My Mother and I
by Ingrid Seward
Simon & Schuster
This book is advertised as the real relationship between the newly minted King Charles III and his mother by esteemed royal biographer Ingrid Seward, who has regularly appeared on television and radio to offer her expert insights into the royal family.
There is always interest in everything to do with the British royal family and, with fourteen books to her credit, Seward would seem to be just the person to share insights and gossip on relationship between the long-term king-in-waiting and his mother.
Steward is a huge fan of Charles and says on the first page that he is “an idealist with an inborn sense of kindness, as he always believed in others and wanted to help them. He feels passionate about the quality of life for our descendants and the future of our planet”.
Born at a time when manners were more important than feelings, Charles was actually looked after by nannies and a governess while his parents had royal duties to attend to. He’d get an hour after tea with his mother if she was in the country.
Charles recalls his mother as being emotionally distant and his father (who would often reprimand and belittle Charles in front of guests) as being “beastly”. At the age of eight, Charles began living away from home at boarding schools and it was his grandmother that he relied on in times of trouble.
Steward comments that Charles, even as an adult, tried to win the approval from his busy mother and abrasive father. This, along with most of the other tidbits in the book, was probably gleaned from some of the 62 books on the royal family that are listed in the bibliography.
With the title My Mother and I, I had expected some contribution from Charles (silly me!) and something more than the fact that there really wasn’t much of a relationship between Charles and his mother before he began to understudy her position when her health deteriorated.
Steward isn’t hesitant to take sides – she is certainly on Team Camilla and definitely not on Team Diana as every comment about Diana is a vicious barb. Although initially supportive of Harry, Steward changes her mind when Harry moved to America and started “using his position as the spare to make a noise”.
Rather than being an “inside story”, the book is a summary of common knowledge about the king and the late queen, which some people might still find fascinating.
Lezly Herbert
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