{"title":"Dynasty Press Ltd","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9781527209848","title":"The Queen's Marriage","description":"In this new book royal historian Lady Colin Campbell covers The Queen's Marriage in intimate detail. Using her connections and impeccable sources she recounts details of the inside story of the monarch's relationship with the Duke of Edinburgh and her close family.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56302885273973,"sku":"9781527209848","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781527209848_f2c084dd-d0b1-44ef-a24f-82a59258a05b.jpg?v=1786022304"},{"product_id":"9781838041816","title":"An Engagement With Time","description":"\u003cp\u003eWinton Dean (1916-2013), the renowned musical scholar andcritic, gives a sparkling account of his early life – and of his disparate setof forbears. He writes of his controversial father, Basil Dean, the theatricaland film producer and founder of ENSA, his great uncle Rufus Isaacs (supplyingnew information about his first marriage) and Daisy, Countess of Warwick,mistress of Edward, Prince of Wales.  Adeeply divided personality, Winton hoped to pursue a career as a creativeartist rather than as a scholar and critic. To this extent he considered hislife at least in part a failure.  But hewas a brilliant and witty writer, as these memoirs repeatedly demonstrate.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHe recordshis grim years at Elstree and Harrow Schools, where however he wasoutstandingly successful academically, and the titanic family rows thatfollowed. King's, Cambridge, where he read Classics, then English, brought animmense release of emotions and inhibitions. There are sharp pen portraits ofthe dons, including Edward Dent.  AlanTuring was his tennis partner. A trip to Greece in 1936 is described inluminous detail.  Though not a performer,he became increasingly interested in music, encouraged by a young don, PhilipRadcliffe, who became a life-long friend. On two visits to the Salzburg Festival he was bowled over by theconducting of Arturo Toscanini, especially in opera. He gives highlyentertaining accounts of the chaotic rehearsals of \u003ci\u003eThe Frogs\u003c\/i\u003e ofAristophanes (in Greek) and the stage production of Handel's \u003ci\u003eSaul\u003c\/i\u003e (inboth of which he played minor roles). The overwhelming dramatic power of Handel'smusic impelled him, after the war, to devote ten years of his life to the studyof Handel's oratorios. Among his many interests, which encompassed trams, steamtrains, stamp collecting, old churches and naval history, Winton had a passionfor cricket (though he was an indifferent performer with the bat) and later forshooting pheasants and grouse.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHis firstbook, \u003ci\u003eBizet\u003c\/i\u003e, was published in 1948; his second, the classic \u003ci\u003eHandel'sDramatic Oratorios and Masques\u003c\/i\u003e (1959), established him as a musicologist ofworld renown. Winton worked independently and held no university appointments,apart from a visiting professorship at the University of California, Berkeley,in 1965-6, which gave rise to his third book, \u003ci\u003eHandel and the Opera Seria\u003c\/i\u003e.  The last of the gentleman scholars, he playeda leading role in astonishing revival of Handel's operas and dramatic oratoriosin recent years.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWinton beganhis memoirs at the age of 72 but never finished them, breaking off at thebeginning of 1946, when his career as scholar and critic had barely begun.  His early life and young manhood were whatmattered to him. The later chapters, provided by his son Stephen, follow hiscareer as scholar and sportsman up to 1966.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56307738476917,"sku":"9781838041816","price":29.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781838041816_1380aac2-b497-4318-88b0-54f85632bb9b.jpg?v=1786028212"},{"product_id":"9781916131781","title":"Meghan and Harry: The Real Story","description":"Meghan and Harry The Real Story: Persecutors or Victims presents the reader with a strikingly forthright analysis of what happens when a vulnerable male, raised in the traditions of the Old World and protected by a lifetime of privilege, falls head over heels in love with a steely and ambitious doyenne of the New, who is careless of tradition, ignorant of its purpose, contemptuous of its consequences, and convinced that her own way is the best way even as the evidence to the contrary mounts. Exposing as she does a titanic clash of two civilisations, mores, and attitudes divided by a common language, Sunday Times best-selling author Lady Colin Campbell scrutinises with insight, clarity and precision the evidence of the circumstances, actions and motives of Meghan and Harry with an impeccable and aristocratically experienced vision honed by five decades in the public eye. She catalogues in depth how this apparently brilliantly-favoured couple came to lose their way, how they exhibited profound contemptuousness for practices built up by a treasured institution over a millennium, and how they were unable to understand the potential benefits of their destiny to such an extent that they managed to turn their fate on its head. Contrary to their statements, Meghan and Harry prove through their own actions that they are ill-judged characters, unable to bring the dynamism of the New to the Old or represent the dignity of the Old to the New. Falling between these two stools, they conspire time and again against themselves and others, inviting nothing but unnecessary controversy and unintended failure, despite the fact that the vast majority of onlookers, who would ultimately become critics, originally wished them well and hoped they would successfully  forge a unique way forward in their ground-breaking union. Lady Colin's pen allows the couple no escape from the consequences of their actions, whether these be royal and aristocratic customs governed by tradition, precedence, and conservation; the racial furore they unleashed and the damage they wrought throughout the Commonwealth; the speculation they engendered with regards even to something as straightforward as pregnancy; the very different laws on each side of the Atlantic and how these affect inheritance as well as other important factors; the differing attitudes to money of those who have had it for many a year and those for whom it is newly minted; the merits of position versus celebrity; the benefits of freedom of the press and the efforts of the couple to curtail them; the dangers of suppression of civil liberties or even simply the choice of everyday activities which Meghan and Harry have shown time and again will involve themselves and onlookers in controversy after controversy. With her unrivalled access to a variety of worlds closed to most writers, Lady Colin Campbell provides the reader with the opinions  of diplomatic and political figures from all over the Commonwealth as well as representatives of royalty, aristocracy, functionaries in the political spectrum, and members of the general public to whom she has access through her professional activities as a writer and broadcaster. In the process, she demonstrates how the couple's desire for freedom from accepted restraints allied to ambitions of a very mixed nature have led to the inevitable clashes which have characterized their activities and brought about their descent from being the most popular royal couple at the time of their marriage to the most unpopular now. Meghan may well have brought her Prince in shining armour to a home in Montecito, California, but the author provides the reader with genuine insight into the consequences of the couple's choices through her recognition of what it has taken them to get there, including infuriating the late Queen and jettisoning close family as well as friends and colleagues, and she  concludes that Harry and Meghan are truly their own worst enemies: persecutors who present themselves as victims, when a more constructive and positive approach to life would have assured them of an entirely different and more positive outcome.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56309338407285,"sku":"9781916131781","price":29.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781916131781_b2b2618f-10a0-47e7-8279-203eb09044d0.jpg?v=1786030982"},{"product_id":"9781916131767","title":"And Then The King Died","description":"\u003cp\u003eA humorous account of the demise of British royalty, the dynasty of massive repute.' There was nothing very funny to write about his death except to say it was much appreciated.'\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom the tragic to the humorous, the unexpected to the almost unbelievable, And Then the King Died recalls the fascinating history of royal demises in Great Britain, from Alfred the Great to George VI. Murder, madness, unfortunate accidents and toilet problems all feature in this absorbing and at times hilarious account of the deaths of our nation's monarchs.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe book takes each royal character in turn and deals with their end. A chapter by chapter, summary of the causes of death in the royal lineage, and full of human interest. The characters in this book are all well known to the potential readers. They have entered our mythology and the fabric of our society and moulded the British identity. They are known for their exploits and for the achievements of the citizens who contributed during their lifetimes. This book describes another side to their existence, their frailty and vulnerability, their final conflict.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe book is a light-hearted and sometimes irreverent study of the human side of well-known leaders. Some may see the content as an allegory for the present state of the monarchy. Others may worry that the topic could be given more consideration in the forthcoming months.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56309338702197,"sku":"9781916131767","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781916131767_bdf7be03-0ef7-4717-8e3d-256b65144e82.jpg?v=1786030982"},{"product_id":"people-of-colour-and-the-royals","title":"People of Colour and the Royals","description":"With her royal insider's knowledge and historical insight, Lady Colin Campbell turns her attention to People of Colour and the Royals. She herself is strongly vested in the subject of colour, being the proud product of one of the most prominent families in the multi-racial world of Jamaica.When she was born there in 1949 that country had, although inadequate, more progressive and inclusive race relations than anywhere else. In her first eighteen years she lived through the transitional period from colonial heyday to independence in 1962, to the subsequent political and demographic changes.  Jamaicans hold very dear the concept of their national motto 'Out of Many One People', and she understands the nuances whereby all Jamaicans, irrespective of colour, are regarded as members of the Black Community. Her lack of prejudice allows her to examine the sometimes difficult past with welcome objectivity and refreshing candour, and Jamaica has continued to spearhead many of the positive changes taking place in larger countries like the United States and the United Kingdom. Her book is full of welcome surprises. It takes her unique heritage, courage, insight and experience to write a book as illuminating and hopeful as People of Colour and the Royals. It is a work which she hopes will go some way to healing the divisions of the past and consolidating the unity of the present into an even more cohesive future.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57492445462901,"sku":"9781916131705","price":19.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781916131705.jpg?v=1786529291"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/publisher-dynasty-press-ltd.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}