The Ultimate Family: The Making of the Royal House of Windsor

by John George Pearson

1986 Simon and Schuster HB edition. Written when Fergie and Andrew, Charles and Di and Anne and Mark Phillips were still together. In America, we'd say the Windsors are dysfunctional. In England, the couples were celebrated for having the so-vedy-British stiff upper lip.

Genres: Nonfiction

429 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

John Pearson was a writer best associated with James Bond creator Ian Fleming. He was Fleming's assistant at the London Sunday Times and would go on to write the first biography of Ian Fleming, 1966's The Life of Ian Fleming. Pearson also wrote "true-crime" biographies, such as The Profession of Violence: an East End gang story about the rise and fall of the Kray twins.

Pearson would also become the third official James Bond author of the adult-Bond series, writing in 1973 James Bond: The Authorized Biography of 007, a first-person biography of the fictional agent James Bond. Although the canonical nature of this book has been debated by Bond fans since it was published, it was officially authorized by Glidrose Publications, the official publisher of the James Bond chronicles. Glidrose reportedly considered commissioning Pearson to write a new series of Bond novels in the 1970s, but nothing came of this.

Pearson was commissioned by Donald Campbell to chronicle his successful attempt on the Land Speed Record in 1964 in Bluebird CN7, resulting in the book Bluebird and the Dead Lake.

Pearson wrote the non-fiction book, The Gamblers, an account about the group of gamblers who made up, what was known as the Clermont Set, which included John Aspinall, James Goldsmith and Lord Lucan. The film rights to the book were purchased by Warner Bros. in 2006. He also wrote Façades, the first full-scale biography of the literary Sitwell siblings, Edith, Osbert and Sacheverell, published in 1978.

Pearson also wrote five novels:

Gone To Timbuctoo (1962) - winner of the Author's Club First Novel Award

James Bond: The Authorised Biography of 007 (1973)

The Bellamy Saga (1976)

Biggles: The Authorized Biography (1978)

The Kindness of Dr. Avicenna (1982).

Pearson passed away on November 13, 2021. He was ninety one at the time of his death.

Reviews

[Marti · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Selling" isn't exactly the right word in this title. Promoting, exposing or reporting on might be better.

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author is writing about the monarchy as a whole. He writes about people and events and how the monarchy was affected. The book is older, but I learned things. For example, I knew very little about the adult lives of Princess Margaret and Princess Anne.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

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