I have pre-ordered Andrew Lownie's Book (out I think 14th August) A thread for those interested in "Entitled"

[BasiliskStare]

So for those interested in this book about the Yorks. I will read it and interested to hear from others who have or to give an opinion.

No spitting , no gouging 😂

It was Diana's grandmother, Lady Fermoy, who testified against her daughter, Diana's mother.

I agree. I didn’t warm to him, he’s only thinking of pound signs.

Yes sorry! That’s what I meant. Duh!

To be fair, most people think of pound signs when they go to work…..!

i do think revealing the full extent of the grift and corruption is in the public interest -even if the more prurient stuff is interesting to the public

Possibly because he spent so much money trying to access files for the Mountbatten book:

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/03064220221144908

He also had trouble getting into for the PA book:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/dec/28/dubious-use-of-the-freedom-of-information-act-stopping-access-to-files-on-prince-andrew-researchers-say

Totally agree that the revelations are in the public interest - I just find Lownie’s demeanour, both in print and in interviews, distastefully lip-smacking and salacious.

I would rather a monarchy than a presidency but the monarchy's entitlement, privilege and shenanigans with money push me increasingly towards a presidency. To a greater or lesser extent, every Royal behaves like Andrew and Fergie. It's merely a question of degree. If Wiliiam is the moral person he seems to be, and prepared to make very difficult decisions, he might be the person to clean it up. Otherwise, I think we are veering once again to the point of its demise. Lownie claims to be a monarchist, which is hard to believe.

I don’t think Lownie comes across very well at all for a respected journalist, it’s all very tabloid.

It's bound to be, given the venality and sex and very little else.

I haven’t seen any of the interviews, but there is certainly a salacious undercurrent in the book-I actually find the way he talks about SF particualry distasteful.

I think he’s being disingenuous!

His “investigative journalism “ seems rather strongly focused on the RF!

id like someone to turn the spotlight on bloody HS2 and the horrendous corruption which has gone on there for the last 20 years.

Not as juicy though!

The amount of minutely detailed information in the financial, housekeeping and travel chapters did not seem very tabloid to me.

I think he’s being disingenuous!

Very much so.

I’m no fan of Fergie (that’s a massive understatement) but I remember the misogyny and sexism which always characterised press criticism of her. They were horrible about her weight issues.

I’m not talking about the book being tabloid. I’m talking about Lownie’s demeanour in print and TV interviews.

To be fair, his specialist subject does seem to be “The Life and Love of Posh People.” Not sure he’s the man for HS2…..Michael Portillo, possibly?

I've only seen him interviewed several times by Shauna on her Vintage Read channel. Shauna was a very serious interviewer and Lownie came across very well. That is why I bought the book.

One of the last chapters talks about a petition that was presented in 2009 to HMTLQ by Windsor Park Lodge employees about PA driving too fast in the Park. He actually hit a BP police officer in 2010. The dodgy sex and financial dealings aside, he didn't care about regular UK employees.

I was quite angry years ago, with the press, when they were so unkind about her weight - early on in the marriage, I think.

I've only seen him interviewed several times by Shauna on her Vintage Read channel. Shauna was a very serious interviewer and Lownie came across very well.

Same, @BemusedAmerican. I appreciated the way the interviews were well-structured, fairly lengthy (for a YouTube channel) and covered a fair bit of ground with plenty of detail.

I don't imagine he wrote those Daily Mail excerpts 'raw' - they seem very heavily editorialised as if they've been fed through the Mail's own Chat GPT machine to make them as SEO-bait-laden as possible.

But obviously I'll have a look at what Lownie's currently up to on You Tube and his demeanor given what other posters are saying.

Edited: daft typo

They were absolute arseholes. Same era as Page 3 and those horrible front page teasers visible in every newsagent with stuff like 'Countdown till she's 16, fwoooaar!' 'Busty Bev's barely legal', and 'Here's one for the dads!'

It was a dreadful time for women in the public eye.

Yes I very much agree with this. Lownie has said that this is fundamentally a book about financial corruption.

How anyone wouldn’t want an elected head of state after the Prince Andrew fiasco I do not know! He really is an unwitting poster boy for Republic UK! I would have thought that he and his activities provide the perfect argument against a RF but there we are! I appreciate people have different views on this.

But does no one else find it alarming that if it hadn’t been for the Epstein debacle we still wouldn’t know about half of this now? It does make you wonder what the rest if them are getting up to!

I don’t think it is right or wise in this day and age that a family which operates within a such a sphere of secrecy is allowed to represent us!

When you have a determined journalist investigating the Royals, they always uncover financial wrongdoings to some degree or another; whether it’s extreme tax avoidance or a murky blurring of the edges between public and private funding.

But this latest scandal is far more than “murky practices”, AL’s book describes repeated and blatant exploitation and corruption, which others knew about, including the late Queen. It’s outrageous!

I also agree that a lot of pressure rests on the shoulders of William and Catherine; I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that the future of the monarchy depends on how they comport themselves. I always thought it was unwise that the late QE2 did not opt to abdicate sooner so that reforms could be made more quickly. It seems to have put Charles in the position of caretaker king who hasn’t effected much change in the area of financial matters; but perhaps that is unfair as he is facing serious illness.

I do believe that Lownie is a monarchist btw. But he says he fervently wants a better monarchy with more clarity and accountability.

Yeah, agree all of that is truly disgusting.

And the Daily Mail always had hideous smarmy articles about Eugenie and Zara looking “healthy” in their outfits or whatever.

Horribly misogynistic, whether the subject is royal or not, it’s completely indefensible.

Thank you for replying re Mountbatten and Kincora @TheAutumnCrow
Why wasn’t it picked up by the mainstream media ?
If Prince Phillip knew, surely he wouldn’t allow his 3 sons around Dickie ?