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

[XeniaCasaraghi]

All the book a I've read pertaining to Camilla are about Charles first. We hear a lot about her familial history but not enough about the stuff that really matters nor is there any speculation about what Camilla felt or thought about certain situations. More than anything I think that's because her friends and those she talks to about her feelings are talking to the public. And of course Camilla herself isn't going to tell a journalist all the juicy details. The answers to questions like: 1) How did you feel when those tapes were released 2) How did Charles propose 3) How do you feel about potentially becoming queen 4) How do your children and Charles children get a long...will never be answered, probably because Camilla lives with the insane notion that IRA nobody's business.

 

[WreathOfLaurels]

I personally think that there is a lot interesting about Camilla outside her relationship with Charles. She is quite cultivated, her family and ancestry are fascinating, and that her life story is far from ordinary yet she has retained some ordinariness about her - that's not easy, I consider a very strong, dignified and grounded person and I want to know more about how this came to be.

 

[Queen Camilla]

The answers to questions like: 1) How did you feel when those tapes were released 2) How did Charles propose 3) How do you feel about potentially becoming queen 4) How do your children and Charles children get a long...will never be answered, probably because Camilla lives with the insane notion that IRA nobody's business.

This is just what I mean. This is just a very small part of her life. It is all about Charles.

What about the suicides in her family and how they affected her and family?

How about maybe the reason Camilla is afraid of flying is because a relative died in a plane crash?

What about dealing with her mother's osteoporosis?
What about dealing with her mother's osteoporosis while being trashed by the media?

How about dealing with her father's depression while being hounded by the media?

 

[Curryong]

Camilla wouldn't have been hounded by the media if she hadn't been Charles's mistress during his marriage.

 

[Queen Camilla]

Camilla wouldn't have been hounded by the media if she hadn't been Charles's mistress during his marriage.

so we are going there...

Charles would not have had gone to Camilla if Diana had been faithful.

 

[WreathOfLaurels]

so we are going there...

Charles would not have had gone to Camilla if Diana had been faithful.

This thread is to discuss books and the lack of them. Please stay on topic I don't want the moderators to close another thread. The question of who cheated first isn't relevant in the grand scheme of things - for all I know you could be right BUT this isn't the place to be rehashing that.

 

[XeniaCasaraghi]

so we are going there...

Charles would not have had gone to Camilla if Diana had been faithful.

Can you please just ignore the obvious attempt to start another bash Camilla round.
You brought up some very good points I would love to address, I for one didn't know she was afraid to fly; I wonder if she still is after 10yrs of being a royal. Perhaps Penny can bring some of this up, unfortunately who Camilla is and what has happened in her long life won't sell unless they have juicy tidbits about the 80s and 90s.

 

[Pranter]

Camilla wouldn't have been hounded by the media if she hadn't been Charles's mistress during his marriage.

Exactly...she would of been a minor footnote to history...just the wife of a British Officer...perhaps mention made of the fact she held Charles attention before her marriage to Andrew...past that none of the media attention etc.

And you can't have a book about Charles AND Camilla without addressing the issue. It's got nothing to do with bashing Camilla. It is what it is.


LaRae

 

[CyrilVladisla]

Gerald Paget wrote Lineage and Ancestry of H.R.H. Prince Charles, Prince of Wales.

 

[Queen Camilla]

Can you please just ignore the obvious attempt to start another bash Camilla round..

A bit difficult when it keeps occurring.

You brought up some very good points I would love to address, I for one didn't know she was afraid to fly; I wonder if she still is after 10yrs of being a royal. Perhaps Penny can bring some of this up, unfortunately who Camilla is and what has happened in her long life won't sell unless they have juicy tidbits about the 80s and 90s.

I think the real Camilla story is very interesting.

It might not sell to the people who want to believe the juicy tidbits but if anyone wanted to read about the real Camilla they would find the real story much more interesting than the 80s and 90s.

I find the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s much more interesting.

 

[royal rob]

1940's !!!!!! what when she was a baby is more interesting than an affair with the future king ! Oh well to each there own.


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[Curryong]

A book that didn't address the Charles and Camilla relationship during both their marriages wouldn't sell, ('juicy titbits' or not) because (a) Camilla's relationship to the Prince of Wales before, during and after his first marriage is central to the view the British public have of Camilla. Therefore (b) no publisher in Britain would accept a full blown biography of Camilla without that being one of the book's central themes. It would be regarded as of little interest and no publisher, whether small or large, would accept a book for publication that would sell a relatively few copies.

It's not like Charles, where a writer could produce a fairly concise but interesting account in book form of his naval career, or Highgrove and his gardening, or his work with the Prince's Trust and helping to save neglected country houses. However, even POW biographers so far have felt compelled to address the question of his adultery with Camilla and the state of his marriage to Diana, even when they haven't been particularly eager to do so.

In Camilla's book there could be a chapter about Cubitt and other ancestors, a chapter on her country childhood, possibly one on her girlhood and meeting and romance with APB and with Charles, and then....?

99% of readers who bothered to buy the book would be flipping pages saying to themselves 'when do we get to the part where Charles and Camilla get together?' and 'what about the Di/Charles/Camilla triangle,'? etc.

I said in a previous post that we won't get a book on Camilla or one on Charles that has some cooperation from BP and addresses the issues of his first marriage and the full story of his relationship with Camilla, for years, (not one with letters, footnotes, full interviews with those in the know), probably for decades, perhaps not until Charles and Camilla are both dead. I stick to that view, mainly because the two participants alive today and the BRF and TPTB want to draw a veil over that portion of the Prince's life until it is, they hope, almost forgotten.

 

[XeniaCasaraghi]

A bit difficult when it keeps occurring.



I think the real Camilla story is very interesting.

It might not sell to the people who want to believe the juicy tidbits but if anyone wanted to read about the real Camilla they would find the real story much more interesting than the 80s and 90s.

I find the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s much more interesting.

What family member committed suicide and where did you find that out? I have to go back and read the few books I have because I don't remember that being mentioned.
I know it's hard to ignore the attempts, I was just trying to keep an interesting discussion from being derailed.
A lot of times the stuff I read about Camilla is shallow stuff; its the same with Kate. One biography I read had absolutely nothing of note from 2007-2010; it just made me realize how little these two women will divulge about themselves.

 

[royal rob]

Queen Camilla could you tell me what was so interesting about Camilla in the '40's and 50's and where you found out about it. Only being a young child at that time makes me wonder what it could be


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[Queen Camilla]

In Camilla's book there could be a chapter about Cubitt and other ancestors, a chapter on her country childhood, possibly one on her girlhood and meeting and romance with APB and with Charles, and then....?

This is where I strongly disagree. I think her life is extremely interesting and if a biography is thorough the events of her life and her family's would take several volumes.

99% of readers who bothered to buy the book would be flipping pages saying to themselves 'when do we get to the part where Charles and Camilla get together?' and 'what about the Di/Charles/Camilla triangle,'? etc.

I agree that 90% will initially be looking for the 80s/90s but once they start reading a well written thorough book they would want more of the 40s, 50s, 60s.

The Camilla/APB relationship/family might take you back a few generations.
I know the family friendships predates 1912.

Then there is the Elizabeth/Sonia story.
When did these two women meet?
When QEQM attended the wedding of Camilla and APB was it really because she was only friends of APB and his family?

A few people might be interested in the Sonia/Cynthia story.

What family member committed suicide and where did you find that out? I have to go back and read the few books I have because I don't remember that being mentioned.
A lot of times the stuff I read about Camilla is shallow stuff;

You are not going to find this in any of the books or the tabloid but if you research Camilla's family you will find it. Check out the London Times.

 

[WreathOfLaurels]

@Queen Camilla: you've got your Keppel sisters mixed up - violet was the lesbian not Sonia. That's the first time I've heard anything about Cynthia and Sonia and frankly sounds far fetched

 

[Queen Camilla]

@Queen Camilla: you've got your Keppel sisters mixed up - violet was the lesbian not Sonia. That's the first time I've heard anything about Cynthia and Sonia and frankly sounds far fetched

How did you come to this conclusion?

I was only hinting that they knew each other and might have been friends.

But actually it was Violet that was originally Cynthia's friend. If it is the same Cynthia which it is a strong possibility.

 

[Denville]

Who is Cynthia?
And where are these interesting stories in the London times. It is a rather big source, I think that if you have access to some interesting stuff about Camilla in the London Times, it would help if you could give us some direction as to where to Look, the dates of the issues etc.

 

[WreathOfLaurels]

A book that didn't address the Charles and Camilla relationship during both their marriages wouldn't sell, ('juicy titbits' or not) because (a) Camilla's relationship to the Prince of Wales before, during and after his first marriage is central to the view the British public have of Camilla. Therefore (b) no publisher in Britain would accept a full blown biography of Camilla without that being one of the book's central themes. It would be regarded as of little interest and no publisher, whether small or large, would accept a book for publication that would sell a relatively few copies.

It's not like Charles, where a writer could produce a fairly concise but interesting account in book form of his naval career, or Highgrove and his gardening, or his work with the Prince's Trust and helping to save neglected country houses. However, even POW biographers so far have felt compelled to address the question of his adultery with Camilla and the state of his marriage to Diana, even when they haven't been particularly eager to do so.

In Camilla's book there could be a chapter about Cubitt and other ancestors, a chapter on her country childhood, possibly one on her girlhood and meeting and romance with APB and with Charles, and then....?

99% of readers who bothered to buy the book would be flipping pages saying to themselves 'when do we get to the part where Charles and Camilla get together?' and 'what about the Di/Charles/Camilla triangle,'? etc.

I said in a previous post that we won't get a book on Camilla or one on Charles that has some cooperation from BP and addresses the issues of his first marriage and the full story of his relationship with Camilla, for years, (not one with letters, footnotes, full interviews with those in the know), probably for decades, perhaps not until Charles and Camilla are both dead. I stick to that view, mainly because the two participants alive today and the BRF and TPTB want to draw a veil over that portion of the Prince's life until it is, they hope, almost forgotten.

The libel laws in the UK may be strict, but not so in other parts of the English speaking world, namely the USA. If such a 'warts and all' or for that matter 'kiss and tell' bio was to be published in the lifetime of C and Cm it could well be published in the USA where the onus is on the aggrieved part to prove libel and the defendant. And in this digital world getting a copy would be very easy.

 

[Curryong]

Yes, such a book could be published in the US (or in other parts of the English speaking world.) However, much of Charles's correspondence with his parents, lawyers, other relatives on the matter of his relationship with Camilla (letters, documents etc) and indeed any memos etc connected with the Royal Household on the matter, would be tucked away in the archives at Windsor. (That portion that hasn't been burned that is, like King Edward VII's and Queen Alexandra's letters about sensitive family matters and the Queen Mother's letters to Diana and presumably from her, that were destroyed by Princess Margaret.) IMHO any sensitive correspondence or documentation of Camilla's from that time period and afterwards is probably there at Windsor too.

The Royal Librarians at Windsor showed huge reluctance years ago to show the entire correspondence they held between Queen Victoria and ghillie John Brown to a prospective author. If they were reluctant about a 140 years ago friendship, I hardly think they are going to release anything from the late 20th century without Camilla and Charles's say-so in their lifetimes. Permission has been refused to study in the Royal Library at Windsor at times.

 

[Curryong]

Violet (Keppel) Trefusis's lengthy affair with Vita Sackville -West is well known. Books have been written about it. Why should the Cynthia who had a friendship with Sonia (Keppel) Ashcombe and/or the Queen Mother be Cynthia Cadogan?

There were rumours floating about in the First World War period about the Asquith family, including the ridiculous tale that Margot Asquith had had an affair with Maud Allan, a gay dancer. There was a note in a diary about Cynthia Asquith's 'lesbian bower', (HH Asquith's daughter in law.) I don't think Sonia or Cynthia Asquith were lesbians but why shouldn't it be Cynthia A who was a friend of both Keppel sisters?

Anyway, I thought we were against mere rumours and wanted everything well sourced and footnoted.

 

[WreathOfLaurels]

I'm reminded of what Georgina battiscombe had to say about Royal biography, namely that too many authors failed to treat their subjects with the same consideration as they would non- Royal ones. This most certainly has been the case of the PoW and the DssoCW - I don't approve of what happened, but humanity and good judgement has been so far in short supply when it comes to the telling of the tale - no wonder access to the Royal library is so strict. The stuff about he Windors dealings with the Nazis in WWII is another matter...

What I'm saying is that a little more openess would help as the current way of doing things only gives succour to critics and fuel to the conspiracy theorists
Which does not help anyone.

 

[Queen Camilla]

Queen Camilla: you've got your Keppel sisters mixed up - violet was the lesbian not Sonia. That's the first time I've heard anything about Cynthia and Sonia and frankly sounds far fetched

Why should the Cynthia who had a friendship with Sonia (Keppel) Ashcombe and/or the Queen Mother be Cynthia Cadogan?

I don't think Sonia or Cynthia Asquith were lesbians but why shouldn't it be Cynthia A who was a friend of both Keppel sisters?

Anyway, I thought we were against mere rumours and wanted everything well sourced and footnoted.

An innocent post hoping Camilla's grandmother is included in a biography about Camilla is turned into lesbian rumors and affairs. All the books written about Camilla reduce Sonia to one sentence.

The discussion was about why the earlier years of Camilla's life deserve more than a few paragraphs.

Sonia Keppel was born May 24, 1900 to August 16, 1986
Elizabeth Bowes Lyon born August 4, 1900 to March 30, 2002

The two women were acquaintances/friends.
I want to know the details. When did they meet? How did they meet? etc.
Sonia's friendship with QEQM should be included in any biography of Camilla.

We know the details of Cynthia/QEQM; Ruth/QEQM but not Sonia/QEQM or Sonia/Cynthia.

Cynthia Hamilton was born August 16, 1897

In 1915, a Lady Cynthia Hamilton took ballet lessons at the Keppel home.
In her biography, Sonia says Cynthia is a friend of Violet.
CH is the only one that will fit the age bracket and by 1939, Cynthia Hamilton (Countess Spencer) is clearly a friend of Sonia.
Was it the same person?

According to Wikipedia Cynthia's niece is listed as Camilla's roommate.

This information appears to be inaccurate so it would be nice it we had accurate information about Camilla's life rather than all the rumors and innuendos.

 

[royal rob]

Sorry Queen Camilla but I don't know why anything you have just written would be of interest in a book about Camilla.


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[WreathOfLaurels]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-3251510/ANDREW-PIERCE-Book-reveal-truth-Camilla.html

For the interim, Penny Juror is taking a crack at a Camilla biography. The article is from some time ago but was still interesting

Also recall that Andrew Morton was taking a stab at one as well but I can't find the reference for that one

 

[Denville]

AnWhen did they meet? How did they meet? etc.
Sonia's friendship with QEQM should be included in any biography of Camilla.

We know the details of Cynthia/QEQM; Ruth/QEQM but not Sonia/QEQM or Sonia/Cynthia.

According to Wikipedia Cynthia's niece is listed as Camilla's roommate.

This information appears to be inaccurate so it would be nice it we had accurate information about Camilla's life rather than all the rumors and innuendos.

What is so interesting about this? Its very possible that some of Cam's relatives were friends of the queen mother's. So? Diana's grandmother was one of her best friends.. its harldy that interesting.

 

[Osipi]

What is so interesting about this? Its very possible that some of Cam's relatives were friends of the queen mother's. So? Diana's grandmother was one of her best friends.. its harldy that interesting.

Perhaps not that interesting to a lot of people here but its very possible that there are people out there that are genuinely interested in every facet of Camilla's life. Kind of the way some people take apart and dissect every event, incident, story about and personality of Diana, Princess of Wales.

 

[Denville]

I am interested in Camilla because little is known about her, but well its kind of a given that some of her family would know the QM. She's from that sort of circle, which is how she got to know Charles in the first place...

 

[XeniaCasaraghi]

I want a book about Camilla not her family or ancestors. I admit the one book I have about her I skipped over all the crap about Alice Keppel.

 

[Denville]

I think for now, there's not going to be a very "deep" book about Camilla, perhaps I should say a very frank one. But i'd like to know a bit more about her. I don't have a problem with learning about her ancestry, per se...