William & Harry: The People's Princes [Hardcover]

Ingrid Seward (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2009

From the day they were born, Prince William and Prince Harry have been the focus of international attention. Following the tragically early death of their mother, Diana, William and Harry attracted massive public sympathy. The public now respects them as outgoing, hard-working and competent young men, who have honored their mothers legacy in their charity work and their determination to protect her memory. Contains photographs never published in book form, including recent images of Harrys exploits in Afghanistan and William being presented with his RAF wings.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Seward, author of The Queen and Di, takes a close look at Charles and Di's progeny, Princes William (the heir) and Harry (the "spare"), in this primly trashy dual biography. Unfortunately, for all their genetic glamour, their Royal Highnesses are rather dull and callow in the flesh, at least as revealed here. Seward drift-nets gossip from an assortment of teachers, nannies, body-guards, relatives of friends and even a party clown, calls in a battery of child-psychologists to assess the damage from their parents' famously unhappy marriage, and discourages (and yet somehow subtly fuels) speculation about Harry's provenance. But William, the reluctant celebrity slouching into manhood, and the avowedly redundant Harry ("'You're going to be king. It doesn't matter what I do,'" he is reported to have said at age nine) gravitating to drink, minor loutishness and polo does not make for gripping reading. The book, instead, is dominated by the larger-than-life figure of their mother, Diana-her crying jags, her bulimia, her lovers, her tell-all interviews and her love/hate relationship with the paparazzi who prized and hounded her. Seward writes cleanly and has done her share of research, but this book is for true royals fans only. Photos.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

""Combines a wealth of lively behind the scenes reporting with [an] interesting analysis of the ways in which the public and private aspects of this unhappy story mesh."

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Carlton Books (September 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1847321232
• ISBN-13: 978-1847321237
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #783,083 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, but biased account, June 14, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: William & Harry: A Portrait of Two Princes (Hardcover)

Ingrid Seward is known for her writing and editing of Majesty Magazine. Her writings for Majesty and her other books show a marked preference for Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles and with that, brings in negative comments about Diana. Ms. Seward praises Mrs. Parker Bowles to the skies in her columns in Majesty and has indeed been invited to soirees organized by the Prince and Mrs. Parker Bowles. That being said, William and Harry is an interesting look at two splendid young men coming of age, but shows an obvious negative slant towards their remarkable mother, Diana, Princess of Wales. This book would have gotten three stars had Ms. Seward adopted a "kinder and gentler" attitude towards Diana and been as sympathetic to her as she was to Charles in this book. Whatever Ms. Seward's feelings towards the late Princess, she is still the mother of a future King of England, and deserves some respect (especially because Diana is no longer around to defend herself).

Everyone has flaws, even Charles and Diana, but from this book, Diana comes out the worst. Seward at various times describes Diana as: manipulative, disagreeable, and at one point calls her a "child woman." What bothered me was the way Seward treats the Camilla-Charles affair. At one point Seward admits that "their relationship had a devastating effect on his marriage." However, on the same page, she implies (based on flimsy evidence) that Diana cheated first with Sgt Mannakee (this was also printed in Seward's The Queen and Di) so "naturally" Charles turned to Mrs. Parker Bowles. Fortunately for Ms. Seward, Sgt. Mannakee and Princess Diana are no longer around to defend themselves. In other sources (including books by those close to the Princess), deny anything more than friendship between the two. Earlier, Seward hints that Diana's "obsession" over Camilla "only succeeded in allowing Camilla into her husband's life to stake her claim on his affections." I am not surprised by Ms. Seward's spin on the Charles-Camilla relationship; right now a campaign in underway to get her accepted as consort to Charles. The author does not mention that long before Diana came on the scene, Charles was involved with the married Camilla Parker Bowles. He had this attachment to Mrs. Parker Bowles to the devastation and frustration of Princess Diana. It is a cheap shot to trash the wife to make the mistress acceptable.

Later William is said to be "embarrassed" by Diana's admission of her affair with Hewitt. Nothing is said about William's possible embarrassment over the Camillagate tapes and Charles' own admission of adultery on television. If William had been embarrassed about Charles, it is not said in Ms. Seward's book. Only Diana gets the blame.

I also wish, for Prince Harry's sake, Ms. Seward had left out the ugly implications that Hewitt is Harry's father. Seward refutes this obvious lie, but why bother to mention it at all? It is malicious gossip, hurtful to an impressionable young man.

In her next book about the Royals, I hope Ms. Seward eases up on her criticism of Princess Diana. If you just read Seward's portraits of the Princess, you will see a vindictive, manipulative, unstable woman. If you find objective accounts of the Princess, you discover a remarkable, intelligent, and vibrant young woman who not only was mother to William and Harry, but was active in charity work and was a popular and memorable individual.

The story of the two sons was interesting, when the spin about their parents was avoided. I enjoyed particular the stories of childhood and school days of the two princes. Both seemed to flourish in the schools chosen for them by their parents.Seward does draw on the recent account by Ken Wharfe and some of the stories he told in his book are repeated here.

Even though they are young, they represent the continuation of the Windsor dynasty. William from childhood knew about his heritage and future as king. Harry, the "spare" is more funloving. The two have been surrounded by turbulence of their parents' marriage and great sorrow at the loss of their mother, but have grown mindful of the influence of both parents and their heritage as Royals. There will undoubtedly be more written about William and Harry over the next few years. It will be interesting to read over the years more about these young men.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Life of Royals, October 19, 2006

By 

Courtney Rabideau (USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: William & Harry (Paperback)

This book about the lives of William and Harry starts off with the meeting of their parents Prince Charles and Diana Spencer and into their early married life.

After this it goes into the lifes of William and younger brother Henry (Harry) from their early lives to school and their relationships with their parents after their infamous split and the death of Princess Diana in 1997 in Paris.

This book is very detailed because the author had spent alot of time with both boys and their mother. It is a very well written book with fun stories about the two young Princes

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I liked it..., August 28, 2003

By 

Megan (Santa Rosa, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: William & Harry: A Portrait of Two Princes (Hardcover)

I thought it was a pretty good book. There was a lot about Charles and Diana that should have been left out. I have been following William all my life, and there were a few stories about him and his brother in this book that I have not heard of yet. It gives you a very well insight about the marrige but more about that than the boys.