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Diana got out of control, heir to the throne Prince Charles (73) is an unworldly eccentric and his younger brother Andrew (62) is perhaps the worst thing that could have happened to the monarchy. And Duchess Meghan (40) even compared author Tina Brown to kryptonite – the fictional poisonous material that even brings Superman to his knees.
After her biography of Diana, the journalist and former editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair has again written a tell-all book about the Windsors entitled “Palace Papers”, which has just been published in German (publisher Droemer Knaur, 25.95 euros).
In it, the well-informed and sharp-tongued Royals expert summarizes the history of the British royal family and spares (almost) no member of the “company”. A small excerpt:
Prince Andrew’s involvement in the child abuse scandal resulted in the Queen’s favorite son being dismissed as “Royal”. “Now he’s riding stronger again,” writes Tina Brown: “After all, the only creature that still speaks to him is his horse.”
After Diana’s death in 1997, the Queen made it clear to all her advisors that nothing like this should ever happen again. “Something like that meant Diana’s celebrity, the problem of the British monarchy being eclipsed, trumped and supplanted by an overbearing, dangerously popular family member.”
According to Tina Brown, Duchess Meghan would have completely miscalculated. “Unlike Kate and Camilla, she didn’t understand that the monarchy is a golden cage whose bars must not be shaken.” And the fact that she and husband Prince Harry (37) conducted the scandalous interview with Oprah Winfrey when the Queen’s husband, Prince Philip, was in poor health at the age of 98, Brown also blames the former Hollywood actress. “A clear indication that Meghan was driven by immense arrogance and a thirst for recognition.”
Boring, but reliable: That’s how Tina Brown describes Prince William (39) and his wife Kate (40). With their three children, they lead a life straight out of a royal picture book – a “true stroke of luck for the monarchy”.
But there is also praise in Tina Brown’s review: Duchess Camilla (74), Prince Charles’ second wife, calls her a crucial support for the heir to the throne. “One of her trump cards has always been her ability to entertain,” says Brown. A seat next to Camilla at dinner is considered a win among guests. She is valued as worldly and direct, but above all as wonderfully funny and ironic.
There is one person in the book for whom Tina Brown finds almost loving words – the Queen herself. She has a wonderfully dry sense of humor and has remained down to earth over the years. You don’t know about scandals from her either – just a little vice. The Queen likes to treat herself to a Dubonnet in the evening. Incidentally, the 96-year-old mixes the vermouth-like herbal wine with a third of gin and enjoys the drink with half a lemon wedge and exactly two ice cubes.
Source: Nachrichten
