Degrees of Affection

I've long had my eye on Farquhar's books but his recent Secret Lives of the Tsars was the first I actually read. It really impressed me, more than I'd thought it would, so when I saw this on Hoopla, I had to give it a try because...well Tudors and Hapsburgs = extremely interesting.

Perhaps it's the fact that I knew many of the facts or maybe his writing style has gotten better but while it was good, it didn't wow me.

Many of the monarchs and their families are well known to most of us. Certainly the Henry the VIII section held nothing new as well as most of the Georges (mostly because I read The Royal Experiment last year). Yet there was still many fun facts and I did like the focus on the more...interesting...parts of the queens and kings' lives.

The writing is nothing elaborate, making it easy to read/listen to and accessible to most readers. I enjoy his books at least partially because they are good ways to find sections of history that speak to you and/or people you want to learn more about.

One major issue I had though was his focus on Wallis Simpson and her supposedly "interesting" aspects of her relationship with Prince Edward. While I've never read much into their history, more what went on around them, the ones I have almost always stated those rumors were false. Personally, I feel paying attention to them is giving them what they wanted, so I purposefully leave them alone.

Still, a good read and served to remind me how much I still need to read concerning British history.