I’ve just finished reading Courtiers, and I was very impressed with it overall. Because it focuses more on the people who work for the Royal Family and less on the family members, it feels like a fresh take compared to previous royal books. It’s almost a work about organizational behavior- how people work within an organization, shaping it and being shaped by it- than a traditional royal book.
I think the juiciest bits were in the extracts, which is usually the case, but the entire book is certainly worth a read. It’s not strictly chronological, so I sometimes had to go back and refresh my memory on a detail or two, but I came away with a few takeaways:
1) The last ten years of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s reign were quite frustrating for outsiders- including those at Clarence House and Kensington Palace- because it was probably the time during her reign when she (and therefore her courtiers) were most resistant to change. I think that makes a lot of sense- change is much harder on someone in their nineties than it is on younger people.
2) The Prince of Wales (Prince William, for clarity) comes off as an extremely capable and levelheaded executive who is respected by his staff and is often a positive influence. That bodes very well for the future. There’s very little about Catherine in this book, and the way it is presented makes it sound like she is extremely undemanding and quite happy to take advice and recommendations. It also repeats the oft-stated theme of her as a peacemaker who was able to get the two brothers on the same page when their interests overlapped.
3) There are certainly a lot of anonymous sources used, but it is often about very specific things and is directly referenced as an author interview. Direct quotes are used often and sound credible. In the acknowledgments, the author states more than 100 interviews with current and former members of staff across all royal households were conducted as research.
4) There is a chapter about frustrations King Charles experienced as a young man and how he didn’t always handle them well and it struck me as something that could be written exactly about Prince Harry today. There are more parallels between the two men than I would have expected before I read this book.
5) There’s quite a complimentary line about Princess Beatrice in the chapter about Prince Andrew, and that was nice to read. As always, Prince Andrew comes off as a boorish and rude man who is obsessed with status, often unprepared, and difficult to work with. I honestly ended up feeling a little sorry for him- he comes off as quite unhappy.
6) Social media had a very detrimental effect on Prince Harry long before he met Meghan. He seems to have succumbed to the Twitter mentality that treats things there as much more serious than they are and he wanted to respond to every little slight long before he met Meghan. I hope one day he is able to find some peace from that and learn to care a lot less about what other people think of him. Meghan comes off as a difficult character, as always. But I do think Valentine Low tried very hard to be fair.
Thank you again HRH Hermione for sharing your thoughts.
Your earlier post about Diana believing that Patrick Jehpson had betrayed her was so very sad. The Panorama Interview should be permanently shelved.
I'm so sorry for Harry that had been negatively impacted by social media for so long.