Get Your Copy Princess Margaret: A Biography Imagined By Theo Aronson Distributed In Hardbound

was wellresearched. At times throughout the narrative however, the tense changed and it was difficult to tell whether Princess Margaret was still living or not although from the publication date, she was.
The fact that she was alive at the time of publication was finally made clear by the rather troublesome ending.
In fact, my main complaint is that the ending felt rushed, . . as if they were hurrying to get this into print before she did pass, That put a sad, rather hollow spin on the end, An update could remedy that, Princess Margaret was, when I was growing up, the royal rebel people cheered on, As much a 's icon as The Beatles or the miniskirt, she was always up to some exotic mischief, usually in some scorching Caribbean place and more often than not with the wrong man.
My parents' generation Margaret's slightly elder peers, and their own parents, had a soft spot for this princess whose personal dreams never came true.
'Poor Maggie,' was a common catchcry whenever she made tabloid headlines with yet another scandal,

Theo Aronson tells another side of the public's ideas on her how she earned widespread disapproval and media condemnation, not to mention much high Establishment tuttutting.
This the author qualifies with anecdotes which are entertaining, if not as thoroughly sourced as this reader would have liked a good proportion of these could have been plucked from the air just to amuse.


That much of the content is, conversely, very well documented, leaves the reader sceptical over quotes by so many unnamed people, e.
g. 'family friend', 'guest at the event' , 'high ranking official', etc, Of course, this also adds to the sense of intrigue we have come to expect from juicy royal biographies, yet this glaring feature places parts of the work more into the gutter press bundle than the authorised, legitimate one.
Indeed, certain passages degenerate to gossip level, cheapening the overall effect,

That said, this is, for the most part, an entertaining and well written piece, even with workmanship notably weaker in some parts than others.
Like his subject, Aronson is often a split case sycophantic in many of his praises of Margaret, whilst vitriolic in some of his judgements and criticisms.
This extremist swinging to and fro, between kindness and harshness, whilst matching perfectly the woman of whom he writes, lends the work a hyperbolic quality.
The author seems in parts to defend his contentious subject to the hilt, whilst in others viciously slapping her beautiful face curious, given that the princess was still alive at the time of this Princess Margaret's publication to read it.
Even so, I was compelled to read on,

Here was arguably the last grand royal princess, cavorting around with the louche arts and pop communities, often a maverick at odds with her status, often hysterically funny and theatrical, yet equally often a diva of the most pompous, imperious kind imaginable.
There was simply no predicting which of these polaropposite split characters she would be, As if she had a deeply set identity crisis, Just as there is never any predicting which route this author will take when relaying some episode will it be compassionate or condemnatory This shifting objectivity and judgement I found disconcerting yet interesting.


Like Diana who followed, this princess gave the monarchy that much needed humane element by being an openly flawed and selfcontradictory figure we all related to at some level.
She was brave, tragic, spoilt, vulnerable, mercurial, dutiful, extravagant, haughty, cynical, catty, . . yet when it boiled down to it bore the capacity to be infinitely kinder, more personally loyal and more down to earth than many royals we read of it all depended on who you asked and which occasion it related to.


I enjoyed this lightweight read, Though it could surely doubtful ever be considered the definitive work of its kind on this princess, I highly recommend it to the diehard royal biography buff.
If you have always wanted to be a princess and live in a palace, perhaps reading this biography might change your mind.


Princess Margaret was the younger daughter of King George VI, whom she adored, and Queen Elizabeth the current Queens's mother She was sister to Elizabeth II, the longest reigning monarch in England's history, and one supposes both of these girls led a life of charm, wealth, prestige, and honor.
Elizabeth went on to becoming queen at her father's death while Margaret went on to becoming a much maligned jet setter who earned a reputation for being quite controversial in all she did and especially in her choices of men.
Forced to give up a man she loved, Peter Townsend, because he was divorced, she

eventually married photographer, Antony ArmstrongJones, had two children and embarked on a road to a very shaky marriage.
Later, they divorced and Margaret's name was linked to many other men,

Margaret was brash, outspoken, and very often the brunt of newspaper headlines that portrayed her as wanton, snobbish, and impulsive.
Margaret once said "It was inevitable, when there are two sisters and one is the Queen, who must be the source of honour and all that is good, while the other must be the focus of the most creative malice, the evil sister.
"

It was often sad to read of Margaret's life, She always seemed to be in the spotlight and many of her remarks and activities were taken out of context.
In a way, one might say that Margaret was born before her time, She was a strong advocate of the arts, especially ballet, loved couture clothes, and represented her nation in countless ways.


In reality for Princess Margaret being royal, living in a palace, being a Princess was often a nightmare.
She handled this role as well as she could with the undeniable ability to be her own person with not a care as to who liked it or not.
In the end Margaret paved the way for divorce in the royal family and some think that was her legacy.


Thank you to Theo Aronson, Thistle Publishing, and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book,

I was fascinated with her while watching "The Crown" and so I picked this up, . . it wasn't too revealing in terms of what I knew about her growing up and following the royal family.
. . and it wasn't updated. this edition was published inand she died inand it just ends with her doing her party thing and getting illnesses from all the smoking and drinking.
It's also a sanitized version, . . carefully vetted by the Palace, I think, There's a new book about her in the UK, but it's a crazy preorder thing on amazon forbucks.
If anyone wants to pop over to London to get it, let me know, I have recently been reading William Shawcross's edited diaries of Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, divided into three volumes relating to the various stages of her life: Duchess of York, Queen and Queen Mother.
At some stage, I will read his biography, However, I decided, on the basis of references to the late Princess Margaret, to read this biography before that of her mother.
Born into a life of immense privilege, Margaret was an indulged, spoilt child, quite the opposite of her elder sister.
An idyllic childhood came to a halt at the time of the abdication of Edward VIII, The York family was catapulted into the foreground, the Duke of York became King and Margaret's elder sister, Elizabeth, heir presumptive, then heir apparent.
On the premature death of George VI, Elizabeth became Queen, The wilful Margaret, beautiful and intelligent, began to embark on a hedonistic lifestyle, Her illfated romance with Group Captain Peter Townsend was deemed to pose a significant threat to a Monarchy recovering from the Abdication crisis and World War Two.
Much was made of the fact that she gave up the man she loved, at great personal sacrifice, yet Margaret could never have countenanced the life of a private citizen, imbued as she was with her life of privilege, an income from the Civil List, servants at her beck and call.
Throughout the years, her disastrous love affairs, broken marriage, imperious manner and the perfunctory manner in which she performed any Royal duties did nothing to endear her to the public, at home and abroad.
Behaviour that can almost be endearing in a young, beautiful but precocious child does not sit well with age.
Her life has been described as 'tragic, . . a life unfulfilled' and we wonder where a beautiful, intelligent women lost her way in life, In this regard, Theo Aronson pulls no punches, His is no syrupy, grovelling account of the life of Princess Margaret, Whilst we may feel a degree of sympathy for her at times throughout the narrative, we might find her difficult to like.
it was with some sense of relief that I finished this book, No matter what difficulties Princess Margaret may have encountered throughout her life, the potential to adopt a different course was never far away.
I am reminded of the adage: 'We are not victims of circumstance we are children of choices, ' I've always been fascinated by Princess Margaret and this book didn't let me down,
As a young woman, she was undoubtedly stunningly beautiful and had the love life that unfortunately follows great beauty.
In complete contrast to Queen Elizabeth, her sister, life was a long roller coaster and she was everything her sister was not.

I enjoyed reading about the hypocrisy she showed to Princess Diana and the Duchess of York whom she believed to have brought shame on to the royal family!
I would have liked to read about the more controversial side of her life and an update to include the details of her death would be a great addition.
The book references the Princess' failing health in the concluding chapters and it leaves the reader wondering exactly how and where she died.

An informative, balanced and fair biography written by Theo Aronson, about one of the most controversial royals ever.
His insights are partially personal or from sources linked very close to the princess and can be relied upon completely.
,

I was kindly sent this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, This biography on Princess Margaret was well written and kept me reading from cover to cover, It gave a very good overview of her life and relationships as a princess and as a young woman who had all the privileges in life.


My only complaint is that no effort was made at all to update it there were a few sentences in the book that made it sound as though Princess Margaret is still alive and it does not end in the Princess' death.
I may have giveninstead ofif it had been brought up to date,

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC, Theo Aronson has written a very thorough and enjoyable history of Princess Margaret's life, Starting from her birth at Glamis castle in an era when Britain was an empire and the royal family exclusive and steeped in tradition, Aronson follows Margaret through her childhood, her uncle's abdication, WWII, her sisters marriage, her early popularity and lifestyle, her doomed affair with Peter Townsend, failed marriage to ArmstrongJones, motherhood and search for happiness and purpose.
Aronson does not gloss over Princess Margaret's faults, they are mentioned, such as her haughtiness, untimeliness and her inflated sense of grandiosity.
It does however also paint a picture of a woman who was born into unusual circumstances at a time when society was changing rapidly and the importance of people like her perhaps diminishing.
Overall I very much enjoyed reading about Princess Margaret's life,

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley only a few weeks, Therefore I was surprised that the book dealt with its subject as if Princess Margaret was still alive and did not cover her death in.
I do feel it would have made more sense to update the book before republication, Being an Anglophile and an avid reader of English Royalty biographies, I was immediately drawn to this one of Princess Margaret.
I have often read of her unfortunate dashed hopes of marrying divorcee Captain Peter Townsend, but have never read an entire biography of Princess Margaret's life until this one.


It is very wellwritten and had me solidly engaged for days, It begins with her parents' eventual marriage, of which took three proposals for her mother to accept, It was enchanting reading about Princess Margaret's childhood, with the lovely homes she occupied, the doting and dedicated help that taught and cared for her, and the very close and loving family the King and Queen and her older sister Princess Elizabeth enjoyed.
It also covers how Princesses Margaret and Elizabeth as children experienced World War II in England and the challenges that entailed.


As she grew into adulthood, the huge scandal of her wish to marry divorcee Captain Peter Townsend garners much discussion, as well as her eventual marriage to photographer Tony ArmstrongJones later known as Lord Snowden.
These are the widely known relationships of Princess Margaret, but this book covers several other serious romantic entanglements and very close friendships.


The book offered an excellent and very detailed overview of Princess Margaret's life, The only reason I took off one star was that it clearly was not updated since it was originally published in hardcover form in.
I know that Princess Margaret passed away in, yet it only covers some hospitalizations for strokes as the book comes to a close.
In fact, I was unaware that I had just finished the book, expecting to read of her death and details of her funeral which would have been very interesting.
Still, I would highly recommend this fine book on the life of Princess Margaret,

I graciously received this ebook from NetGalley in return for my honest review, .