The Windsors are England’s most famous family, but what are they really like when they’re out of the public gaze? Behind closed doors in every Royal residence, from Buckingham Palace to Clarence House, there are two families – one upstairs and one down – and nobody knows a Royal quite like a Royal servant, intimately acquainted as they are with every quirk, foible and eccentricity. And there are … are a fair few! This is the inside story of the Royal Family through the eyes of those who know them best, a sneak peek behind the ermine-trimmed curtains to reveal what they really get up to in their spare time. Are they just like us? Or are they are a world apart? Here are the answers to everything we’ve ever wondered about the Royals: which programmes does the Queen watch on TV? What music did the Queen Mother listen to? Who can drive and who can’t? What is it like to attend a dinner party thrown by Charles and Camilla? Who are the most popular (and most unpopular!) Royals to work for and why? Not in Front of the Corgis is the real Upstairs Downstairs – a unique and fascinating collection of all the secrets you ever wanted to know about the Royal Family.
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As I’ve said before, I love behind-the-scenes stories. This is an interesting peek at the huge, staggeringly efficient support system that keeps the British Royal Family’s households running smoothly. Hoey even offers specific details on how much various employees are paid. (Note: it isn’t much.) I tend to read a subject to death (what choreographer Twyla Tharp calls “reading fat”), circling it from every possible direction, as I try to form as complete a picture as possible. Why do I do that? I haven’t a clue. Let’s blame it on the fact that I’m a writer!
I was interested for the first several chapters, but I pretty much got bored with reading what everyone’s salary is. Wouldn’t really recommend this book.
Good title but not very interesting. Just boring details of finances etc.
Not what I expected, but it was an interesting little book.
Cute
Juicy, royal gossip
I found it amusing, light reading. Fun for anyone who enjoys reading about the Royals.
I thought it was going to be about the dogs, it was another life & times of English Royalty. Never finished book!,,
wasn’ t what I expected. not much of interest
Get a real life view of the royals and their weird ways.
Boring
I expected more corgis, and humor, but it’s actually mostly factual and whisperings about the Royal Household.
Interesting for any fan of The Royal Family. A little too heavy on info regarding salaries, etc but imformative and fun.
Fascinating family who don’t pay their help very much.
Mildly informative a lot about the salaries of the staff.
I bought this book because my family is more than half British, because my grand-puppy is a corgi, and not the first or even second in our family. I didn’t realize that the book would have so little to do with the corgis. It is much more about the royals and the palaces and the staff.
I still read it through, though, because there is lots of history, intrigue, and politics in it, and it is fascinating to someone whose country is much younger than Britain, to see the hold that tradition has, on the way things are done.
If you hate People magazine, you might not like this book. If your family buys the special magazines, about Diana, Kate, and Meghan, you will probably love it.
This book is a collection of often strange or unusual factoids about the royal family. Anyone already knowledgeable about the Windsors probably knows most of the information contained in it, but it’s light reading and offers the occasionally entertaining trivia concerning them.
So very informative snd interesting!
an entailed description of the inner workings of the Windsor family
Cute funny story, I loved the corgis.