MATRIARCH: Queen Mary and the House of Windsor

by Anne Edwards ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 22, 1984

A talky, trivial, thoroughly hackneyed account of admirable, formidable Queen Mary, wife of George V--subject of a first-rate life by John Pope-Hennessy, and splendidly portrayed by George's recent biographer, Kenneth Rose. The first 65 pages are occupied with Princess Mary of Teck's brief engagement, as a ""serious and responsible"" but penniless relative, to the slow-witted, ungainly second heir to the throne, Prince Eddy--who (in Edwards' undiscriminating dissemination of gossip) probably frequented a male bordello, may have been Jack the Ripper, and was quite possibly poisoned ""under the eyes of his family and without their knowledge"" because he was obviously incapable of reigning. Then comes Mary's substitute engagement to his steady, unexciting younger brother George--brazenly promoted by her improvident, flamboyant mother, subtly managed by Mary herself. He doesn't appreciate his flighty mother-in-law; she doesn't appreciate her possessive mother-in-law. They quickly have two sons, Edward/David and George/Bertie; but she finds ""motherhood and infants more than she could tolerate,"" and leaves them to a sadistic nurse. (Was David sexually abused? Were his future relationships with women affected?) Predictably, we have the traditional picture, qualified by others, of the children's stern, distant upbringing (along with endless twaddle about such immaterial matters as their grandfather's fond liaison with Mrs. Keppel). We hear, with equal triteness, that both King George and Queen Mary were out of step with the Twenties (but she had taken on ""an aura of ultimate queenliness""). We're told of his father's antipathy to wastrel David, his reputed hope that somehow David would not succeed him. And there is of course Queen Mary's steeliness at the Abdication crisis. All this is very familiar, in both livelier and more sympathetic form, to readers of any of the many House of Windsor books.

Pub Date: June 22, 1984

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Morrow

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1984

Categories: NONFICTION