Customer Reviews

Philip and Elizabeth: Portrait of a Royal Marriage

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When I started this book, I thought that it was going to be yet another listing of scandals, rumors, and other tattletale journalism. Instead, what I got was a sensitive, objective look at England's Queen Elizabeth II and her consort, Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh. While the author takes the traditional approach -- reviewing the couple's separate childhoods, and their married life together -- he does what many biographers don't do. He went to the sources to help dispell some of the rumors that surround the more private aspects of this royal marriage. For years I had thought that the Duke was a handsome, rather decorative, ram-his-foot-in-his-mouth, inbred idiot. What I discovered was a tough, honorable man who has grown up in desperate situations (exiled from his country of birth, watching hs mother suffer from mental illness, the breakup of his parent's marriage, service under combat in WWII, and being the source of wild rumors) who took the route of being a stoic, and knowing that he was going to be the lesser member of a very public relationship. While most of the book focuses on Philip, there are also some insights into the Queen's own psyche and life, and this makes for one of the best biographies on modern monarchy that I've read in a long, long time. Definately recommended and a real eye opener for anyone wanting to see the reality rather than salacious gossip.

Gyles Brandreth begins his book with the assurance that he knows and admires Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Ordinarily this would mean that the book will be more hagiography than biography: utterly reverent, careful to ignore any negative aspects of its subject, and completely useless. Fortunately, this is not the case with Philip and Elizabeth.

Brandreth writes to inform but also to entertain. He reveals the names of his informants (many of them cousins and/or other close friends of The Queen and Duke) and includes much of their interviews almost verbatim. This makes for a much more interesting read than the usual "those close to the palace maintain . . ." sort of thing. Brandreth also includes some of Prince Philip's own remarks and comments on the text (evidently The Duke read the manuscript well before publication), which adds an additional sparkle and means that this book is probably the closest we will ever get to an autobiography by The Prince himself.

Much of the book is standard biography, giving parallel lives of The Queen and The Duke before and after their marriage. The sections dealing with Prince Philip are the liveliest, since Brandreth had quite a bit of cooperation with his subject and also because The Prince has led a much more colorful and eventful life (war, revolution, etc.) than has The Queen. I've read quite a bit of twentieth century royal history, but Brandreth includes material, including some very funny anecdotes, that I've never seen before. The Queen, being far more reticent than her husband, doesn't seem to have read the manuscript or otherwise collaborated with Brandreth, so the chapters dealing specifically with her life don't sparkle quite as much, but they make worthwhile reading nevertheless. Much of the most interesting information is given in the footnotes. This enhances the feeling that the reader is having a conversation with Brandreth, and rather than interrupt the flow of the story the footnotes increase the pleasure.

Brandreth is particularly at pains to disprove the many unsavory rumors about Prince Philip's possible romantic affairs over the years. He does a good job of pointing out how obviously exagerrated and false some of the wilder stories are, but I can't help wondering whether Prince Philip's cousins, friends, and former servants/advisors were really as forthcoming about their knowledge of the Prince's activities as Brandreth claims they were. In the end, as Brandreth himself admits, there are still questions that only the Prince and The Queen themselves could answer completely. (Of course this applies to any married couple, and its unfortunate that interest in the lives of public figures extends so deeply into matters which are no one else's business.) The same thing applies to the various marital problems of the couple's four children, particularly those of The Prince of Wales and his late wife. Here Brandreth does a particularly good job of defending Princess Diana's in-laws against the many criticisms leveled against them by her supporters before and after her death.

As I mentioned above, the many new anecdotes Brandreth includes are among the chief pleasures of this book. Its also enjoyable that Brandreth makes himself a part of the story, mentioning when and where he first met various characters and poking fun at himself from time to time (I would so love to have been present to see Brandreth trying to flirt with The Queen and Princess Anne!)

Philip and Elizabeth will not please the Windsor-haters nor those who still idolize The Royal Family. Brandreth has given us a picture of a nice couple who have soldiered on through numerous public and private storms,dutiful to their country and loving and protective of each other. They've done their job with dignity and grace, and we are all the better for their labors. Gyles Brandreth's work helps us recognize that and feel duly appreciative.

Having read a lot of books about the royals, I didn't know if I wanted to read another. I'm very glad I read this one. Enjoyed how it was written. Very witty remarks, a lot of them in parenthesis. Having the book notes at the bottom of the various pages was a great help. One can't help but read them. There was alot of info that I had read before, but Mr Brandreth gave a more balanced view. It was a fun read!

I became interested in reading more about the life of the Queen and her husband after seeing "Windsor Castle: A Royal Year." Prince Philip is the star of one of the hours of that multi-part documentary. He came across as a down-to-earth man of many interests about whom I wanted to learn more. I purchased this book mainly interested in it as a biography of Prince Philip.

Prince Philip of Greece had a difficult early life. He was the youngest son of Prince Andrea of Greece and Princess Alice of Battenburg/Milford-Haven. His three older sister all married German nobles. The Greek royal family was subject to on-again off-again exile. His parents were separated after their exile. Not having any Greek ancestry, the Greek royal family was in a precarious position in the early part of the twentieth century. Philip had no fixed permanent residence for much of his life before marrying Princess Elizabeth. As a great great grandson of Queen Victoria, he is 550th or so in line for the British monarchy himself. Philip lived with various relatives and went to school in Germany and later Gordonstoun in Scotland. He served in the British Navy and famously was first photographed with Princess Elizabeth at the Royal Naval College. At the Battle of Cape Matapan Philip was manning a searchlight and had the good fortune to illuminate an Italian (enemy) ship resulting in devastating fire being directed at that ship.

Philip and Elizabeth were married in 1947. Elizabeth became Queen upon the death of her father five years later. Philip duties in supporting the Queen have involved endless ceremonial events and public appearances for over sixty years, and continues to maintain a full schedule of public functions into his late eighties.

Author Brandeth take pains to dismiss all claims of Philip's famously alleged infidelity as untrue both by reason of his loyalty to the Queen and by virtue of logistic impossibility. He even explains Philip's absence from the Queen's bed early in the morning on July 9, 1982 when a deranged man sneaked into Buckingham Palace. The lunatic sat on the Queens bed talking to her until she was able to summon her guard. The man later admitted that he intended to commit suicide in the Queen's presence. Brandeth explains that Philip and the Queen normally share the same bed but on that morning Philip slept alone having travel plans that would require him to get up unusually early.

Brandeth places most of the blame for the difficult relationship between Diana and the Royal couple on poor communication and especially to the immature and emotionally unstable Diana. Many very sensitive matters were discussed in letters rather than face-to-face leading to misunderstandings and later causing great embarrassment when those letters got into the hands of the press. Maintaining some privacy while living in the fishbowl of Palace life has been a matter of obsession for the Queen and Philip. Courtiers that have discussed royal personal business or, even worse, written books about the Royals have been completely cut off. The author recalls how the Queen broke off all contact with her much loved governess "Crawfie" after that servant wrote a tell-all book about the Queen's childhood in 1950s. It was to avoid unwanted public disclosure that the 2003 Burrell trial was halted. Paul Burrell, Diana's butler was charged with stealing and selling some of the late Lady Di's personal effects. Just as the trial was about to begin, the Queen remembered a conversation with the valet in which he told her that he holding on to some of Diana's possession for safekeeping.

The author describes himself as a friend of Prince Philip's. While this account can not be considered an authorized biography, the author does include the Prince's wry reaction to various controversies that have surfaced during his long life. On the other hand the Queen remains a distant aloof figure in this biography. Like the aforementioned documentary, where Philip talks directly to the camera about his duties as Ranger of Windsor Park, this book gives a rare look at otherwise inscrutable Prince Philip explaining himself in his own words.

Highly recommended.

This book is well written and enjoyable, but at times quite disengenous. While the author personally knows the prince and has met the queen, his writing ignores some obvious observations by equally believable authors. In fact, as to the princes' errant love life, he interviews Sarah Bradford as an author to be believed, because of her scholarly detail and investigation. When she asserts that Philip has had "lovers" emanting from the very upper crust set who know how to keep their mouths shut, he interviews the Duchess of Abercorn who says "she and the prince would walk and in hand on the beach, but were not physical lovers". She does say she cannot talk for the rest. Brandeth then leaps to the conclusion that the prince's dalliances are just intellectual. One could laugh, as he should have skipped it, as come to this silly conclusion. At any rate, some of the stuff is first rate and as he is a familair with the prince, whom I think he sees justly, as a man with a job to do and does it whatever the cost. It is worthwhile reading, if skewed to one side. That is okay, for as in politics, all of this stuff is skewed to one side or another.

And other irrisistable tidbits make this book an honest and enchanting look at the British Royal family. For me, it has been a real page turner. I cannot put this book down. Yes, as one other reviewer pointed out, the book has many "footnotes" but they are packed with even more interesting information, and are not a problem to read. The stories Brandreth includes about the young Princess Elizabeth are charming as well. Scenes of her pulling her grandfather, King George V, by his beard, so that she could play "horse and groom" are priceless. "Lillibet", as he called her, was the apple of his eye, and he got down on all fours to play with her. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in British history and the current Royal Family.

This is not just a book about the marriage of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip-it is a story of their lives both before and after their marriage in-in sections.

First Section: details about their early lives and details surrounding their parents and grandparents.

First was Elizabeth growining up in England-with her parents the Duke and Duchess of York and then after Edward VIII abdicated King George VI and Queen Elizabeth

Second was Philip born a Greek and Danish Prince but shortly after his birth his family was forced to move to France to live near his uncle George and Aunt Marie.

Second Section: Details their lives as teenagers around the time of WWII
Elizabeth was forced to live apart from her parents and was sent to live with her sister outside of London. After the war the family was reunited and at 13 Elizabeth met Philip for the first time

Philip lived in France for several years before his mother was institutionalized and his father ran off with his mistress. His sisters help raise him and then sent him to schools in Germany, and England. During the War he was a Navey Man where at 18 he met 13 year old Elizabeth.

The Next several Sections detail their courtship, marriage, becomeing first time parents to Charles and Anne, becoming Queen and Consort and then having Andrew and Edward afterward.

An interesting book with interviews from Prince Philip, Elizabeth's cousin and others that give a detailed account of two interesting people.

I like how this book tells the hardship and trials that Prince Philip has gone through in his life and more so about his life as the monarch's consort. It must have been really hard for a man who cannot give his name to his children, because his wife prefers to keeps the House of Windsor to stand. Princess Diana should've taken her queue from Prince Philip on how to deal with life in the royal lane. Very interesting, sheds a lot of light about how Prince Philip is, not just the sour type of a man the public and media knows or makes him out to be. My only problem on this book is, it tries so hard to portray Prince Philip as the model Prince. It's too Pro-Prince Philip for my taste. This book should have been just about him since it talks and praise the Prince a lot more than it does the Queen.

This was a gift, & the recipient tells me they are really enjoying it & that it is much better written than many similar books on the subject (& she reads them all!).

The reader will find very little "Elizabeth" in this book. It is a lengthy and detailed account of Prince Philip and for the psycho/socially trained reader provides some insight into the factors that have made him the person he is.....or appears to be. One is left with the impression, however, that the writer had His Highness looking over his shoulder throughout. If the public wants to view Prince Philip as an historical character, not much will be revealed here and chances are it never will. There are still questions about his motivations and true feelings.