Books about Charles, Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall


If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
I will suggest Gyles Brandrth's "Charles and Camilla: Portrait of a love affair" as well. This is the best book and balanced book from all sides.If you need a replacement, there are other choices.

Rebecca Tyrrel, Camilla: the intimate portrait
Christohpher Wilson, The Windsor Knot
Caroline Graham Charles and Camilla: a love story

Brandreth's book is stil the best because he is the person who really met Charles and Camilla and have established relationships with Charles and Camilla' circle. Other authors are not.
 
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I would not recommend the Tyrrell book. It is not an "intimate portrait" but a stringing together of stories from newspaper articles and other books (not referenced) with some clever lines thrown in. eg.-"he missed his big-bosomed Goons fan". The Brandreth book is the best researched but some of the emphasis on past family history is tedious. The Graham book is actually well-written and enjoyable although it reads more like a novel than an biography.
The Windsor Knot attempts to give a balanced view of the Charles/Camilla/Diana triangle but it still seems biased against Camilla.
 
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I agree where Tyrrell is concerned. To say it is literary excrement is a gross understatement.
 
I appreciate the input ladies. Many thanks! I'll be looking for both the Gyles Brandrth and Caroline Graham books. That should hold me for a while. :flowers:
 
I agree with the other posters here about the books of Tyrrel, Wilson, Graham and Brandreth.

- the Tyrrel book is a mix of bad tabloid stories,
- the Wilson book is the way a big Diana fan and supporter writes a Camilla book
- the Graham book is very ´Camilla-friendly´ but deals more with fiction than with facts
- only the Brandreth book is built of credible sources and seems to me as balanced as possible.

There is another book in German :)smile:) from 2006:
Tatjana Gräfin Dönoff : Camilla
But unfortunately it is such a bad book. Her source was the German yellow press, i fear. (I wonder how she gets inside Birkhall to be present while the Prince proposed to Camilla :eek::lol:)

(One day i hope to write a better book....:D)
 
I don't think Christopher Wilson is a Diana fan,because he is quite negative about Diana in his book as well. I think he is more to be a republican person or a critical person of the styles of this current royal family. His comments 数about the royal family are always quite negative to me. I do have one point for him: he is the pioneer in researching Camilla's genelogy and information of her forebears, other information of his book is most from the "downstairs group".

There is another biography written by a Frech author after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. I have only read the chinese translated version of it, and the title of this book is "the secret passions: Charles and Camilla".

Here are the Chinese simplified information about this book.I hope that someone would be able to find out the French information.

书名:秘密的情人
作者:[法]洛尔 希尔兰/著 孙凯 春洁/译
 
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"Harmony" - The Prince of Wales, 2010

"Harmony"
by HRH the Prince of Wales

Published 2010. So far only few reviews, not really helpful.
Just wondering, if someone has already read the book and could provide a summary or share his experience. Is it worthwhile?

-> cover and first pages .(scroll down)

Blurb:
Long before the phrase climate change was a universal catchphrase, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales was studying the impact of industrialization on the environment. Now in this fascinating cross-discipline work, the Prince of Wales calls upon his years of research and explores the way in which mankind must work to restore the delicate balance with nature that we′ve lost in the centuries since the industrial revolution began.

In ′Harmony′, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales draws upon a variety of elements from our modern world, and discusses how areas as diverse as architecture, farming, medicine have each abandoned the classical balances with nature that existed in pre-industrial times. From the rice farms of India to America′s corn belt, ′Harmony′ spans the globe, dissecting the specific practices of modern life that have put us at odds with nature and showing how these trends manifest themselves throughout the world.

Contrasting current styles of architecture with traditional design, modern medicine techniques against those of the past, he paints a clear portrait of what we as a species have lost in the modern age. More than simply another treatise on global warming, ′Harmony′ tells a story that presents a clear, thoughtful look at how our disassociation from nature has helped to in the greatest environmental crisis in the history of mankind.

V cover
promotional use, free of copyright.
 

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Camilla

Gentle Readers, What would you suggest is the best book about HRH The Duchess of Cornwall? I don't think she receives the support that she deserves. Most of the books in print are written by the same author, Caroline Graham. Whether one likes it or not, one day there will be a Queen Camilla.
 
The book 'Camilla' was a boring read, not what I expected at all.
 
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Just to make sure "Camilla" is not recommended? It is so hard to find books on Camilla and Charles ANYWHERE in my city. So if I stumbled across this I would be tempted to snatch it up without; but from this thread it doesn't seem worth it.
 
On page 270, the author claims that Sharon Osbourne reached out with both hands and squeezed Camilla's busoms at a Golden Jubilee pop concert at BP. Sharon then supposedly said "You've got gorgeous old t&ts". What aplomb!

I remember hearing about this after the Golden Jubilee concert which Sharon hosted. I would have been uncomfortable with that type of interaction to say the least, but it's amusing nonetheless.
 
Books on Charles and Camilla

I would greatly appreciate anyone's opinion on books about Charles and Camilla? I am looking to buy one but am not sure which one to buy; I wish I could get them from a library but none around me have more than one book on the couple.
As of right now the top books on my list are
Charles and Camilla: Portrait of a Love Story by Gyles Brandreth
The book of the same title by Caroline Graham
Lower on the possibility list is
The Windsor Knot
After Diana
and
Camilla: The King's Mistress
Any opinions would be greatly appreciated:wave:
 
I only read "Camilla" by Tatiana Gräfin von Dönhoff and I did not like it at all. It's wordy, but empty, low on facts, high on gossip. The writing is poor, Camilla is reduced to "the other woman", a woman who the writer and whoever reads her book have every right to condemn from the supposed shared superior morals the writer installs in the book.

I actually felt bad for reading such utter trash.
Don't read it.
 
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Anthony Holden wrote Charles: Prince of Wales and King Charles III.
 
I think it's a real shame that there is no proper biography of Camilla as we need one for two good reasons

1) barring accident or illness, Camilla is the next queen and despite being a public figure for 20+ years we really don't know that much about her - what little is just rumour and conjecture - and for someone who will be First Lady of the land, that strikes me as shabby.

2) after reading (too) many books on the sorry saga that was the war of the Waleses, one thing that always stickes out at me is that no one really feels any need to look at Camillas motivation to restart her relationships with Charles - and I'm increasingly convinced the actions and behaviour of her first husband was, for Cm the clincher (on top of all the other factors).

Although the above has been sorta mentioned and discussed it's never been given the attention it really deserves - I know that Tina Brown and Gyles Brandreth do talk about this but it's not given the weight that it deserves.

It's a shame as a proper bio, done right would do a lot to correct som of the nastier stories and make Cm more human and less of a bad Jackie Collins Villianess
 
Although it is not a book that will fill you in on Charles' life and times, I would definitely recommend the book Harmony: A New Way Of Looking At Our World. It is excellent if you want to know what Charles thinks.

I've had this book for a while now and I'm not only impressed by what the book contains but very much impressed also in the way it is presented. Some books are good for bookshelves and mostly are for what they contain within. Harmony is, in and of itself, a work of art. Definitely something that should be showcased on a coffee table.

Just my two cents worth.
 
Although it is not a book that will fill you in on Charles' life and times, I would definitely recommend the book Harmony: A New Way Of Looking At Our World. It is excellent if you want to know what Charles thinks.

I've had this book for a while now and I'm not only impressed by what the book contains but very much impressed also in the way it is presented. Some books are good for bookshelves and mostly are for what they contain within. Harmony is, in and of itself, a work of art. Definitely something that should be showcased on a coffee table.

Just my two cents worth.
Thank you osipi, I will keep an eye out for it next time in in the library. ��
However, in my post I was referring to Camilla not Charles. I have the Meyer and dimbleby bios of Ch and frankly, they did not make me like him more, they gave me a better understanding- which is what good biographies should do. ��
 
To my knowledge, there has never been a biography written solely on Camilla's life and I agree with you that there needs to be a good one written. Perhaps it will happen once Charles ascends the throne.

Other than what went down during the Diana years, Camilla has kept things pretty close to the vest, didn't really talk to the press and even now as Charles' spouse, she prefers to support him rather than be in the limelight herself.
 
To my knowledge, there has never been a biography written solely on Camilla's life and I agree with you that there needs to be a good one written. Perhaps it will happen once Charles ascends the throne.

Other than what went down during the Diana years, Camilla has kept things pretty close to the vest, didn't really talk to the press and even now as Charles' spouse, she prefers to support him rather than be in the limelight herself.

Its not surprising and despite her habit of leaking stories to the tabloids during the Diana years (Bradford, Brown et al), makes sense because of her background. Although, in my personal view it's kinda hypocritical - she wanted the privileges of a relationship with Charles (the status, the material perks, the social prestige etc...) but didn't want the responsibility that went with it (the job of being royal, raising children in the environment etc...) and had a very old fashioned view of marital relations. Either go big or don't bother.

That, along with her passion for hunting and blood sport, made Camilla seem like she was a refugee from the Edwardian era - just like Charles funnily enough. I don't agree with the more outrageous accusations that come from the old Dianaites (I speak as a reformed sinner on that front), but there was just something very off putting about her whole conduct in that period, at least from my point of view. I am open to having my mind changed about that though and hope someone will take up the gauntlet. :ROFLMAO:
 
Personally, I think it will probably be decades before there is an authorised biography of Camilla written, (or at least one in which BP cooperates somewhat with a chosen author.)

This is because, in my view, Charles, Camilla and their advisors simply will not want to drag up all that went on during the War of the Wales up again for public consumption at the end of this reign or at the beginning of the next. It would be just bad PR, plain and simple, and something they have really been trying to bury since their wedding just over a decade ago.

And how could any biography of Camilla be written without it? Her affair with Charles was a pivotal time in their lives and in the existence of the recent BRF, and the rest of her life, unlike Charles's, is simply not riveting enough to sell without this episode.
 
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Personally, I think it will probably be decades before there is an authorised biography of Camilla written, (or at least one in which BP cooperates somewhat with a chosen author.)

This is because, in my view, Charles, Camilla and their advisors simply will not want to drag up all that went on during the War of the Wales up again for public consumption at the end of this reign or at the beginning of the next. It would be just bad PR, plain and simple, and something they have really been trying to bury since their wedding just over a decade ago.

And how could any biography of Camilla be written without it? Her affair with Charles was a pivotal time in their lives in the existence of the recent BRF, and the rest of her life, unlike Charles's, is simply not riveting enough to sell without this episode.


I suppose you're right, and I don't blame them either - still feels like a cop out to me though. Oh well I just hope I live long enough to see any future publications.
 
Its not surprising and despite her habit of leaking stories to the tabloids during the Diana years (Bradford, Brown et al), makes sense because of her background. Although, in my personal view it's kinda hypocritical - she wanted the privileges of a relationship with Charles (the status, the material perks, the social prestige etc...) but didn't want the responsibility that went with it (the job of being royal, raising children in the environment etc...) and had a very old fashioned view of marital relations. Either go big or don't bother.

I don't agree with the more outrageous accusations that come from the old Dianaites (I speak as a reformed sinner on that front), but there was just something very off putting about her whole conduct in that period, at least from my point of view. I am open to having my mind changed about that though and hope someone will take up the gauntlet. :ROFLMAO:

The highlighted speaks loudly as do posts in C&D thread so I will not reply to them.

Book were written about Camilla but they were all trash and even those 'writer' could not find any dirt on Camilla. Quite a few tried but still nothing.:lol: They sell on Amazon for a penny but still no one is buying them.:D

A few years back Camilla said she was thinking of writing her autobiography but I am sure if she did it will disappoint those that are looking for things or stories that are just not there. It is just some want the lies and gossips 'confirmed'.

I would rather read about how the suicides in her family affected her and her family.

Oh wait none of the books or experts even touched on this.:eek:

The information about real Camilla is out there, it is just where you are willing to look.
 
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The information about real Camilla is out there, it is just where you are willing to look.

The main issue I think is that there really isn't that much "dirt" to dig up. From interviews and tidbits gathered through the years, one thing that was out in the open is that Camilla and Andrew had an "open marriage". No digging for dirt on that one. Camilla was very much a homebody, cooking for the family, gardening and outdoor activities. When it came to Charles and the royal family, she and her friends never, ever talked to the press or the media. Very discreet person that never sought the limelight at all. She's a warm, funny, down to earth kind of person that attracts people to her.

Sheesh. I think I've just written her biography in a short paragraph. Perhaps, in time, a more intensive biography will be written but for right now, the best years of her role within the BRF is yet to come.
 
The main issue I think is that there really isn't that much "dirt" to dig up. From interviews and tidbits gathered through the years, one thing that was out in the open is that Camilla and Andrew had an "open marriage". No digging for dirt on that one. .

There is no dirt and the 'open marriage' is just gossip that people swallowed.
 
I don't want dirt - I want psychological insight and context - I want Camilla to be treated with some humanity and dignity without being whitewashed and without resorting to Diana bashing. I want somone to critique the hypocrisy and misogyny that still blights that discourse surrounding her.

In other words, I don't want scandal mongering, I want somone to take her seriously and take us seriously in the process as well. The Brandreth book is a first step but there is so much more to do.
 
Personally I'm hoping against hope that Sarah Bradford might do the hounours and give us the first proper Camilla bio, she has the connections and the skill to do the subject justice and it would be a good counterpoint to her Diana bio.
 
I don't want dirt - I want psychological insight and context - I want Camilla to be treated with some humanity and dignity without being whitewashed and without resorting to Diana bashing. I want somone to critique the hypocrisy and misogyny that still blights that discourse surrounding her.

In other words, I don't want scandal mongering, I want somone to take her seriously and take us seriously in the process as well. The Brandreth book is a first step but there is so much more to do.

And, eventually, we should get that. But because of the shrouds wrapped around the POW's life story, we will not get that for a while. My guess, is not until after he dies. Eventually a scholar will step up and do the hard work that a fair biography requires. For both of them and for them together. It will sell very well as it is a true love story.

But don't think for one minute that will happen as long as the royal story is still being written.
Patience. It will take patience to wait for the story to be told.
 
Personally I'm hoping against hope that Sarah Bradford might do the hounours and give us the first proper Camilla bio, she has the connections and the skill to do the subject justice and it would be a good counterpoint to her Diana bio.

The Bradford book is nothing but a hatchet job on Camilla and her family.
It is nothing more than copies from other people's work.
Interesting you would want to see this type of book. It is quite a nasty piece of work.

I don't want dirt - I want psychological insight and context - I want Camilla to be treated with some humanity and dignity without being whitewashed and without resorting to Diana bashing. I want somone to critique the hypocrisy and misogyny that still blights that discourse surrounding her.

In other words, I don't want scandal mongering, I want somone to take her seriously and take us seriously in the process as well. The Brandreth book is a first step but there is so much more to do.

The Brandreth book was quite inaccurate.

Penny Junor is rumored to be writing a thorough book.
(I personally have very little faith in Junor. IMO, she is like most she takes what others have written without doing her own research.)

William Shawcross is a much better choice or Camilla.

An autobiography nor a biography is no place for psychological 'insights' nor should it be a critique. It should be nothing more than facts about a person's life.
 
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I couldn't disagree more. I've read huge numbers of biographies in my lifetime, mainly because I'm a history buff. The best biographies contain thought provoking and very enlightening insights into their subjects, whether living or dead.
I don't think you would get too many authors or historians agreeing with you that biographies should just contain bald facts, such as who did what and when, with no comment on any of it, no 'Why?'
Not even when writing about someone like Hitler, Jesus, or Stalin or Chamberlain ? I doubt too many readers would be buying those books either!
 
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