COURTIERS

A behind-the-scenes look at the royal advisers to the British monarchy.

Where once the royal courtiers were men exclusively in black suits who came from the aristocratic dynasties and the elite schools in England, longtime royal correspondent Low shows how current-day courtiers reflect the changing nature of the British monarchy itself. As portrayed in The Crown, longtime advisers to the monarchy—e.g., Alan “Tommy” Lascelles (1887-1981), who “began his service under Edward VIII when he was still Prince of Wales”—were palace insiders with real power (and outsize personalities). Lascelles served three kings, and as a veteran courtier, he was “just the man to break in the new Queen.” In the early 1960s, Richard Colville, the queen’s hardened stickler for tradition, was replaced by William Heseltine, who brought in a refreshing transparency with the media and initiated the attitude that “the palace would have to be less insular and more forward-thinking.” While the queen had a straightforward relationship with her courtiers—one former secretary noted, “the worst she’ll say is: ‘Are you sure’ ”—King Charles is less direct and prone to “internal backstabbing.” Edward Adeane did not get along with Princess Diana and tried to keep Charles from making his incendiary speech against the “brutalist trend in modern architecture” in May 1984; Adeane resigned soon after. Mark Bolland, who arrived in the late 1990s, deserves “much of the credit for the way Camilla has been transformed from supposedly the most hated woman in Britain to the country’s future Queen.” The queen’s most recent private secretary, Sir Christopher Geidt, attempted, unsuccessfully, to consolidate the offices of the many royals. The author also delineates Prince Andrew’s press mishaps as well as Harry and Meghan’s attempts to create their own narrative. Ultimately, concludes Low in this detail-heavy narrative, “the courtier is there to guide, to open doors: it is up to the royal whether they walk through.”

Red meat for royal watchers; tedious for others.