Product Description

Sarah Goodall spent 12 years working for Prince Charles as a Lady Clerk from 1988 to 2000 - the period during which his marriage to the Princess of Wales broke down amid a frenzy of media attention. Her experiences of life behind the scenes of the Royal Establishment have inspired this hilarious story of a naive and rather accident-prone young woman whose dreams all came true when she was given the opportunity to work for the heir to the throne. Sarah gets herself into numerous compromising situations, both at work and in her personal life, but she manages to establish a good rapport with her Royal employer. When the fairy tale comes crashing to an end, however, not even a final dramatic encounter with Prince Charles can save her from the axe. "The Palace Diaries" is an entertaining romp of a read that will delight and intrigue in equal measure.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #214951 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

From the Publisher
A Bridget Jones-style account of life working for Prince Charles

About the Author
Raised in Shrophsire, Sarah Goodall was employed as a Lady Clerk at St James's Palace in 1988 and received her MVO in 1999. She left the Palace in December 2000 and now works as a freelance secretary. Once Librarian to the former Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman, Nicholas Monson's first book, The Nouveaux Pauvres, became one of the Sunday Times' books of the year. He has written for Harpers & Queen, Tatler, the Sunday Telegraph, the Sunday Express, the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday. He lives in London.

Customer Reviews

A light-hearted look at The Royals...
The Palace Diaries is both interesting and humorous. If you are keen to have a light-hearted look at what 'allegedly' goes on behind Royal doors...then give this book a read.

I am sure Ms Goodall has many more juicy stories to tell regarding her time with The Royals! Maybe a follow-up at some point?

Sort of interesting!
Just finished this book. I thought it was a really sad book. There are some interesting and funny parts but I felt that Ms. Goodall was really holding back and not telling the full story out of fear perhaps of the Royal family? The back stabbing that goes on is chilling.

She nauseatingly gushes over and grovels at Prince Charles' feet. And although she tries to kiss Camilla's feet too (why not-if you can't beat them, join them) in the end it did not do her any good.

It was very disturbing her thoughts as she stood by Princess Diana's coffin - something to the effect of "Good-bye you strange woman!

Her sexcapades were pathetic and it was really sad how she dumped 2 or 3 lovely boyfriends and ended up alone with her memories!

There is a hilarious part where she arranges a meeting with the Prince two months after she had been canned. She says that she is very upset at what happened and the clueless Prince thinks she is talking about the recent Foot and Mouth epidemic among the cattle! Good reading for a long, rainy day!

Very entertaining
I thought this book was extremely funny. It was not a book for people who are very serious about the royal family, however. Everyone I know who has read it enjoyed it very much. Like another reviewer, I though Goodall's love life was pathetic with the poor choices she has made over the years. Maybe she has learned a few lessons along the way. She certainly does have wit and a self-effacing sense of humor.