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On Royalty: A Very Polite Inquiry Into Some Strangely Related Families | 
 enlarge | Author: Jeremy Paxman
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Category: Book
List Price: $26.95
Buy New: $5.00
You Save: $21.95 (81%)
New (6) Used (11) from $4.73
Avg. Customer Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 118973
Format: Bargain Price
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 370
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.7
Dewey Decimal Number: 941.0099
ASIN: B00119UG44
Publication Date: May 7, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
The notable characteristic of the royal families of Europe is that they have so very little of anything remotely resembling true power. Increasingly, they tend towards the condition of pipsqueak principalities like Liechtenstein and Monaco—fancy-dress fodder for magazines that survive by telling us things we did not need to know about people we have hardly heard of.
How then have kings and queens come to exercise the mesmeric hold they have upon our imaginations? In On Royalty renowned BBC journalist Jeremy Paxman examines the role of the British monarchy in an age when divine right no longer prevails and governing powers fall to the country's elected leaders. With intelligence and humor, he scrutinizes every aspect of the monarchy and how it has related to politics, religion, the military and the law. He takes us inside Buckingham Palace and illuminates the lives of the monarchs, at once mundane, absurd and magical. What Desmond Morris did for apes, Paxman has done for these primus inter primates: the royal families. Gilded history, weird anthropology and surreal reportage of the royals up close combine in On Royalty, a brilliant investigation into how an ancient institution struggles for meaning in a modern country.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
 Good book. July 5, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
It was a good book, very well researched as well as giving both the good and bad points on having a monarchy within a country.
 Not gossip,but rather political & social ramifications. April 21, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book gives insight on how the Church of England and the government of the U.K. affect the royal family,and how the royals affect general society.
There are a few behind the scenes,or below the stairs type tidbits.
Overall it was a fine history lesson.
An Entertaining look at Royalty April 17, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
ON ROYALTY was a fun read and a pleasant surprise. Jeremy Paxman takes us on a delightful and sometimes irreverant journey into the world's royalty. Seeing the picture of Queen Elizabeth II of England led me to expect the book to primarily deal with the British Monarchy and the Windsor clan. Although the British Royal Family is prominently featured in the book, Paxman gives us insight into other royal families. His book is an often tongue-in-cheek look at that mystical institution where certain select people achieve a status above mere mortals. Although the British Monarchy is one of the world's oldest royal institutions, it is not without its share of controversy and question over lineage. More than once, a king or his heir was deemed not suitable for the throne (being Catholic was one reason) and a new King was chosen from relatives in Europe even though there were candidates in England who were much higher in the line of succession. Direct lineage did not assure one's right to be the next King of England. Find out how Thailand got its monarchy. Why is he the KING OF THE BELGIANS and not the KING OF BELGIUM? Paxman gives us so many obscure yet fascinating facts.
The brief monarchy of the Kings of Albania provides some insight into how a nobody can become a king. The Albanian royalty was created from scratch in the 20th Century as were the monarchies in other countries. New countries came into existence after WWI. As in the 19th century, sometimes a country either ran out of kings or decided a monarchy was the best way to go. When Sweden needed a new king, one of Napoleon's soldiers took the job. Norway needed a king so they looked to the Danish royal family for a candidate. Some lesser princes suddenly found themselves king of another country they had never visited. Being in the right place at the right time and you too can be king. You just never know when you might be chosen to be king. ON ROYALTY is a delight for royalty fans and history lovers. Royal institutions are fading. Kings are becoming less relevant in the modern world but more than a handful of countries still have a king or a queen. So sit down and dust off your royal crown and a wodnerful book and its look at royalty.
A Very Polite Review March 21, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Jeremy Paxman endeavours to produce a balanced look at today's British Royal Family. Why they behave as they do, the influences, events that have brought about the current family. He has confined his main comparisons to the Queen and Prince Charles with Prince Phillip in a minor role. It is a very readible and well researched book with many facts being presented in a style that keeps the book moving and does not allow it to get "bogged down". He has trod a very careful path through the Princess Diana era and on going influence. A book that aims to demonstrate how the Monarchy in England has evolved over the centuries.
 Biased leftwing dogma February 28, 2008
3 out of 10 found this review helpful
The author is a leftist who either assumes everyone agrees with his anti-monarchist opinion or, in the condescending manner of many of those of his political ilk, assumes that anyone who does not agree with him is not as intelligent. He implies the idea of monarchy is not rational, a typical leftwing talking point that thereby assumes "rational" is ill-informed and generally ill-read electorates voting in incompetent, nitwit political candidates based on looks and "charisma" and with absolutely no understanding of how to lead a nation. It has become what some of america's founding fathers assumed democracy would become - mob rule with all of its negative consquences. These democratically elected politicians are all in the back pockets of private business interest who care about money before they care about people - and again the world is seeing all of the consequences of that. Some representive government. The current European monarchs are each worth 100 of these elected leaders.
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