When King George died Princess Elizabeth became Queen. The last curtsy she made was when she paid her respects to her father. Once Elizabeth became Queen she treated Philip differently. He was no longer the dominant, take charge husband - he suddenly became unmanned. She even refused his last name when she was Queen. She would become Queen Elizabeth II and would be compared to Elizabeth the I. The distinction she drew upon was that Queen Elizabeth I was blessed with neither husband or children and was never able to leave her shores. Queen Elizabeth II wrapped herself up in marriage and motherhood. In the years she would become respected as a dutiful monarch and most traveled but would fail as a wife and mother. Her priorities became the monarchy, her marriage and last her children. In the early years of her marriage faced with the choice between her husband or her children - Philip won out. Their children were raised like how the Queen was raised, by nannies. Their marriage produced 4 children. By 1992 all of the Queen's children who were married were legally separated and headed for divorce.

Princess Anne, although younger, married first to a commoner Captain Mark Phillips. Captain Philips was summoned to the Palace to provide a sample of semen - since marriages were solely to produce heirs. Once again Captain Mark Philips declined a title and a work position however he did agree to 500 acre estate. I do feel sorry for Charles because of his miserable childhood with cold parents, but he has made big mistakes himself, all of which are known the world over. I read it all because I just can’t get enough of the British Royals. I'm roughly the same age as Prince William, so ever since I was a little girl I've known that there was a real life prince out there who would someday marry someone- why not me? Sure I’m an American and I’ve never even set foot in Great Britain, but being an Anglican born in the early 80’s gave me just enough hope for a lifelong fantasy. Even now, with the fabulous Duchess Kate and baby Prince George, the monarchy is great for fantasy. As William and Kate left the hospital with their new baby, I sighed and thought, I know just what it feels like to leave the hospital with a sweet baby boy. At precisely that moment, my very own little boy ran by me in a superhero cape and shouted, “YOU’RE THE BAD GUY!” I can’t imagine that Prince George would ever yell that at his mother, the future Queen. We love having a monarchy around so we can vicariously live a fairy tale through them. (But also as Americans, not be bossed around by anyone.) Now, it appears that much info comes from unnamed sources, many of whom seem to be a little angry and condescending. Downstairs wants to be upstairs, so to speak. I'm sure Kelley did her research, but I always take everything with a grain of salt when memories come with agendas. Still, I was never bored, although I wish there was more on George V, who for all his faults looks like Zeus compared to his children and grandchildren. Much of the book is focused on the current Queen and her brethren. Oh my. Oh my. Oh my.The Palace press office announced the formal style for Lady Diana Spencer. “Following the wedding, she will be known as Diana, the Princess of Wales,” said an aide. “She’s not Princess Diana because she was not born a princess, and she’s not the Princess Diana because only children of the sovereign are entitled to ‘the’ before their title.” Americans, who did not understand titles or their subtleties, called her Princess Di.” The Windsor dynasty was created in 1917 to conceal the family's' German heritage. In fact for the last 200 years most Kings spoke German. King George V was the first King who could speak the King's English without an accent. King George was much beloved from his subjects. England had gained much land by conquest after World War I making England domaint over a quarter of the globe. King George was the last great Emperor King for England. Then came an unexpected plot twist. From beyond the grave, Fr Fehily - the M and the Q to our Leinster Schools Senior Cup-winning team - sent us all on one final mission . . . Kitty Kelley’s book “The Royals” ends with the famous quote from historian Walter Bagehot about royalty: “In its mystery is its life. We must not let daylight in upon magic.”

As long as they produce children and keep the bloodline going...that's all that's required. Whether the bridegroom is homosexual, bisexual, or heterosexual doesn't matter, as long as the marriage looks good on the outside and is kept up for public appearances. It's worse for gay men in the aristocracy because it's the duty of the oldest make to produce an heir to pass on the family name, the property, and the title. So they've got to get married, no matter what their sexual orientation is, which accounts for the long established tradition in Britain of homosexual men marrying women simply to breed. Makes no difference what they do later on the side as long as they do it discreetly. That's the hypocrisy of it all. " But I did read it, feeling guilty about it most of the way through. The book is basically the world’s longest US Weekly article, focusing on little besides every bit of gossip and scandal surrounding the British monarchy for the last century. If not pulled from an old newspaper article, every story was either, “according to a former equerry of the prince” or “recalled a friend of the duchess.” God help anyone who has their story assembled based on reporters and the recollections of past friends, acquaintances, and enemies. At least I knew going into it that it was basically written by Rita Skeeter and therefore not to be entirely believed. The guilt was knowing that no one deserves their private lives intruded upon in such detail. It focused so much on the negative. Poi, essendo del 1997, non fa un ritratto lusinghiero né di Diana né di Sarah Ferguson (giustamente, direi: i capitoli su di loro hanno irritato me, non so la regina come sia riuscita a non prendere una e picchiarci l'altra), ma nell'appendice, scritta dopo la morte di Diana, la Kelley ne fa un ritratto agiografico e piagnucoloso e questo tutto è meno che giornalismo. Princess Elizabeth and her sister Princess Margaret had a very sheltered childhood. Princess Elizabeth knew she was becoming groomed to be Queen - even Margaret knew it. Margaret was a bit more wild of the two girls. The first act of independence from her parents was when Elizabeth accepted Prince Philip's proposal to marriage, much to her father's dismay. The King had to give permission to his daughter for her marriage. He finally relented to his daughter's wishes when Philip changed his name, nationality and his religion. Fergie and Diane may not have been the best of friends during their marriages however during their separations they took the same comfort in psychiatrists, both were on anti depression, both had taken on lovers who would betray them for money. They also both turned to Astrologers, numerologists and spiritualist for help. Many of these people would sell them out. They didn't know who to trust.

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I personally would have liked to learn about the Queen's parents and grandparents. Kelley only briefly covers the Queens parents but she hints at even more juicy dirt involving them. The book was published in 1997, the year Diana died, but prior to her death. This makes some parts of it rather poignant. For instance, the book discusses several parallels between Diana and Grace Kelly, and mentions them meeting. Of course, now there are more parallels: both died young, and in car crashes.

The book talks about an affair that Prince Philip allegedly had, then in the next paragraph denies it — why include this, then? It also says that Princess Diana had a miscarriage. I’d never heard that, and looking a bit online, can’t find anything confirming it either. So, more speculation I suppose.Obviously Kitty Kelley spends the majority of the book on the two most scandalous members of the royal family at that time Diana and Sarah Ferguson. I personally found Fergie the most fun to read about. She's wild! When Sarah “Fergie” was in the midst of a mess with her marriage to Prince Andrew, the book quotes Prince Philip as saying to her, “Look, you may like to know that there but for the grace of God go I.” I found myself wondering how the author had heard this exact quote (she even claims it was said “softly”). As the great James Bond said, 'History isn't kind to men who play God.' How right the dude ended up being.