“Never again” became Queen Elizabeth II’s mantra shortly after Princess Diana’s tragic 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 Tina Brown’s "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.
Brown takes readers on a tour de force journey through the scandals, love affairs, power plays and betrayals that have buffeted the monarchy over the last twenty-five years. We see the Queen’s stoic resolve after the passing of Princess Margaret, the Queen Mother and Prince Philip, her partner for seven decades, and how she triumphs in her Jubilee years even as family troubles rage around her. Brown explores Prince Charles’s determination to make Camilla Parker Bowles his wife, the tension between William and Harry on “different paths,” the ascendance of Kate Middleton, the downfall of Prince Andrew, 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.
This book is a behind-the-scenes peek into the royal family and covers everyone including the queen, her sister, her husband, her children and their spouses, her grandchildren and their spouses, her great grandchildren, etc.
It was an interesting book but I think you have to take it with a grain of salt because it doesn't sound like the author actually spoke with anyone in the royal family ... she spoke with people who know the royal family and people who know people who know them. She doesn't really have anything positive to say about anyone so you get the scoop on everyone from the author's point of view and bias. But it was a fun read.
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