The Palace Papers: The Sunday Times bestseller
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WITH AN EXCLUSIVE NEW CHAPTER FOR THE PAPERBACK EDITION
The Amazon No.1 Bestseller
The Sunday Times Bestseller
THE ROYAL BOOK OF THE YEAR
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‘Eye-poppingly revealing. . . impeccable sources, historical heft and canny insights served up with a zingy wit. There are many royal biographers, but few as good as this. She turns gossip into the first draft of history.’ TELEGRAPH
From the Queen’s stoic resolve to the crisis of Meghan and Harry. From the ascendance of Camilla and Kate to the downfall of Andrew. Full of remarkable inside access, The Palace Papers by Sunday Times bestselling author Tina Brown will change how you understand the Royal Family.
‘Clever, well-informed and disgustingly entertaining’ THE TIMES
‘There are royal books, and there are royal books. But The Palace Papers is in a genre of its own’ RADIO TIMES
‘Jaw dropping! What a book . . . if you ever want to feel like a fly on the wall of any of the palaces, this is it.’
LORRAINE KELLY
‘Brown’s prose has the swoosh of an enjoyably OTT ballgown’ FINANCIAL TIMES
‘The world’s sharpish and best-informed royal expert’ PIERS MORGAN
‘Riveting and rigorous’ PANDORA SYKES
‘A witty, rip-roaring read . . . full off perceptive and witty observations’ i Newspaper
‘A rollicking ride through recent royal family history . . . Tina Brown’s sparkling prose and eye for detail enliven an entertaining exposé’ OBSERVER
‘The most explosive royal book of the year’ THE SUN
‘Gloriously irreverent, racily written and often very funny. The early chapters on the long affair between Prince Charles and Camilla read like a non-fiction version of Jilly Cooper’s Rutshire Chronicles’ NEW STATESMAN
‘A motherlode of delectable gossip . . . Brown has produced a work both scholarly and scandalous that makes us think about what the post-Elizabethan world may bring, alternately amusing and horrifying us along the way . . . vivid and richly-embroidered’ INDEPENDENT
‘The devil is in the delicious detail . . . Brown tackles her subjects with the same brio she brought to her years as a highly regarded magazine editor . . . Her access to those who flit around the royals gives her writing an edgy authenticity’ DAILY MAIL
‘Brown thrashes her way through absolutely everything that has happened to the family since the end of the last book in 1997 . . . Charles and Camilla are vividly brought to life in a series of well-researched stories and anecdotes’ SUNDAY TIMES
‘The Palace Papers is a sharp-nibbed observation of a generation of tumult for the House of Windsor, bookended by the deaths of Princess Diana and Prince Philip. It’s a story about media as much as monarchy, and it draws from almost every chapter in Brown’s career in journalism’ FINANCIAL TIMES
‘It’s hard to look away as Tina Brown delves into decades’ worth of royal scandals’ GUARDIAN
‘Utter brilliance . . . a rip-roaring read’ SCOTSMAN
‘A brilliant book. Tina Brown has inside knowledge and writes so well’ LADY ANNE GLENCONNER (author of Lady in Waiting)
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‘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 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.
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Additional information
| Publisher | Penguin (2 Feb. 2023) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Paperback | 592 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 152915880X |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1529158809 |
| Dimensions | 12.7 x 3.5 x 19.7 cm |
by Sheila
I found this an absorbing and enlightening book. For many of us, the different characters in the royal family over the past several decades are endlessly fascinating. Although I do feel sympathy towards them for the relentless way in which they are scrutinised by the media, I cannot but acknowledge that fascination, and I feel they are all much more interesting than so-called ‘celebrities’. None of us who follow them can avoid having our shifting personal opinions about them, much as we might about fictional characters: but they themselves are real, living, unique individuals who can never be defined by our superficial opinions.
For the British Royals, their characters are bound up so deeply in British culture and history, that the impression they convey to the public cannot ever be separated from it. My comments here fully acknowledge these as living people with their own integrity, and the impression we receive of them, even from a book as (apparently) well-researched and painstakingly and beautifully written as this one is, can only be partial, and we would be betraying our own humanity if we did not acknowledge that every one of us is odd and flawed and our lives are full of character weaknesses, mistakes and wrong turnings. None of us can ever stand in judgement over each other.
My observations of the book must be seen in light of the above, and simply represent the feelings and impression I receive of the individuals portrayed in Tina Brown’s account.
Although the author focuses on many crises and events which have already received wide and varied publicity, she offers extra value to the reader by giving details and insights which are lacking on the main media channels. I found myself changing my previous feelings about certain royals, both in a positive and a negative light. I must confess that several of Tina Brown’s observations on the Queen Mother and upon the Queen herself made them sound like nasty pieces of works, appearing callous and cruel. The author also often represents Charles as weak, self-indulgent and spoilt with no self-control. Harry in this account comes over as someone of whom his family could always have predicted a future as a rebel and troublemaker.
I like Camilla – in Tina Brown’s portrayal – but cannot understand why the lady portrayed here would have agreed in the end to marry Charles, or enter into the gilded cage of the royal life, when clearly, she is so much more at home as a relaxed carefree person. Camilla has my admiration for the way she responded during the period when she was publicly vilified: I loved the author’s observation that Camilla retreated to her home and spent a lot of time reading books – which of course provided a perfect preparation for her later role as the convenor of the Royal Reading Room!
The way this author writes about Diana makes me feel so sorry for Harry and puts me much more in sympathy with him. I found myself thinking, ‘no wonder he wants to write his book’ and also feeling he has every right to publish it.
With Tina’s portrayal of Catherine, I found myself also feeling sorry for her, having to wait for so long for William to reach a decision: and amazed it didn’t end up as a repeat of the Camilla and Charles situation.
Tina covers the Paul Burrell story, and makes it clear she sees him as a betrayer – however, I don’t agree with her here. Again, this is based only on a partial understanding of the truth.
In regard to Tina’s portrayal of Harry, I do wonder now whether he will get all the sympathy back again with his book. No wonder he snapped Meghan up so quickly before the media really got wind of it, and without even preparing her for the royal life – for fear she would be scared off just as Cressida and Chelsy were. I now – on the basis of Tina Brown’s account – even feel William should have been more sensitive and understanding to Harry about Meghan and should have respected both his choice and the speed at which he made it.
Some of this book is superbly written, especially the Andrew and the ‘Megxit’ bits. At the end, I’m in awe of the firebrand writing with perfect pace, frequent wit and not a word out of place. Perhaps that owes something to exceptional editing! Some of it is brilliantly, bitingly funny. Tina Brown’s account of Elizabeth II’s death and our response to it is beautifully done – expressed perfectly and accurately and very moving.
So overall, with the caveats I mention in the early paragraphs of my review, I’ll say this is a compulsive read, full of flare and, hopefully – as it may turn out in the future – at least some substance.
by emma tolton
Such a good insight into the royal family. Would highly recommend
by Kindle Customer
Best to read in conjunction with ‘The Crown’
by Dorphyb
If your interested in the Royals,you will enjoy this
by Jean Elizabeth
Really good read & excellently written
by LizzieS
Not the best of these kind of books I have read – nowhere nearly as good as Tom Bower or Valentine Low’s . The writers bias in fairly plain view here.
by Michelle
I found this book massively readable, informative and enjoyable. However, I have to deduct a star because of the disrespectful way Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II was referred to as ‘Her Maj’ throughout this book. Another thing I thought was disappointing was the way Her late Majesty was described as ‘ostriching’. It is not ‘ostriching’ when your son is tarnished with the reputation of being a sexual deviant and you are the Queen – any public display of support would have been decried by the British people, and rightly so. The Queen did a better job of balancing work/life than I did, managing for nearly a century. I managed about three months before I had a mental breakdown. Apart from these things, the book is amazing and I do recommend it.
by Christine Wilson
This is a very detailed and evenly handed look at this fascinating family. Tina Brown has used extensive and thorough research to give the royals a very human and ‘light and shade’ dimension. She has done that slightly unusual thing (in today’s society) of not forcing her opinion on us. Instead she shows the family in a way that describes them as the humans they are. They get things right and wrong but ultimately they are always judged.
What comes across is the business aspect of the Family. They operate within ‘courts’ communicating via private secretaries – like major business communicating with other major business. And the Royal Family IS a major business – the ultimate institution. The Queen never forgot this and always acted as Head of State, first and foremost.
Catherine Middleton comes out of it extremely well. She adapted to the confines of her role brilliantly. But the whole Meghan episode was described in a more neutral way which allows the reader to feel some sympathy – as well as fury – towards her. Prince Andrew is dealt with perhaps in the only way possible. I have yet to read anything that is favourable about him. But it was good to be reminded that he was once seen as ‘the best looking man in the world’ and was a very eligible bachelor. But even then his situation as a ‘spare’ was painfully apparent.
My greatest respect goes to Camilla. A fairly ‘ordinary’ country woman with a slightly colourful past she embarked on a first arguably disastrous marriage. But clearly loved Charles, possibly not from the outset – but certainly from an early point. Both trapped in truly awful marriages they provided ‘comfort’ to each other and clearly became soulmates. For Camilla to have endured all the hate she received and still to have stood by her man made me cheer when they eventually married. Charles quite simply could not be without her. And that has to be right for us all.
This is a book for royalists and non royalists alike as it’s a fascinating insight into this most complex of families who operate an ancient institution within a modern world.