William & Harry - Softcover

Ingrid Seward has been writing about the Royal Family for over twenty years since her appointment as editor of "Majesty" magazine in 1983 and is internationally acknowledged as one of the leading experts in the field. Her previous books include "William and Harry"; "Diana: Portrait of a Princess"; "By Royal Invitation"; "Royalty Revealed"; "Sarah, Duchess of York"; "Royal Children of the 20th Century"; "Prince Edward"; "The Last Great Edwardian Lady: The Life and Style of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother"; and "The Queen and Di."

Seward, author of The Queen and Di, takes a close look at Charles and Di's progeny, Princes William (the heir) and Harry (the "spare"), in this primly trashy dual biography. Unfortunately, for all their genetic glamour, their Royal Highnesses are rather dull and callow in the flesh, at least as revealed here. Seward drift-nets gossip from an assortment of teachers, nannies, body-guards, relatives of friends and even a party clown, calls in a battery of child-psychologists to assess the damage from their parents' famously unhappy marriage, and discourages (and yet somehow subtly fuels) speculation about Harry's provenance. But William, the reluctant celebrity slouching into manhood, and the avowedly redundant Harry ("'You're going to be king. It doesn't matter what I do,'" he is reported to have said at age nine) gravitating to drink, minor loutishness and polo does not make for gripping reading. The book, instead, is dominated by the larger-than-life figure of their mother, Diana-her crying jags, her bulimia, her lovers, her tell-all interviews and her love/hate relationship with the paparazzi who prized and hounded her. Seward writes cleanly and has done her share of research, but this book is for true royals fans only. Photos.
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