A new season of The Crown is exciting in any year. However, in a year where we’ve been largely stuck inside and new television shows and films are in short supply right now, it is even more exciting. (Thank the tv gods for how far ahead The Crown films…) Instead of waiting until you’ve seen the new season to search “books like season 4 of The Crown”, I’m going to help you get ahead of the history! (There are no spoilers with history…) These are the best books to read for season four of The Crown, and will help you understand what is going on behind it.
Queen of the World, Robert Hardman
On today’s world stage, one leader stands apart. Queen Elizabeth II has seen more of the planet and its people than any other head of state, and has engaged with them like no other monarch in British history. Since her coronation, she has visited over 130 countries across the ever-changing globe, acting as diplomat, stateswoman, pioneer and peace-broker.
She has transformed her father’s old empire into the Commonwealth, her ‘family of nations’, and has come to know its leaders better than anyone. In 2018, they would gather in her own home to endorse her eldest son, the Prince of Wales, as her successor.
With extensive access to the Queen’s family and staff, Hardman tells a true story full of drama, intrigue, exotic and even dangerous situations, heroes, rogues, pomp and glamour – and, at the centre of it all, the woman who has genuinely won the hearts of the world.
Each season of The Crown features different geopolitical issues and events, and I find that it is usually my weakest spot in understanding. Queen Elizabeth II is head of the incredibly large Commonwealth, and I admit, I in no way know or understand everything happening everywhere throughout her entire reign. This biography looks at her global role, and how different events and figures have affected her reign. (And how she has affected them.) You do not need to know much going into it, which is helpful for starting out. It also includes more lighthearted moments in her reign. Because it focuses on one aspect of her reign, I found this to be a very accessible biography!
Prince Charles: The Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life, Sally Bedell Smith
Sally Bedell Smith returns once again to the British royal family to give us a new look at Prince Charles, the oldest heir to the throne in more than three hundred years. This vivid, eye-opening biography–the product of four years of research and hundreds of interviews with palace officials, former girlfriends, spiritual gurus, and more, some speaking on the record for the first time–is the first authoritative treatment of Charles’s life that sheds light on the death of Diana, his marriage to Camilla, and his preparations to take the throne one day.
Prince Charles brings to life the real man, with all of his ambitions, insecurities, and convictions. It begins with his lonely childhood, in which he struggled to live up to his father’s expectations and sought companionship from the Queen Mother and his great-uncle Lord Mountbatten. It follows him through difficult years at school, his early love affairs, his intellectual quests, his entrepreneurial pursuits, and his intense search for spiritual meaning. It tells of the tragedy of his marriage to Diana; his eventual reunion with his true love, Camilla; and his relationships with William, Kate, Harry, and his grandchildren.
Ranging from his glamorous palaces to his country homes, from his globe-trotting travels to his local initiatives, Smith shows how Prince Charles possesses a fiercely independent spirit and yet has spent more than six decades waiting for his destined role, living a life dictated by protocols he often struggles to obey. With keen insight and the discovery of unexpected new details, Smith lays bare the contradictions of a man who is more complicated, tragic, and compelling than we knew, until now.
I have recommended this biography before- it is a fascinating read/listen. It is particularly useful coming into the fourth season of The Crown, though, as Diana will finally appear, and the Wales’ marriage will presumably feature. In the third season, we saw Prince Charles attend Cambridge, and invested as the Prince of Wales after studying in Wales. As he becomes a larger fixture in the Windsor story on screen, now is the perfect time to catch up on his own story. However, know that Sally Bedell Smith has written this biography with a particular view in mind- she is very pro-Charles, and rather anti-Diana. (All biographies are written from a particular standpoint, and should not be considered neutral.)
Diana: Her True Story In Her Own Words, Andrew Morton
When Diana: Her True Story was first published in 1992, it forever changed the way the public viewed the British monarchy. Greeted initially with disbelief and ridicule, the #1 New York Times bestselling biography has become a unique literary classic, not just because of its explosive contents but also because of Diana’s intimate involvement in the publication. Never before had a senior royal spoken in such a raw, unfiltered way about her unhappy marriage, her relationship with the Queen, her extraordinary life inside the House of Windsor, her hopes, her fears, and her dreams. Now, twenty-five years on, biographer Andrew Morton has revisited the secret tapes he and the late princess made to reveal startling new insights into her life and mind. In this fully revised edition of his groundbreaking biography, Morton considers Diana’s legacy and her relevance to the modern royal family.
An icon in life and a legend in death, Diana continues to fascinate. Diana: Her True Story in Her Own Words is the closest we will ever come to her autobiography.
And if we are reading about Prince Charles, I would absolutely recommend delving into the story of Diana, Princess of Wales. This is in NO WAY a neutral biography- Andrew Morton is another journalist with a very specific viewpoint, and Diana worked with him closely to produce this. That doesn’t mean that it isn’t worth reading, just that it will be biased. With Finding Freedom recently published, chronicling the Sussex’ lives in a potentially similar manner, this is a rather timely read for both that reason and The Crown. (The Sussexes have stated that they did not collaborate with the authors of Finding Freedom at all, but that has been disputed by different sources.) This book will obviously cover past the fourth season, but will be excellent reading.
Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown, Anne Glenconner
An extraordinary memoir of drama, tragedy, and royal secrets by Anne Glenconner–a close member of the royal circle and lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret. As seen on Netflix’s The Crown.
Anne Glenconner has been at the center of the royal circle from childhood, when she met and befriended the future Queen Elizabeth II and her sister, the Princess Margaret. Though the firstborn child of the 5th Earl of Leicester, who controlled one of the largest estates in England, as a daughter she was deemed “the greatest disappointment” and unable to inherit. Since then she has needed all her resilience to survive the vipers of court life with her sense of humor intact.
A unique witness to landmark moments in royal history, Maid of Honor at Queen Elizabeth’s coronation, and a lady in waiting to Princess Margaret until her death in 2002, Anne’s life has encompassed extraordinary drama and tragedy. In Lady in Waiting, she will share many intimate royal stories from her time as Princess Margaret’s closest confidante as well as her own battle for survival: her broken-off first engagement on the basis of her “mad blood”; her 54-year marriage to the volatile, unfaithful Colin Tennant, Lord Glenconner, who left his fortune to a former servant; the death in adulthood of two of her sons; a third son she nursed back from a six-month coma following a horrific motorcycle accident. Through it all, Anne has carried on, traveling the world with the royal family, including visiting the White House, and developing the Caribbean island of Mustique as a safe harbor for the rich and famous-hosting Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Raquel Welch, and many other politicians, aristocrats, and celebrities.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review of this book! Lady Anne Glenconner has been associated with and around the Royal Family for most of her life. She served as a Maid of Honour at Queen Elizabeth’s coronation, and as a Lady in Waiting to Princess Margaret for years. Although this biography is about Anne and her family (very interesting on its own), she offers fascinating insights into royal life. I also really enjoy that it gives you more of an idea of what life is like for those on the royal periphery. Sadly, they aren’t alloted much time on The Crown– there isn’t time to spare- but I always wonder about them. (There is a second, shorter audiobook that is an interview with her, as well!)
If you are looking for my book recommendations for season 3 of The Crown, you can read my post here!
Books to read for season 4 of The Crown: what are you going to be reading?
Cheers,
The Historian
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