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Meghan. Liz. Camilla. Di.

 I'm reading "The Palace Papers," by Tina Brown, and it's quite long. The Prince Charles portion drags on. (And on and on and on.) Still, there are treats. For example:


*Despite her self-absorption, Margaret was an excellent parent. The Margaret/child bond was quite a bit stronger than the Elizabeth/child bond. When Margaret's child was unhappy at school, Margaret responded in a sensitive way. When Charles suffered in his Scottish boarding school/penal colony, Elizabeth said, "Tough it out."

*People liked to work with Philip. People liked to work with Margaret. (She listened when her employees described their needs, and she chose gifts accordingly.) It seems that no one likes to work with Charles, who comes off as clueless, self-pitying, disorganized, and insufferable.

*Flaws aside, Charles understood that East/West relations were a major problem long before 9/11. Charles was also talking about the toxicity of plastics many, many years before paper straws became "a thing." He was turning down plastic straws at a time when this was "unheard of."

*William can be civil around Camilla; Harry is still sort of transparently hostile.

*Earl Spencer said--at Diana's funeral--that Diana's "blood family" would look after William and Harry. This was hot air. The Windsor family looked after William and Harry. Elizabeth II was enraged when Earl Spencer spoke; years later, at the unveiling of a Diana monument, Elizabeth allowed herself a rare moment of pettiness. She said, to Earl Spencer, "I hope you feel satisfied."

*Philip became angry when the Spencers tried to dictate the behavior of William and Harry in the days after Diana's death. "Stop that," he shouted into the phone. "These children have lost their mother." Tina Brown believes that Philip's fatherly protectiveness had its roots in his own memories of childhood; he basically lost his mother when he was very little. She was institutionalized; she began dressing like a nun, and she was often off-limits. Philip's mother-in-law was difficult in her own way; the Queen Mother wanted to keep the monarchy old-fashioned, while Philip attempted small steps toward modernization. Philip was always kind to his mother-in-law, but he learned to expect little moments of passive-aggressive maneuvering, up at the Castle of Mey.

*I haven't read much about Meghan yet, but Tina Brown dislikes her. Brown seems skeptical when Meghan says, "I didn't really read up on life within the monarchy...." This is particularly hard to take because Meghan was a notably hard worker on the set of "Suits."

Stay tuned.
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