How royal parents dealt with raising their children over the past thousand years, from keeping Vikings at bay to fending off paparazzi.
William and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, are setting trends for millions of parents around the world. The upbringing of their children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, is the focus of intense popular scrutiny. Royalty have always raised their children in the public eye and attracted praise or criticism according to parenting standards of their day.
Royal parents have faced unique challenges and held unique privileges. In medieval times, raising an heir often meant raising a rival, and monarchs sometimes faced their grown children on the battlefield. Conversely, kings and queens who lost their thrones in wars or popular revolutions often found solace in time spent with their children. In modern times, royal duties and overseas tours have often separated young princes and princesses from their parents, a circumstance that is slowly changing with the current generation of royalty.
From reading the description of this book, I had rather low expectations, if only because it seemed to be yet another book focussed mostly on the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, who have been parents for all of four years. Fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised by this book and the inclusion of some more unusual choices, such as Peter the Great and Catherine I of Russia, Queen Anne of Great Britain and Prince George of Denmark and Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and Prince Bernhard. The difficulty of raising children in such an unusual role in life is quite an interesting subject, and Carolyn Harris has even managed to built bridges between the different people to make it a flowing story. I would highly recommend this book.
Raising Royalty: 1000 Years of Royal Parenting by Carolyn Harris is available now in both the UK and the US.
Small sidenote, there is an error on page 180 where Soestdijk Palace is called “Soestjik.”
Thank you! I am pleased that you enjoyed the book!