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Princess Margaret: A Life of Contracts: A Life of Contrasts
 
 

Princess Margaret: A Life of Contracts: A Life of Contrasts [Kindle Edition]

Christopher Warwick
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

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Product Description

Princess Margaret was one of the most controversial royal figures of the twentieth century. Widely admired as a young woman, she was famous for her beauty and charisma, but also for her sense of loyalty and duty. The charismatic Princess not only brought colour and sex appeal into an otherwise colourless royal family, but did much to help bring the monarchy and its attitudes into the modern world. In recent years, dogged by accidents and ill-health, much of the Princess's youthful vigour and charm, not to mention her hard work, has been forgotten. Following her death on 9 February, in the Queen's golden jubilee year, and poignantly close to the anniversary of George VI's death, the story of her life is once again front pages news. In this fully updated memorial edition of his acclaimed study, originally undertaken with the co-operation of the Princess and many of those closest to her, her authorized biographer Christopher Warwick looks again at the life and work of this enigmatic and individual royal figure, and brings her story to a close with her funeral in Windsor. Written with authority and insight, Princess Margaret - A Life of Contrasts is a fitting tribute to an exceptional, deeply complex woman. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Publisher

Christopher Warwick is the only biographer to have enjoyed Princess Margaret's personal co-operation and that of her household and friends, in writing the authorized biographies of her life. Having known the Princess for more than 20 years, this study, published in 2000 for the Princess's 70th birthday, has now been totally updated and is the only in depth and complete biography. Writing of Christopher Warwick's Princess Margaret - A Life of Contrasts, the writer, historian and author Sarah Bradford says, it is 'Conscientiously researched, with illuminating first-hand insights ... the most complete and sympathetic life of his contradictory subject yet written.' Historian, writer and journalist Kenneth Rose, himself a friend of the Princess for over 40 years, commented, 'Princess Margaret used to say about her life of mixed fortunes that she had been misunderstood since the age of 17. At least she has been fortunate in her biographer. With her co-operation, Christopher Warwick has written a faithful and illuminating memorial to that mercurial Princess.' Jennie Bond, the senior royal correspondent for the BBC added her voice to the acclaim for this authorized biography, saying, 'In this thoroughly researched and well-written book, Christopher Warwick provides a fascinating insight into Princess Margaret's character and troubled life. It's highly readable and has something for novices and experts alike.'

Product details

  • Format: Kindle Edition
  • File Size: 1793 KB
  • Print Length: 368 pages
  • Publisher: Andre Deutsch (2 Sep 2011)
  • Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
  • Language English
  • ASIN: B005PXUXL8
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #36,747 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Quite a disapointment 31 Aug 2009
Format:Paperback
The English royal family is my main interest and I have read quite a lot of good books concerning among others: Edvard VII, Edvard VIII, George VI, queen Elisabeth, and the now deceased Queen Mother. This book about Princess Margaret's life was a total disappointment. It brought nothing new - not the tiniest bit of information that I did not know before. Don't waste your time and money on it. It must be more fulfilling books.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:  4 reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Probably one of the saddest royals . . . 27 Oct 2007
By Parkermann347 - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
A few weeks ago, I saw online a copy of the auction catalog for the estate of Princess Margaret. Bemused, I bought it to look at and only gradually did the sadness of the whole thing start to sink in.
This particular biography spends a great deal of time chronicling the childhood, war years and the Townsend affair, but the last forty years of the Princess' life after that is glossed over. Why? It's as though she died once the Townsend thing was finished. The rest feels like a post- mortem. Her older years should be the more important part of her life, a time of growing up, reflection and maturity, but the author shies away from this. There are brief mentions of her 'spirituality' but one almost gets the idea it's when she was too sick to party that she settled down and pulled out the Bible for lack of anything else to do. There is only a glossing over of the 40 or so years of her life after Townsend and it's as though the author was told in no uncertain term, "Hands Off!"
This approach is what is so disappointing about the biography and it shows up in the others previously written. Is the mythos of royalty that powerful that no one can write an honest assessment of the Princess' life?
In any case, the facts of her life are so well known that newer insights would have been appreciated. She lead, ultimately a very sad sort of existence. Heir to her uncle's weaknesses, her behavior in addition to that of the the more 'modern' royals throughout the years brought the monarchy down into the mud. Then, for almost 30 years she became a shadow figure. What happened to her, what did she go through? None of this is explained, no interviews from currently living relatives or friends shed any light on this part of her life.
What's tragic is that she never really seemed to find her place, what her special 'calling' might haver been other than as tabloid fodder. Even with his overly conservative text, the author makes it very clear with what isn't said.
To top off all of this, the recent auction held by her children is unutterably sad and in poor taste. Couldn't they have sold the items in question through private channels? After all the years with their mother, etc, they fling yet more mud on her even in death. It's so pathetic.
I wonder if they regret following her wishes to have her body cremated - Just think if they'd had her stuffed at a taxidermist, they could have made even MORE money selling her carcass too. . .
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Not Close Enough 30 Aug 2002
By Scott Jeffe - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
Princess Margaret was a complicated character, and I was hoping to really see her "life of contrasts" brought to life by Mr Warwick. That this book was authorized, and the author was a friend of the princess, perhaps worked against us in really gettomg a clear picture of the princess. I think that through years of friendship and loyalty [the only way you become a freind of a member of the royal family] Warwick may have left out some of the most complex and intriguing aspects of her story. Although a good "run down" of all the ups and downs of Margaret's life, there was nothing here that one couldn't get out of any other book about Margaret -- with the exception of the fact that there weren't the salacious rumors that have been in other books recently put out about the princess.
It would have been interesting to get a better picture about what the princess felt about various things in her life and family-- beyond hating her grandmother Queen Mary (the most interesting tidbit of the whole book)-- but perhaps princess Margaret understood that old maxim that "you should never let daylight in on the majic"
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Some new photographs but little else not known 23 May 2002
By A reader - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
I was looking forward to this book because it was publicized as authorized by Princess Margaret. Also the writer has known her personally for twenty years.

I was disappointed and am glad that I borrowed it from my library. I wouldn't buy it, but had been prepared to if I felt it added to my knowledge of the Royal Family. Many repeats of stories I've read before.

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