Matriarch

Queen Mary and the House of Windsor

By: Anne Edwards

Narrated by: Corrie James

The life of Princess May of Teck is one of the great Cinderella stories in history. From a family of impoverished nobility, she was chosen by Queen Victoria as the bride for her eldest grandson, the scandalous Duke of Clarence, heir to the throne, who died mysteriously before their marriage. Despite this setback, she became queen, mother of two kings, grandmother of the current queen, and a lasting symbol of the majesty of the British throne. Her pivotal role in the abdication of her eldest son, the Duke of Windsor, is just one of the events that provide the backdrop for both thrilling biography and for narrating the splendors and tragedies of the entire house of Windsor.

©1984 Anne Edwards (P)2017 Tantor

Critic reviews

"A magnificent portrayal of majesty...Edwards depicts the whole panorama, from pageantry and protocol to small private detail, with superb narrative finesse, psychological insight, and impressively far-ranging and scrupulous research." ( Chicago Tribune)

A Fascinating Story Superbly Narrated

This is not your typical royal story. Although it is a biography of Queen Mary, which touches on the royal family from Queen it is the unstated conflict of personal happiness vs. duty that makes this book so intriguing.

Royal Approach to a biography

I loved that it still felt as though we are treating the family as Royalty. Not dishy, even though there was plenty to sound smarky about. It took you alongside their journey without bias, but with enough color to help you choose your own sides.

Fantastic Book

This book was truly extraordinary. I am fascinated by the English monarchy, and this book helped me to fill in some of the blanks.

What great insight to the royals

Really explains why they were so screwed up. I say were as William seems more empathetic and down to earth. Harry too, although he seems a bit out of sorts from not having the support he needed from his family. Didn't realize how interbred they were.

Fantastic read

I absolutely loved this book. It was a wonderful recounting of history, well read, and fascinating.

Great Biography

Loved it. As another reviewer mentioned, I didn't want it to end. Very interesting and informative.

Love it

It was less about queen marry and more about everyone in the royal family since queen Victoria.

Of course there is a decent amount of information about marry, I enjoyed it

Most Informative

Regal treatment given to Queen Mary in an honest and respectful style.

The context of British history gives greater understanding to the Monarchy and to the time in which Queen Mary lived.

love this book

so queen Mary was a strong woman. this book follows very nice, it feels very much like a someone telling a story.

Wow!

As an avid Crown fan, I decided to give this a try. I love Queen Mary's portrayal on the show and new nothing of her story. This book did not disappoint. My only complaint is it is so hard to keep track of all the figures. If I had an actual hard copy I could reference back much easier. Since people are often referred to by title and those change over a persons life time, and many characters have the same first names, it does get a bit confusing. I will say it made me open up my tablet and try to figure out the royal connections through Europe, it is astounding how related everyone was.