A royal performance.

I like reading about the royals or in this case listening to a story about them. So it is no surprise that I chose this title. I liked listening to this audio and it was ably read. However many books you read about the royals (and there are many) there are different slants on their lives, be it pro, anti, hostile, or toadying. You pays your money you makes your choice. Is there anything different in this book that we didn't already know? Well, in my opinion for what it is worth there are always slight differences it just depends on the author and how they choose to tell the story. I liked it (but, I'm a royalist), others may not. You pays your money you makes your choice.

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Fantastic listen

Excellent story and an eye opener for sure. Highly recommend.Changed my view of the Monarcy somewhat

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2 people found this helpful

Disappointing

sadly this book has 2 things going against it
1) The narration is awful. when I listened to the sample I thought it would be ok despite the reviews but it gets worse as you go on
2) it feels like a snarky gossip column which is a shame because there are also some quite interesting bits but I got to chapter 4 and decided to return the book

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1 person found this helpful

More accurate than the media drivel!

Any additional comments?

I suspect Kitty Kelley received heavy criticism because her books reveal things that powerful people don't want revealed. Her sources here are former servants, formal documents and people who have witnessed interactions between each of these royals and others at public events. When the book was published, it was trashed as fantasy and rubbish. Since then solid evidence has come to light that confirms much of what Kelley wrote, including the two Royal children who were 'stored' in a psychiatric hospital until they died recently, this because their Learning Disabilities were considered an embarrassment.

This book is well written and narrated.

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6 people found this helpful

FACINATING - well written and marvelous presented

If you could sum up The Royals in three words, what would they be?

FACINATING - INTRIGUING - AMAZING

What did you like best about this story?

i liked the fact that it gives an overall view on the Royal family ... without mercy - everybody was portrait... well put together ...

Which scene did you most enjoy?

there are too many to list them all ..

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

nothing moved me...but it ALL FASCINATED ME fascinated

Any additional comments?

this book is well researched, puts it all together and one truly gets the whole Royal Family presented - and lots of little details create an amazing picture....

once you read or listened to this book you can forget all the other books....

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The narrator?!?!

I've always enjoyed Kitty Kelley's writing - but please re-record this one with someone familiar with English names and pronunciations! Ms Van Dyck commits dozens of errors, many of which are painful - Althrop, Altrincham, Home (as in the PM), even Jacqueline (as in Kennedy) to mention just a few. It gets irritating really quickly.

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5 people found this helpful

excellennt better late than never

Where does The Royals rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

First book I have read from audible very controversial when first published in fact a German friend brought it to uk it was banned in Britain. Easy to dip into narrAtion.even if you have to take a lot of it with pinch o salt it is thought provoking .o

What did you like best about this story?

Old scandal and rumour. The fact that it can now be read shows just how much Times have changed

Which scene did you most enjoy?

Not really applicable. But I enjoyed reading about just how much the pomp has diminished

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It was a shock to read just how much bowing and scraping went on.

Any additional comments?

I thought the quality of the diction very clear if this is typical of audible I will be very pleased

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A lazy narration full of mispronunciations

I enjoyed this as a book, but the narration was constantly infuriating and full of mistakes. Of course, it’s an American book and one expects American pronunciation, but this reading constantly gets basic slightly unusual words wrong - furore, for example - and, most infuriatingly, just about every proper name in the book. Maybe Althorpe and St John and Slough are forgiveable, if lazy, but when she doesn’t even know how to say Pepys, or Canterbury...

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1 person found this helpful

Entertaining

I rather enjoyed revisiting the history of this rather strange bunch of chancers. I've never been a royalist and listening to this has not changed by mind in any way. It's always interesting to look at ourselves through the eyes of a non-Brit, and the antics of the Windsors, combined with the reverence they receive from certain quarters, is enough to make us a global laughing stock.

The narration was pretty dire to be honest. The pronunciation had me chuckling on many occasions. But the book was written by an American so it's fair enough that it was narrated by an American.

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Not well researched

The narrator insists on calling Diana " the Princess of Wales ". - she was never called the Princess of Wales in the U.K. - she was Diana Princess of Wales or Princess Diana . The use of the word Monarchy split up into three vowels is so irritating - MON - ARCH -Y - why ?

Every Duke is called DOOK . Apart from the narration the book is ok , not great but ok .

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5 people found this helpful