Royal Style & Gossip book group

[CurlyWurlyTwirly]

This has been started for posters on the Royal Style & Gossip threads, so that we have one place for all the biography recommendations.
Am going to kick off with the list compiled by @senecafalls

Please feel free to add any recommendations

Alice the Enigma, Queen Victoria’s Daughter by Christina Croft

Queen Victoria’s Mysterious Daughter: A Biography of Princess Louise by Lucinda Hawksley

Princess Louise, Queen Victoria’s Unconventional Daughter by JehanneWake

George and Marina, Duke and Duchess of Kent by Christopher Warwick

The Queen Mother, the Official Biography by William Shawcross

The Romanov Sisters by Helen Rappaport

Alice, Princess Andrew of Greece by Hugo Vickers

George V’s Children by John Van der Kiste

Serving Victoria: Life in the Royal Household by Kate Hubbard

Victoria’s Daughters by Jerrold Packard

The Last Princess: The Devoted Life of Queen Victoria’s Youngest Daughter by Matthew Dennison

Childhood at Court 1818-1914 by John van der Kiste

Queen Victoria’s Granddaughters by Christina Croft

Grandmama of Europe: The Crowned Descendants of Queen Victoria by Theo Aronson

Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone by Theo Aronson

Prince Leopold: the Untold Story of Queen Victoria’s Youngest Son by Charlotte Zeepvat

We are going to kick off with a biography of Princess Alice of Athlone

But if you are reading anything else, please post on here to discuss.

By the way, we could do what we do in my book club in RL.
Give it a score out of 10, then one word to describe; before giving your commentary.
Sometimes the score changes; up or down, based on other readers’ comments.

Place marking! All I know about Alice of Athlone is that she was the last of Victoria's grandchildren to die, a good 100-odd years after the first. She was also about 100 when she died - I think she might've attended Charles and Diana's wedding, although that might've been the other princess Alice.

That might have been Alice of Gloucester; her niece... / niece in law?
Although I think she was pretty old when she died...

Yes possibly. The dowager Duchess of Gloucester surpassed even the QM in longevity and I think she's the longest lived royal ever.

Just ordered my copy of the book - I know nothing about this Alice.

I'm not on your list, Curly but am quite an avid reader of royal books.

I’d like to join in too - sounds interesting 😀

It's always been medieval royals that interested me the most but happy to learn more about the Victorian and edwardians too. What I find most fascinating is that the majority of European monarchs descend from Victoria. She was a master of the diplomatic marriage! Though of course things got pretty undiplomatic around 1914...

All are welcome @clionba!
I just listed a few people who had been discussing books on the S&G thread to push a bit of traffic this way.
I’m going to start the Alice book next week, as I’m still ploughing my way through my RL book group book. ( Young Adult fiction. Painful.)

And me please! This is a most excellent idea. Lucy Worsley would be so proud

Which one are we starting with again?

I won't get time to read but I'm interested so shall lurk.

X post!

I hear your pain with Young Adult Fiction Curly my friend

@dontcallmecharlotte

]]

Currently 99p on kindle or free on kindle unlimited

Princess Alice

Try again.

I'm in! Just off to download Alice..

The Princess Victoria in that collection of letters was Prince Philip's grandmother and Lord Mountbatten's mother.

Yes, Victoria of Hesse had her share of tragedy in her life what with losing two sisters to the Russian Revolution.

Downloaded - will start in the week.

FrancisCrawford hello again! That Princess Margaret book is amusing and intriguing, though, as you say, not a complete classic!

Is that Ma'am Darling?

Yes!