Drawing on her extensive access to the Royal Family s inner circle, Sally Bedell Smith delivers unprecedented insights into Prince Charles, a man who possesses a fiercely independent spirit, and yet has spent his life in waiting for the ultimate role. Beginning with his lonely childhood, Smith details his intellectual quests, his entrepreneurial pursuits, and his love affairs from the tragedy of his marriage to Diana to his eventual reunion with Camilla as well as his relationship with the next generation of royals, including Will, Kate, Harry, and his beloved grandchildren. As this sweeping biography shows, Prince Charles is more complicated and compelling than we knew until now.
Advance praise forPrince Charles
Prince Charles is an eighteenth-century gentleman with a twenty-first-century mission. His love of tradition combines with an outlook that can be bracingly avant garde. Sally Bedell Smith captures his contradictions and his convictions in this fascinating book that is not just about a man who would be king, but also about the duties that come with privilege. Walter Isaacson
For all we know about Prince Charles, there is so much we didn t know until now. Sally Bedell Smith has given us a complete and compelling portrait of the man in the shadow of the throne. It s all here, from the back stairs of the palaces to the front pages of the tabs. Read all about it! Tom Brokaw
No one writes about life at the top with more panache than Sally Bedell Smith. HerPrince Charlesis a delicious blend of glamour and grandeur, jealousy and rivalry, greatness and human foible. Smith writes with wisdom and sympathy and a sharp and knowing eye about the struggles and maturation of the man who would be King. Evan Thomas
This great biography is an indispensable guide for anyone eager to understand Prince Charles and the British monarchy in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. What an achievement what work went into it, and all of it presented with such ease.It is so fair, while suggesting so much. Peggy Noonan