Queen-to-be : England's first, but forgotten heiress of the throne, 11 Aug 2006
Matilda was the daughter and heiress of King Henry I, wife of the Holy Roman Emperor and later of the Count of Anjou, mother of Henry II, the first Plantagenet King of England and she was Lady of the English and should have been Queen. She did not succeed herself but ultimately won as she put her son on the throne. She could have been a power behind her son's throne however she was outshone by the most brilliant and extraordinary woman of her time: Eleanor of Aquitaine, a most powerful duchess in her own rights, former Queen Consort of France and now Queen of England.

Yes, there was quite of injustice with regards to female rulers at the time and the prejudices against woman in power (not that our time this in an unknown phenomenon!) played against her. But one can not help it to feel that she may be had more pretensions than actual talent. There is something haughty and unlike able about her.

But judge for yourself. This book is an excellent and a great read. I enjoyed it very much

Queen-to-be : England's first, but forgotten heiress of the throne, 11 Aug 2006
Matilda was the daughter and heiress of King Henry I, wife of the Holy Roman Emperor and later of the Count of Anjou, mother of Henry II, the first Plantagenet King of England and she was Lady of the English and should have been Queen. She did not succeed herself but ultimately won as she put her son on the throne. She could have been a power behind her son's throne however she was outshone by the most brilliant and extraordinary woman of her time: Eleanor of Aquitaine, a most powerful duchess in her own rights, former Queen Consort of France and now Queen of England.

Yes, there was quite of injustice with regards to female rulers at the time and the prejudices against woman in power (not that our time this in an unknown phenomenon!) played against her. But one can not help it to feel that she may be had more pretensions than actual talent. There is something haughty and unlike able about her.

But judge for yourself. This book is an excellent and a great read. I enjoyed it very much

A curate's egg, 12 Jun 2006
Hugo Vickers' biography of the Queen Mother is a great disappointment. It has its moments: the drama of the abdication is well captured. But too much of the book is padding - an endless list of engagements with obscure people rightly long forgotten.

The Queen Mother lived an extraordinary life. She deserves a better biography than this - and so do we.

not a literary masterpiece, 27 Nov 2005
This book was a great disappointment to me. I had hoped to find the bio of the Queen Mum embellished with the rich descriptions of her life in the varied eras from Edwardian Times to the present. Instead, I found what amounted to a social calendar of events that she attended. On such and such day in May she did this and presented this, followed by another sentence of what she wore the next day at another event. Paragraph after paragraph go on like this in each chapter.

Little is written of her emotions surrounding the births of her daughters, their marriages or even her relationships with her sisters in laws except in a passing phrase here or there. A whole chapter is spent on the Crawfie situation and in that chapter more information than necessary is given on the people who led Crawfie astray in writing her memories.

Another chapter is devoted to her staff. While that is nice, I really was not interested in reading about early biographical information on her staff. Most of it was totally irrelevant to the life of the Queen Mum.

Much was given over to her clothing changes during a photo shoot with Cecil Beaton, a whole page of the paintings in her home etc. While when her father died, we are only told that she went north for the funeral and the coffin was carried on a cart to the cemetary? Did she not have any feelings? Did his death not make a difference to her?

Missing in the book is the Queen Mum's role in raising her children, running a palace, coping with the real fears of the war, depression etc. Even though I know the story of the Queen Mum well, I thought that I would gain more insight from this long promised book. I can only call it dry, emotionless and full of the minutiae of useless information about people around her, not her life.

I kept reading to the end, wanting, hoping to be taken into the story, into her chambers and salons, sit next to her at a dinner party and find out what really drove this woman.

Instead I found a lifeless story,rushed in parts because the author was trying to cram every social event that she ever attended into the book. That got old after awhile.

If you like to read the old social columns full of fluff and trivia, this is the book for you. If you want to gain more insight into the woman whose life spanned two centuries through many major historical events, look elsewhere.

the greatest Queen Consort ever?, 20 Nov 2005
it seems that this is the final verdict of Hugo Vickers on the Queen Mother, even tough is wording is a bit more careful (page 503). Well does his biography actually support this quite sweeping statement?

I agree with the previous reviewer that the biography remembers graciously a gracious lady; however that does not make the Queen Mother the greatest queen consort ever.

I believe it is pretty hard to write the very first full biography on the life of a personality more or less every one of us remembers and has formed an opinion already. The first biography sets the standards and the ground on which future biographies will be measured. And here Hugo Vickers has done a great job. The book is very well written and highly enjoyable to read. There was never ever a moment where I wanted to stop reading further. One learns a hell of a lot about her life; her family, the Royal Family and the changing of times.

Alas, there is a but to this all. I was missing the passages on the political importance of the Queen Mother during her time as consort and during her time as Queen Mother. As consort one kind of knows that she was the "most dangerous woman in Britain" as Hitler was suppose to say, keeping up spirits and being the power behind the throne. But there is not much about this in the book. The Queen Mother did not like to be described as such as she properly felt it would diminish the achievements of The King; her beloved husband. How was really the "working relationship" between King and Queen, did she influence decisions, if yes how far. Here Vickers is really shy and not knowledgeable. The passages on the abdication and the Windsor’s, the Princess Margaret's affaires or later on the younger royals are less then satisfactory. Something is simply missing and one gets the impression that she was simply a by-stander. Does one really believe this? Maybe she was but than she could hardly be the greatest consort ever. I wished he would have given more concrete thought about this and spending less energy and pages on the Queen Mother's outfits and color schemes of her dresses. This is all a bit to "loyal" and keeping with the myth. Maybe Vickers is a bit to close to her and bit too admiring. He is at least honest about his association with the Queen Mother, but I am not sure that his assessment of his own level of objectivity is correct.

All in all, it is a book one should read and should not miss. But I believe this is not the last word on the Queen Mother and future biographies will have to be written in order complete the picture of the Queen Mother. The Queen Mother was an extraordinary personality and to capture this one needs an extraordinary biography. This is a very good one, but not an extraordinary one.

Therefore, I feel 4 stars is the appropriate rating.

A gracious lady graciously remembered, 01 Nov 2005
The Booker prize-winning author Arundhati Roy asserted that, "Selfish writers leave you with the memory of their book. Generous writers leave you with the memory of the world they evoked." Hugo Vickers is, indeed, a generous writer. It is inconceivable that his account will not become the standard one not only for all accounts of the life of the late Queen Elizabeth, mother of the current Queen, but of the era in which she flourished. His research is meticulous yet never pedantic, his prose approachable without being condescending, and his reporting of incidents throughout the life of the Queen are interesting and humorous without stooping to the level of common gossip. There is no question that she was the making of her husband, King George VI, who was ill-prepared to assume the throne when his selfish and immature brother abdicated. A lesser woman would have carried a chip on her shoulder so large and heavy that she would have been forced to her knees under its weight. Yet Queen Elizabeth was the one who, through her dedication and sheer hard work, brought her husband's subjects eagerly and willingly not to her feet but to her side. Shawcross, the chosen biographer of the late Queen, might just as well pack up and go home. No one will be able to match Vickers' work. He has done justice to a great lady and we are greatly in his debt.

Queen-to-be : England's first, but forgotten heiress of the throne, 11 Aug 2006
Matilda was the daughter and heiress of King Henry I, wife of the Holy Roman Emperor and later of the Count of Anjou, mother of Henry II, the first Plantagenet King of England and she was Lady of the English and should have been Queen. She did not succeed herself but ultimately won as she put her son on the throne. She could have been a power behind her son's throne however she was outshone by the most brilliant and extraordinary woman of her time: Eleanor of Aquitaine, a most powerful duchess in her own rights, former Queen Consort of France and now Queen of England.

Yes, there was quite of injustice with regards to female rulers at the time and the prejudices against woman in power (not that our time this in an unknown phenomenon!) played against her. But one can not help it to feel that she may be had more pretensions than actual talent. There is something haughty and unlike able about her.

But judge for yourself. This book is an excellent and a great read. I enjoyed it very much

A curate's egg, 12 Jun 2006
Hugo Vickers' biography of the Queen Mother is a great disappointment. It has its moments: the drama of the abdication is well captured. But too much of the book is padding - an endless list of engagements with obscure people rightly long forgotten.

The Queen Mother lived an extraordinary life. She deserves a better biography than this - and so do we.

not a literary masterpiece, 27 Nov 2005
This book was a great disappointment to me. I had hoped to find the bio of the Queen Mum embellished with the rich descriptions of her life in the varied eras from Edwardian Times to the present. Instead, I found what amounted to a social calendar of events that she attended. On such and such day in May she did this and presented this, followed by another sentence of what she wore the next day at another event. Paragraph after paragraph go on like this in each chapter.

Little is written of her emotions surrounding the births of her daughters, their marriages or even her relationships with her sisters in laws except in a passing phrase here or there. A whole chapter is spent on the Crawfie situation and in that chapter more information than necessary is given on the people who led Crawfie astray in writing her memories.

Another chapter is devoted to her staff. While that is nice, I really was not interested in reading about early biographical information on her staff. Most of it was totally irrelevant to the life of the Queen Mum.

Much was given over to her clothing changes during a photo shoot with Cecil Beaton, a whole page of the paintings in her home etc. While when her father died, we are only told that she went north for the funeral and the coffin was carried on a cart to the cemetary? Did she not have any feelings? Did his death not make a difference to her?

Missing in the book is the Queen Mum's role in raising her children, running a palace, coping with the real fears of the war, depression etc. Even though I know the story of the Queen Mum well, I thought that I would gain more insight from this long promised book. I can only call it dry, emotionless and full of the minutiae of useless information about people around her, not her life.

I kept reading to the end, wanting, hoping to be taken into the story, into her chambers and salons, sit next to her at a dinner party and find out what really drove this woman.

Instead I found a lifeless story,rushed in parts because the author was trying to cram every social event that she ever attended into the book. That got old after awhile.

If you like to read the old social columns full of fluff and trivia, this is the book for you. If you want to gain more insight into the woman whose life spanned two centuries through many major historical events, look elsewhere.

the greatest Queen Consort ever?, 20 Nov 2005
it seems that this is the final verdict of Hugo Vickers on the Queen Mother, even tough is wording is a bit more careful (page 503). Well does his biography actually support this quite sweeping statement?

I agree with the previous reviewer that the biography remembers graciously a gracious lady; however that does not make the Queen Mother the greatest queen consort ever.

I believe it is pretty hard to write the very first full biography on the life of a personality more or less every one of us remembers and has formed an opinion already. The first biography sets the standards and the ground on which future biographies will be measured. And here Hugo Vickers has done a great job. The book is very well written and highly enjoyable to read. There was never ever a moment where I wanted to stop reading further. One learns a hell of a lot about her life; her family, the Royal Family and the changing of times.

Alas, there is a but to this all. I was missing the passages on the political importance of the Queen Mother during her time as consort and during her time as Queen Mother. As consort one kind of knows that she was the "most dangerous woman in Britain" as Hitler was suppose to say, keeping up spirits and being the power behind the throne. But there is not much about this in the book. The Queen Mother did not like to be described as such as she properly felt it would diminish the achievements of The King; her beloved husband. How was really the "working relationship" between King and Queen, did she influence decisions, if yes how far. Here Vickers is really shy and not knowledgeable. The passages on the abdication and the Windsor’s, the Princess Margaret's affaires or later on the younger royals are less then satisfactory. Something is simply missing and one gets the impression that she was simply a by-stander. Does one really believe this? Maybe she was but than she could hardly be the greatest consort ever. I wished he would have given more concrete thought about this and spending less energy and pages on the Queen Mother's outfits and color schemes of her dresses. This is all a bit to "loyal" and keeping with the myth. Maybe Vickers is a bit to close to her and bit too admiring. He is at least honest about his association with the Queen Mother, but I am not sure that his assessment of his own level of objectivity is correct.

All in all, it is a book one should read and should not miss. But I believe this is not the last word on the Queen Mother and future biographies will have to be written in order complete the picture of the Queen Mother. The Queen Mother was an extraordinary personality and to capture this one needs an extraordinary biography. This is a very good one, but not an extraordinary one.

Therefore, I feel 4 stars is the appropriate rating.

A gracious lady graciously remembered, 01 Nov 2005
The Booker prize-winning author Arundhati Roy asserted that, "Selfish writers leave you with the memory of their book. Generous writers leave you with the memory of the world they evoked." Hugo Vickers is, indeed, a generous writer. It is inconceivable that his account will not become the standard one not only for all accounts of the life of the late Queen Elizabeth, mother of the current Queen, but of the era in which she flourished. His research is meticulous yet never pedantic, his prose approachable without being condescending, and his reporting of incidents throughout the life of the Queen are interesting and humorous without stooping to the level of common gossip. There is no question that she was the making of her husband, King George VI, who was ill-prepared to assume the throne when his selfish and immature brother abdicated. A lesser woman would have carried a chip on her shoulder so large and heavy that she would have been forced to her knees under its weight. Yet Queen Elizabeth was the one who, through her dedication and sheer hard work, brought her husband's subjects eagerly and willingly not to her feet but to her side. Shawcross, the chosen biographer of the late Queen, might just as well pack up and go home. No one will be able to match Vickers' work. He has done justice to a great lady and we are greatly in his debt.

MYTHS EXPLODED AND QUESTIONS RAISED, 02 Aug 1999
I enjoyed Prof. Knecht's profile of Catherine de' Medici. It was carefully written and humanized this lady who was, first and last, a mother. A number of her own writings (letters) are used, which shed light on her courage and determination. This treatment is balanced and even-handed, whatever the reader's preconceptions may be. I appreciated the author's fairness. However, the preface says that "there is no denying that her children were all dreadful." I'm still uncertain...why? Maybe the author will follow up and explore the dreadfullness of Catherine de' Medici's offspring? I would love to know more.

Queen-to-be : England's first, but forgotten heiress of the throne, 11 Aug 2006
Matilda was the daughter and heiress of King Henry I, wife of the Holy Roman Emperor and later of the Count of Anjou, mother of Henry II, the first Plantagenet King of England and she was Lady of the English and should have been Queen. She did not succeed herself but ultimately won as she put her son on the throne. She could have been a power behind her son's throne however she was outshone by the most brilliant and extraordinary woman of her time: Eleanor of Aquitaine, a most powerful duchess in her own rights, former Queen Consort of France and now Queen of England.

Yes, there was quite of injustice with regards to female rulers at the time and the prejudices against woman in power (not that our time this in an unknown phenomenon!) played against her. But one can not help it to feel that she may be had more pretensions than actual talent. There is something haughty and unlike able about her.

But judge for yourself. This book is an excellent and a great read. I enjoyed it very much

A curate's egg, 12 Jun 2006
Hugo Vickers' biography of the Queen Mother is a great disappointment. It has its moments: the drama of the abdication is well captured. But too much of the book is padding - an endless list of engagements with obscure people rightly long forgotten.

The Queen Mother lived an extraordinary life. She deserves a better biography than this - and so do we.

not a literary masterpiece, 27 Nov 2005
This book was a great disappointment to me. I had hoped to find the bio of the Queen Mum embellished with the rich descriptions of her life in the varied eras from Edwardian Times to the present. Instead, I found what amounted to a social calendar of events that she attended. On such and such day in May she did this and presented this, followed by another sentence of what she wore the next day at another event. Paragraph after paragraph go on like this in each chapter.

Little is written of her emotions surrounding the births of her daughters, their marriages or even her relationships with her sisters in laws except in a passing phrase here or there. A whole chapter is spent on the Crawfie situation and in that chapter more information than necessary is given on the people who led Crawfie astray in writing her memories.

Another chapter is devoted to her staff. While that is nice, I really was not interested in reading about early biographical information on her staff. Most of it was totally irrelevant to the life of the Queen Mum.

Much was given over to her clothing changes during a photo shoot with Cecil Beaton, a whole page of the paintings in her home etc. While when her father died, we are only told that she went north for the funeral and the coffin was carried on a cart to the cemetary? Did she not have any feelings? Did his death not make a difference to her?

Missing in the book is the Queen Mum's role in raising her children, running a palace, coping with the real fears of the war, depression etc. Even though I know the story of the Queen Mum well, I thought that I would gain more insight from this long promised book. I can only call it dry, emotionless and full of the minutiae of useless information about people around her, not her life.

I kept reading to the end, wanting, hoping to be taken into the story, into her chambers and salons, sit next to her at a dinner party and find out what really drove this woman.

Instead I found a lifeless story,rushed in parts because the author was trying to cram every social event that she ever attended into the book. That got old after awhile.

If you like to read the old social columns full of fluff and trivia, this is the book for you. If you want to gain more insight into the woman whose life spanned two centuries through many major historical events, look elsewhere.

the greatest Queen Consort ever?, 20 Nov 2005
it seems that this is the final verdict of Hugo Vickers on the Queen Mother, even tough is wording is a bit more careful (page 503). Well does his biography actually support this quite sweeping statement?

I agree with the previous reviewer that the biography remembers graciously a gracious lady; however that does not make the Queen Mother the greatest queen consort ever.

I believe it is pretty hard to write the very first full biography on the life of a personality more or less every one of us remembers and has formed an opinion already. The first biography sets the standards and the ground on which future biographies will be measured. And here Hugo Vickers has done a great job. The book is very well written and highly enjoyable to read. There was never ever a moment where I wanted to stop reading further. One learns a hell of a lot about her life; her family, the Royal Family and the changing of times.

Alas, there is a but to this all. I was missing the passages on the political importance of the Queen Mother during her time as consort and during her time as Queen Mother. As consort one kind of knows that she was the "most dangerous woman in Britain" as Hitler was suppose to say, keeping up spirits and being the power behind the throne. But there is not much about this in the book. The Queen Mother did not like to be described as such as she properly felt it would diminish the achievements of The King; her beloved husband. How was really the "working relationship" between King and Queen, did she influence decisions, if yes how far. Here Vickers is really shy and not knowledgeable. The passages on the abdication and the Windsor’s, the Princess Margaret's affaires or later on the younger royals are less then satisfactory. Something is simply missing and one gets the impression that she was simply a by-stander. Does one really believe this? Maybe she was but than she could hardly be the greatest consort ever. I wished he would have given more concrete thought about this and spending less energy and pages on the Queen Mother's outfits and color schemes of her dresses. This is all a bit to "loyal" and keeping with the myth. Maybe Vickers is a bit to close to her and bit too admiring. He is at least honest about his association with the Queen Mother, but I am not sure that his assessment of his own level of objectivity is correct.

All in all, it is a book one should read and should not miss. But I believe this is not the last word on the Queen Mother and future biographies will have to be written in order complete the picture of the Queen Mother. The Queen Mother was an extraordinary personality and to capture this one needs an extraordinary biography. This is a very good one, but not an extraordinary one.

Therefore, I feel 4 stars is the appropriate rating.

A gracious lady graciously remembered, 01 Nov 2005
The Booker prize-winning author Arundhati Roy asserted that, "Selfish writers leave you with the memory of their book. Generous writers leave you with the memory of the world they evoked." Hugo Vickers is, indeed, a generous writer. It is inconceivable that his account will not become the standard one not only for all accounts of the life of the late Queen Elizabeth, mother of the current Queen, but of the era in which she flourished. His research is meticulous yet never pedantic, his prose approachable without being condescending, and his reporting of incidents throughout the life of the Queen are interesting and humorous without stooping to the level of common gossip. There is no question that she was the making of her husband, King George VI, who was ill-prepared to assume the throne when his selfish and immature brother abdicated. A lesser woman would have carried a chip on her shoulder so large and heavy that she would have been forced to her knees under its weight. Yet Queen Elizabeth was the one who, through her dedication and sheer hard work, brought her husband's subjects eagerly and willingly not to her feet but to her side. Shawcross, the chosen biographer of the late Queen, might just as well pack up and go home. No one will be able to match Vickers' work. He has done justice to a great lady and we are greatly in his debt.

MYTHS EXPLODED AND QUESTIONS RAISED, 02 Aug 1999
I enjoyed Prof. Knecht's profile of Catherine de' Medici. It was carefully written and humanized this lady who was, first and last, a mother. A number of her own writings (letters) are used, which shed light on her courage and determination. This treatment is balanced and even-handed, whatever the reader's preconceptions may be. I appreciated the author's fairness. However, the preface says that "there is no denying that her children were all dreadful." I'm still uncertain...why? Maybe the author will follow up and explore the dreadfullness of Catherine de' Medici's offspring? I would love to know more.

Daugther of a Queen, Mother of a King - never Queen herself, 22 Apr 2003
this line – orginally used for the princesses Clementine d‘0rleans (daughter of The King of the French and mother of the first King of Bulgaria )- could be used to describe as well the life of Lady Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox. Kimberley Schutte has published this first biography of the Countess who had been well known figure in her time, but nowadays seems to be more or less forgotten. She seemed to be just the niece of Henry VIII or the mother-in-law of Mary Queen of Scots. Therefore, this biography is in itself is a very valuable contribution to the studies of Tudor period. Step by step, Mrs. Schutte let emerge a life that was spend in the shadow of the crown. Margaret Douglas was one of these exceptional women of the Tudor dynasty – well-educated, strong willed, proud. In the uncertanties of the Tudor succession she had been a one of the claimants to the throne and could have become Queen of England and - as the wife of the Earl of Lennox - as well in Scotland. Her life was an up and down in royal favour, from being the first lady at court after the sovereign to several stays in the Tower. The blood royal determined her life. Mrs. Schutte describes the Lady Margarte’s life at the Tudor court and the dramatic changes from one reign to the other. Interesting to read was the relationship of Maragret Douglas and her daughter-in-law Mary Queen of Scots. While she first believed that the Queen was responsible for the death of her son, Lord Darnley, she was later on rather good terms with the then imprisoned Queen – hardly conceivable if she still believed her responsible for the death of her beloved son. On top of that,I found particuarly interesting Mrs. Schutte‘ s views on the politics of religion. However, less appealing is that Mrs. Schutte describes the attitude/views of Lady Maragret on developments as „she must have“ without any historical evidence that this was inded the case. I would have prefered that she pointed out that there is no evidence how she viewed the dramtic changes at court instead of presuming what she could/should have felt. Still it is a very readable biography which closes a gap in one‘ s collection of Tudor biographies.

Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother's life has spanned the entire 20th century and through that century she has witnessed decades of dramatic change, not least within her own family. Following her carefree and untroubled childhood she stepped into the public domain as the wife of a king, where she triumphed with her stoic support of the monarchy and her country and, after her husband's death, with her oldest daughter crowned Queen Elizabeth II, she remained a key player in the unfolding drama of the Royal Family and to this day stands proudly as a symbol of Britain.

Robert Lacey, the internationally renowned historian responsible for writing the groundbreaking royal biography Majesty, here pinpoints not only the personal dramas and events that have shaped this much-loved royal, but also the events and changes that have occurred in the world as a whole since her birth. By using historic newspaper front pages to chart the changing history of the world, from the death of Queen Victoria to the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, Lacey has neatly pulled the life and times of The Queen Mother into sharp perspective, adding a poignancy to the history of her life that may otherwise have been missed.

Exclusive interviews with those close to her help add a depth and affection to her story and a fine, comprehensive collection of photographs illustrate beautifully the triumphs and tragedies of a woman who is still as popular with her public as she ever was. A clever, charming portrait of a woman who has endured a life under the gaze of a nation, The Queen Mother's Century is a simple, classic, illustrated biography of a woman who has stood tall throughout 100 years of change. --Susan Harrison