Battle of Brothers: William and Harry – The Inside Story of a Family in Tumult Hardcover – October 20, 2020

I have read many books on the royal family, Diana, and her sons - William and Harry. I have read many books about various other members of the royal family and their relatives. I found this book to be a very good read. It caught my interest from the start, and I have continued reading it throughout the weekend. I have learned so many things that I did not already know. I was surprised that there was so much new material. This author did his research very well. Robert Lacey writes in a very interesting and easy to read manner. Mr. Lacey presents his material in a factual manner. It is not a gossipy, nor unflattering source of information. The subject matter is presented in a professional although truthful manner. It is not a "Body Slam" against the various members of the royal family. Mr. Lacey does present the truth. I highly recommend this book, and I will be purchasing some of his other books now as well.

On the whole it was VERY balanced. Fans of either brother will find themselves nodding in agreement at times and wholly disagreeing at others. There are points where I feel he was supremely unfair to William and Camilla. I also took exception with his blaming of everything that went wrong during negotiations on HM private secretary. There was a LOT of blame to go around there. Not least of which belonging to the premature launching of the website to “force” the hand of the royals. Personally, I think they all refused to meet with them for a month as a “cool down” period. So cooler heads could prevail. That was never even brought up. Just that the royals wouldn’t meet with them, so the Sussex’s went nuclear and “suddenly everyone had room in their schedules”. It gives the impression they were being neglected. Rather than being forced into a rather timely and needed cool off period.He was very through in his research, but I think he reads public reaction in a way that differs with reality, particularly when speaking of Americans.While not possible because of the timing of going to print, I would love to hear the authors take on the Oprah Interview.

I got this book for my friend as she really enjoyed stuff like this so one day we were talking and she said to me that she found this book and wanted to know If I would get it for her so I did and she Loved it so If you Like to read and are in to hearing abut stuff like this then this is the book for you

No doubt this will be one of many books about the feud between William and Harry and the ramifications of the Sussexes opting to leave the UK. However, it spent an inordinate time on the marriage of Charles and Diana which has been already covered in other books. When it covers to the origins of the issues between William and Harry it gets more informative. It does romanticize the Charles and Camilla story and places some blame on Andrew Parker Bowles. Lacey maintains that Camilla (after the wedding to Parker Bowles) "tolerated his philandering as she had done before their marriage." Camilla did not actually tolerate it she began an affair with Charles ca. 1979-80) so technically she did not tolerate it. I disagree that Charles and Diana's marriage was "arranged"--both Diana and Charles were free to end the relationship and were not "required" to go through with a marriage. Two of Charles other serious girlfriends chose to walk, Diana and Charles could have ended the relationship. Lacey does fortunately point out that Camilla played the media by calling up Stuart Higgins of the Sun and "provided him with regular off-the-record briefings about the state of the royal marriage from 1982-1992." The author does leave out others involved with Charles and Diana, notably Charles other married mistress Lady Dale Tryon and Dr. Hasnet Khan, Diana's serious boyfriend post divorce. He also leaves out that Diana was well acquainted with Mohamed Al-Fayed, who was a friend of her father's, well before she started dating Dodi Fayed. Lacey discusses the impact of the divorce of their parents on William and Harry as well as the death of their mother. The author mentions but does not offer much comment on how the boys were taken to Church the morning of their mother's death and the Queen ordering the minister not to mention Diana. The lives of William and Harry then are related and the biographies of their respective wives, Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle. Some familiar territory is covered with Kate and William's courtship; but curiously puts a spin of Kate's not having full time work and sporadic part time jobs with Jigsaw and Party Pieces--he writes as if Kate did achieve something with her proposed child clothing line, which never came to fruition. Kate was not working until the media reported the Queen Asked what Kate did, then Kate took the Jigsaw job for about a year. Harry's relationships with his two serious girlfriends, Chelsy Davy and Cressida Bonas are covered. The core of the issues between William and Harry started earlier than when Harry dated Meghan. Harry was not as protected by the royals as much as William was. William also went to clubs and he was the actual founder of Club H., a "nightclub" built at Highgrove. Some new revelations were of William's being "incandescent" with rage over the way Harry and Meghan announced the birth of their son Archie and also not naming the godparents. Another revelation is when William "advised" Harry to "go slowly" with Meghan and when Harry apparently told William to back off, William rushed for advice to Uncle Charles Spencer (odd since Spencer had three marriages, his first two ended in divorce), There is no explanation why William was allowed to try to play "head of family" with Harry and why he tried to override The Queen's and Charles' approval of Meghan. Overall, this book is intriguing with insights and does show some fairness and does not place the blame exclusively on Harry and Meghan, and raises some questions about Kate's and William's role in the feud. The story is not over yet but a work in progress and hopefully the feud will end and Harry and Meghan will succeed in their enterprises in their new life together.

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Received it and read it before the Oprah interviews.It seems that Charles and Andrew teamed up to fire Sir Christopher Giedt, widely considered to be brilliant and sensitive, who had played a key part in guiding the Queen through a very successful ten years.Andrew was angry because Geidt had denied him expenditures on frivolous and unnecessary thing like too many private jet and helicopter excursions. Charles didn't like him because he and his staff thought Geidt wasn't deferential enough. Charles hired Sir Edward Young, who "didn't do the vision thing." While Young had facilitated the James Bond/Daniel Craig thing, it was the one bright spot in an otherwise grey, adequate functionary, which suited Charles and Andrew completely. Young is the one who sanctioned Andrew's disastrous Newsnight interview.It's widely believed that none of the awful things that happened with Meghan and Harry would've happened if Geidt, a man capable of vision and sensitivy had been there. The Queen rehired him for her part, but the damage was already done. Pages 268-=280.

I enjoyed reading this book! I found it pretty factual. I don’t feel Robert Lacey took any one side. I’ve followed the Royal Family for a very long time. Anyone that has, knows the how the Royal Family HRH works. I feel it’s the people that have no knowledge of the Royal Family believes Meghan lies. Robert Thank You for a book that is accurate and truthful!

Another good read of the rift between William and Harry lots of interesting details previously unknown and the author writes a riveting tale Great read

Robert Lacey is a guarantee of consistency: this book is one of the best I have read on the Royal family. It depicts them well in all their nuances. A must buy for all the fans of the saga

I know he wrote this because he had rushed into print, quite naively, on the first version of this book. In a sense he had to rewrite in order to catch up with what people were thinking and restore his own credibility. But he now does the subject justice, and he's a very engaging writer.

This book is so well written it is a hard one to put down! Starting from the very beginning it looks back over the years up to present day allowing the reader to learn much more. It is well worth investing in this book and I would not hesitate to recommend - if you are interested in Wills and Harry and their lives and dramas then this is one for you!

Pourc moi personnellement