'Courtiers' by Valentine Low

[RandomPenguinHouse]

Extracts of this were being discussed on a previous thread ('The Times) which just finished.

I'm interested in buying this book, despite never having ever bought any other book about the Royal Family and never having watched The Crown.

I'm interested however in the archaic rituals of the Royal Court and how it works as an employer, and also how the courtiers advise.

Yes the excerpts were focused on Harry and Meghan but presumably that's just for clicks given the relevant timing, and that the book goes well beyond that.

Poignant that in the synopsis for it on The Foyles website it says:

The Queen, after a remarkable 70 years of service, is entering the final seasons of her reign without her husband Philip to guide her. Meanwhile, Charles seeks to define what his future as King will be, with his court wielding ever greater influence as he plans for his imminent accession.

www.foyles.co.uk/witem/biography/courtiers,valentine-low-9781472290908

Anyone else thinking of buying this?

I’m trying to decide whether to buy the kindle version or hardback. Not a very interesting dilemma but there you have it.

Well I have reported the issue. There appears to be a strategy amongst posters of this and related threads to get anyone with a view that does not support their own removed from the discussion. Anyone who is considered ‘pro-Meghan’ is either bullied off these threads or reported to MN for unjust reasons. This has been expressed and experienced by many other posters on MN – and today I have had first-hand experience of this practice. It’s not acceptable and for this reason I have made a complaint.

Jesus wept

wasn’t there another book about Charles that came out recently? The name escapes me - or am I getting it muddled with this one

You’re welcome to report of course @smileandjoy

Ultimately what I was saying is what @EstherMumsnet said: stick to the subject, whatever your views on that are.

I wonder if the recent report that Meghan wanted a one to one with Charles was true or not.

Well if this is what happened then KC etc only have themselves to blame - as they rewarded bad behaviour by wasting time and negotiating.

With high conflict individuals you need to be very boundaried.

You give an instruction, a clear deadline and an immediate consequence. Less words. Just actions.

But it seems that has been the pattern of failing throughout - giving difficult characters too much credibility and rope - when in fact to manage them you should give them less slack not more.

It seems from the excerpts making H happy was their futile aim that was inadvertently allowing him to treat others in a shocking way. Like bad indulgent parenting.

I agree completely @DFOD

Perhaps. She always seemed to get on well with him. At the commonwealth day service she smiled at him in a way that struck me at the time as it seemed very genuine and equally he looked pleased to see her. Camilla however was relatively stony 😁. Maybe different now after all the water under the bridge, but maybe she thought if she could have a one to one with him they might be able to mend some fences.

I agree. I feel deeply sorry for Charles, Harry is his son but he is going to have to be strong with them both and we know that doesn't go down well.

Hits the nail on the head

I think the original plan was that William etc travelled by helicopter to Balmoral from Aberdeen airport . Had the plane left on Time they would probably have made it but the weather on arrival prohibited helicopter travel.

I really, really hope the suggestion that Harry / Meghan held up that plane by arguing about who should be on it is wrong. Because if it isn't, the others may struggle to forgive

We don't know that is what happened.

They landed at 3:52, and the flight would have taken about an hour (assuming straight line and air control priority) and commercial flights can be longer (up to about 1hr 45 depending on routing) so take off at about 2:30-2:45?

They needed to call everyone, arrange the plane and get to the departure airport - how long would that take? If Charles was called at around 12:30, then it's only just over 2 hours from the calls to take off. I don't think there was time for an shenanigans.

The extracts from the books show them as difficult to work for (and spectacularly dismissive of some of the efforts made for them) but that doesn't mean they are totally heartless. Harry might miss the plane for all sorts of reasons, but I don't see that he would deliberately act in a way that would mean delaying the others

I don’t think Harry would deliberately delay the others either. I think he was angry that Meghan had been ‘snubbed’ as he saw it and kept arguing with Charles if reports are true. As usual, Only thinking about himself and his wife. Not the other family members who had also lost a loved one.

Read somewhere Kate was originally meant to attend as well? Not sure if it’s just hearsay though

I thought she was always going to be staying with the DC. It was their first day of full term at a new school, and it's pretty damned obvious a parent would want to be there

Thewheeledavenger,

'screams at and physically assaults his staff, that he regularly throws things at his aides, that he had incredibly high staff turnover and could not keep staff'

I thought the general consensus (and included in the book) was that Charles treats his staff well and many of his staff have been with him for years, and definitely no references to him physically assaulting his staff - where on earth have you obtained this information?

I don’t think Harry would deliberately delay either - but imagine how much trouble he’d be in with her if she wanted to come and he had to deliver the news that she wasn’t welcome. He’d have argued his little socks off to avoid that sort of scene. It would have been unbelievable to think HMQ would be dead within hours. The whole country was in shock.

The spectator article that was shared - enlightening!

I actually read some of the book and it's extremely shocking. Meghan is painted as a bully for occasionally sending an early morning email and making one slightly snarky comment

If you actually read the book then, with respect, I don’t think you were reading with attention to detail. There were many accounts of inappropriate treatment of staff by Meghan and also Harry.

Ripped a sink off the wall - he isn’t the hulk 😂

I believe the flight was due to take off at 13:30 - the media started reporting the Quieen's Dr were concerned for her at 12:30 so the Royal planning machine would have been ahead of this.

I'll admit I hadn't realised how far Balmoral was from Aberdeen airport though. So I suspect PP are right and they still wouldn't have made it. Nonetheless, their pissed off with Harry meters must be a max.

The problem with the trip to Balmoral was that Meghan obviously without consultation released a statement that she was on her way. Why as the estranged grand daughter in law she thought this was remotely appropriate defies belief. I think the time wasted was in closing this down.

Now that would make a great TV series. The Incredible Royal Hulk.

What's hilarious is that with the exception of Edward, Charles is possibly the least muscle-y of all of them.

This is our new King?

I'd never heard those accounts before, and google only unearths three hits from entertainment websites. In the age of the internet, I don't think a story such as that could be suppressed.

Though we do know how myths about him take root - whilst recovering from a broken arm, he did indeed have toothpaste squeezed out for him, but that morphed into a dit about it being his normal conduct. The extracts we are discussing (as I mentioned in an earlier post) include showing him as mercurial, yet he still seems to inspire loyalty. And he doesn't seem to have form for conduct such as repeatedly ringing staff at frequent intervals during one of their nights off.

Though it was interesting to note one comment, that the happiest household from the courtiers' pov seemed to be that og HMQ