New book sheds little new light on royal family

ELIZABETH AND PHILIP: The Untold Story of the Queen of England and her Prince, by Charles Higham and Roy Moseley, Doubleday, 483 pages plus bibliography, $22.95.

Judging by the extensive coverage of the recent visit of the Queen of England to this country, and the increasing proliferation of magazine covers featuring one member or another of the royal family, there is no question that the United States boasts a goodly share of Royal Watchers. Therefore, whenever a new book appears on the market concerning any member it usually finds a ready market.

It matters not that the material seldom contains anything new and usually is a rehash of tabloid nonsense or facts obtainable anywhere; there is still a fascination, and a hope that maybe this time there will be some new nugget of information. It may be, too, that we still fall under the spell of “the happily ever after” syndrome of our childhood.

Yet in the “real world” we know that even the royal family does not escape the foibles and trauma that beset most families. Unless we have been raised under such a regime it is difficult for us to understand how the British tabloids can print such wild tales even as the palace zealously, and for the most part successfully, guards its private life so that it is sometimes years before the facts of an incident are known, if then.

Since there is little new upon the subject, the pivot which makes or breaks a book is usually not the content, but rather the style of presentation and felicity of writing. I am sorry to say that this one falls short. Blurbed as the “golden summit of her reign” on the eve of her 65th birthday, and as a definitive biography, it comes off, for the most part, as a rather dry presentation of encyclopedic itemization with an overemphasis upon her wealth and her investments.

It does include interesting profiles of the prime ministers with which her majesty has to deal but even these are presented with the terseness of the newly declassified documents they purport to come from. There is some color in the recounting of the assassination attempts and the now, rather long ago, Margaret affair, but for the most part the customary warmth and grace of this type of biography is missing.

One cannot dispute the material — the bibliography is too extensive for that — but its style of presentation does not meet its promise. The book is well-illustrated, however, and without doubt will be snapped up by those enthralled by this stalwart and dedicated family. Just be forewarned that it is not the easy read one might expect.

Given the track record of the authors, who between them have written on Katharine Hepburn, Bette Davis, Cary Grant, Merle Oberon, et al., this seems rather strange. However, if you are one of the Royal Watchers you will undoubtedly want to at least make up your own mind.

Marion Flood French is a free-lance writer who resides in Bangor.