Book Suggestions and Recommendations

[_Heather_]

As a historian much of my interest in the BRF revolves around their history both personal and as an institution. The buildings and homes, the jewels and titles, the struggles from one dynasty to another...all are fascinating to me. I also thoroughly enjoy the deeper and more personal sides of the royals, especially those who might not necessarily be the "star of the show" like some of the lesser known grandchildren of Queen Victoria, the lesser known children of George V, etc. and certainly I find the relationships fascinating such as those between all the grandchildren of Queen Victoria.

Anywho, I'm in the market for some new reading material and it occurs to me that I'd like to read more about Queen Mary. So far I've put both Matriarch and The Quest for Queen Mary in my cart. Any suggestions on that front? And, for that matter, I'd love to hear your suggestions for any further reading not just on Queen Mary but on the British monarchy/BRF.

So, what should I read over the next few weeks?

[Osipi]

There's two I'd recommend right of the top of my head.

1. The Final Curtsey: A Royal Memoir by the Queen's Cousin by Margaret Rhodes.

2. Not in Front of the Corgis: Secrets of Life Behind the Royal Curtains by Brian Hoey.

A suggestion I often make when recommending books is the "supplier" I most frequent for books and I'm actually a bookaholic. I use abebooks.com as its a site to find and buy used books on just about everything for a very low price. Most books I've gotten (and some are gorgeously like new, hard cover and beautifully bound such as Charles' "Harmony: A New Way of Looking at Our World" for less than $5 (USD).

Hope this helps.

[_Heather_]

Originally Posted by Osipi

There's two I'd recommend right of the top of my head.

1. The Final Curtsey: A Royal Memoir by the Queen's Cousin by Margaret Rhodes.

2. Not in Front of the Corgis: Secrets of Life Behind the Royal Curtains by Brian Hoey.

A suggestion I often make when recommending books is the "supplier" I most frequent for books and I'm actually a bookaholic. I use abebooks.com as its a site to find and buy used books on just about everything for a very low price. Most books I've gotten (and some are gorgeously like new, hard cover and beautifully bound such as Charles' "Harmony: A New Way of Looking at Our World" for less than $5 (USD).

Hope this helps.

Thank you for the suggestions! I was so excited to receive my copy of Queen Victoria's Granddaughters and had every intention of ordering Queen Victoria's Grandsons but found that Granddaughters was very hard to read due to all of the of the editing mistakes. Just a warning if you happened to be thinking of reading them.

I'm a voracious reader and always looking for new things to fill my bookshelves but I'm currently keeping a list of royal-related books I'd like add to my collection. So, if anyone has more suggestions I'm happy to hear them! And, for the record, while I'm most interested in actual non-fiction or biography type books regarding the RF and royal history, I'm not above a good novel. I find the Phillipa Gregory novels around the Tudor court quite entertaining and I ordered a set of books from Amazon a couple of years ago that were pretty great light reading. They're by C.C. Benison and titled Death at Buckingham Palace, Death at Windsor Castle, and Death at Sandringham House. I also enjoyed The Disappearance of Olivia and Where is Olivia? for a bit of royal related light fiction. Granted, the Phillipa Gregory novels are some pretty great books and the others I listed aren't exactly award winning and serious novels but they are enjoyable and make for wonderful snowy day reading. I'm also a massive fan of the Maggie Hope novels centered around the RF/WWII by Susan Elia MacNeal and if you haven't read them I highly recommend them. They're fabulous for snowy/rainy day reading.

[Osipi]

Here's a few more I really enjoyed. Both fiction.

Mrs Queen Takes the Train by William Kuhn

The Queen gets it in her head she needs to get away and go and see the Brittania once more. Disguised in a hoodie, her adventures into the everyday world is quite a fun read.

The Royal Secret by John Bentley

This book is a combination of a history of Sir Francis Bacon as the secret author of Shakespeare's writings, and as the secret son of Queen Elizabeth the First. For me, it was in a style comparable to Dan Brown's novels.

[CyrilVladisla]

Kings & Queens of Great Britain by David Soud