Kitty Kelley - The Royals

Copyright 1997 by H.B. Productions, Inc.

Afterword copyright 2010 by H. B. Productions, Inc.

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieving system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Funeral Blues copyright 1940 by W.H. Auden. Reprinted by permission of Curtis Brown, Ltd.

Grand Central Publishing

Hachette Book Group

237 Park Avenue

New York, NY 10017

Visit our website at www.HachetteBookGroup.com.

www.twitter.com/grandcentralpub.

Grand Central Publishing is a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

The Grand Central Publishing name and logo is a trademark of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.

First eBook Edition: October 2010

ISBN: 978-0-446-56854-8

Deliciously readable pages that genuinely illuminate the careers of the flawed humans who have occupied and circled the throne this century. Never before have all the stories about all the bit players, from Prince Philip to Princess Margaret, from the Queen Mother to the grimly devoted old courtiers, been collected in a single, useful place.

Washington Post Book World

Salacious irreverent juicy details The product of four years research and is regarded as the most sensational of her scandal-packed oeuvre gripping.

Chicago Sun-Times

Dont you want to know who treated and counseled Fergie and for what? Dont you want to know the subject that was discussed on the missing minutes of the Princess Diana James Gilbey Squidgy tapesDont you want to see the pictures of Edward and Mrs. Simpson greeting Hitler with a warm clasp?

Los Angeles Times

A rarefied look inside the world of aristocracy.

Philadelphia Inquirer

Controversial an often fascinating look at what everyone seems to be talking about in the wake of the death of the Princess of Wales THE ROYALS is actually a close, and not always flattering, view of the entire royal family, starting with the present queens mother and father.

Dallas Morning News

Scandal-packed.

Vanity Fair

Miss Kelley is a fine writer and indefatigable researcher She has lost none of her edge here in THE ROYALS A delightful read As early as the second page, Miss Kelley is referring to the royal familys secrets of alcoholism, drug addiction, epilepsy, insanity, homosexuality, bisexuality, adultery, infidelity, and illegitimacy in this century. None of this is exaggerated, none of it is false.

Washington Times

Scathing a tonic following the near-canonization of the Peoples Princess.

Entertainment Weekly

Entertaining fun to read good stuff.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The larger, hotter rumors are as interesting for the way they are presented and justified as for what they contain.

The New Yorker

Illuminating insight into the royals lives and history.

Observer (London)

The best pages in THE ROYALS are about the hedonistic lives of Princess Margaret and her former husband, Anthony Armstrong Jones/Lord Snowden THE ROYALS makes a battle mace with which to dent a rusting crown.

San Diego Union-Tribune

A genuinely independent book about the monarchy.

Guardian (London)

An irresistible book Kelley does a boffo job on Sarah Ferguson her description of the Duke of Windsor is worthy of Noel Coward her Diana stories are a welcome antidote to the lachrymose news coverage of her death and funeral, as refreshing as sherbet between heavy courses. Choose your flavor.

American Spectator

A smorgasbord of scandalous tidbits warts-and-all biography.

People

Kelleys book sizzles.

Minneapolis Star Tribune

Kelleys pen is mightier than the sword.

Houston Voice

Nancy Reagan: The Unauthorized Biography
His Way: The Unauthorized Biography of Frank Sinatra
Elizabeth Taylor: The Last Star
Jackie Oh!
OPRAH: A Biography

To my husband John, who makes dreams come true.

Once in a while a family has to surrender itself to an outsiders account. A family can get buried in its own fairy dust, and this leads straight, in my opinion, to the unpacking of lies and fictions from its piddly shared scraps of inbred history.

From The Stone Diaries
by Carol Shields

I believe in aristocracy though, if that is the right word and if a democrat may use it. Not an aristocracy of power based upon rank and influence, but an aristocracy of the sensitive, the considerate and the plucky. Its members are to be found in all nations and classes and all through the ages and there is a secret understanding between them when they meet. They represent the true human tradition, the one permanent victory of our queer race over cruelty and chaos.

From a 1941 essay by
E. M. Forster

February 13, 1997

If a cat may look on a king, as the English proverb goes, so can a Kitty. The ancient king had been succeeded by a modern queen by the time I started to take my look. So I wrote to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II as a matter of courtesy and said I was researching a book on the House of Windsor. I respectfully requested an interview, but her press secretary replied that the Queen does not grant interviews.

Our policy, Charles Anson wrote on Buckingham Palace stationery, is to try to help bona fide authors writing serious books on the Monarchy and the Royal Family with factual information on matters of public interest. I shall, therefore, be happy to do this for you if you can first give me some indication of the theme of your book and the specific areas in which you would like to put questions to me.

He asked me to submit an outline. Naturally, I would treat this in complete confidence, he wrote. This puzzled me. Did he mean that he wouldnt show the outline to anyone, including the Queen and the rest of the royal family? Or was he going to keep it from the British press, which had been reporting (incorrectly) that I was writing a biography of the Queens husband, Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh?

Already the Duke was getting agitated about the prospect of someone writing a book about him that he had not authorized. In 1994, according to British reporters traveling with him, he threatened to sue me. While visiting New York, he was asked about the book that Kitty Kelley is writing, and he was quoted as saying, I will protect my good name. His pronouncement caused a stir in the British press. Never before has a member of the royal family personally issued such a blunt warning, wrote Chris Hutchins in Today. Prince Philip says he is prepared to sue and Buckingham Palace lawyers are already on full alert. The Daily Star reported the exchange as Princes Threat over Kitty Shocker: I Will Sue If Your Books Too Saucy.

The stories prompted numerous calls to my office in Washington, D.C., from men and women claiming to be the illegitimate offspring of royalty. From Argentina, Australia, England, Wales, and New York, people called to tell me of their royal parentage. They volunteered to send photos of themselves, extracts from family diaries, and letters from distant relatives to substantiate their claim, but none produced a birth certificate. Yet even without authentic documentation, they remained convinced that they had been sired outside of marriage by a member of the British royal family.