Auf ein Miniaturbild klicken, um zu Google Books zu gelangen.
Lädt ... The Quest for Queen Mary (Original 2018; 2019. Auflage)von James Pope-Hennessy (Autor)
Werk-InformationenThe Quest for Queen Mary von James Pope-Hennessy (2018)
Keine Lädt ...
Melde dich bei LibraryThing an um herauszufinden, ob du dieses Buch mögen würdest. Keine aktuelle Diskussion zu diesem Buch. Funny but not hilarious (quotes on cover over-state it,). Improves in second half of the book. Chapter on Duke of Gloucester particularly good (only watches children's tv, in particular The Lone Ranger!). Main impressions are the ignorance, cruelty, stupidity, pettiness, selfishness, hostility, and drinking. Generally an amusing but unpleasant group of people. ( ) This is a set of reminiscences and journal entries from the time Pope-Hennessy, in many ways a tragic figure, produced his magnum opus, his biography of Queen Mary. If you are familiar with that work and its subject, this is a fascinating companion book, as it records Pope-Hennessy's journeys around Europe to catch the last remnants of the old order before they died. En route he has many adventures in palaces and castles, and there are very funny accounts of meals and conversations. His trip to stay with the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester is perhaps the highlight. One of the interesting aspects of the book is how he is obviously both fascinated and appalled by many of the people he meets – all of whom are now I think dead, except the present Queen. If you are not familiar with the biography then you are likely to find this book somewhat bewildering. But the solution to that is simple, and will enrich you. Shortly after Queen Mary's death (1953), James Pope- Hennessy was commissioned with writing her biography. This is NOT that book, but a collection of the many inteviews he had with those who knew her,; the (often more revealing) letters P-H wrote about those interviews to his friends...and very literate (and often hilarious) descriptions of the places, the characters and the author's reactions, the whole interpolated with explanations from editor Hugh Vickers. Utter entertainment as P-H prowls around stately homes, gets invited to stay with sundy royals, reminisces with past servants, ladies of the bedchamber etc. I feel hugely motivated to read the actual work. Normally a biographer is a shadowy presence as he brings forth the character of his subject, but Pope-Hennessy is a very vivid, vital part of the telling- and, strangely, that in fact adds to his work. Who could forget the Duchess of Windsor ("She is flat and angular, and could have been designed for a medieval playing card...the expression is either anticipatory (signalling to one, "I know this is going to be loads of fun, don't yew?") or appreciative- the great giglamp smile, thee wide wide open eyes, which are so very large and pale and veined, the painted lips and the cannibal teeth.") And the surprisingly negative take on Sandringham- a place I've never visited- "Next to the death-chamber is the most sinister little room of all, now used by Prince Charles as his schoolroom...I should not like to be alone in that room at night." Completely brings flat characters in Burke's Peerage to very vivid life. I'm very glad Mr Pope-Hennessy never wrote MY biography! Uttely recommended. Zeige 4 von 4
Ist eine Ergänzung zu
"Queen Mary, the widow of George V, and grandmother of the Queen, died at Marlborough House on 24 March 1953, a few months before the Coronation. She was eighty-five years old. Unusually for a Queen consort, an official biography was commissioned. The last similar exercise was the life of the Prince Consort, commissioned by Queen Victoria. The task was entrusted to James Pope-Hennessy. Pope-Hennessy embarked on his three year quest for Queen Mary in 1955. It was to take him to many royal courts and to the lunch and tea tables of retired courtiers and ladies-in-waiting. He had access to a great number of private documents. He was shown royal residences both in England and in Europe. As he went along, he kept notes about who he met and what he saw. Pope-Hennessy had not intended the notes of his royal interviews to be published for fifty years (i.e. until 2009). He described them as follows: 'To supplement the manuscript and printed sources I kept a private and confidential file recording in considerable detail the conversations I had both with Queen Mary's immediate descendants, related German, Danish and Norwegian royalty and with surviving members of the Court of King George V and Queen Mary. None of these interviews have been published, nor could they be until a lapse of fifty years. They are strictly confidential and form, I believe, a not uninteresting study of royal psycholology as it was and as it largely remains today.'"--Book jacket. Keine Bibliotheksbeschreibungen gefunden. |
Aktuelle DiskussionenKeineBeliebte Umschlagbilder
Google Books — Lädt ... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)941.083092History and Geography Europe British Isles Historical periods of British Isles 1837- Period of Victoria and House of Windsor 1910-1936 George VKlassifikation der Library of Congress [LCC] (USA)BewertungDurchschnitt:
Bist das du?Werde ein LibraryThing-Autor. |