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25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
It should be filed under humor rather than history., July 19, 1999
By A Customer
I must say it is a most entertaining book. I laughed so much in the first thirty pages that I was almost in tears. As a student of history, I should have cried. Where to begin? How about Scotland being the oldest land mass on Earth? It goes on from there. This incredible Templar history, based upon a vivid imagination, is just that: incredible. Masons pop up in Scotland before any other recorded existance. An incredibly efficient Hanoverian-to-Windsor secret service hiding all information of a continuing Stewart line makes James Bond look like an amateur. If only the actual MI5 and MI6 were so capable. Other reviewers have covered some of the other ludicrous claims and so-called "facts," so I'll cover methodology. I loved the scattered footnotes. First, the ones that were from reputable sources covered well-known facts. The ones that referenced dubious statements were either from such highly regarded sources (LOL) as Laurence Gardner's "Bloodline of the Holy Grail" or the nebulous "The Vatican Archives, Rome." Would any of you of a historical bent care to verify an archival reference with no other information than that? As I said, footnotes were niggardly, but the bibliography was generous. I would like to know where in the book some of those in that extensive list were used. Anyone can make an impressive list of references, but that doesn't mean that they are used. I must admit that the geneological charts were creative. Is there anyone alive who is not related to Charles Edward Stewart from one side of the sheets or the other? From those charts, I doubt it. If you want a laugh, read the book. If you want history, avoid it like the plague.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Hilariously bad pseudo-history, August 4, 2003
This book would be even funnier if people did not take it so seriously. As a history, it doesn't even deserve notice; most of the assertions "Prince Michael" makes are backed up by citations that are so deliberately vague (The Vatican Archives, for example) that no serious scholar could ever attempt to verify his claims to being the legitimate Stuart claimant.
As a genealogy, this book is positively grotesque. "Prince Michael's" purported ancestry includes supposed ancestors that did not even exist, as has been conclusively demonstrated by a number of very good websites that specialize in European royal & noble lines. The fact that "Prince Michael" is in league with the very very dubious Laurence Gardner, who has no credence whatsoever in genealogical circles, should speak for itself.
A visit to "Prince Michael's" and Gardner's websites show clearly that the whole purpose of this enterprise is to make a buck, and evidently they have been successful in this venture, even if historical truth had to be sacrificed to achieve this.
This is not to say that I didn't enjoy the book. When the author doesn't have to bother with historical accuracy, he can instead concentrate on writing a brisk narrative. As a result, I was able to finish this book in rather short order. Also, there some pretty funny stuff in this book, such as the claim that Napoleon is the direct descendant of Charles I of Great Britain (supported again, we are told, by evidence buried deep within the Vatican Archives). Also, the absolutely god-awful painting of "Prince Michael" with his illustrious Stuart forebears (by the "court painter," we are told) was so bad that I could not help but laugh at great length. Such merriment can only be good for the soul, so I guess this book does indeed have something to offer.
In short, if you want a good laugh, by all means read this book. If you are looking for something with even a whiff of historical truth, look elsewhere.
*****UPDATE, 4 August 2006*****
The house of cards appears finally to have collapsed; Michael LaFosse, self styled Prince of Albany and de jure King of Scotland, has fled the UK (apparently returning to his mother's home) rather than face charges from the UK Home Office that his citizenship and passport were obtained using forged documents. He is also facing investigations into the charities he has organized. The support he once enjoyed appears to be evaporating in light of the Home Office investigations, as well as recent negative articles in the Sunday Herald & Sunday Mail.
And yet, this book was a best-seller when it was released. Even though it never stood up to close scrutiny, this book evidently told a lot of people what they wanted to hear, that there was a legitimate descendant of Bonnie Prince Charlie who was looking out for Scottish interests.
It worked for awhile --- people seemed willing to look past the dubious nature of his claims, in part because they wanted to believe that it was true, and also because many people will believe anything that is in print. It is a sad commentary that a man with obviously forged documents could keep the game going for nearly 30 years, but for a con to work, people have to buy into it, and buy they did.
Now that Michael LaFosse's delusions of grandeur seem to have vanished in a puff of smoke (one has to believe that if he truly believed his own claims, he would have stood his ground and fought the charges), this may book may ultimately be the only remainder (the royal website seems to have been taken down for good) of one man's zany quest, much like the Hay Allan brothers' "Vestiarium Scoticum" from 1842. At times it verges into the realm of "so bad it's good," but mostly it is bad in a depressingly earnest sort of way.
Interesting only as a historical curiosity these days.
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17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
OH, NO, MR. BILL, IT'S ANOTHER STUART PRETENDER!, October 16, 1998
By A Customer
I thought it had all been said and done about Stuart Pretenders. This guy, however, takes the cake. First, his real name is Michael laForce, a Belgian national, who's weaseled his way into Scottish societies, Living History groups, and the Knights Templar no less. His claims are truely ludicrous. A 'secret second marriage' between Charles Edward and a French countess in the 1780's supposedly produced the 'Stuart heir' from whom this person is descended. Right. By 1780 Bonnie Prince Charlie was so riddled with drink, scurvy, dropsy, and, probably, liver cancer, that he was functionally impotent, often incoherent, and reduced to playing Jacobite airs (not heirs) on his cello. His marriage to Louisa of Stolberg had been a disaster on all fronts; they detested each other, and she moved herself in with the Bishop of Rohan, by whom she had two children. Charlie's only child, Charlotte, by Clementina Walkinshaw, died two years after her father, also without legitimate heirs. His brother Henry Benedict, Cardinal York, died in 1807, obviously without legitimate heirs. THE LINE WENT EXTINCT IN 1807. DUH! As the direct descendant (provable from real family and parish records) of one of the more famous Jacobite leaders, Lord George Murray, and other Scottish lines on both sides of my family, I take great umbrage at the unfounded and contrived assertions of someone whose sole claim is entirely fictitious, supported by forged documents and spurious assertions. By Act of Parliament of 1712, the only recognised heirs to the throne could be descended from James VI and I's daughter Elizabeth, mother of Prince Mauritz of the Palatine, Prince Rupert of the Rhine, and Princess Sophia, who married the Hanoverian Elector, and who produced George I, et. al. Even if you set this Act of Parliament aside, THERE ARE NO LEGITIMATE HEIRS OF THE OTHER STUART LINE. PERIOD. Nobody really took the Hay-Allan brothers seriously in the Victorian era, when they called themselves the 'Sobieski Stuarts' and rode around with coronets on their carriage door. Nobody should take this idiot seriously either, in a day when all the Royal Houses in Europe, extant and defunct, are basically German, and what do they really do anyway, besides promote tourism and have unruly children? Give this one a pass; get some real Scottish history from Fitzroy MacLean.
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