5 comments about Philip and Elizabeth: Portrait of a Royal Marriage.

1. This was a gift, & the recipient tells me they are really enjoying it & that it is much better written than many similar books on the subject (& she reads them all!).



2. I became interested in reading more about the life of the Queen and her husband after seeing "Windsor Castle: A Royal Year." Prince Philip is the star of one of the hours of that multi-part documentary. He came across as a down-to-earth man of many interests about whom I wanted to learn more. I purchased this book mainly interested in it as a biography of Prince Philip.
   
   Prince Philip of Greece had a difficult early life. He was the youngest son of Prince Andrea of Greece and Princess Alice of Battenburg/Milford-Haven. His three older sister all married German nobles. The Greek royal family was subject to on-again off-again exile. His parents were separated after their exile. Not having any Greek ancestry, the Greek royal family was in a precarious position in the early part of the twentieth century. Philip had no fixed permanent residence for much of his life before marrying Princess Elizabeth. As a great great grandson of Queen Victoria, he is 550th or so in line for the British monarchy himself. Philip lived with various relatives and went to school in Germany and later Gordonstoun in Scotland. He served in the British Navy and famously was first photographed with Princess Elizabeth at the Royal Naval College. At the Battle of Cape Matapan Philip was manning a searchlight and had the good fortune to illuminate an Italian (enemy) ship resulting in devastating fire being directed at that ship.
   
   Philip and Elizabeth were married in 1947. Elizabeth became Queen upon the death of her father five years later. Philip duties in supporting the Queen have involved endless ceremonial events and public appearances for over sixty years, and continues to maintain a full schedule of public functions into his late eighties.
   
   Author Brandeth take pains to dismiss all claims of Philip's famously alleged infidelity as untrue both by reason of his loyalty to the Queen and by virtue of logistic impossibility. He even explains Philip's absence from the Queen's bed early in the morning on July 9, 1982 when a deranged man sneaked into Buckingham Palace. The lunatic sat on the Queens bed talking to her until she was able to summon her guard. The man later admitted that he intended to commit suicide in the Queen's presence. Brandeth explains that Philip and the Queen normally share the same bed but on that morning Philip slept alone having travel plans that would require him to get up unusually early.
   
   Brandeth places most of the blame for the difficult relationship between Diana and the Royal couple on poor communication and especially to the immature and emotionally unstable Diana. Many very sensitive matters were discussed in letters rather than face-to-face leading to misunderstandings and later causing great embarrassment when those letters got into the hands of the press. Maintaining some privacy while living in the fishbowl of Palace life has been a matter of obsession for the Queen and Philip. Courtiers that have discussed royal personal business or, even worse, written books about the Royals have been completely cut off. The author recalls how the Queen broke off all contact with her much loved governess "Crawfie" after that servant wrote a tell-all book about the Queen's childhood in 1950s. It was to avoid unwanted public disclosure that the 2003 Burrell trial was halted. Paul Burrell, Diana's butler was charged with stealing and selling some of the late Lady Di's personal effects. Just as the trial was about to begin, the Queen remembered a conversation with the valet in which he told her that he holding on to some of Diana's possession for safekeeping.
   
   The author describes himself as a friend of Prince Philip's. While this account can not be considered an authorized biography, the author does include the Prince's wry reaction to various controversies that have surfaced during his long life. On the other hand the Queen remains a distant aloof figure in this biography. Like the aforementioned documentary, where Philip talks directly to the camera about his duties as Ranger of Windsor Park, this book gives a rare look at otherwise inscrutable Prince Philip explaining himself in his own words.
   
   Highly recommended.



3. This is not just a book about the marriage of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip-it is a story of their lives both before and after their marriage in-in sections.
   
   First Section: details about their early lives and details surrounding their parents and grandparents.
   
   First was Elizabeth growining up in England-with her parents the Duke and Duchess of York and then after Edward VIII abdicated King George VI and Queen Elizabeth
   
   Second was Philip born a Greek and Danish Prince but shortly after his birth his family was forced to move to France to live near his uncle George and Aunt Marie.
   
   Second Section: Details their lives as teenagers around the time of WWII
   Elizabeth was forced to live apart from her parents and was sent to live with her sister outside of London. After the war the family was reunited and at 13 Elizabeth met Philip for the first time
   
   Philip lived in France for several years before his mother was institutionalized and his father ran off with his mistress. His sisters help raise him and then sent him to schools in Germany, and England. During the War he was a Navey Man where at 18 he met 13 year old Elizabeth.
   
   The Next several Sections detail their courtship, marriage, becomeing first time parents to Charles and Anne, becoming Queen and Consort and then having Andrew and Edward afterward.
   
   An interesting book with interviews from Prince Philip, Elizabeth's cousin and others that give a detailed account of two interesting people.



4. one of the most beautiful biographies i have ever read . it reavels the humaneterian side of queen elizabith and prince philip . they are like us they love and hate like every ordinary person . mr brandreth is great .do not miss this book



5. Having read a lot of books about the royals, I didn't know if I wanted to read another. I'm very glad I read this one. Enjoyed how it was written. Very witty remarks, a lot of them in parenthesis. Having the book notes at the bottom of the various pages was a great help. One can't help but read them. There was alot of info that I had read before, but Mr Brandreth gave a more balanced view. It was a fun read!

2 comments about Records of Shelley, Byron, and the Author (New York Review Books Classics).

1. The lives and deaths of Shelley and Byron ought to interest the world--not just the readers of English--for their poetry covered every topic: the rise and fall of empires, nation-building and nation-breaking, and the vanity of the men who would lead them in victory or defeat. And Edward John Trelawny shows us each poet as a human being. The production of fine writing should not be a mystery; beautiful language comes most eloquently from a troubled heart and a mind committed to seeking knowledge. Trelawny reminds us that Byron's and Shelley's lives were focused on connecting to people through their work; Tre begins each chapter with lines from the work of Byron or Shelley.
   
   The Introduction to this edition of Trelawny's book is written by Anne Barton, a professor at Trinity College, Cambridge University, from which Byron himself graduated about 200 years ago. I disagree with her that Tre's writing is "focused for the most part upon himself" as though he were self-centered, though Barton does say he had "hidden depths" (xx). Based on the form and structure and content of Records of Shelley, Byron, and the Author (and Tre's subsequent life), it seems that Trelawny was aware of the nuances of human character and was more than adequate to the task of knowing complex people. The details he provides in key places are so specific that they could not have been lies or fabrications; Byron's claim that Trelawny could not tell the truth was simply evidence of Byron's pleasure in teasing banter. "Byron's idle talk during the exhumation of [Edward Elliker] William's remains," Trelawny writes, "did not proceed from want of feeling, but from his anxiety to conceal what he felt from others" (146). Byron also concealed his feelings at the cremation of Shelley's remains. It's clear throughout the book that Tre is a sharp observer--of himself and others. And Tre was sensitive to what Mary Godwin Shelley and Williams' wife, Jane, felt about the drowning of their husbands in the Bay of Spezia. Mary Shelley wrote to Tre that she experienced a "blank moral death" (176). Tre shows that the breakup of the Pisan Circle--because of Shelley's drowning--was clearly a personal tragedy with far-reaching consequences.
   
   This is a book for all seasons--but better appreciated while strolling on a beach in some far-flung corner of a poetic universe.



2. If you're interested in the life of Edward John Trelawny, you'll have to look elsewhere. Suffice it to say that Tre' (as his friends knew him) was a privateer, a scoundrel, a lover of poetry, a freedom-fighter and a loyal friend of the most prolific literary talents of the romantic period. "Records of Shelley, Byron and the Author" is an account, not of Trelawny's extraordinary life & adventures, but of the two men that helped make that life so extraordinary. In his own words, he tells of the secret lives of Byron and the Shelley's, their romp through sunny Italy and the tragic death of Percy in the coast of Spezzia. The tale continues as Tre' follows Byron to the bloody civil war in Greece, where Byron too dies. To his credit, though, it is never "Trelawny's tale", but "Byron and Shelley's tale" as told by Trelawny. This deep, insightful book shows the poets as only a close friend could. Yet throughout, one can not help but love Trelawny himself: the man who supported the impoverished Mary Shelley to her dying day... the man who bought a slave for $10,000 only to set him free... the man who reached into the embers of Shelley's pyre, withdrawing his heart. If you love the poetry of Byron and Shelley & have even a passing interest in the men behind the legends, then Trelawny's memoirs are a must-read.

2 comments about Reflections of Prague: Journeys through the 20th century.

1. This is a tragic memoir of a son whose father was murdered by the Communist regime. The author sets the stage beautifully by giving the history of the Czech nation, the plight of its Jewish population, and the suffering at the hands of the Nazis and Communists. He weaves the story of his family into this history with great skill. As a native Czech who had some similar experiences to those of Ivan Margolius, I particularly appreciated his attention to detail, his accurate and beautiful descriptions of Prague and the Czech countryside, and his use of poetry throughout the book. The reader cannot help but weep for a son who has such deep feelings and who carries with him such deep sorrow for a father whom he knew for only a few very short years. A wonderful book!



2. "Never fall down!"
   
   Roughly translated from the Czech refrain that author Ivan Margolius' resilient mother, Heda Margolius Kovaly, would often exclaim when life in the former Czechoslovakia threw their Margolius clan one too many rotten tomatoes.
   
   Ivan and Heda, of course, are son and wife to the late Rudolf Margolius, a one-time deputy minister in the former Czechoslovakia's Ministry of Trade.
   
   History reveals that on December 3, 1952, Rudolf and ten other falsely-accused -- mostly Jewish -- members of the former Communist government's inner circle were hanged in what has since become known as the "Slansky Affair" or "Slansky Plot." Slansky was a trumped-up list of charges that first Czechoslovak Communist President Klement Gottwald orchestrated against forteen prominent members of his administration.
   
   The Slansky Plot was the culmination of a major part of Gottwald's Stalinist-inspired campaign of terror against the citizens of Czechoslovakia. His aim was to smash them into socialist submission, with Czechoslovakia at the time being the most "Western" of all the newly-established "Bloc" countries.
   
   "Never fall down" became Ivan Margolius' mantra as he returned more than forty years later to the now-democratic Czech Republic to retrace his father's once-shining career's steps. Ivan's search lead him straight into the former Czechoslovak archives. From there it was where the author was successful in clarifying heaps of missing details that had eluded Ivan Margolius for most of his adult life about the life of his famous father.
   
   Until the age of sixteen, Ivan hadn't precisely known the circumstances surrounding his father's passing. Heda, like most of her fellow citizens living under the socialist yoke, dreaded divulging any information about Rudolf Margolius to her lone son, fearful how it might affect his future work and life prospects inside the Communist system.
   
   Featuring prominently in this book are letters. For instance, one is an ambiguously-crafted note Rudolf had penned to his young boy, which reveals shades of the inner-agony that Rudolf and his fourteen co-accused must have felt while awaiting their execution under the libels. It had been kept from author by Heda until well into Ivan's teens.
   
   Since then, Ivan Margolius' life filled with a burning curiosity to truly know of the circumstances surrounding his father's tragic demise. By then, Ivan was already comfortably settled, living in exile in the British capital, London. It built up until he demanded to know just what had really happened to the man he once called 'Tato', Daddy?
   
   Why had Rudolf Margolius been [...] as a "subversive spy" who "had endangered the health of Czechoslovakia's children?"
   
   Were the charges laid against Rudolf Margolius even true?
   
   Heda knew them to be falsehoods, all, yet Ivan just had to know for himself.
   
   What emerged from the author's research was that Rudolf Margolius hardly even knew Rudolf Slansky, one of the Group of Fourteen rounded up in his eponymously-named trial. Rudolf Margolius hardly had a bad bone in his body, with Ivan remembering their times cavorting around the Czech countryside fondly. Rudolf Margolius was a dedicated father, husband, and moreover, as Ivan unearthed, had served the interests of the then-new Czechoslovak "people's republic" with all his heart.
   
   Rudolf Margolius sincerely believed in the bold promises of Lenin-style Marxism. He renounced all claim to his capitalist past from before the War, and after Rudolf's return to Prague from the Dachau concentration camp, he instructed his wife Heda to liquidate all of their parents' former possessions and assets, dedicating the sale's profits to the State; such was the fervour of his dedication to the socialist cause.
   
   Ivan Margolius needed answers to questions he could find only by returning to the sordid past. To the place where his life changed forever, Prague. The book tells that story...
   
   --
   
   
   REFLECTIONS OF PRAGUE is a stunning walk down memory lane. Within a neatly-contained 300pp. of well-structured, sometimes whistful, but mostly evocatively-written narrative, Ivan Margolius finally discovers for himself just who the man once known as his father really was.
   
   Margolius still awaits an official public apology from the present Czech authorities. As inheritors of the government which destroyed the life of his father, it is they who are responsible for issuing a Formal Sorry.
   
   REFLECTIONS, however, is about that and more. It reflects, as its name states, on things such as:
   
   ** What Prague was like during its inter-war years.
   ** What life was like in the capital under Nazi occupation in the Protectorate.
   ** What became of Bohemia and Moravia's 88,000 Jews, more than 47,000 from Prague alone.
   ** Why Communism was such an "attractive" option for Czechs following WWII.
   ** How influential the Soviets were in Czechoslovak affairs, and how they had contributed to the state of terror in early '50s Czechoslovakia.
   
   These broad strokes of Central European history are on full display as Ivan relives his mother and father's pasts.
   
   REFLECTIONS contains anecdotal evidence Ivan had heard from Heda over the years, and makes available his painstaking research into the former Communist state's archives. In his attempt to recreate the atmosphere extant at the time his father death, Margolius succeeds masterfully.
   
   I consider REFLECTIONS to be an essential primer for anyone with more than a passing interest in Czech history.
   
   If you're looking for an easy-to-read book on Prague written by a son of one of its most illustrious families, the Margoliuses, then stop searching. You've found it.
   
   Five stars.

3 comments about Queen Victoria at Home.

1. An easy read on Queen Victoria. This book adds nothing new but simply rehash everything that you've read in other biographies on Queen Victoria. Its not a bad book it is very well written and I enjoyed it very much. But if your expecting any new information on her you won't find it in this book.



2. this good bood on basic facts about queen victoria and her era.this is a easy read.



3. This book is a reflection on the life of Queen Victoria by someone who is clearly fascinated by her and who probably knows everything there is to know about her. It is easy to read and does not require you to know a great deal about her already in order to make any sense out of the book.
   On the other hand, if you are already well-read about Victoria, this book, in my opinion, brings little that's new. But if you are willing to take the journey with this author and let him share his thoughts in the way usually reserved for a dear old friend, then you will find a pleasant un-bumpy ride along the way.

No comments about Blair Unbound.

2 comments about Yale English Monarchs - William Rufus (The English Monarchs Series).

1. I was impressed with the amount of detail on William Rufus by Frank Barlow. He pieced together a time in English history that seems to be looked over by most historians. Barlow makes a strong analytical approach to dispelling public perception of William Rufus. He makes sure you understand that the remaining documentaton on William Rufus is so fragmented. And that that does remain is from one point of view, the Church which obvouisly does not favor William Rufus. Barlow points out William II was a more capable ruler than most give him credit for and this angle is enough to make this book a must read for those interested in Norman History and the English crown.



2. William Rufus (William the Red), second son of William the Conquer,took over England while his older brother's back was turned and ruled it for little over a decade before being killed in a strange hunting "accident" in the New Forest. That's about all the space he gets in history today, except the claims that he was a homosexual, an atheist, an all-round bad person and the less said the better. While this book takes pains to look at and question these charges,it is not the only subject that the author deals with in William's regin. Despite being a "wild and crazy guy" and running a court that looks like a frat house, William seems also to have been an able adminstor, a good diplomat and a strong enough miltary leader to keep his elder brother out of England and the Saxons quiet. I enjoied this book, one of the few on the subject and a serious study of it's subject. A good source on a rare subject.

2 comments about Life Wish.

1. I felt there were some valuable insights to improve quality of life and attitude for someone suffering from a life threatening or potentially life threatening disease. However her financial situation and style of living, including household help and other resources, separated her from the average person in same situation Chemo treatment appears to have improved considerally since this book was written. Did she eventually die from the cancer?



2. I'm captured by Jill Ireland's honesty and selflessness. I'd like to read her sequel.

5 comments about Boudicca: The Warrior Queen.

1. Between AD 61 and AD 63 Boudicca led the Iceni in a glorious but bloody war against the Romans. The Iceni had submitted their kingdom in East Anglia to the all conquering forces of the Roman legions under the rule of Claudius as long ago as AD43.
   
   IN AD 61 Boudicca's husband Prasutagus, King of the Iceni, died. In a dispute that followed Boudicca was publicly flogged and her two daughter's raped.
   
   The tribe were insulted and rose in a revolt led by their queen Boudicca. The uprising was so successful that the might of the Roman army was almost defeated, but the finely honed military skills of the Legion's finally brought the revolt to an end and roman rule was established.
   
   If the revolt by the Iceni had been successful, perhaps the Romans would have been driven out of Britain for ever.
   
   Boudicca's name lives on and she is still one of Britain's greatest heroines.



2. I found the book very informitave not dry yet sensitive
   to the plight of Celtic Britan. The working backwords is paramount as the only sources for the
   Boudiccdan revolt were Roman and extracting and interplating
   information from the prejudices of Roman society had towards
   women is extreamly valuable. Also the knowledge of the Roman emperiors of the period has caused interest in these
   personalities which will promt more research on my part.
   Extreamly inlightening reading.



3. Although the first third of Trow's scholarly work on Boudicca is somewhat dry, it does set the stage for the facinating other two thirds. Because what little written record there is comes to us from Boudicca's enemies, it is necessary for the author to examin the times in which she lived and the religion she practiced.
   
   Only the uneducated would not already realize that Christian holidays are based on more ancient Pagan holidays celebrated by the peoples missionaries converted. To say that the author has an axe to grind because he mentions this fact is a bit of an overstatement. The book is full of factual information where fact can be discerned and the information regarding Pagan religions is accurate.
   
   It is unfortunate that what information we have about this ancient woman does not appear in history books of general disscemination such as school text books. The fact that a woman put up such a valliant fight to drive the Romans out of Britain should be more common knowledge.



4. The author, M.J. Trow reminded me of too many college professors and instructors. Their expertise is often ordinary, their objectivity highly suspect. Historians should strive to excise their personal ideology and biases or at least hide them well enough to preserve their own credibility.
   
   For example, this book had no less than 5 hostile references to Christianity, although the era was pagan and the major players in the story were pagan. Christianity was nothing more than a peculiar little Jewish sect at the time, and yet Trow can barely contain his disdain for it. Christians "stole" the date of Christmas (p. 82), "invented the devil" (p. 83), consider women "the embodiment of evil" (p. 195) and "corrupted the Jewish god, Yahweh" (p. 213).
   
   Trow's understanding of Boudicca is necessarily limited as is every other historians' because the only sources we have that discuss her are Roman. However, Trow's understanding of Christianity is woefully ignorant.
   
   Beware of academics with an ax to grind, their credibility is the first to go.



5. Despite this book's title, the author's focus is mainly on ancient Britain and its peoples in the face of Roman invasion. The author is very careful in pointing out what is known, what is legend, what is not known and what can never be known about Boudicca and the people of Britain during that period. The sources of the information presented are clearly stated as are the shortcomings of those sources. The author writes clearly and much of the text is very detailed. A reader expecting to read about details in the life of Boudicca will be disappointed. However, a reader seriously interested in history and archaeology will find much valuable information here. A few maps to illustrate the geographical locations of the various tribes and where important events took place would have been very useful.

5 comments about Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Four Kings.

1. Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122-1204) was one of the most powerful and influential women of the Middle Ages. She inherited one of the richest bequests in Europe, including the County of Poitou and the Duchy of Aquitaine, but was not content to be any man's chattel. She married King Louis VII, and became Queen of France, and later had that marriage annulled (keeping full control of her patrimony). Then she married King Henry II, and became Queen England (and half of France). Hers was a life of scandal, war, adventure, romance, intrigue...well, let's just say that it was anything but boring!
   
   This book is a very full and highly informative biography of Eleanor, covering most every important event in her adult life, beginning with her engagement to Louis in 1137. Now, if there is a fault in this book, it is that it is too wide-ranging covering everything in exhaustive detail. It does give the book a heavy and somewhat stifling feel.
   
   But, that said, this is a magisterial book, perhaps the greatest biography of Eleanor ever written. So, if you want to really know Eleanor of Aquitaine, then you really must read this book.



2. "Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Four Kings" has been an important source book for perhaps the majority of authors who have written about this extraordinary woman during the past six decades. This book may have been the most important component of Amy Ruth Kelly's academic work. She was a Harvard scholar, close to retirement when her magnum opus went to press circa 1950.
   
   A careful reading shows that much of Ms. Kelly's text is original in the sense that she was diligent in exploring manuscripts and early histories, borrowing relatively little from her contemporary historians. She pioneered modern Eleanor scholarship.
   
   The author was the product of a more genteel age, a fact which her style betrays. It is curiously antique in places, but easy to read and to follow. For example, she introduces the word "Paraclete" without explanation: she herself needed no introduction to the school of Peter Abelard. Her book includes a number of dated curiosities: for example she refers to the Turkish port from which Eleanor sailed to Antioch as Satalia, rather than the modern day Antalya.
   
   Several modern scholars think Ms. Kelly got the Court of Ladies wrong. I disagree. I believe that she got it partly right. In fact the true nature of Eleanor's Court of Ladies at Poitiers is still the subject of debate. Personally, I believe that the late Claude Marks, the author of "Pilgrims, heretics, and lovers: A medieval journey" came close to reasonable truth on this topic.
   
   "Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Four Kings" is informative. It can still compete with more recent, "pure" biographies such as Allison Weir's "Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Life," and Marion Meade's "Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Biography." Modern historians have added many facts to the life and times of Eleanor of Aquitaine since Ms. Kelly published her title a lifetime ago. But she left us a record that feels true to life, entertaining and wise.
   
   Robert Fripp, Author of ...
   "Power of a Woman. Memoirs of a turbulent life: Eleanor of Aquitaine"



3. This book is a superior piece of literature, carefully researched, beautifully written, and more exciting than any novel.



4. "Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Four Kings" has been an important source book for perhaps the majority of authors who have written about this extraordinary woman during the past six decades. This book may have been the most important component of Amy Ruth Kelly's academic work. She was a Harvard scholar, close to retirement when her magnum opus went to press circa 1950.
   
   A careful reading shows that much of Ms. Kelly's text is original in the sense that she was diligent in exploring manuscripts and early histories, borrowing relatively little from her contemporary historians. She pioneered modern Eleanor scholarship.
   
   The author was the product of a more genteel age, a fact which her style betrays. It is curiously antique in places, but easy to read and to follow. For example, she introduces the word "Paraclete" without explanation: she herself needed no introduction to the school of Peter Abelard. Her book includes a number of dated curiosities: for example she refers to the Turkish port from which Eleanor sailed to Antioch as Satalia, rather than the modern day Antalya.
   
   Several modern scholars think Ms. Kelly got the Court of Ladies wrong. I disagree. I believe that she got it partly right. In fact the true nature of Eleanor's Court of Ladies at Poitiers is still the subject of debate. Personally, I believe that the late Claude Marks, the author of "Pilgrims, heretics, and lovers: A medieval journey" came close to reasonable truth on this topic.
   
   "Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Four Kings" is informative. It can still compete with more recent, "pure" biographies such as Allison Weir's "Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Life," and Marion Meade's "Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Biography." Modern historians have added many facts to the life and times of Eleanor of Aquitaine since Ms. Kelly published her title a lifetime ago. But she left us a record that feels true to life, entertaining and wise.
   
   Robert Fripp, Author of ...
   "Power of a Woman. Memoirs of a turbulent life: Eleanor of Aquitaine"



5. This book is an indispensable link in the chain of events that constitute French mediaeval history. With Eleanor's marriage to Louis VII in 1137 her dowry, the unruly realm of Aquitaine, in theory merged with the Royal Domains of the Capetians, but remained outside Royal control. In 1152 Louis, in need of a male heir, found Eleanor a willing partner in divorce. Outwitting her former husband the King of France, Eleanor's second marriage to the formidable Henry of Anjou, Duke of Normandy, in reality augmented Aquitaine into the Angevin Empire. Further still, the Conquerors crown of 1066 would find another conquerors head, that of Henry II, the Norman dynasty of England is eclipsed by yet another Duke of Normandy, Henry of Anjou, Eleanor becomes queen for a second time. With fateful consequences this union would involve the heavy tread of a Hundred Years War in pursuit of an inheritance. This too would be the last time a Duke of Normandy overawes the King of France in an ambiguous dual capacity as King of England.
   
   Amy Kelly beautifully catches the reflected fragments to this elusive personality through the world of Kings in which she was a part. By following the biography of this extraordinary woman we meet all the major protagonists of the age, including a Byzantine Emperor from her involvement in the Second Crusade, to Archbishop Beckett, as well as those bequeathed to history by the Queen herself, namely King Richard I, the Lion Heart and King John of England. Kelly clarifies a dynastic web of deception, internecine war and greed, bringing warmth to grim events in the persona of the Queen and her troubadour court of high romance that was so much a part of her lineage from the south.
   
   For those whose appetite has been tantalized, this book forms a distinguished trio in conjunction with; The Normans, by David Crouch; Eleanor, by Kelly, and A Distant Mirror, by Barbara Tuchman which brilliantly covers the Hundred Years War. Taken together they form a rich and scholarly narrative on the Middle Ages and of French and English history in particular. Taken on its own, Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Four Kings remains a classic!

No comments about An Irish Childhood.