Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“…his own losses were irreplaceable:” The Life and Times of a Private Secretary to Royalty

End of an Era: Letters and Journals of Sir Alan Lascelles 1887-1920 by Sir Alan Lascelles (Edited by Duff Hart-Davis)

King's Counsellor (Abdication and War: The Diaries of Sir Alan 'Tommy' Lascelles) by Sir Alan Lascelles (Edited by Duff Hart-Davis)

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I’m glad that I read these out of order, because going from reading the last volume, where Tommy is fully mature and in his element to the first volume, where he is a child, really drove home to me how much growing up and having the time to think and experience life can make someone less annoying and more thoughtful. I think if I’d started with the first book, it would have soured me on him because he is very of his time and class […]

“I can’t help thinking that the best thing that could happen to him, and to the country, would be for him to break his neck.”

In Royal Service: The Letters and Journals of Sir Alan Lascelles 1920-1936 (Vol. 2) by Sir Alan Lascelles (Edited by Duff Hart-Davis)

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This is a collection of mainly letters to friends and family from Sir Alan (“Tommy”) Lascelles, who worked as Assistant Private Secretary/Private Secretary for Edward VIII (David), the Governor-General of Canada, George V very briefly before his death, and George VI. There are also some letters from his wife and children in here as well to flesh out the portrait. The main reason to read this is the draw of Tommy’s descriptions and insight into David’s psychology and activities as the Prince of Wales, and […]

I suspect a complete lack of physical affection has led the British monarchy to where it is today.

Spare by Prince Harry

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CBR15 Bingo: Politics – The internal politicking of the British royal family is intriguing and horrifying. While not a British royal super fan, I’ve always been interested in them.  Queen Elizabeth’s corgis were part of the reason I got a corgi of my own. I thought I knew the broad strokes of Harry’s early life; trouble in schools, some drugs, partying, two stints in the military, and then he seemed to come into his own as an adult.  In recent years, I’ve followed the royals […]

One of My Top Books of the Year

The Quest for Queen Mary by James Pope-Hennessy (edited by Hugo Vickers)

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CBR15Bingo — History I love, love, loved this book. This is a highlight of my reading year so far and a real keeper for my library of royal books. I do wonder what it is about royalty that tends to attract gay men — glamour? — because I felt very in sympathy with Pope-Hennessy’s fascination with royalty as a separate species of human beings throughout (I related very much to him being described as unremittingly homosexual in the introduction). As someone with a not insubstantial […]

“Not to be devastated by my mistake, but instead to be motivated. He spoke to me with the quality one often encounters in truly wise people—forgiveness.”

Spare by Prince Harry

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I had no intention of reading Prince Harry’s memoir. Until I did. I should have known I’d cave, I’m a sucker for memoirs. There’s something about hearing a person’s story in their own words, particularly if that story is contested in some way, as Prince Harry’s has always been. What Spare is, at its core, is a person reckoning with the way in which they were raised, and the very real ways grief and trauma informed their experience of the world. That is the piece […]



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