Amazon.co.uk Review
Anthony Holden has written, or at least reworked, three biographies of Charles, Prince of Wales, each a little more like a speech for the prosecution. Holden is a convinced republican--most notably expressing this in his study
The Tarnished Crown--but the republicanism is not pitched at any level much more sophisticated than an indictment of the moral character of the Windsors in general and Charles in particular.
In Charles: A Biography, Holden accepts that Charles has gone some way to redeeming himself by his behaviour during the crisis of confidence in the monarchy that followed Diana's death. Charles was always a loving father; Holden sardonically adds that he has effectively played the role of one in the aftermath of his sons' loss of their mother. However, it is also clear that he will not give up Camilla Parker-Bowles, the woman he has always adulterously loved, and equally clear that neither the British public nor the Church of England will accept their marriage, now she is divorced and he a widower.
Holden's case against Charles as a petulant, bullying crank is competently made. It is hard, though, to read it without feeling that, between the lines, the author has inadvertently indicted himself as obsessive and spiteful. --Roz Kaveney
Synopsis
A biography on the occasion of the prince's fiftieth birthday. A portrait of the divorced prince, now a widower, facing a choice between his children, the love of his live and the throne, or by trying to have all three. threatening the future of the monarchy. Offers an insight into the Prince's perspective on the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.
