Behind the Throne: A Domestic History of the Royal Household
Author:
Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
Book Type: Hardcover
Author:
Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
Book Type: Hardcover
Beautifully presented, but a bit superficial, flitting from topic to topic that could be described as "royal personal life" like a distracted May fly. I felt that Tinniswood's decision to deal with his material chronologically was a big mistake -- Elizabeth I is represented by a chapter on "Royal Progresses," and the chapter on Charles II goes into great detail on his mistresses, and, unavoidably, the focus on George III is largely on his episodes of "madness," so later references to royal travels, and complicated royal relationships (er, Edward VII ... hello?) and royal health and how it was handled seem to be lacking context.
And there seemed to be great gaps in a book claiming to be a domestic history: for example, I would have liked to know more about the care and upbringing of the royal children. Like their subjects, the various Royal Families had to suffer the heartbreak of outliving their children, whether it was Queen Anne's 17 miscarriages and still births, or the sudden death of James I's son and original heir, Henry, Prince of Wales, of a fever at age 16. There are all referenced, of course, but in passing.
(BTW -- just checked, and Tinniswood is wrong about Queen Anne. He says that none of her pregnancies resulted in a child who "survived infancy." Prince William, Duke of Gloucester, born in 1689, lived to the age of eleven.)
I feel that, in fact, the title is a giveaway -- this is not so much a history of the personal lives of the sovereigns and their families, but of the people "behind the throne" -- the equerries, the secretaries, the ministers -- and Tinniswood is more interested in the evolution of the Royal Household than he is in the specifics of the lives of the monarchs.
And there seemed to be great gaps in a book claiming to be a domestic history: for example, I would have liked to know more about the care and upbringing of the royal children. Like their subjects, the various Royal Families had to suffer the heartbreak of outliving their children, whether it was Queen Anne's 17 miscarriages and still births, or the sudden death of James I's son and original heir, Henry, Prince of Wales, of a fever at age 16. There are all referenced, of course, but in passing.
(BTW -- just checked, and Tinniswood is wrong about Queen Anne. He says that none of her pregnancies resulted in a child who "survived infancy." Prince William, Duke of Gloucester, born in 1689, lived to the age of eleven.)
I feel that, in fact, the title is a giveaway -- this is not so much a history of the personal lives of the sovereigns and their families, but of the people "behind the throne" -- the equerries, the secretaries, the ministers -- and Tinniswood is more interested in the evolution of the Royal Household than he is in the specifics of the lives of the monarchs.
