What a Thing to Say to the Queen: A collection of royal anecdotes from the House of Windsor

by Thomas Blaikie

About thirty years ago the Guardian first published two amusing anecdotes about the Queen Mother. Readers reeled to see stories actually printed in a national newspaper that until then had had only an underground existence in certain circles. After that, tales about the royal family became respectable; they were also, quite rightly, believed to be true. Taken as a whole they reflect the contradictory roles we like royalty to unworldly and impossibly regal, engagingly domesticated and just like us, or camp, worldly and outrageous. In this affectionate tribute Thomas Blaikie has gathered together a compendium of stories, many never published before, which provide access to a unique world. How exactly a Queen reacts when she finds her footmen draped in her jewels? What does she do to amuse herself as she whiles away the hours sitting for her portrait? And how did the Duchess of Windsor and the Queen Mother really get on? This beautifully illustrated book answers these questions and poses many more in its affectionate celebration of the diverse personalities of the House of Windsor.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Royalty

148 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 3, 2015

Reviews

[Hazeanni · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's 3.5 stars from me. This book is a compilation of royal anecdotes of the House of Windsor. Divided into 23 themes, it featured mainly the Queen and Queen Mother. Some anecdotes dated as late as 2014.

The issue I had with this book is I drowned in so many. It had to do with each anecdote is short. Sometimes just 3 sentences. Some worked well, but in others, I need to know more of the background story in order to understand it. This style of book could be more absorbent to me if it had been divided by the personage instead of theme. I guessed too many goodies, some here, some there made me spoiled and scattered my concentration. If anybody understood what I meant.

That aside, this book put more human touch to the British Royal Family than we usually assumed. Their sense of humour, habit, everyday lives. For one, this book is not scandalicious.

[Eden · Rating 3 out of 5]

2021 bk 116. A cute book of quips quoted from members of the royal family or about the royal family. This was a quick read, amusing, provided some laughs, but by and large not a keeper.

[Irene · Rating 5 out of 5]

BRILLIANT!!
This collection of royal anecdotes shows you a different and very amusing side of the Royal Family, worth reading!!

[Alicja · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was worried that this would be a book that’s boring or hard to read, however I have found it a lot easier to read then some of the others I have read recently.

I do agree with the reviews which said that they wished that they had more of a context to stories listed in the book however I think the idea was to give people snips of the life of the Queen and the Royal family which the short instances listed were able to do.

However, I would definitely recommend that the people who read this book put themselves in the shoes of the Queen because some of the stories can come across as condescending or out of touch or even borderline rude if you read it as through she was someone whose not within the Royal Family.

[alison blackwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some amusement

Some of the anecdotes were humorous
Others a bit boring
Its nice to know that like everyone else they have a sense of humour

[Michell Karnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fun little book full of short anecdotes about various members of the royal family.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

#5 of 120 books pledged to read during 2022

[Nidhal Ben Tahar · Rating 1 out of 5]

The most boring and uninteresting piece of cr*p I've ever layed my eyes upon.

[Jo Matey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Somewhat garbled and out of context but with a few amusing tidbits.

[Blair · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's filled with little funny passages about the British Royal family. If you're looking for a quick entertaining read then this is a good pick. I do wish to learn more about the background and contexts behind certain passages but I guess that isn't the point of this book.
Still, I really enjoyed it.

[Leslie Goddard · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very quick, brief anecdotes. Unfortunately, sometimes they are so brief it's hard to tell exactly what they mean. For an American, there are far too many references that a non-Brit wouldn't get -- television programs I've never heard of, slang I don't know. Disappointing because there's interesting, fun stuff here but I felt like I was being left out of the joke.

[Marianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick read but very interesting and amusing. some anecdotes are hilarious and some are a bit uninteresting. Good insight in the life of the royals.