‘Tell all’ books 🧐

I absolutely agree.

I really enjoy reading, all kinds of books, and I love biographies and auto-biographies, but I’m not really interested in “gossip” I was never a great “magazine” reader, you know “Hello” and the like.

I do gossip, like the rest of this, but not to the extent that I want to constantly hear or read about others “dirty linen”.

Some stuff, these days, is just quite vile and horrible, true or otherwise.

I am interested in what makes people act and re-act in the ways they do, but not in a “he said, she said” manner.

All I can say is there’s always two sides of every single story and if you just get one side, it’s pretty near impossible to get an informed view.

There are two sides to every story.

The King when he was Prince Charles published a book and took part in a television interview, as did Diana the then Princess of Wales and Prince Harry.

Why shouldn’t Earl Spencer?

I do value people like eg Jane Asher who have relationships with famous people but then have the decency to not write books or even talk about it. Can’t help but feel that the Spencer’s knew full well what Dianna was letting herself in for but were happy for it to happen. And it is so obvious now that Charles and Camilla are a true love match and bring out the best in each other. I never ever thought I would grow to like her the way that I do now.

GrannyGravy13

There are two sides to every story.

The King when he was Prince Charles published a book and took part in a television interview, as did Diana the then Princess of Wales and Prince Harry.

Why shouldn’t Earl Spencer?

Absolutely no reason why not, but I wasn’t comfortable with the King or Princess Diana picking over the carcass of their failed marriage on television either. I think it is sad and not fit for mass consumption.
This need to see people brought down publicly is horrible and as Cossy says it can only ever be subjective so we actually never get the whole picture, not that I believe we should.
Others may think otherwise but now with the King so much older and having suffered ill health, as well as William and Harry hardly likely to want to see old wounds reopened with regard to their mother, I agree that Earl Spencer should feel free to do as others have before him, but I think it is cheap and tawdry.

Cashing in? Decades later? Charles Spencer desperate? YES!

GrannyGravy13

There are two sides to every story.

The King when he was Prince Charles published a book and took part in a television interview, as did Diana the then Princess of Wales and Prince Harry.

Why shouldn’t Earl Spencer?

That’s kind of my view too.

Aveline

Cashing in? Decades later? Charles Spencer desperate? YES!

Desperate in which way??

I don’t read this sort of book, they’re usually rubbish and score settling. I do like biographies though. I recently read a biography of Thomas Wolsey and what a slimeball he seems to have been! Imagine if this had been more recent history, I wonder what his critics and contemporaries would have had to say.

Cossy

Aveline

Cashing in? Decades later? Charles Spencer desperate? YES!

Desperate in which way??

Definitely not for the money 💴

Charles Spencer in a letter to his mistress while still married to Victoria admitted I feel a dreadful bully to Victoria. I've been callous and vicious, trying to force her out of my life. She deserves better than that - a good man, who will love her, give her security and help her deal with her shortcomings.
Now while this shows some self awareness it also shows the bully that he is. Who knows his reasons for what he's written and if not for the money then what?
Elon Musk has more money than he could spend in several lifetimes and yet he's still driven to make more, why not Charles Spencer?

Yes I enjoy well written biographies too Blossoming. Can you give me the title and author of that one in case it's not one I've read; thanks.

Yes, very revealing Rosie.

Charles Spencer in a letter to his mistress while still married to Victoria admitted I feel a dreadful bully to Victoria. I've been callous and vicious, trying to force her out of my life. She deserves better than that - a good man, who will love her, give her security and help her deal with her shortcomings.

Where does this come from? How does anyone have access to a letter he wrote to his mistress? The mind boggles.

I gather King Charles wrote a book because I have seen it mentioned but I have no recollection of it being published or any comments about it.Likewise with his interview.
I saw Diana's interview ,switching on halfway through by accident just at the 'there were three of us in this marriage' moment and was appalled. The only other royal interview I have seen was a recent one by Harry, when his malice towards his father was very evident.
I enjoy historical biographies but by authors who were not personally involved as they tend to be fairly dispassionate about their subject , and back up everything they say with valid evidence or make it is clear it is speculation.
Authors who are relatives tend to be biased and either gush or denigrate with an ulterior motive.

My aunt wrote her life story and sent it to her siblings. My mother was furious saying parts of it never happened. None of us were able to say what did or didn't happen as we weren't there. My uncles declined to comment as they weren't really interested. So we have two people making claims about things my grandparents did and will never know the truth for sure.

Tell all stories are always biased. It is just one person's memory of something. Doesn't mean they are lying. It's just the way they remember it.

I wish they would let that woman rest in peace, if only for the sake of her sons, and stop fighting over her like a pack of dogs over a bone.

That happened in my family too. My aunt wrote up our family history and two of her three sisters objected and said she had presented my grandfather as 'uneducated'. (I didn't read it like that).

MayBee70

I do value people like eg Jane Asher who have relationships with famous people but then have the decency to not write books or even talk about it. Can’t help but feel that the Spencer’s knew full well what Dianna was letting herself in for but were happy for it to happen. And it is so obvious now that Charles and Camilla are a true love match and bring out the best in each other. I never ever thought I would grow to like her the way that I do now.

I think Charles Spencer was 16 when Diana got engaged - hardly an age for a young lad to appreciate the nuances of adult relationships & personalities, & no-one would have listened to him even if he had reservations.

Hello Smileless It was The Cardinal by Alison Weir.

GrannyGravy13

There are two sides to every story.

The King when he was Prince Charles published a book and took part in a television interview, as did Diana the then Princess of Wales and Prince Harry.

Why shouldn’t Earl Spencer?

Yes, it’s very strange that people don’t often mention this. Charles in particular was quite mean about his parents. They are a very strange family.

There were three copies of Spare in my local charity shop and all of them were pristine -plainly unread.
That just about says it all.

The other thing is words said in the heat of the moment when shaken by sudden events do not necessarily reflect what people really think, especially when they are worrying about other people.

My younger sister died in a road accident and I remember when youngest sister heard the news, her being, temporarily very angry with our deceased sister because she was sure that something she had done might have contributed to her death. , the anger came and went, lost in grief. But any therapist will tell you that anger with the deceased for dying, whatever the cause, is a not uncommon immediate reaction to a sudden death.

M0nica

The other thing is words said in the heat of the moment when shaken by sudden events do not necessarily reflect what people really think, especially when they are worrying about other people.

My younger sister died in a road accident and I remember when youngest sister heard the news, her being, temporarily very angry with our deceased sister because she was sure that something she had done might have contributed to her death. , the anger came and went, lost in grief. But any therapist will tell you that anger with the deceased for dying, whatever the cause, is a not uncommon immediate reaction to a sudden death.

Yes it is a time of heightened emotions, often emotions that are way too big for us to contain very well. When our younger sister died a few years ago my younger brother got very angry with several relatives and stormed off after the funeral to sit in his car seething.
My older sister called it ‘grief talking’, she had herself torn a strip off me at her DH’s funeral. I didn’t feel anger, just hollowed out, but it takes people all ways.

I enjoy a bit of gossip, so I watched the interview with Gyles Brandreth 😂

GrannyGravy13

Cossy

Aveline

Cashing in? Decades later? Charles Spencer desperate? YES!

Desperate in which way??

Definitely not for the money 💴

It would appear they all prefer to write out their 'own story'

Apple and tree from which it fell springs to mind.