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The Quest for Queen Mary

James Pope-Hennessy's official biography of Queen Mary, edited by 'the most knowledgeable royal biographer on the planet' - Financial Times

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The Quest for Queen Mary

By: James Pope-Hennessy, Hugo Vickers
Narrated by: Gareth Armstrong, Tim Bentinck
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About this listen

 A charming account of the life of enigmatic Queen Mary, wife of King George V, and a magnetic portrait of a vanished age

'Gloriously indiscreet . . . the best royal book ever' - Harry Mount, Financial Times

When James Pope-Hennessy began his work on Queen Mary's official biography, it opened the door to meetings with royalty, court members and retainers around Europe. The series of candid observations, secrets and indiscretions contained in his notes were to be kept private for 50 years. Now published in full for the first time and edited by the highly admired royal biographer Hugo Vickers, this is a riveting, often hilarious portrait of the eccentric aristocracy of a bygone age.

Giving much greater insight into Queen Mary than the official version, and including sharply observed encounters with, among others, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, the Duke of Gloucester, and a young Queen Elizabeth, The Quest for Queen Mary is set to be a classic of royal publishing.

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Critical acclaim for The Quest for Queen Mary:

'A delightful insight into an eclectic life'
The Daily Telegraph

'Very funny and astute . . . a loathly feast for royal-watchers'
Hilary Mantel, New Statesman Books of the Year 2018

'A complete delight, conjuring up, with a few sharp strokes of the pen, a mad, exotic species from a world gone by'
Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday Art & Literature Authors Europe Great Britain Politics & Activism Royalty World Witty Funny
All stars
Most relevant
A book about a book could be perhaps tedious but Hugo Vickers’ editing of a now-unread biography of Queen Mary (by James Pope-Hennessy) is an amusing, and indeed sometimes hilarious, condensation of conversations and interviews with many members of the European and Scandinavian royal families, nearly all descended from Queen Victoria. The gossip, the bitchiness, the scandalous stories, the descriptions of palaces fabulous and in decline, would have definitely amused Queen Victoria. It certainly amused me.

Hilariously vivid portraits of many crazy (by their own admission) royals

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Compulsive listening . I'm on my 3rd repeat and will definitely listen to it again.

Enthralling.

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Great performance, personally, would have liked the male voices a little more distinctively different.. sometimes hard to distinguish who was talking.
Loved the way that the process of writing such a biography was explained in such detail, and then how PH’s privates notes, recordings etc were collared and brought to life to give a ‘behind the scenes- outtakes or personal notes; provided an unusual, ‘ography’ inside the ‘biography!’
Made for an exciting, honest, and highly interesting book! Now on the hunt for more like this!

A must listen for any biography bod!

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An absolute joy to listen to. The use of material fabulous and to have a genuine account of our current Monarch and all that have gone before her was delivered excellently, informative and most important at times hilarious.

At some middle chapter I was thinking that I cannot wait to listen to this again!

Highly recommended if you have an interest in the Royal family. Some previous knowledge advised given the amount of people covered.

Sheer brilliance

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I think you have to have read the full on biography before reading or listening to this book. That said this, particularly the section describing visits to or with the then Duke of Gloucester, is one of the funniest books I have ever come across.

Fascinating

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