https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2026/07/belvoir-castle-june-11-2026.html
RBN - Royal Book News ... Since 1983, the only newsletter -- and now a blog -- for books about Royalty!
Thursday, July 2, 2026
Friday, June 5, 2026
Lady Pamela Hicks' Books
https://royalbooknews.blogspot.com/2024/10/lady-pamela-by-india-hicks.html
https://royalbooknews.blogspot.com/2013/02/daughter-if-empire-life-as-mountbatten.html
https://royalbooknews.blogspot.com/2010/10/lady-pamela-hicks-to-write-memoirs.html
Sunday, May 10, 2026
Alexandra The Lost Queen by S. Gillespie
Alexandra was a queen without a throne. In 1944, she married King Peter II of Yugoslavia. A princess of Greece by birth, Alexandra was born in 1921, the same year as Prince Philip of Greece (a first cousin once removed) and King Michael of Romania (a first cousin). Life was never easy for the Princess, who was the daughter of King Alexander of the Hellenes and Aspasia Manos.
She never knew her father, as Alexander died from a monkey bite several months before her birth. Sadly and tragically, Alexandra lived in exile for most of her life. Due to the Second World War and the political civil war raging in Yugoslavia, Alexandra and Peter married in haste. The couple was ill-suited for marriage as both were emotionally stunted due to their upbringings.
Peter was only 11-years-old when his father, King Alexander of Yugoslavia, was assassinated.
Neither Alexandra nor Peter was prepared for exile. Unlike his cousin, King Michael, Peter never knew what it was to be a king. Within days of 17-year-old Peter being declared of age to reign without a regency, Germany invaded Yugoslavia. Peter and his family fled the country, spending the war in exile. In 1945, Josip Broz Tito declared Yugoslavia a republic, leaving Peter without a throne or financial support.
The young king and queen were unprepared for a life without a throne. Alexandra wanted a home to raise a family. Peter was never able to find a job that would pay the bills. He found solace with other women and alcohol. She had struggled with mental health issues and attempted suicide several times. Both wrote their memoirs, laying out their perceived issues.
Alexandra died in an English nursing home in 1993. She was buried at Tatoi until 2013, when her remains were brought to Topola, where she and Peter were reinterred next to each.
This book came up as a recommendation on Amazon. I had not heard of S. Gillespie, as the author does not have a body of work in the field of royal history literature.
I ordered the book and read it in one sitting. Well-written, but .....
Alexandra The Lost Queen is a scholarly HOT MESS!
In full transparency, I am well-informed about the Yugoslav royal family, and I consider Crown Prince Alexander a good friend. We have known each other since the 1980s. We first met when I was researching the first of my three books on Queen Victoria's Descendants. I have had the special honor of being invited three times to Serbia: for the Crown Prince's 60th, his 25th wedding anniversary, and the state funeral for King Peter, Queen Alexandra, Queen Marie, and Prince Andrej in 2013.
The term "hot mess" refers not to the text but to the fact that the book was self-published. I did not know this when I ordered it. The image quality is abysmal. Blurry and teeny. There are no credits for the photos, some of which are still in copyright. The layout is appalling. Few paragraph breaks and unfinished sentences --words omitted and no period/full stop. This occurred several times in the text, including on page 248 and 256..
There are no citations or footnotes/endnotes for quotes. No index and several glaring errors.
Page 98: "in marrying Peter before November 28, 1943, the beginning of Lent in the Greek Orthodox Church, as no marriages could take place for 40 days."
Lent is not in November. In 1943, Lent (Greek Orthodox) began on March 8th. The following year, Greek Orthodox Lent started on February 28th with Easter on April 9.
Peter and Alexandra's wedding ceremony took place on March 20, 1944, which fell during Greek Orthodox Lent.
Page 107: "the wedding dress game from Peter's cousin's wife, MAMIE LIGHAM..." Who? Peter's cousin, Prince Vsevelod of Russia, married Lady Mary Lygon, the daughter of the 7th Earl of Beauchamp. She was known as Mamie, however.
Page 199: Lord Mountbatten had little to do with pushing Philip and Elizabeth together. The future husband and wife had known each other from childhood, as they moved in the same circles.
https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2017/12/of-course-elizabeth-knew-philip.html
I was amused by the alleged Swiss bank account that Peter tried to find. This reminded me of a similar story about King Michael of Romania, who traveled to Switzerland to try to access an alleged bank account owned by his father, King Carol II. Perhaps the two Balkan sovereigns had adjoining bank vaults.
Pushing the hot mess aside, let me say this: Alexandra, The Lost Queen is a first-rate royal biography. The author has done due diligence in research, especially through extensive use of primary sources examined at the National Archives at Kew and the Royal Archives.
Unfortunately, the author has done the subject a disservice by self-publishing. Several British publishers, including Amberley Publishing, History Press, and Pen & Sword Books, publish royal biographies/histories. Self-publishing is limited on several levels. You won't be able to see your book in Hatchards or any other bookstore. Poor quality control. A lack of professional editing.
This book cries for a dust-jacketed hardcover edition that will be read in libraries, bought in bookstores, and online. Libraries will not be able to order the book because there’s no cataloguing information The subject also deserves better.
https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2014/03/king-peter-weds-princess-alexandra.html
https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2013/05/queen-alexandra-home-to-serbia.html
https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2014/03/peter-to-marry-alexandra-official.html
https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2009/07/son-for-peter-and-alexandra.html
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
New Royal Books and Magazines
This book is available on both sides of the Pond
These magazines were spotted at my local Barnes & Noble
https://amzn.to/4d6D5O0 (US)
The Hello publications are not available on Amazon or Amazon.co.uk. I earn a few pennies every time someone purchases an item (does not have to be a book, as long as you enter Amazon through one of my links).
Friday, April 24, 2026
The Hunt for Anna Pavlovna’s Stolen Jewels: Deception, Diplomacy, and an Imperial Heist by Jenni Wiltz
On the night of September 25, 1829, the jewels of the Princess of Orange disappeared from her palace in Brussels. Suspicion quickly fell on her husband, Prince Willem of Orange, a Waterloo veteran known to be deeply in debt. But when the police failed to find any witnesses or leads, the investigation ground to a halt.
In 1831, Anna Pavlovna’s jewels surfaced in New York in the hands of a former Napoleonic deserter named Constant Polari. Dutch officials scrambled to reclaim the jewels and extradite Polari, hoping a public trial would clear their prince’s name. But President Andrew Jackson’s customs collector preferred to confiscate the jewels, sell them, and pocket his share of the proceeds. When Polari’s lover dug up a buried portion of the gems and sailed for Europe, it triggered a race across the Atlantic, a kidnapping from Bellevue prison, and a sensational trial with a last-minute twist.
True crime meets royal history in this long-forgotten caper that pitted the old world’s diplomacy against the new world’s self-determinism. Drawing on previously neglected case documents and sources in five languages, the tale of Anna Pavlovna’s stolen jewels unfolds against a backdrop of war, revolution, corruption, and betrayal.
The book will be published in the US on June 30, 2026. The price will be $39.95.
The UK publication date is April 30, 2026.
The publisher is Pen & Sword History.https://girlinthetiara.com/
Jenni Wiltz is a superb and sassy royal historian. She runs the blog The Girl in the Tiara.
Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna of Russia (1795–1865) was the eighth child of Emperor Paul I of Russia and his wife, Princess Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg, who became Empress Marie Feodorovna of Russia. In February 1816, she married the Prince of Orange, the future King Willem II of the Netherlands.
Paul - Anna - Willem III - Wilhelmina - Juliana - Beatrix - Willem-Alexander - Catharina-Amalia.
I look forward to reading Jenni's book.
Thursday, April 23, 2026
Maria Pavlovna 1890-1958 by Charlotte Zeepvat
Maria Pavlovna 1890-1958
Grand Duchess of Russia, Princess of Sweden, Duchess of Södermanland, Princess Putiatine [In English]
152 pages, 419 illustrations, more than a hundred from the private albums of the Imperial Family. Also: an illustrated genealogical section of the ancestors and descendants of "Marie", composed by Ted Rosvall.To read more and to order copies, go to
https://www.royalbooks.se/products/maria-pavlovna
The cost is 425 Swedish kroners.
Saturday, April 11, 2026
Queen Elizabeth II's Official Biographer will be ...
The Daily Mail's gossip columnist, Richard Eden, has revealed the name of Queen Elizabeth II's official biographer.
King Charles II has selected Anna Keay as his mother's official biographer, according to Eden, who learned the writer's name at the launch party for Robert Hardman's Elizabeth II: In Private. In Public. The Inside Story, held at the iconic Hatchards bookstore on Piccadilly.
Eden noted that the King "wanted the commission to go to a woman." Charles knows Kealy and trusts her "to do a thorough job." She will have full access to the late queen's private papers.
This has not been confirmed by an official announcement from Buckingham Palace.
Dr. Keay, 51, is the Director of the Landmark Trust, an organization that restores historic buildings. The King is the Trust's patron. She is also a trustee of the Royal Collection Trust.
She earned a degree in history from Magdalene College, Oxford, and a Ph.D from Queen Mary, University of London. Her dissertation, The Ceremonies of Charles II's Court, which inspired her book, The Magnificent Monarch: Charles II and the Ceremonies of Power.
Embed from Getty Images Embed from Getty Images
After working for seven years as Assistant Curator of the Historic Royal Palace, Dr. Keay was hired in 2002 by English Heritage, where she remained for ten years. In 2012, she was named Director of the Landmark Trust.
She is married to Simon Hurley, an architectural historian. They met at English Heritage, where he was Executive Director from 2002 through 2015. He currently serves as the Chair of the National Heritage Lottery Fund. The couple has twin children, Arthur and Maude.
Dr. Keay is a scholarly historian and biographer. Her books include:
The Last Royal Rebel: The Life and Death of James, Duke of Monmouth
Crown Jewels: The Official Illustrated History
The Magnificent Monarch: Charles II and the Ceremonies of Power
Here is the link to the original Daily Mail article.
Sunday, March 29, 2026
New & Forthcoming Books
Hodder & Stoughton will publish Hugo Vickers' Queen Elizabeth: A Personal History on April 9. No US publisher yet.
Fashioning the Crown: A Story of Power, Conflict and Couture by Justine Picardie was published by Faber & Faber in the UK and Pegasus in the United States.
The History Press is the publisher of Victoria Arbiter's new book, Queen Elizabeth II: An Icon of Modern Monarchy. The book was published in the UK in February. History Press will release the book in the US in October 2026.
Caroline de Guitaut is the author of Queen Elizabeth: Fashion and Style, published by the Royal Trust Collection, which is the companion to the forthcoming exhibit, Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life and Style. The exhibition opens at the King's Gallery at Buckingham Palace on April 10th.
The US edition will be released on May 4, 2026.
The Royal Collection is also the publisher of Royal Diamonds: Two Centuries of British Royal Jewels. This book was published in the UK earlier this month.
The American edition will be released on April 21.
Robert Hardman's book, Elizabeth II: In Private. In Public. Her Story will be published in the United States on May 19th. Pegasus is the publisher.
The UK edition was released today, April 9th, by Macmillan.
Grand Duke Dimitri was the son of Grand Duke Paul and Princess Alexandra of Greece and Denmark.
Princess Alexandra died in childbirth after giving birth to Dimitri. Grand Duke Paul was murdered by the Bolsheviks in January 1919.
Amberley Press is the publisher. The book is scheduled for UK release on August 15.
Hanson is the author of The Wandering Princess, a biography of Princess Helene of Orléans, who married the Duke of Aosta.
https://royalbooknews.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-wandering-princess-by-edward-hanson.html
I will earn a few pennies toward Amazon gift cards if you use the links to purchase these books and shop. Thanks
Wednesday, January 14, 2026
William & Catherine: The Intimate Inside Story by Russell Myers
Russell Myers is the Royal Editor for London's Daily Mirror.
"From the relentless media scrutiny and controversies of their 2022 Caribbean Tour to the shock cancer diagnoses of both the Princess of Wales and the King, this captivating biography by acclaimed royal journalist Russell Myers intimately traces the story of William and Catherine’s relationship from their earliest meeting at St Andrews University to the present day.
Drawing on exclusive access to numerous palace insiders, it offers never-before-told context about the biggest stories to have followed the Prince and Princess of Wales in recent years – including the Sussex departure, the forming of the ‘Cambridge way,’ and the death of Queen Elizabeth II – and provides an unprecedented glimpse into their private lives.
Highlighting the couple's resilience and dedication in the face of adversity, William and Catherine present a deeply personal perspective on how the events the Prince and Princess have weathered together will shape their vision for a modern monarchy – as they set out to secure its safe continuation at a time of extreme change and turmoil."
The book will be published in the United Kingdom on February 26 by Penguin.
The US edition with the title William and Catherine: The Monarchy's New Era: The Inside Story is scheduled for publication in March. Pegasus is publishing the U.S. edition, with distribution by Simon & Schuster.
Fingers crossed for the book to include an index, a bibliography, and citations (footnotes/endnotes)
Sunday, January 11, 2026
Monday, December 15, 2025
Entitled by Andrew Lownie
I looked forward to reading Andrew Lownie's Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House. I expected an explosion of scholarship and research. What I read, however, was a tiresome, sclerotic text with short, jerky chapters and no narrative. The book stumbles toward a conclusion without real scholarship.
Lownie should have hired a professional researcher or fact-checker, as this book has far too many mistakes, including stating that Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie were bridesmaids at Prince Edward's wedding. Further down, I provide proof that they were merely guests at the wedding.
I expected better from someone who has a Ph.D in history. Given the subject matter, this book should be a scholarly tome with footnotes, endnotes, citations, and a bibliography. Andrew and Sarah have committed many sins, from grifting to alleged pedophilia, but their crimes and behavior deserve to be treated in a literate manner.
As a royal historian, I read nearly every royal biography published in the UK and the US. Some are good, some are great, and some are horrible. Entitled falls into the Horrible quality.
Why do I say this? Because the book lacks veracity. If you are going to provide evidence and facts about Andrew and Sarah's actions, especially in connection with Jeffrey Epstein, you should have footnotes, endnotes, and a bibliography of source material.
This edition has none of these things. I was an academic librarian specializing in reference and research, so imagine my horror when I learned that this book offers no source, Library of Congress Cataloging Data, or even an ISBN.
An excellent biography will remain on library shelves for decades. This book will end up in library book sale bins!
Lownie does not provide photo credits for the photographs, which are of abysmal quality.
Entitled was published by Westminster Press in South Carolina. There is no website for this publisher. The cover photo is imprinted on the actual front of the book. No dust jacket.
Page 17: In the opening sentence, Lownie writes that Prince Philip and Sarah Ferguson's mother were lovers 20 years before their children, but provides no facts or citations to back it up. He also mentions Sarah's bridal attendants: Peter and Zara Phillips, Prince William. Sarah's half-brother, Andrew, and a nephew. The nephew has a name: Seamus Makim. He leaves out Lady Rosanagh Innes-Ker, daughter of the Duke of Roxburgh, Laura Fellowes, and Sarah's half-sister, Alice Ferguson.
Page 18: Lownie cites Sarah talking about the wedding breakfast. I assume he is quoting her, but he forgot the quotation marks and the source. Quotation marks are often missing in the text.
Page 25: Throughout the book, layout and spacing are also issues:
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Page 27: Lownie also repeats the bit about Philip's alleged affair (he does not use the word alleged)with Sarah's mother, Susan. The family home at the time was Lowood House in Ascot. Lownie claims King Zog of Albania lived in Lowood House. No, he didn't. His six sisters lived in Lowood House.
In 1941, after leaving the Ritz Hotel, King Zog, Queen Geraldine, and their young son moved into the Berystede Hotel at Sunninghill, then into a larger house, Forest Ridge. By the fall of 1941, they had leased Parmoor House in the Chiltern Hills.
Good sources include Neil Rees' A Royal Exile: King Zog and Queen Geraldine, Including Their Wartime Exile in the Thames Valley and Chilterns; Geraldine of the Albanians by Gwen Robyns; and Robert Prentice's article, "Queen Geraldine of Albania Settles in England."
In 1951, King Zog purchased the Knollwood Estate on Long Island. Lowood, Knollwood.
https://www.untappedcities.com/knollwood-estate-king-zog-ruins/
Page 32. Lownie writes that one of Andrew's "fellow pupils" at Gordonstoun was the Duke of Kent's daughter, Lady Helen Windsor. Andrew was born in 1960, which meant he is four years older than Lady Helen, who was born in 1964. She was about 16 when she entered Gordonstoun as one of 20 sixth-form girls. Andrew was 20 and no longer at the Scottish boarding school. It was Prince Edward, a month older than Lady Helen, who was her classmate!!
Page 53 Another example of missing quotes. I will not include all of the missing quotation marks.
Page 56: Koo Stark's first name was Kathleen. Not Katherine. Kathleen Norris Stark. She also did not have a small part in the National Theatre's production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf in February 1982. She was an understudy. The production ran from July through December 1981.
There are four roles in Albee's play: Martha, George, Nick, and Honey. Koo would have been the understudy for Honey, who is described as 26. Here is the cast list:
https://catalogue.nationaltheatre.org.uk/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Performance&id=490
Page 63: Lownie refers to a March 1984 Sun article, listing possible future wives for Andrew. Lownie mentions the 17-year-old daughter of the Duke of Buccleuch. Her name was Lady Charlotte-Anne Montagu-Douglas-Scott. She had turned 18 in January 1984. The twin daughters of Lady Glenconner were 13, not 14, when the article was published. Their 14th birthday was in November 1984.
Princess Stephanie was eighteen, not seventeen (February 1965). Henrietta Neville was the daughter of the 10th Lord Braybrook. She was born in 1965 and died at age 15 in 1980. I believe Lownie means Lady Henrietta Nevill, daughter of Lord Rupert Nevill. Following her brother's succession to the Marquessate of Abergavenny, Henrietta and her sister were raised to the status of Marquesses's daughter. Notice that Henrietta's surname does not end in e!
Page 64: This is one example with an asterisk in the middle of a page. However, there are at least a dozen dancing asterisks. Who was the copy editor? Was there a copy editor?
Page 75: Lownie describes People magazine as the sponsor of the charity gala performance of A Phantom of the Opera that Sarah attended in January 1988. I covered the event for a British magazine, and do not recall any connection to People magazine. In 1988, People was a part of the Time magazine group. The New York Times article does not cite People magazine as a sponsor. The Time magazine executives were unlikely to have provided airfare to a member of the British Royal family. However, if there is a citation I missed, I would love to see it.
Time magazine was one of the two best news magazines in the US, the other was Newsweek. Both publications had excellent news libraries with professional news librarians.
The three charities that benefited from the performance were the Eugene O'Neill Memorial Theater Center in Watertown, Conn., and the Royal College of Music and the Sick Children's Fund in Britain.
The New York Times article (January 22, 1988) did not refer to People's sponsorship. People's article was published on February 8 with one photo of Sarah. The article focuses more on her newly announced first pregnancy, with no mention of sponsorship of the gala performance.
The article is from my clip file on the Duchess of York. The Associated Press's coverage of the event and aftermath did not mention anything about People magazine. [At the time of this visit, I worked for AP in New York City.]
I also searched newspapers.com and Factiva for articles about this visit to New York. No People magazine references, but this quote in USA Today caught my eye.
Ivana Trump said: ``She was very sweet and bubbly. She thanked us for the use of our helicopter. She told us maybe when we're in London, we can use her helicopter.''
If there was a connection to People magazine, I would love to see a verified source.
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| @Marlene A Eilers Koenig |
Page 88: As Lownie has not included source material (citations, footnotes, endnotes, a bibliography), I have questions about certain statements, including Andrew's private secretary, Neil Blair, asking another naval officer to write Andrew's paper for a naval course. This does not surprise me, but credibility can be questioned if a source is not provided. Endnotes and footnotes are a serious writer's best friend.
Page 94: Hector Barrantes died in Argentina, not New York City. The first sentence is confusing. In February 1990. Sarah and her mother flew to New York, where Hector was undergoing treatment for cancer at a local hospital. She and her two young daughters flew to Argentina (not returning to NYC) at the end of July, staying for ten days with Susan and Hector, returning to London on August 9. Hector died the following day.
Lownie's text suggests that Sarah returned to New York in late July, when, in fact, she traveled to Hector's home in Argentina.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-08-12-mn-1053-story.html
Page 104: Lownie writes "taking Beatrice and Eugenie out of school" on April 9, 1992. Beatrice started at Upton Nursery School in September 1991. Eugenie did not join her until October 1992.
Page 108: Lownie states that before Sarah high-tailed out of Balmoral, she talked to Diana, "who was staying." Yes, Diana was at Balmoral, but this was the first reference to Diana in the chapter. I wondered why Lownie wrote "who was staying." Charles and Diana were separated as well, but there was no reason for Diana to take her leave because of Sarah's behavior.
Page 109: There is no Evening Standard 102 editorial. Another miss by a copy editor.
Page 120: AIDS, not Aids.
Page 125: Another example of asterisks gone wild.
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Page 156: Sarah was having an affair with a very wealthy Italian nobleman, Count Gaddo della Gherardesca. Lownie writes she was "so well known at his estate that she quickly became known as the Duchess of Castagneto." Most readers would wonder why. The count's estate was in Castagneto Carducci, which would explain the reference.
Page 156: Sarah did not appear in the series finale of Friends. In the final episode, Rachel got off the plane and reunited with Ross! Fergie was not in this episode. Friends ran for ten seasons.
Sarah appeared in Season Four's final episode, The One with Ross's Wedding, where she meets Joey, who is touring London.
Page 158: Lownie's timeline is wrong for when Sarah was a special correspondent for NBC's Today Show. Her Surviving Life program on Sky began in October 1998 and was canceled after the first season, but "NBC's Today breakfast show" did not recruit Sarah for a "roving reporter" position until 2008.
Sarah presented "inspiring segments" for a series, From the Heart.
164: Lownie has a humdinger of a mistake here. ...Prince Edward (who did not invite Sarah to his wedding in spite of her daughters being bridesmaids." I think Andrew means despite ... but, but, but
BEATRICE AND EUGENIE WERE NOT BRIDESMAIDS AT PRINCE EDWARD'S WEDDING!!!
I have to shout because the information is easy to check. On February 20, 1999, The Times reported: "Prince Edward and Sophie Rhys-Jones intend to leave Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie off their list of bridesmaids. The snub would highlight the rift between the couple and the Duchess of York, and the lack of enthusiasm in the Royal Family for the Duchess."
Embed from Getty ImagesEmbed from Getty Images Embed from Getty Images
Sophie had four attendants: Camilla Hadden, Olivia Taylor (bridesmaids, Felix Sowerbutts, and Harry Warburton.
Harry's mother, Sarah, was Prince Edward's Assistant Private Secretary. Harry and Camilla are two of Edward's godchildren. Olivia and Felix were the children of Sophie's friends, Ian and Lindy Taylor, and Julian and Lucinda Sowerbutts.
The photos show the bridal attendants and Beatrice and Eugenie at the wedding.
My clipping files come in handy. However, Andrew Lownie should have access to Nexis, Factiva, ProQuest, and the Gale British newspapers collection, which includes all major British newspapers, digitized. Surely, he has library access at Edinburgh, where he earned his Ph.D.
Page 175: thirtyminute is not one word ... two words thirty minutes or 30 minutes.
Page 182. Sex with... squadrons. The dancing asterisks have messed up this particular page.
page 187 No one caught this? The book's topic should be the big splash, not the book's substandard quality.
Pages198, 200, 219: those darn dancing asterisks again!
Page 238: How did crisps get pushed down to the following line when there was enough room on the previous line? Someone hit the submit button far too early.
Page 241: another misalignment of text and no quotation marks -- this is a common issue -- for one of Sarah's statements. Quotation marks (for quotes) are often AWOL in this book.
Page 260: Lownie describes Paddle8 as Eugenie's company. She did not own the company, which was co-founded by Aditya Julka, Alexander Gilkes, and Osman Khan in 2011. Eugenie moved to New York City in 2013 after accepting a three-month internship with Paddle8, an online auction house. This turned into a full-time job. In July 2015, she accepted an offer for an associate director's position with Hauser & Wirth.
I highlighted the drunken text, and wonder if it is a direct quote. No quotation marks, no citation, endnote, or footnote.
Page 264: This page is a doozy! The asterisk makes another appearance for no reason at all, and it carries over to the next page.
Page 286: More drunken text.
Page 290: the dancing asterisk returns.
Page 310: Lownie writes about Ghislaine Maxwell's 2020 arrest, stating she talked to her sister and her new husband, whose name is Scott Borgerson. Not new, as Maxwell and Borgerson were married in 2016.
Page 316: Queen Elizabeth II would not have left Andrew money in her will, as everything goes to the next Sovereign. However, she would likely have set up trust funds for her three younger children, perhaps at the time of their births.
Page 328. Lownie writes about the unsealing of new court papers ten days (January 2024) after Andrew walked with other family members to church at Sandringham on Christmas Day 2023. He claims that this was Andrew's first appearance in four years. No, it was not. He was also with the family on Christmas Day 2022, but was not invited in 2024.
In 2020 and 2021, the Queen and Philip celebrated Christmas at Windsor Castle.
Four years earlier, in 2019, Andrew did not walk with other members of the Royal Family. He and Charles attended an earlier service. (Charles also attended the service with other family members.) Andrew was not present in 2018, but did attend in 2017.
Embed from Getty ImagesEmbed from Getty ImagesEmbed from Getty ImagesEmbed from Getty Images Embed from Getty Images
There are five years between 2017 and 2022, during which Andrew joins his family for the walk from Sandringham House to the Church of St. Mary Magdalene. Christmas was not spent at Sandringham during COVID-19 (2020-2021).
Also on discombulated page 328, Lownie writes: in a further deposition of documents, Epstein pleaded the Fifth. Was this done by a seance or an Ojida board, as Epstein was already dead -- since August 2019. This comes in the paragraph following the mistake about Andrew and Sandringham.
Page 335: Misalignment of text.
Page 337: So many things to unpack. The lack of a proper narrative bothers me. Here we have Lownie talking, quoting others about Andrew's sex drive ... but it is impossible to follow a timeline with the comments on this page. He quotes James Whitaker, a doyen of royal journalism, but when were these comments made?. He died in 2012.
In the final paragraph, one sentence is repeated.
Page 347: Henry Beaufort, Duke of Beaufort. The family name is Somerset, not Beaufort, although the Duke signs his name as Beaufort, with no first name.
Page 356: another example of misaligned text.
I was exhausted by the time I finished the book, not from the reading, but from jotting down all the mistakes I found. The book is a shambles, which is disappointing as I expected scholarship.
Simon & Schuster bowed out of publishing the US edition of the book. I cannot speak for the publisher, but after reading this edition, I can understand why.
The book's style and cursory fact-checking appeal more to Daily Mail readers, which is not surprising, as the newspaper published several excerpts. That is when I first noticed the mistake about Beatrice and Eugenie as bridesmaids. Due to the lack of citations and so many mistakes, the book will be of less interest to historians. A more serious historian will delve further and write the appropriate tome.
Be a James Pope Hennessy, a Philip Magnus, a John Röhl. Don't be a Kitty Kelley or a Lytton Strachey.
I recently finished reading The Belle Epoque Life in Paris Olga Paley and Paul of Russia by Wilfried Zeisler (Hillwood & Mare & Martin). This book is pure scholarship, which is something Andrew Lownie should try to accomplish in a total update of Entitled The Rise and Fall of the House of York.
Tuesday, September 9, 2025
Royal magazine cannot be sent to US due to tariffs
Sunday, September 7, 2025
HRH The Duchess of Kent Biographies
The following three publications were published in 1961. You can find copies, especially if you live in the UK, on Amazon, eBay, in charity shops, book sales, etc. Each booklet is about 32 pages
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| Published by the Daily Mail |
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| Published by the Daily Mail. |
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| A Pitkin Pictorial |
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