eBook The Royals download

Kitty Kelley is as entertaining as they come--and certainly intrepid, unintimidated and marvelously descriptive as a biographer. I'd first read this book shortly after it's initial release--before Diana's death--and wanted an uncomplicated, gossipy read the other night. So I re-read the entire book, enjoying it just as much this time as I did originally! "The Royals" actually has a lot of accurate reporting when it comes to the historical background of the Windsors, the behind the scenes lives of the Queen and family, and what really went on immediately after Diana's death. I say this b/c before re-reading "The Royals," I've plowed through many far more serious tomes on the British royal family and books written by or with the participation of friends of the family--and what Kelley describes jibes with accounts gleaned from insiders. The small details Kelley dares to add (the information "insiders" probably wouldn't discuss) is appreciated--particularly the descriptions of the interiors of Princess Margaret's apartment (fraying wires, tottering TV trays and all.....let's hope William and Kate purge them from the space that is now THEIR home at Kensington Palace) and the other residences (tattered old carpets, substandard heating and A/C, ancient toilets that flush UP). The personalities of the Queen, Prince Phillip, Prince Charles, Princess Diana and the Queen Mother as described by Kelley are similar to what I've read in other books; she just takes it that one step further.....:-) The Queen is parsimonious aka cheap to a fault and turns a blind eye to Prince Phillip's affairs b/c in large part b/c she turned him out of her bed so as not to have more children while she was first "learning her job" as Queen. Her husband is a bully who once hit his assigned Secret Service agent repeatedly during a visit with President and Mrs. Reagan in California b/c he was impatient with the traffic delays. Charles dithers, lies and longs for the less complicated Camilla Parker-Bowles; not seeing that his lying about his love for Mrs. Parker-Bowles was a good part of the reason his new young wife became depressed, bulimic and determined to "give him some payback." Not that Diana is merely a victim and/or bathed in the sunshine of good deeds and "sainthood," as those who grieved her death recalled her. She is deceitful, purposely difficult, defiant with the Queen and the Queen Mother, and has two very bad habits she is unwilling to alter--her bulimia and attraction to bad men. One of the worst, James Hewitt, was going to publish some of Diana's letters to him in a book along with his personal impressions/memories of the Princess. When the Queen heard he was going to say things like "She has bad breath and wanted sex all the time," she intervened on Diana's behalf and Hewitt became Cad of the entire UK. The Queen Mother is seen as the real prevailing influence on the Queen but, while epitomizing royalty at its best, drinks heavily ("anyone else would be called an alcoholic" notes Kelley), gambles heavily and runs up huge debts ("addicted to alcohol AND gambling" says Kelley).

It's a fun, fast read. The photos are good. And the research Kelley chooses to quote verbatim is insightful--and entertaining! "The Royals" is a good compliment to more detailed, serious and high minded histories of the Royal Family. In all seriousness, it humanizes this vast, prominent, proper family and therein makes them far more interesting.

It's actually pretty great if you want to read about the royal family and a fun read. Of course, take it with a grain of salt, but it is well written and she did quite a bit of research. I'm sure there are stories in it that don't add up, but I'm also sure there are lots of true ones. It's entertaining and in my opinion well worth the time - good read before bed (I laughed out loud lots of time)

I enjoy reading about the British monarchy. To be honest, I don't know why, but I do. This book often contradicted various facts I've read previously, and therefore don't know what to believe. As an example, I read the Queen (Elizabeth) chose a conservative wedding dress due to rationing. But this author said she spent a million (or there abouts) on her dress. But all in all, I found the book interesting despite the contradictions, and thereby recommend it.

Kitty does it again! In this book, as in her others, she puts a cloak of humanity on the family that IS Britain and we discover that when their humanity is exposed, they are just like us: at times lovable, at times disgusting, but always subject to the same heartaches, joys, selfishness,, pride, fears, sorrow and pain as the rest of us. I loved this book. All my ancestors on both sides came from England and although they acquired American citizenship, I'll borrow from a poem that says, "... that is forever England" and I loved reading about the royal family. They mess up their lives as much as ordinary citizens do, and that makes me cheer for them. Their antics and actions seem to be "larger than life" but I loved them all. My daughter went to England to research our family and came back with a huge map of Durham County showing where my grandfather was born, "in the shadow of Durham Castle,' as he as he used to say. This book was funny, sad, frightening, comical and written in a way that made it impossible to put it down.

As a senior I know the factual history and have heard all the rumors about British royals over many years. This book brings facts and rumors together and ties them into a neat little package quite nicely. Kitty writes well and the book is easy reading and highly entertaining. Will it change your opinion about the royals, I think not. Prince Charles has been totally run down by the press, his former wife, friends, and even Kitty does not but give him any leeway. Recommend the book if you are at all interested in the modern history and life events of the "Windsors".

We all know what Kitty Kelly is like-and that's why we buy her books and that's what makes tabloids stay in business. I kept coming back to it whenever I had a moment. Nothing terribly new but written all in one place and the parts about Fergie were interesting because we didn't get too much press on her in the U.S. I am a pretty fast reader, and for 7.99 I it's not too bad of a price. (Even though it was very outdated, at least there were a lot of pages). That being said, the editing was horrid! And K.K.'s writing isn't consistent-In one section she says "Charles told his parents that he wanted to go to "Papa's School" and then on the next page she says" Charles finally consented and chose his father's school" (which apparently, he hated). Little things like that. And my biggest gripe was the photos. Instead of adding 20 photos of Di to the 247,092,036 pictures of Diana that we have already seen, I would have liked to see a lot more photos of the other royals-the pathetic 2 they have of Princess Margaret, for example. One is a really bad shot, and one she looks like a harridan. She was actually quite beautiful. Other than that, if you like gossipy reading, this is worth it, in my opinion.

I enjoyed the book better than I thought I would. I had an opinion of what I had thought a Kitty Kelley book would be like. This book was more historical than what I expected. I thought it would be more like tabloid gossip. It was interesting.