Customer Reviews

Behind Palace Doors: My Service As the Queen Mother's Equerry

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Not quite below-stairs gossip nor entirely unbiased, either, this account of two years spent as an equerry to Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, gives only a glimpse of her life and activities during the years when Prince Charles and Princess Diana were making headlines with their marital problems. The ghost writer who helped the equerry to write this book said, in his preface, that there were so many other interesting stories that could have been shared but, for a number of reasons, were not. I wish they had been, since several chapters chat about difficulties that staff members of other royal households face rather than staying on point. I'm sure the author was very relieved not to have worked for either Prince Charles or Princess Diana while their marriage was breaking down, but the key bits of intelligence that those chapters provided were that the Queen Mother removed herself from the battle lines early on and that Prince Charles has a nasty temper. The overall focus of this book is more about the duties an equerry to a member of the British royal family is expected to fulfill and less about the Queen Mother. Still, it's a good, fast read and provides an interesting view of the other members of the Queen Mother's senior staff and their little foibles.

This is a great insight written by a young military officer who was Equerry to the Queen Mother for 2 years. It's written with great respect and fondness of his experiences as her close personal assistant. A rare glimpse into the everyday life of the Queen Mother and her association and influence in the Royal Family. An endearing book that touches on her home at Clarence House, other members of her household, his duties, and describes her "little extravagences" like Lobster, strawberries in winter, champagne, and daily fresh flowers in all the rooms. He describes her other residences at Royal Lodge and the Castle of Mey in Scotland. Full of interesting little known facts and antecdotes. No scandals (she never had any)or unflattering gossip. You'll LOVE this book. Easy reading!!

Interesting read. Gives a behind-the-scenes look at palace life. Nothing juicy. Make a cup of tea, put your feet up and relax for an hour or two.

Major Colin Burgess' book about being the Equerry to the Queen Mother from 1994-1996 makes a wonderful read. Real insight to what its like to be "behind the scenes" of Clarence House from someone close enough to see quite a bit. He does not reveal anything that isn't really already known about the Royal Family. In fact, he is quite diplomatic about the Royal Family, but what makes this book such a fun read is learning the little quirks and interests about the Queen Mother. It is sadly a bit of a quick read, but I enjoyed it!!

First, the author comes across as one of the nicest people you would ever meet. He had great respect for the person he served and for the position he held; yet he was able to walk away from his appointment after two years without pretense of a lofty place in Britain's still-stratified society.

The editor, however, should be consigned to a job where he says "Do you want fries with that?" There is relentless repetition, sometimes in adjoining paragraphs. In reality, this should be a much shorter book. Perhaps the editor was assigned to do anything to triple the length.

The anecdotes are refreshingly new. If you are an avid reader of things Royal, you have a great deal to enjoy. Thanks to the editor, things to enjoy over and over and over.

The author may have unwittingly made a very strong case for the republican movement in Great Britain. While the Queen Mother made enormous contributions to morale as Queen Consort during World War II, she made absolutely no effort to cut back on her lifestyle as Queen Mother. Enormous sums of money were spent to keep this one person in the style to which she was accustomed. I am hardly the first person to observe that enormous amount of good could have been accomplished with the money spent on the Queen Mother.

However, if you cut through the terrible editing job and look for the core of the story (political considerations aside), it's an excellent and fun read. A better-written book would have gotten five stars from me.

There are interesting stories in here, but on the whole this could have been better edited into an article. I really did enjoy the information about what an equerry really does and did find it surprising that such a young man got on as well as he did in the ultimate old folks home! But he gets bogged down--especially discussing he ex-wife's fight against Prince Charles in an employment dispute. It was 100% refreshing to read someone describe the late Princess of Wales as less than sane--so too was it nice to see the finger pointed at her for many of the leaks about Prince Charles. I do think he missed the obvious though when he related that Lady in Waiting Margaret Rhodes was in from Rhodesia. As he should have known, she is the Queen Mother's niece and that was the reason she was a lady in waiting!! Still, I would pass this on to anyone who enjoys reading about royalty.

That book is not what I have expected. A phrase here and there from the Queen mother and that's about all we learn from her. Very disappointing.

Very interesting book on the Queen Mother from an employee standpoint who saw her day to day and what she ws like. She treated others with respect and grace in the world and time in which she lived.

This book is a fun read if you have an interest in the Royal Family. It did get bogged down at times with some details but not so much that I wanted to stop reading.

A fun book and an easy read by the equerry to
Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother for two years.
Very little has been written about her private
life so this was interesting. I just wish the
book had been longer!