book and I’m anti MM but my heart breaks fr Harry. He basically has PTSD and a death wish.
As for Camilla, she’s definitely not a diana she never will be and she is right up charles alley but someone please help her pick,out he clothes or at least her head apparel. She’s hopeless.you know the book grazed across the Camilla-gate. I don't think I could accept her as well as those boys (William is 40 right? No he is still the world's little Prince Charming) have done. Or maybe that's me . Maybe I can't accept her period . The world lost an angel the night Diana died. And I will always remember where I was when it happened and how the news bulletins wanted us to believe she was alive but it was just a bad accident and then the news turned evil. You know what? I don't think I remember what happened after that. I can remember watching the men walking down the street behind the car (which was definitely discussed to the point where I think Phillip got pissed man does he have a temper). I remember seeing the greatest of the worlds people at the church. I think I need to YouTube this. It's really just discussed in the beginning and bits and pieces thereafter. But I do think harry has mental issues that can be rectified with counseling. And then maybe he will slay the dragon that Is MM

[Mrs Nina Macfie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn’t see Tina Brown’s stance as being anti-Sussexes at all, as other reviewers have said. She simply turned her journalist’s “take no prisoners” eye on the creaking edifice of the monarchy, an institution whose time has passed in n my view. What struck me is how these individuals, who owe their position solely to an accident of birth, have feet of clay like the rest of us, and how foolish we are to revere them. The book itself is tightly written and entertaining but recycles too much “old stuff” that has been done better elsewhere. Hence the 3 stars.

[Cheryl Jann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well researched

It's hard to believe you can read about events you already know and still find unknown details and surprises. Tina Brown managed. I think she was quite fair in her praise and criticism of the various family members. She explained how and why Duchess Meagan was practically doomed to fail in a royal family that barely moves at turtle speed whereas she wanted to shoot across the sky like a meteor. Prince Harry comes across as a poignant mixture of anguish, anger, and arrogance which also doomed him to fail. Yet other family members, with some of the same burdens, did not fail. The how and why of that makes for very intriguing reading in Ms. Brown's book.

I am very curious to see what will happen when The Queen dies, as is expected in the near future. There have been studies done on the ability of a spouse to long survive the death of their beloved partner, and The Queen and Prince Phillip were together for many decades. Now suddenly he is gone, Prince Harry is exiled by his own choosing and Prince Andrew is in disgrace. I can't imagine she will last the year. Will King Charles strengthen the tottering monarchy (one can only hope!) or will he be the last royal in this incredible, long line?

Years ago, when there were still many royal rulers, someone once said that in the end, there would only be five kings left in the world: Hearts, Spades, Diamonds, Clubs -- and England. England (the United Kingdom) is still there. But the question "For how long?" is starting to echo ominously.

[Namera [The Literary Invertebrate] · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Tom Bower book about Meghan Markle turned out to be pretty mediocre, so a friend recommended this one to me instead. Covering the last 20-odd years of the royal family, it's well-written, entertaining, and even funny at times.

I gather Tina Brown is a big name in the world of magazines, too, though that's not a place I frequent.

The book is divided into sections, and every one of the Queen's sons gets a look-in: Charles of course, but also Andrew, and a bit of Edward. (I had no idea even he and his wife Sophie had scandal attached to them...). There's some on William and Harry too, though possibly not as much as you might expect.

I had to grit my teeth at the Charles and Camilla chapters, because I cannot STAND that couple. Like probably most people, I think the way they treated Diana is utterly shameful, and the fact that Camilla is now Queen Consort - the Palace is trying to wriggle into calling her Queen Camilla, too - is incredibly distasteful. I'm actually pretty neutral on the monarchy as an institution, but that pair are enough to make me a republican. It's my natural dislike of adultery combined with their particular turpitude.

With that out of the way, the rest of the book absolutely flies along. A rollickingly good read for anyone who wants to know a bit more of the immediate context to the royals.

[Martine · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF@ 45%
I tried. Although well written and informative, it became depressing to read about how horrible the British paparazzi has become. And, this book is looong. Very loooong. I also felt some personal comments from the author were inappropriate and had no place in this book.

[Laura Ann she-her · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was an antiquated evaluation of the monarchy. I don’t think she really grasps the larger pic that is the monarchy and their devastation and racism built into their family, past, present, and likely future.

[Jill Meyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading Tina Brown’s new book, “The Palace Papers”, has been a real pleasure. The book’s subtitle is “Inside the House of Windsor- the Truth and the Turmoil”, and Brown’s take on both the collective Windsors and individual ones seems to be spot on.

Tina Brown can write. Unlike most writers about royalty, Brown is not “Team Charles” or “Team Diana”, “Team Meghan” or “Team The Palace”. So many writers have points of view that color their treatment of their subjects. Please spare me the literary angst, for instance, of those on “Team Diana”, who insist on portraying the late Diana as a saint…and Charles as a mustache-twirling villain. Tina Brown is a reporter and report she does, without the coloring done by other writers.

I suspect that most people who read this review are pretty knowledgeable about the British Royal Family. Tina Brown takes the facts and puts them together in her book.

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not a book I wanted to like, much less rate 5 stars. So much has been written on the Royals, so much of which is pure treacle, vapid fluff, akin to reading a long-form puff piece in People magazine. So 5 stars for what this book represents within its genre(s) — “rich & famous,” “history of the UK,” “memoirs.” Brown cites over 120 interviews among those holding first-hand accounts.

This book to me was long-form documentary (plus saving me from any need or desire to watch Netflix’s highly-fictional account, The Crown). I’d learned of this release during Kara Swisher’s recent interview with Tina Brown on Swisher’s podcast, “The Sway.” Swisher is an interviewer unafraid to ask pointed questions and doesn’t suffer fools - which to me lent some credence to Brown’s book.

The book itself is well-researched, well-written, and well-delivered (Brown serves as narrator). I found it highly engaging, and did not even pump up the listening speed to 1.5x, my usual. Brown holds the “Who’s Who” Rolodex, she’s been “on the scene” for decades, holds literary gravitas, and has straddled the British-American cultural divides. Brown is able to place events within the context of the unique and peculiar constraints of the rules, conditions and traditions of the British monarchy - most of which mere mortals are (happily) unaware - yet provide a great deal of explanatory power.

What I took away from the book was an ability to look at recents events within the arc of time, from the prism of one who is British. My sense is all characters were presented, generally, in a fair manner — through their own words and deeds, and as the human beings they are. Everyone will need to make their own judgment here.