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The Palace Papers
- Inside the House of Windsor, the Truth and the Turmoil
- Narrated by: Tina Brown
- Length: 17 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Biographies & Memoirs, Politics & Activism
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Publisher's Summary
Brought to you by Penguin.
From the queen's stoic resolve to the crisis of Meghan and Harry. From the ascendance of Camilla and Kate to the downfall of Andrew.
Full of remarkable inside access, The Palace Papers by Sunday Times best-selling author Tina Brown will change how you understand the Royal Family.
'Never again', became Queen Elizabeth II's mantra shortly after Diana's death. More specifically, there could never be 'another Diana'—a member of the family whose global popularity upstaged, outshone and posed an existential threat to the British monarchy. Picking up where The Diana Chronicles left off, The Palace Papers reveals how the royal family reinvented itself after the traumatic years when Diana's blazing celebrity ripped through the House of Windsor like a comet.
Tina Brown takes listeners on a tour de force journey that shows the queen's stoic resolve as she coped with the passing of Princess Margaret, the Queen Mother and her partner for seven decades, Prince Philip, and triumphed in her Jubilee years even as the family dramas raged around her. She explores Prince Charles's determination to make Camilla his queen, the tension between William and Harry who are on 'different paths', the ascendance of Kate Middleton, the disturbing allegations surrounding Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein and Harry and Meghan's stunning decision to 'step back' as senior royals. Despite the fragile monarchy's best efforts, 'never again' seems fast approaching.
Critic Reviews
"A brilliant book. Tina Brown has inside knowledge and writes so well." (Lady Anne Glenconner, author of Lady in Waiting)
What listeners say about The Palace Papers
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- BeatrixBalazar
- 03-05-2022
nothing new
Tina Brown only rehashed everything you can get on YouTube or online and in the papers. Waste of money.
3 people found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 03-05-2022
Easy listen but nothing new.
It was an easy listen but didn’t really reveal anything that hasn’t been said or written by someone in the past (including media). If you haven’t listened or read many Royal publications you may get more out of it but for me who has an holistic and solid overview, it was a re hashing of information as opposed to something new and fresh.
3 people found this helpful
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- Kiama
- 05-05-2022
Just read it - Sadly Tina’s voice snuffs out all the fun!
Tina Brown’s writing is such a delicious mix of high-brow erudition with cheeky gossip. Allowed to read her own words it’s hard to believe she penned them. Monotone and mispronouncing simple words - it’s hard work to listen to. I wish it could have been read with the verve it deserves.
1 person found this helpful
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- Burger47
- 11-05-2022
Enjoyable but surface research
Really enjoyed it. A little disappointed that Meghan Markles history and narrative were taken from her soundbites rather than any depth of research, which makes me wonder about the veracity of some of the other revelations, but it was interesting.
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- Jon
- 09-05-2022
Interesting and informative
Tina Brown writes very well and I’m sure she checks her facts carefully. I enjoyed the Dianna Chronicles better, but this book covers a lot more ground. Thanks for the hard work Ms Brown.
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- Zara
- 03-05-2022
Nothing new or noteworthy
No new information or scoops. Don’t bother with this book. All of the topics covered are common knowledge already.
4 people found this helpful
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- alison singleton
- 30-04-2022
Nothing new here
The endless rehashing of information that is already out in the public domain. in other books, in newspaper articles. We know it all and we learn nothing. The newspaper reviews are hyped as the author obviously has friends and contacts in publishing but none in royal circles or even those of their servants.
3 people found this helpful
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- krissi
- 01-05-2022
Nothing new.....
It's all been in the papers, TV,......etc.
Don't bother to download this pish.
Please don't..
Tina brown..... You've lost brownie points, tons.
2 people found this helpful
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- Malcolm Mills
- 15-05-2022
Interesting
Nothing new. We have read it all in the press over the years. I thought the author very sarcastic about the members of the royal family, showing little respect. She read it it as if she could not wait to get it over.
1 person found this helpful
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- Celia J.
- 12-05-2022
A Waste of Time
Very disappointing. This is a rehash of what we already knew. A waste of money.
1 person found this helpful
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- sue mccormick
- 10-05-2022
palace paper's
Very informative , and it was a nice touch that Tina Brown narrated her own book, thoroughly enjoyed it .
1 person found this helpful
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- Gwenneth
- 09-05-2022
Interesting but read badly
Yet again I’m astonished that someone intelligent enough to write a book isn’t capable of correct pronunciation. It was dreadful and jarring in that respect.
1 person found this helpful
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- bamdad dashtban
- 01-05-2022
Guilty gossip pleasure
Tina Brown is snarky and snobbish. Appreciate the research. If you like the crown this will complement nicely. Nothing revelatory but entertaining
1 person found this helpful
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- half pass
- 22-05-2022
Nothing new
I was looking forward to this a lot but if you’ve read about the RF over years there really is nothing new at all. If you haven’t then I think this has lots of interesting snippets for you. I can’t really understand all the hype. I found the narration too fast for me sometimes ( it varied) but a pleasant voice.
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- Annie
- 22-05-2022
Don't bother.
A rehash of stories from newspapers and cheap royal documentaries. The potty mouthed gruff Colonel Blimp timbre of the author is more clipped than those she mocks and the book is clearly 300 pages. too long. The playing to the American audience reduces it. In an interview she said the British hates Meghan not allowing for the fact that we embraced her arrival until the couple's entitled behaviour and hypocrisy began to unravel. As usual, Harry proves a tired subject whose loutish behaviour has long since exhausted the excuses of childhoold grief. Meghan's behaviour, reminiscent of the 'ugly American abroad', is worringly underpinned by Harry's enthusiasm for grudge bearing and victimhood. Together they feed each other's nuerosis. Their cackhanded leaving of the royal family was typical of their ill thought out and paranoid approach and it was undoubtedly with relief that the Queen and the country were finally able to close the door on them. Harry forgot he was number 'six on the call sheet' - irrelevance could not have been more stark. Brown makes a mistake in saying the Royal Family needs the Sussexes The last thing the country needs is Diana 2 but one senses Brown still hasn't outgrown that orbit. Frankly, do we care who the King of the Netherlands is? He carries out his duties and represents his country. What more do we need to know.
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