Customer Reviews
An interesting but limited account - By: Andrew D. Scobie, 26 May 2008 
On the whole I enjoyed reading this book. The author was sucessful in maintaining my interest throughout & by & large the text was readable.
However I agree with fellow reviewers that the focus of the book is primarily directed at Edward VIII & George VI, particularly in the later chapters. I read the book, as I was interested mainly in exploring the lives & characters of the younger children, sadly they are often treated as an afterthought & not afforded the attention they deserve in a text concerning the lives of alll George Vs children which was disappointing.
The ending of the book is very abrupt & the author fails to provide a summary of the issues discussed. Although such a thing may be deemed unnecessary in a book that sets out to tell the story of the lives of George Vs children, it would aid the reader in linking together the knowledge they have acquired from reading the book.
In common with fellow reviewers the slapdash proof reading caught my eye too. As well as spelling errors, incorrect names & dates are present in the text. Any future editions should be thoroughly proof read.
Overalll an interesting but limited account of the lives of George Vs children.
Poorly written and poorly edited - By: Ruby, 06 Dec 2006 
Not only is this book somewhat rushed & you are given the feeling almost as if the author ran out of enthusiam but it seems that whoever he got to proof read it also ran out of enthusiam - what could have been a very interesting book is turned into a GCSE History paper full of spelling mistakes & grammatical errors. I am disapointed with Van Der Kist as I expect more from his work.
thin & sketchy - By: HB, 12 Aug 2005 
This is a rather thin multi-biography which reads as if it has been put together from newspaper cuttings & tells us very little that is new. It could have been so much more interesting: the 4 sons & one daughter of George V who lived to adulthood were very different characters. However, the author concentrates on the central protagonists in the abdication & its aftermath & says very little about the adult personalities of the younger brothers or their sister. There are also lots of misprints. An opportunity wasted.