Product Description

This is a story of the most well documented, most commented on love affair of our times. Yet the personalities behind the fa-ade remain elusive and the nature of their relationship is an enigma. This is the first major biography of Charles and Camilla, two people who have battled against the curious lot that fate has thrown their way. Gyles Brandreth returns to the same ground as his last book, the bestselling "Philip and Elizabeth"; "Portrait of a Marriage". This again will be a unique royal biography, as the author has met all the principal players, has had privileged access to the royal family. This will be a powerful and revealing portrait of a remarkable relationship, told with authority and insight and illustrated with photographs from the royal collection.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #190763 in Books
• Published on: 2005-10-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 368 pages

From the Publisher
The first substantial, authoritative biography of Charles and Camilla and their relationship

From the Inside Flap
This is the definitive account of one of the most extraordinary stories of our time.Gyles Brandreth, the acclaimed biographer of the Queen and Prince Philip, now presents a unique portrait of their son, Charles, Prince of Wales, and of the one ‘non-negotiable’ love of his life, Camilla Shand.

Charles is heir to the throne. Camilla is the great-granddaughter of Edward VII’s mistress, Alice Keppel. Their images are known around the world, but what are Charles and Camilla really like? What has made them the way they are? And what is the secret of their relationship - a relationship that began thirty-four years ago, at a polo match at Windsor - survived the roller-coaster ride of separation, other affairs, his marriage to Diana Spencer, hers to Andrew Parker Bowles - and culminated in their own wedding, back at Windsor, on 8 April 2005?

This is a family saga like no other, told with unrivalled authority and insight by the one writer who has met all the characters in the drama: Charles, Camilla, Diana, their children, their families and their friends.

Sumptuously illustrated, Charles and Camilla: Portrait of a Love Affair is both a matchless souvenir of a royal wedding without precedent and a remarkable – and revealing - psychological portrait of two unusual individuals. This is, without doubt, the royal biography of 2005

From the Back Cover
‘The writer who got closest to the human truth about our long-serving senior royals.’ Libby Purves, The Times

‘Boldly goes where other royal biographers have previously feared to tread.’ Humphrey Carpenter, Sunday Times

‘He has had enviable access and he has used it well.’Penny Junor, Daily Telegraph

‘Wonderfully entertaining - impressive - compelling.’ John-Paul Flintoff, Financial Times

‘Thoughtful - outrageous - sympathetic, wholly original, often hilarious, occasionally profound and unfailingly interesting.’Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday

‘Not merely, like all the best after-dinner speakers, does he know how to spin a yarn – unlike most politicians, he has a touching access to the secrets of the human heart.’ Anthony Holden, The Times

‘A fine and sympathetic writer - a good witness.’Michael Harrington, Times Literary Supplement

Customer Reviews

What does this book tell us about Gyles Brandreth ?
10 stars
if you want to know which member of the "who is who"
shagged with whom and when
10 stars
if you want to know which member of the royal family
talked to the author when and how often
25 stars
for the author's self-complacency and overestimation
3 stars
if you want to learn something about Camilla's family background
2 stars
if you want to learn something new about the PoW and the DoC
1 star
if you like reading entertaining and well written books
0 stars
if you happen to be so silly - like me - to have bought this book
minus 10 stars
if I will ever be so sick to buy another book by this author
So all in all, that leaves very very positive results for the unbearably pompous and self deluding Gyles Brandreth and you will learn a lot about this gentleman, more than you ever wanted.
Unfortunately, the "first substantial, authoritative biography of Charles and Camilla and their relationship" is an utter failure.

What does this book tell us about Gyles Brandreth ?,
10 stars
if you want to know which member of the "who is who"
shagged with whom and when
10 stars
if you want to know which member of the royal family
talked to the author when and how often
25 stars
for the author's self-complacency and overestimation
3 stars
if you want to learn something about Camilla's family background
2 stars
if you want to learn something new about the PoW and the DoC
1 star
if you like reading entertaining and well written books
0 stars
if you happen to be so silly - like me - to have bought this book
minus 10 stars
if I will ever be so sick to buy another book by this author


So all in all, that leaves very very positive results for the unbearably pompous and self deluding Gyles Brandreth and you will learn a lot about this gentleman, more than you ever wanted.

Unfortunately, the "first substantial, authoritative biography of Charles and Camilla and their relationship" is an utter failure.

An Insider's Biography
Gyles Brandreth can write almost as amusingly as he can talk. And if you have heard him talk, you will know that, once he opens his mouth, he doesn’t stop to draw breath if he can help it! This book seems to enjoy the best and the worst qualities of the author rather than those of the two subjects. There is, frankly, not a great deal here which we did not already know about Charles or Camilla. Their backgrounds are given lengthy and fairly balanced histories from which both appear to be ideally suited to each other. The author knows them both quite well and he has certainly spoken to many of their close friends, most of whom he feels able to name. His conclusion seems to be that, whatever the individual shortcomings of Charles and Camilla, their combination as a couple enjoys the best prospects for happiness all round. The former lady in the equation is brilliantly summed up on page 233. I have never read a more accurate analysis of the Diana experience: you must buy the book to find out what I mean! You will also find it useful to construct some family trees. Brandreth goes into interminable length to enumerate all the family connections of both of himself and of everyone remotely connected with those he is describing: his footnotes are almost annoyingly detailed, sometimes straying onto the next page. The price that Amazon is charging for this book makes it well worth buying. You will be assured of an entertaining read.