by Craig Brown and Leslie Cunliffe
If ever the time was ripe for books about British royalty, it is now. This book provides unusual, if not exactly vital, information about Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles, Diana and their supporting cast. To wit: "Princess Diana has an average of three shampoos a week, with conditioner. Her hairdresser is Kevin of 'Headlines' in South Kensington." There's more: In 1974 Charles ordered two miniature chastity belts from a Halstead firm, "swearing that he was intending to use them as loo paper holders." And more: In a section titled "Eleven Naughty Members of the Royal Family," we learn that "as a young boy, Prince Charles put an ice cube down a footman's neck." Are you ready for this? Prince Philip quit smoking the night before his wedding! The royal family's childhood ponies were named Tiny Wee, Mr. Dinkum, High Jinks and Fum. "At their respective schools, Prince Charles took up the trumpet and Princess Anne the oboe. Both were advised to give up shortly afterwards." As a lad, Prince Charles was spanked for sticking his tongue out at a crowd, and when he switched schoolmates' caps around in a cloakroom, his headmaster whacked him with a cricket bat. (Summit, $15.95)
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