Royal Subjects: A Biographer's Encounters

by Theo Aronson

Book Overview

A touching and funny memoir of how one man's life became interwoven with the Royal family, seeing them with their guard down as we never do. Theo Aronson first met the Queen Mother as a boy in South... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0330480529
• ISBN13: 9780330480529
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: Sidgwick & Jackson Ltd
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.

Customer Reviews

An Affectionate But Realistic View

Theo Aronson is a well known biographer of European royalty past and present. Royal Subjects is a description in diary form of twenty years or so of contacts with British Royals both well known (The Queen Mother, Prince Charles) and almost unknown (Colonel Sir Henry and the Lady May Abel Smith). Aronson clearly enjoyed meeting these people and likes most of them quite a bit, but he is not blind to their character flaws and is on the whole refreshingly unidolatrous. (Not to say he isn't loyal, as he obviously has little truck with republican sentiment)Royal Subjects will appeal to you even if you are not a royal aficionado because Aronson very humorously describes the day to day sillinesses he puts up, from inane phone calls and letters to being interviewed by people who have obviously not read his books. Most appealingly of all, Aronson never takes himself or his subjects too seriously, even when he has to deal with prostate cancer. He has had a full life which he has enjoyed immensely, and you will enjoy this glimpse of part of it, too.

"A Jewel of a Book" says the Sunday Times of London...

Based on the annotated information in the journals he's kept for years, Theo Aronsono has written a light and interesting book on the English Royals. As he's interviewed many of them for his other books, this is a chronoligical walk through his memories (from 1979 to the present). It's fascinating. I ordered this book after I heard an interview with him on the radio. It arrived yesterday, and I read it in its entirety last night. If you're interested in the Windsors, this is a slice of life from a man who doesn't pull any punches. And yet he still remains a gentleman. I really enjoyed it.