I do feel sorry for Charles because of his miserable childhood with cold parents, but he has made big mistakes himself, all of which are known the world over. Fergie and Diane may not have been the best of friends during their marriages however during their separations they took the same comfort in psychiatrists, both were on anti depression, both had taken on lovers who would betray them for money. They also both turned to Astrologers, numerologists and spiritualist for help. Many of these people would sell them out. They didn't know who to trust. The book was published in 1997, the year Diana died, but prior to her death. This makes some parts of it rather poignant. For instance, the book discusses several parallels between Diana and Grace Kelly, and mentions them meeting. Of course, now there are more parallels: both died young, and in car crashes. Princess Margaret was not far from the spotlight after her father's death. She started up a relationship with Peter Townsend, a divorce man - which shook the British establishment, the government, the church and the Royal family to the core. The courtiers' banished Townsend from England and hoped that the romance would fizzle out before Margaret's 25th birthday - as she would need permission from her sister Queen Elizabeth for marriage. The Queen threatened that if she married Townsend she would lose her title, allowance and be forced to abandon her place within the family. Princess Mary left that meeting in tears and Townsend married shortly after their relationship ended. After the Townsend affair the Princess partied for about 5 years, with no real direction. She found love with a commoner named Tony Armstrong-Jones. He had a few strikes against him, his parents were divorced, and his mother was Jewish, not to mention his profession was a photographer. The Royal family tried to remedy the situation by giving Armstrong-Jones a title but he refused he only accepted once they had children so they could be titled. Armstrong-Jones had some strange habits, one that Princess Margaret took part in was cross-dressing. The couple maintained the an open marriage, both taking lovers. Their marriage was not to last long, it would end in divorce. The couple would try separation first, Margaret was under the impression that her marriage would not end in divorce. Before the official announcement she suffered a nervous breakdown and threatened suicide. 7 months after the divorce her ex-husband remarried and his new wife was pregnant. This was the first Royal Divorce since King Henry VIII from Anne of Cleves.

When King George died Princess Elizabeth became Queen. The last curtsy she made was when she paid her respects to her father. Once Elizabeth became Queen she treated Philip differently. He was no longer the dominant, take charge husband - he suddenly became unmanned. She even refused his last name when she was Queen. She would become Queen Elizabeth II and would be compared to Elizabeth the I. The distinction she drew upon was that Queen Elizabeth I was blessed with neither husband or children and was never able to leave her shores. Queen Elizabeth II wrapped herself up in marriage and motherhood. In the years she would become respected as a dutiful monarch and most traveled but would fail as a wife and mother. Her priorities became the monarchy, her marriage and last her children. In the early years of her marriage faced with the choice between her husband or her children - Philip won out. Their children were raised like how the Queen was raised, by nannies. Their marriage produced 4 children. By 1992 all of the Queen's children who were married were legally separated and headed for divorce. The book was a sensation. A community of treasure hunters called the Bonehunters formed, in frenzied competition, obsessed to a dangerous degree. People sold their homes to travel to England and search for Elinore. Marriages broke down as the quest consumed people. A man died. The book made Frank a rich man. Stalked by fans who could not tell fantasy from reality, his daughter, Nell, became a recluse. I personally would have liked to learn about the Queen's parents and grandparents. Kelley only briefly covers the Queens parents but she hints at even more juicy dirt involving them. As long as they produce children and keep the bloodline going...that's all that's required. Whether the bridegroom is homosexual, bisexual, or heterosexual doesn't matter, as long as the marriage looks good on the outside and is kept up for public appearances. It's worse for gay men in the aristocracy because it's the duty of the oldest make to produce an heir to pass on the family name, the property, and the title. So they've got to get married, no matter what their sexual orientation is, which accounts for the long established tradition in Britain of homosexual men marrying women simply to breed. Makes no difference what they do later on the side as long as they do it discreetly. That's the hypocrisy of it all. " The book was published in 1997, prior to Princess Diana’s death. It slogged through the demise of the marriages of the queen’s children and ended with an unsure future for Prince Charles as King and a crumbling House of Windsor. So much has changed in the fifteen years since the book was written (William and Harry were children at the time, so barely mentioned), so in a way it ends at what we know now is probably the worst spot to create an ending in a continuing story. Of course, no one knew that at the time. It results in an interesting look at a point in history.But I did read it, feeling guilty about it most of the way through. The book is basically the world’s longest US Weekly article, focusing on little besides every bit of gossip and scandal surrounding the British monarchy for the last century. If not pulled from an old newspaper article, every story was either, “according to a former equerry of the prince” or “recalled a friend of the duchess.” God help anyone who has their story assembled based on reporters and the recollections of past friends, acquaintances, and enemies. At least I knew going into it that it was basically written by Rita Skeeter and therefore not to be entirely believed. The guilt was knowing that no one deserves their private lives intruded upon in such detail. It focused so much on the negative.

She headed off to America in 1999 and went on to play for the New Jersey Lady Stallions, Philadelphia Charge and New Jersey Wildcats during her eight-year stint in the US. However, in 2012 Kelly returned to Arsenal and stayed with the club for five years. Princess Elizabeth and her sister Princess Margaret had a very sheltered childhood. Princess Elizabeth knew she was becoming groomed to be Queen - even Margaret knew it. Margaret was a bit more wild of the two girls. The first act of independence from her parents was when Elizabeth accepted Prince Philip's proposal to marriage, much to her father's dismay. The King had to give permission to his daughter for her marriage. He finally relented to his daughter's wishes when Philip changed his name, nationality and his religion. The Windsor dynasty was created in 1917 to conceal the family's' German heritage. In fact for the last 200 years most Kings spoke German. King George V was the first King who could speak the King's English without an accent. King George was much beloved from his subjects. England had gained much land by conquest after World War I making England domaint over a quarter of the globe. King George was the last great Emperor King for England. Kitty Kelley always delivers. If you want to read about the juicy scandalous lives of the rich and famous then you can't go wrong with Ms. Kelley. The book talks about an affair that Prince Philip allegedly had, then in the next paragraph denies it — why include this, then? It also says that Princess Diana had a miscarriage. I’d never heard that, and looking a bit online, can’t find anything confirming it either. So, more speculation I suppose.But now the Churchers must be reunited. The book is being reissued along with a new treasure hunt and a documentary crew are charting everything that follows. Nell is appalled, and terrified. During the filming, Frank finally reveals the whereabouts of the missing golden bone. And then all hell breaks loose. As the ex Arsenal player's romance with her former teammate comes to light, here we take a look at where Kelly is now and her marriage. Read More Related Articles This was my first book on the "modern" royals and overall I felt it was a really well researched book but was perhaps played too heavily on the Queen, Prince Charles and Princess Diana.