Charles and Camilla: Portrait of a Love Affair by Gyles Brandreth
Genre: Biography
Source: borrowed copy
Date Read: 06 March 2014
Narrator: Stephen Thorne
Unabridged audio - Length:
13 hours 08 minutes
This is the definitive account of one of the most extraordinary stories of our time. Gyles Brandreth, who spent many hours with Prince Philip in both formal and informal interviews, presents a unique portrait of his son, Charles, Prince of Wales, and of the one "non-negotiable" love of his life, Camilla Shand, now Duchess of Cornwall. What are Charles and Camilla really like? What is their heritage? What has made them the way they are? This is both a revealing portrait of two unusual individuals and a family saga like no other, told with unrivaled authority, insight, and humor, by a bestselling writer who has met all the key characters in the drama, including Charles, Camilla, and Diana, their children, families, and friends.
My thoughts:
I am not British and am not a big groupie of the Royals. But I needed something to play in the background while I completed some tasks and this fit the bill perfectly.
Before I begin my rant, let me just say that I loved Diana. I thought she was beautiful and an asset to the Royal family. I have since learned of Diana's faults but we all have our problems. It is easy for me to understand all the “games” she played especially since she had a cheating husband that was jealous of the attention and love she received from the public.
I assume that this book was meant to create greater sympathy for Charles and Camilla but for me, this has just made me dislike them more. Camilla was the Royal mistress. But the author tried to downplay this by giving us a history of the all the extra marital affairs of the royals
I would love to write exactly what I think of Charles but will let it stand at the fact that I do not have any time for him. How could you think it appropriate to bed your mistress in the same week as your marriage (and in the years thereafter with your wife in the same house).
Even though a blind person would be able to feel how bias the author is, and I certainly did not agree with all he said, I still thought that the writing was excellent. The “story” flowed easily from one chapter to the next and kept my attention throughout.
The narrator was fabuous. His calm voice was made for this book. He read some of the facts that could easily have become tedious in such a way that I did not feel like fast forwarding through any places. I just felt sorry for him to have to read the same sentence every few minutes “Charles is the Prince of Wales after all.”
If you are a big fan of the Royal family, this is a must read even if only to be able to rant about it afterwards, like I did :)
Hi. I just noticed your review listed on Candace's book blog's Saturday Situation and had to come see what the book was about. I think you're absolutely right about the reason the author gave so much history about previous royal affairs. Charles was raised thinking it would be okay, that this was how things were done. Thank goodness Diana came along and saved the royal family by bringing up William to have a different idea [we hope]. I enjoyed your review, and won't be reading this book.
ReplyDelete