I have read dozens of biographies of British and Continental royal personages. This biography of Princess Margaret is certainly the most unusual royal biography I have read. I think it is also the most amusing and entertaining. Most royal biographies, especially authorized ones, are hagiographies. Examples of this genre are William Shawcross’s “The Queen Mother” (2009) and Pope-Hennessy’s “Queen Mary” (1959).
Craig Brown in writing this biography of Princess Margaret has broken with tradition in two mains respects. The book is the most irreverent royal biography I have read. It is the very antithesis of a hagiography. He has also created a new and possibly unique biographical style. Instead of the usual cradle to grave narrative, the reader is presented with ninety-nine glimpses from Princess Margaret’s life. Most are glimpses of her at unimportant social events that tend to highlight her moody, capricious, inconsiderate and often haughty behavior.
Although the book is highly readable and entertaining one must wonder whether it can really qualify as a biography at all. Although I understand the author’s boredom with conventional biographies, royal and otherwise, I think the presentation of this book deprives it of any historical significance. A reader unfamiliar with the story of Princess Margaret would be left with a very incomplete picture of her indeed. Where, for example, is Princess Margaret as a mother?
The Princess had two children with Anthony Armstrong-Jones, later Lord Snowdon. They are Viscount Linley and Lady Sarah Chatto and she also had three grandchildren. Yet there are hardly any references to them in this book and there is no description of the relationship Princess Margaret had with them. The only reference to Viscount Linley is in connection with the auction of his mother’s large collection of jewelry and other possessions after her death in which he is portrayed as a rather cold-blooded individual who did not hesitate to try to sell at auction even her 1957 portrait by Annigoni and was forced to buy it back from the auction house only after pressure was brought to bear by his father and sister.
We learn virtually nothing of Princess Margaret’s relationship with her sister, Queen Elizabeth II. Although Princess Margaret had a phone on her desk with a direct line to the Queen’s apartments at Buckingham Palace and although the two apparently chatted by phone almost every morning, few details of what was by all accounts a very loving relationship are portrayed.
More details are provided about the relationship between Princess Margaret and her mother, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. They at one time both resided at Clarence House on different floors and communicated by letters delivered from one to the other by liveried footmen. The author describes some interactions between the pair that suggest that Princess Margaret’s treatment of her mother was often disrespectful and even cruel, but the Queen Mother seems to have accepted all the slights and insults from her daughter with the grace and dignity she always displayed.
Towards the end of the book the author indulges in “what ifs.” He places emphasis on what if Princess Margaret had been the first-born child of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, the current Queen, had been the second child. He suggests quite correctly I believe that Princess Margaret could never have carried off the royal job with the immense dignity and devotion of Queen Elizabeth II. However, this does not take into consideration the fact that the Queen was raised with the idea that she might one day inherit the throne, particularly after King Edward VIII’s abdication, and Princess Margaret was left to fulfill a secondary role.
A more important “what if” is I think would Princess Margaret have been a different person if her marriage to her first love Group Captain Peter Townsend had not been prevented by the British establishment? The answer to that question cannot possibly ever be known. Would she have grown bored with him or would she have settled into a comfortable and conventional royal life since the Group Captain had been a favorite of George VI and was well acquainted with royalty and royal protocol? My sense is that Princess Margaret was left embittered by being deprived of an opportunity for a happy married life and that all her undesirable characteristics that the author shows such delight in portraying were the result of that early bad experience.
The author points out that perhaps Princess Margaret’s most prominent characteristic was her unshakeable sense of being fully royal. She delighted in her title “Her Royal Highness, the Princess Margaret” and would often rebuke even close friends who failed to treat her with due deference. At dinner parties and functions of various types she would often use as an icebreaker the fact that she was the only person in the realm who could claim to be both the daughter of a King and the sister of a Queen.
The question that arises though is can her sense of being royal be regarded as a defect? Today even among the British people there seems to be a desire that members of the Royal family be just like them and have the common touch. This explains the enormous popularity of Prince Harry who likes to be just one of the boys and has entered a marriage that among old established royalty would be unthinkable. However, what is the purpose of Royalty if they are going to be just like everyone else?
The author takes a malicious delight throughout this book in pointing to Princess Margaret’s often bad behavior. It is true that Princess Margaret liked the arts and bohemia and therefore would often socialize with a rather raffish crowd. Therefore, she wanted to both have her royal cake and eat it. The author also tends to poke fun at the Princess’s appearance drawing attention to the fact that some called her “The Royal Dwarf” because of her small stature. However, the illustrations provided, except those towards the later part of her life, show a truly beautiful woman superbly dressed and coiffed and with a wonderful smile. I saw Princess Margaret once when she came to open a Clinic at a hospital where I worked, and she was the very epitome of what one might consider a Royal personage.
In conclusion, I found this book tremendously interesting and entertaining. However, reading it for me was a kind of guilty pleasure. I think the author has been somewhat unfair to Princess Margaret and the definitive biography of her remains to be written. She deserves more credit than she gets in this amusingly malicious book.
Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret
Audible Audiobook
– Unabridged
See all formats and editions
Hide other formats and editions
|
Price
|
New from | Used from |
|
Audible Audiobook, Unabridged
"Please retry"
|
$0.00
|
Free with your Audible trial | |
|
Hardcover, Illustrated
"Please retry"
|
$12.81 | $2.03 |
|
Paperback, Illustrated
"Please retry"
|
$10.74 | $3.91 |
|
Audio CD, Audiobook, CD, Unabridged
"Please retry"
|
$49.61 | $34.00 |
Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret
Craig Brown
(Author),
Eleanor Bron
(Narrator),
Macmillan Audio
(Publisher)
Get this audiobook free.
$14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime
$14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime
Enjoy a free audiobook + more- One credit a month to pick any title from our entire premium selection to keep (you’ll use your first credit now).
- Unlimited listening to select Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts.
- You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
- $14.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel online anytime.
List Price: $35.69
You Save: $4.46 (12%)
Sold and delivered by Audible, an Amazon company
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club?
Learn more
Join or create book clubs
Choose books together
Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
People who viewed this also viewed
Page 1 of 1Start OverPage 1 of 1
- Audible Audiobook
- Audible Audiobook
- Audible Audiobook
- Audible Audiobook
- Audible Audiobook
|
|
|
|
|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
Customer reviews
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
Reviewed in the United States on September 16, 2018
Verified Purchase
Reviewed in the United States on August 15, 2018
Verified Purchase
Reviewed in the United States on January 18, 2018
Verified Purchase
Reviewed in the United States on September 17, 2018
Verified Purchase
Reviewed in the United States on May 11, 2018
Verified Purchase
Top reviews from other countries
Mr. Matthew G. Buckley
Quirky, hilarious and oddly sensitive.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 21, 2018Verified Purchase
Ann McG
A fascinating and irresistible read.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 27, 2018Verified Purchase
Kenneth Barrett
Her Royal Hoity-Toityness
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 7, 2018Verified Purchase
QuirkyKurt
Ramblings of a mad man!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 17, 2018Verified Purchase
D. Lye
As Bagehot said....
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 29, 2018Verified Purchase
