Royal Style: An Intimate Look Inside the Palaces and Country Houses of Britain's Royal Family

Loved all the pictures

FOR ALL CURIOUS ROYAL-WATCHERS, (like myself!), this is surely a MUST-HAVE BOOK! It was printed in 1988...so, it may have a few dated descriptions of royal life....but not too many! As the Royal Family of England has been in power since, (at least) 1066, some things...many things...never do change.It's fairly easy to discover what in this book is timeless, (a lot of it!), and what is no longer up-to-date information, but only nostalgia, (and nostalgia for, I daresay, both Royals and royal-watchers, alike!)As the publication date is, as I have said, 1988, the first piece of "nostalgic anachronism" is on the front of the dust-jacket, staring the reader head-on. It is a lovely picture of the then-perceived to be "perfect Royal couple", Prince Charles and Princess Diana. If there is sny hint in the body language of either in this photo, that things were going exactly "swimmingly" with the marriage at that point, I don't see them. Maybe an expert in body language could read more into this picture than I can, (OK, they aren't holding hands in the picture...but are both smiling, seemingly very happy...) Of course, by now, everyone knows the marriage was NOT going along "swimmingly", but was on the verge, (or into the verge), of "drowning" at this point. Royals, above all other English-people, truly know how to keep a "stiff upper lip!"(In the lower left hand corner of the jacket cover is another photo....of Prince Charles, Princess Diana, and their two sons...looking to be about 7 and 5. It is a picture taken outdoors, whilst the larger one, of the Prince and Princess of Wales alone, is indoors. Diana...wearing a peasant-like blouse and turquoise pants, lools even more relaxed than in the bigger picture, as she sits on the bench with little Prince Harry. Behind her, Prince Charles seems slightly less-at-ease here...(or is it only that the sun is in his eyes?)...and little Prince William, standing beside him on a low stone fence, looks at his mother and brother, rather than at his father. Hmmmmm....)This book purports to tell many royal secrets....and it does! INGRID SEWARD, author of many books on the English royals...and editor of "Majesty" magazine, besides, truly does know her subject. Leaf through any page in this book, and royal "secrets" are wonderouslu discovered.... For instance...the Royal family do not use four-letter words, but instead words like "fool" and "bloody". (page 4) . The Queen never breakfasts in bed, considering it a lazy habit,(page 22). The Queembelieves implicitly in the slimming powers of grapefruits, and does nothing else to diet. (page 23).... The Queen never uses public transport, but uses the royal yacht, ((though no longer, as the Royal Yacht Brittania was put into dock as an economy measure, after this book was written)), the Queens Flight, and The Royal Train, ((both still used)), page 18.... The royals have their own special blend of coffee, which takes a long time to brew, as it is brewed by the drip system, with the boiling water never touching the freshly ground grains), page 21....Fish knives and forks are never used by the royals, as they consider them passe and rather vulgar. (page 26). Royalty travel with quite a lot of their own food. They take their own cereal -- Prince Charles likes Kellog's bran flakes...(page 31) Princess Diana and Prince Charles's close personal interest in their children, William and Harry, is one of the ways in which the Royal Family are becoming more modern. For generations children were seen and not heard; they lived in the nursery, where Nanny had absolute charge. (But) when she became pregnant for the first time, Diana made it quite clear that she was having none of ths old-fashioned nonsense... (page 75) In some ways, the royals never grew up. The entire fam,ily still love childish games like charades and hide-and-seek (page 77).... The royal family eat free-range chickens, (page 79), and raw, non-pasteurized milk, (fourth colour photo, following page 136),Only one person, outside of the Royal Family, can call the Queen by her childhood nickname, "Lillibet", in her presence, ((page 15...although I doubt that the lady is still alive in 2008...yet royals and their close attendants are long-lived, and I could be very wrong here))... The queen has informal teas, so that she can meet more people. At these teas, the Queen's choice brand of jam, (Cooper's), and honey in pots are served. The Royal family genuinely prefer country life to that in the city, and love to go to 'sales of (original) work', of home-made jams, preserves, caes and biscuits, (page 82).... When the Queen is at Windsor, tea is always in the Oak Drawing Room. It faces the quadrangle where the public are allowed, and so the room has lost it's privacy. Although curtains would restore privacy, the royal family do not like them, regarding them as very "non-U", ((or non-upper class. In her book, "CLASS", Jilly Cooperrelates how people are sometimes classified as the "Haves" and "Have Nets", (curtains)). But at Buckingham Palace, they must "suffer" these curtains being put up...to prevent people from seeing into the (palace) rooms from the high-rise hotels that have grown up around the Palace (page 87)....A Buckingham Palace garden party is divided into three sections - the Queen's marquee, the public marquee and the diplomatic tent...(page 89) Around the Queen's marquee, chairs are formed in huge semi-circles for the public to sit and watch the Queen take tea.... Princess Margaret calls ((called)) it "Zoo Tea"; they eat while the public watch. (page 89....) Though many people can now get into the Royal Enclosure ((at Ascot)), the Royal Box, itself, is still strictly off-limits. The Queen never forgets to say, 'Good Afternoon', to the nice old lady whose job it is to press the lift, ((elevator)) button for Her Majesty's guests, ((those invited to the royal box itself)), to ride up to the first floor. The Royal Family never take the lift, preferring to walk.....but it handy for their more elderly guests, (page 98) The Royal Box itself is rather like a large house, furnished in the Queen Ann style...(page 100). At Buckingham Palace, no attempt is made to hide the TV in a cupboard or disguise it. The Royal Family think that disguising any object is rather vulgar. (Page 109) Unlike the Queen, the Duke (of Edinburgh), dislikes eating alone, and if the Queen is away he will always invite a member of his Household to dine with him...(page 110). Contrary to popular belief, the Queen does not wear her clothes only once or twice. They never get shabby, and they are never thrown away. There are cupboards and cupboards in Buckingham Palace where the royal wardrobe, going back many years and generations, is stored, (page 112)And so the book goes on. It consists of 163 pages of text, followed by a "Short Bibliography", and an Index. Within the 163 pages, are many royal receipes (to try to make on one's own!) Also included are 2 sections of candid colour photos of the royals -- 29 pictures in all, divided into two sections, and 14 pages. Among the photos are several of Princess Diana, and one of the Queen Mother, as they were both very much alive, and very much part of the Royal Family, when this book was published in 1988.On the back cover of the jacket are three excerpts from the book, below a picture of the Queen, obviously aboard the Royal Train, looking iwht curiousity out of the window, an intelligent expression of wanting to know all that is going on, on her face. The third quote from the book given is as follows: AND PRIVATE MOMENTS:..."The Queen likes to get away from the house if she can. Her page will order 'tea out' for her and her lady-in-waiting. The pair of them set out to one of the cottages on the royal estate.....The Queen loves playing housewife, and in these little cottages she will prepare tea and tne tidy up afterwards."This books shows individual Royals, and many royal traditons, as they were, and....even so many years later...mostly still are. It is easy for most royal-watchers to adjust their reading of this book for the years since it was printed: knowing things such as that there is no more royal yacht, that Prince William and Prince Harry have grown in the intervening years, and that the Prince and Princess of Wales are no longer married, and that Princess Diana, the Queen Mother, and Princess Margaret are, sadly, no longer with us. This book is both a book of the past, and also, quite largely, of the present. For Royalty, and Royal Traditions, are slow to change. This book gives an inviting peak into the Royal Lifestyle, and those who live it. It is the "genuine article", written by Ingrid Seward...editor, as I have said, of "Majesty" Magazine...and therefore, totally authentic!

I think I have everything ever written about the, I enjoyed this book very much, I travel a great deal and therefore am very appreciative to good authors and only give five stars to those I believe tell a good story, have a great ending and have me wanting more. I don't always need all the sex or blood and gore, sometimes a romance, a love story or a drama is what I need. I highly recommend this book. And have recommended it to our book club in New York and Aspen,..I also recommend reading....The Boy He Loved - Obsession Into Darkness (Gay Suspense), Reflections In The Looking Glass - A Murder Mystery That Will Surprise you (Gay Murder Mystery), My Gay Socks (Gay Romance)and From Boys to Men (Gay Classic), you may also want to read,The Crane & Pelican (Gay Romance).

Of course now with the wedding upon us - all things Royal are very interesting to read and I enjoyed this book very much

Most of the few pictures were the same old news photos submitted by their press office. I thought this was a view inside palaces & country homes. THe only view was written. Very misleading and a total disappointment.