Books featured on The Royal Beat: Book Club
A Royal Life
HRH The Duke of Kent has been at the heart of the British Royal Family throughout his life. As a working member of the Royal Family, he supported his cousin The Queen, representing her at home and abroad, until her death in 2022. His royal duties began when, in 1952, at the age of sixteen, he walked in the procession behind King George VI's coffin, later paying homage to The Queen at her Coronation in 1953. Since then he has witnessed and participated in key Royal occasions.
A Royal Life is a unique account based on a series of conversations between the Duke and acclaimed Royal historian Hugo Vickers. It covers the Duke's upbringing, his army life, his royal tours and events and associations with organisations. Here too are recollections of family members including his mother, Princess Marina, his grandmother, Queen Mary, his cousin, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, and his uncle, King George VI.
Other members of the Royal Family contribute their memories, including his wife, the Duchess of Kent, the Duke's siblings, Princess Alexandra and Prince Michael of Kent, his son, the Earl of St Andrews, his daughter, Lady Helen Taylor as well as his cousins, Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia, Archduchess Helen of Austria and her brother, Hans Veit Toerring.
Containing never before seen photographs from the Duke's private collection and a new chapter on the Platinum Jubilee and the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, A Royal Life is an unprecedented and remarkable insight into Royal history.
As seen in: The Royal Beat: Book Club – The Queen’s Cousin
Series 1, Episode 5: Kate Thornton is joined by the daughter of The Duke of Kent, Lady Helen Taylor, to discuss the book about her father's upbringing and work. Author of 'A Royal Life', Hugo Vickers, and former press secretary to Queen Elizabeth II, Ailsa Anderson, also join the show to talk about the Duke's dedication to the crown. It covers everything from His Royal Highness's childhood and his time in the army, to his royal tours, charity work and his loving and supportive relationship with his first cousin, Queen Elizabeth II.
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