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Yooperprof's Reviews > The Queen Mother: The Official Biography
The Queen Mother: The Official Biography
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950 pages of text! You might ask yourself, is such length really necessary for a person who, however charming, was not really "a world historical figure"? 400 pages - maybe. 600 pages for an exceptionally full account that includes "longeuers". But 950 pages? You have to be a masochistic royalty-watcher (like me) to survive the complete book.
Alas, this book is well-padded with endless passages about royal tours - eleven to Canada alone. If I had to read about one more wreath-laying in Toronto I think I was going to scream!
A good test for any modern "royalty" book for me is whether or not it mentions the rumors surrounding George, the Duke of Kent (1900-1942). Of all the sons of King George V, he was Queen Mary's favorite, as well as the most intelligent, artistic, and "fun". He also made the most glamorous marriage - to the beautiful Princess Marina of Greece. He was the Duchess of York's brother-in-law, and apparently they were very close in 1920s. There are numerous rumors that the Duke of Kent was addicted to cocaine - and that he engaged in homosexual affairs - including a possible love affair with Noel Coward. What did the sweet Duchess of York make of all this? You won't find out in this book. Shawcross doesn't mention the rumors at all.
(The treatment of Prince Charles long relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles is exactly the same. He doesn't mention it AT ALL. He even manages to make it seem as if the Princess of Wales was herself entirely to blame for the breakdown of her marriage. Again, it is well-known that the Queen Mother was particularly close to both the Prince and Princess - Charles doted on his grandmother, and Diana was the granddaughter of one of the Queen Mother's favorite ladies-in-waiting. So it is appropriate to wonder how she felt about her dear grandson's long-term adultery - especially in light of her earlier condemnation of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.)
Maybe this wouldn't have seemed quite so tedious if there had been more gossip, more scandal, or at least more slightly embarrassing stories about the British royals. But NO! Shawcross is discreet to a fault, and comes across as fawning as the most devoted courtier. This is hagiography, not biography; and though it was certainly official - written with the assistance of Bucky Palace - it is by no means definitive.
Oddly enough, Shawcross is perhaps best known for his hard-hitting journalistic exposes of American foreign policy in the Vietnam era, and for his path-breaking work on the Cambodian genocide in the 1970s. But here he writes as if he works for "Hello!". I really wish Alan Bennett had written this book instead! Actually, I think I would have enjoyed the Queen Mother's company. I certainly would have enjoyed her hospitality, and her conviviality! I just think that it's a pity that although this book is almost the size of "War and Peace," it really doesn't convey much of the Queen Mother's spiky personality.
I did give this book three stars - "I liked it" - barely enough, because I liked the subject matter. And occasionally you do get a glimmer of the sense of this woman - who was born in 1900, who nursed soldiers coming back from the trenches of World War I, and who was very much a product of the gaily despairing 1920s. She believed in living life fully, in experiencing as much of the joy of the earth as possible, fulfilling duty but also preserving your own individual sense of pleasure in the good things of life. Here is a quote to that effect from the tenth decade of her life - sometime in the 1990s.
"Wouldn't it be terrible if you'd spent all your life doing everything you were supposed to do, didn't drink, didn't smoke, didn't eat things, took lots of exercise, all the things you didn't want to do, and suddenly one day you were run over by a big red bus, and as the wheels were crunching into you you'd say, 'Oh my God, I could have got so drunk last night!' That's the way you should live your life, as if tommorow you'll be run over by a big red bus."
Alas, this book is well-padded with endless passages about royal tours - eleven to Canada alone. If I had to read about one more wreath-laying in Toronto I think I was going to scream!
A good test for any modern "royalty" book for me is whether or not it mentions the rumors surrounding George, the Duke of Kent (1900-1942). Of all the sons of King George V, he was Queen Mary's favorite, as well as the most intelligent, artistic, and "fun". He also made the most glamorous marriage - to the beautiful Princess Marina of Greece. He was the Duchess of York's brother-in-law, and apparently they were very close in 1920s. There are numerous rumors that the Duke of Kent was addicted to cocaine - and that he engaged in homosexual affairs - including a possible love affair with Noel Coward. What did the sweet Duchess of York make of all this? You won't find out in this book. Shawcross doesn't mention the rumors at all.
(The treatment of Prince Charles long relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles is exactly the same. He doesn't mention it AT ALL. He even manages to make it seem as if the Princess of Wales was herself entirely to blame for the breakdown of her marriage. Again, it is well-known that the Queen Mother was particularly close to both the Prince and Princess - Charles doted on his grandmother, and Diana was the granddaughter of one of the Queen Mother's favorite ladies-in-waiting. So it is appropriate to wonder how she felt about her dear grandson's long-term adultery - especially in light of her earlier condemnation of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.)
Maybe this wouldn't have seemed quite so tedious if there had been more gossip, more scandal, or at least more slightly embarrassing stories about the British royals. But NO! Shawcross is discreet to a fault, and comes across as fawning as the most devoted courtier. This is hagiography, not biography; and though it was certainly official - written with the assistance of Bucky Palace - it is by no means definitive.
Oddly enough, Shawcross is perhaps best known for his hard-hitting journalistic exposes of American foreign policy in the Vietnam era, and for his path-breaking work on the Cambodian genocide in the 1970s. But here he writes as if he works for "Hello!". I really wish Alan Bennett had written this book instead! Actually, I think I would have enjoyed the Queen Mother's company. I certainly would have enjoyed her hospitality, and her conviviality! I just think that it's a pity that although this book is almost the size of "War and Peace," it really doesn't convey much of the Queen Mother's spiky personality.
I did give this book three stars - "I liked it" - barely enough, because I liked the subject matter. And occasionally you do get a glimmer of the sense of this woman - who was born in 1900, who nursed soldiers coming back from the trenches of World War I, and who was very much a product of the gaily despairing 1920s. She believed in living life fully, in experiencing as much of the joy of the earth as possible, fulfilling duty but also preserving your own individual sense of pleasure in the good things of life. Here is a quote to that effect from the tenth decade of her life - sometime in the 1990s.
"Wouldn't it be terrible if you'd spent all your life doing everything you were supposed to do, didn't drink, didn't smoke, didn't eat things, took lots of exercise, all the things you didn't want to do, and suddenly one day you were run over by a big red bus, and as the wheels were crunching into you you'd say, 'Oh my God, I could have got so drunk last night!' That's the way you should live your life, as if tommorow you'll be run over by a big red bus."
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