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Prince Charles: The Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life
Prince Charles: The Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life | Sally Bedell Smith
27 posts | 10 read | 19 to read
From the New York Times bestselling author of Elizabeth the Queen comes the first major biography of Prince Charles in more than twenty years--perfect for fans of The Crown. Sally Bedell Smith returns once again to the British royal family to give us a new look at Prince Charles, the oldest heir to the throne in more than three hundred years. This vivid, eye-opening biography--the product of four years of research and hundreds of interviews with palace officials, former girlfriends, spiritual gurus, and more, some speaking on the record for the first time--is the first authoritative treatment of Charles's life that sheds light on the death of Diana, his marriage to Camilla, and his preparations to take the throne one day. Prince Charles brings to life the real man, with all of his ambitions, insecurities, and convictions. It begins with his lonely childhood, in which he struggled to live up to his father's expectations and sought companionship from the Queen Mother and his great-uncle Lord Mountbatten. It follows him through difficult years at school, his early love affairs, his intellectual quests, his entrepreneurial pursuits, and his intense search for spiritual meaning. It tells of the tragedy of his marriage to Diana; his eventual reunion with his true love, Camilla; and his relationships with William, Kate, Harry, and his grandchildren. Ranging from his glamorous palaces to his country homes, from his globe-trotting travels to his local initiatives, Smith shows how Prince Charles possesses a fiercely independent spirit and yet has spent more than six decades waiting for his destined role, living a life dictated by protocols he often struggles to obey. With keen insight and the discovery of unexpected new details, Smith lays bare the contradictions of a man who is more complicated, tragic, and compelling than we knew, until now. Advance praise for Prince Charles -Prince Charles is an eighteenth-century gentleman with a twenty-first-century mission. His love of tradition combines with an outlook that can be bracingly avant garde. Sally Bedell Smith captures his contradictions and his convictions in this fascinating book that is not just about a man who would be king, but also about the duties that come with privilege.---Walter Isaacson -For all we know about Prince Charles, there is so much we didn't know--until now. Sally Bedell Smith has given us a complete and compelling portrait of the man in the shadow of the throne. It's all here, from the back stairs of the palaces to the front pages of the tabs. Read all about it!---Tom Brokaw
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Born.A.Reader
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Since the Coronation is tomorrow, I thought it fitting to begin this tonight. #KingCharles #Coronation 👑 🤴

CoverToCoverGirl It‘s a 4am appointment for me. I‘ll be having tea and scones. 12mo
15 likes1 comment
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Librarybelle
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Highly recommended to me by someone who loves to read about #TrueBlue -bloods, especially the British royalty. I grabbed this as a #BookOutlet buy, but have yet to read it. #Movember

Cinfhen Bet it‘s fascinating 4y
76 likes2 stack adds1 comment
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kstadt929
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Looks like Prince Charles and Harry are US History books?

Reviewsbylola Lolol I guess Megan is the deciding factor. 😂 6y
BiblioLitten 😂 6y
12 likes3 comments
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annalibris
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Pickpick

This is a very long, thoroughly researched book, and you‘d probably have to be very, very interested in the Royal Family to enjoy it. Fortunately, I am, and found this both an honest and sympathetic portrait of the prince. I‘m not sure I‘d like him in person, but it does help to understand him a bit better.

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Andrea313
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What the incomparable Elaine Stritch said to Camilla Parker Bowles when they met. #currentlyreading #ElaineStritch

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Andrea313
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I'm enjoying this even more than I expected I would! I liked this author's biography of the Queen quite a bit, and this one is every bit as good. #currentlyreading

Andrea313 @rubyslippersreads Oooh, I haven't heard of that! Thanks for the tip. :) 6y
10 likes2 comments
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Librarybelle
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One of the library staff and I swap book recommendations. She absolutely loved this and told me I had to read it. If British royalty is your thing, take a look at the latest Charles biography. I was told it is unbiased, which would be nice - present all of the good and the bad of someone for readers to see the whole person. Looking forward to reading this! #recommendedtoyou #autumnreads

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Kpulver
Pickpick

Very up to present date bio.

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EmG
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The #book #loving or is it #blocking ? is strong with this one.#BookKitty #Tallulah-Bell

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EmG
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Unfortunately #Beasley is channeling #PrinceCharles' angst

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Wife
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Pickpick

At times this was tedious, but I stuck it out. I understand a bit more how the marriage to Princess Diana was initiated and some reasons it failed. I warmed up to Camilla, which shocked me. I didn't know how many interests and causes he has. But come on Prince Charles, it's time to use technology. He answers Email with handwritten notes.

Cinfhen Great photo 7y
Librarybelle One of the staff at the library I work at loved this book. She convinced me to read it too! I'm waiting for it to come in at the library. 7y
Wife @Cinfhen Thanks. I often forget about B&W as an option. 7y
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Wife @Librarybelle I'm interested in reading other biographies by this author. She wrote one about Princess Diana and also Queen Elizabeth. I found it straight-forward and not gossipy. 7y
Librarybelle Very good to know, @Wife ! Thank you! 7y
Zelma I loved her bio of a Queen Elizabeth. Listened to the audio on a long road trip and found it fascinating. @Librarybelle (edited) 7y
62 likes3 stack adds6 comments
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mdbstar12
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Pickpick

This was a fascinating and thoroughly readable biography of a person whom I apparently didn't know much about! The author shows some bias at some points, to the point where I had to remind myself to be objective, but otherwise an entertaining read!

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Wife
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"Oooo! I like the end papers!" That's MY grandson!

Bambolina_81 That's a lovely photograph 😊 7y
LeahBergen ❤️❤️ 7y
Cinfhen Cutie 7y
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Suet624 💕💕 7y
Lmstraubie My kind of kid 😁 7y
Wife @Bambolina_81 @LeahBergen @Cinfhen @Suet624 @Lmstraubie Thanks!🌹I guess my fascination with pretty end papers has rubbed off on him. 7y
61 likes6 comments
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MallenNC
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Pickpick

I really enjoyed this biography of Prince Charles. I follow the royals pretty closely but I still learned things from this very detailed book. (Possibly a little too detailed). These are some of the photos from it that I liked.

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MallenNC
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I spent today pretending to be British at a tea party and garden tour, then finishing this new biography of Prince Charles. A great Sunday!

Texreader Sounds lovely 7y
18 likes1 comment
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MallenNC
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Some royal reading for the weekend! It's Will and Kate's anniversary but I don't have any books about them. #CurrentlyReading #royals #nonfiction

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shawnmooney
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Pickpick

Biographies irritate me; this one was less annoying than many. Going in, I thought Charles was freakish, interesting, unlovable, and that he may well rise to the occasion and not be a complete disaster on the throne; this book did little to sway or deepen any of those impressions. Still, I really enjoyed the gossip.

Tamra I feel the same about both biographies and especially memoirs. It has to be an exceptionally interesting person/life story. Memoirs in particular seem to me narcissistic and boring, like showing your vacation pics at a party. 😑 Sorry. 7y
shawnmooney @Tamra I couldn't agree more. But there are fabulous and important exceptions, such as this memoir which I'll be reviewing next: 7y
Tamra I should add that also applies to the lives of royalty & celebrities, their lives are far less interesting than so many people who live closer to the earth, so to speak. 7y
Tamra @shawnmooney I'm curious to know! You have piqued my interest. (edited) 7y
celtichik She really did a good job with his story, it was nice to hear "the other side" . 7y
38 likes5 comments
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shawnmooney
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Stop the presses! Apparently, that fun fact about Prince Charles's valet squeezing toothpaste onto HRH's toothbrush each morning is an unfair exaggeration. The valet, Michael Fawcett, only did that for a short time in the early nineties after the prince had broken his arm. So there, that's cleared up. I think we can all now agree Charles is as down-to-earth as the rest of us, the People's Prince, so to speak.

KarenUK 😂😂😂 7y
BookishFeminist So glad you cleared this up I was really worried for a couple decades 😂😂 (edited) 7y
DeborahSmall 😂😂 7y
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britt_brooke 😆 7y
Reviewsbylola That's a big difference! 7y
LeahBergen I also heard that he owns one of those little contraptions that squeezes the last bits out of a tube of toothpaste. 🤔 7y
Suet624 Phew. 7y
54 likes7 comments
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shawnmooney
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I knew that Camilla is the great granddaughter of Alice Keppel, Edward VII's long-term mistress, and had heard the story about Camilla's pick-up line when she first met Charles ('My great grandma was your great-great-grandpa's mistress, so how about it?'). But I didn't know that Keppel was still alive when Camilla was born in July 1947—she died a few weeks later, never seeing the baby—nor that Camilla is about a year-and-half older than Charles.

Megabooks 😅😅😅 7y
Cinfhen Small world 🌎 7y
Sydsavvy Very interesting 7y
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Donna_sBookMinute Just wow. 7y
Suet624 That hat! Or whatever that thing is. 7y
DrexEdit Wow. I did not know that. So is Camilla Edward VII's great-granddaughter too? In other words are she and Charles related? That would make them second cousins, right? Somehow that sounds incorrect to me. Alice must have had children with other men. ??? 7y
shawnmooney @DrexEdit It's an entirely reasonable question to ask, but no, Edward VII's kids all came from his wife and consort, Alexandra. Alice Keppel was married herself, for the entirety of the kingly affair, to another man named George Keppel, who was more than pleased to share his wife with the king, and with whom she bore and raised two daughters. In addition to Camilla s grandmother, their other girl was Violet Trefusis, who was... 7y
shawnmooney @DrexEdit ...a longterm lover of Vita Sackville-West. She learned a lot from her mama, in that both she and Vita were married during their long affair. 7y
DrexEdit Thanks for sharing this interesting bit of history! 😊 7y
51 likes9 comments
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shawnmooney
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Oh my. I knew Lord Mountbatten—assassinated by the IRA in '79—Charles's great-uncle but more like a father really, was a playboy but I had no idea that he and Edwina, his wife of nearly 4 decades (she died in 1960) had a completely open marriage, she being the more polyamorously inclined of the two! Among her many lovers, each welcomed into the Mountbatten family by her hubby, embraced as uncles by their kids, was Prime Minister Nehru of India!

LeahBergen Oooo! 😮 7y
Angelala007 I like this information. 😛 7y
42 likes2 comments
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shawnmooney
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This bio is rather good. I thought I knew all the royal gossip but this was news to me: before he married Camilla, Andrew Parker-Bowles briefly dated Princess Anne. (Camilla had also gone out with Charles prior to getting hitched with AP-B but that's old news.) AP-B's parents were close friends of the Queen Mother, and he was a page boy at QEII's coronation. Through it all, including his & Camilla's divorce, he and Anne have remained firm friends.

TrishB It's a small circle! 7y
Angelala007 I didn't realize what a royal watcher I was until my husband and I watched The Crown. He kept asking who was who and I knew everyone. 👑 This one looks I interesting! ps I also know way more about the Kennedys than I should. 😛 7y
shawnmooney @Angelala007 😘😘I liked the Crown, and a certain royal personage's derriere reconstituted my attitude to him entirely! Hated the depiction of the Queen Mum, tho; had a few other smaller quibbles. But fun! And we must be twins cuz my royalty obsession has been twinned with my Kennedy obsession from the get-go! 💜 (edited) 7y
LeahBergen I may need to read this. 👍🏼 7y
Angelala007 Totally twins! I read Rose Kennedy's book when I was about 12 and even then knew it was painting a picture that was a little tooooo rosy ?At a Trivia night recently the question was "What month was Kennedy assassinated?" ?Who doesn't know that? Lots of people apparently. Also I friend requested you on FB. It's Ophelia Oppenheimer. ?Not my real name 7y
49 likes1 stack add5 comments
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Rhondareads

Just started ,I've always been curious about him,what his life was like as a child his relationship with the Queen&Prince Philip.For fans of The Crown this would be added background.Have a feeling this will be a gossipy read .I'm also a fan of the author,

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shawnmooney
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Biographies about the royals from Queen Victoria on down are my guilty reading pleasure - I'm going to do this on audio so don't expect many quotes. He's so unlovable, but actually quite a fascinating fella...

TrishB A good description.... 7y
ReadingEnvy I have always felt the queen is holding out so he will never be crowned. 7y
Zelma Ooh, I loved her book about Queen Elizabeth. Adding this my TBR stat! 7y
LeahBergen I watched a documentary where he presents some of the artwork done by previous royal family members and found him endearing! It's called The Royal Paintbox. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=T8w0NprtsTQ 7y
47 likes2 stack adds4 comments