The stories about his family members' lives prove that reality is stranger than fiction. ( )

I knew nothing about the Duke of Edinburgh before reading the book, well that's not totally true...I knew about his many moments of "open mouth, insert foot"...
I found the book fascinating and learned much about Philip. One being that he was an equal match in royal pedigree to his bride Elizabeth. I had no idea! It's a wonder that a man's man like Philip has been able to serve his Queen these many long years without exploding with frustration.
I do wish that the author had including a lineage chart to more easily explain the relations between all the royals, but all and all a great book.
( )

I read this as a companion to Pamela (Mountbatten) Hicks's memoir, Daughter of Empire, a really fascinating look at life in the British upper class and royal circles in the early 20th century. Pamela's cousin, Philip, now the Duke of Edinburgh, popped in and out of that book, piquing my interest. This biography is a thorough exploration of his family's background, his unusual childhood and family life after post-exile from Greece, and his courtship and early years of marriage to the future Queen Elizabeth. There are many recollections from friends and colleagues as well as snippets of personal letters exchanged between family members, adding to the feeling that this is as complete and balanced portrait as one can produce without direct access to the subject. ( )

An enjoyable easy read biography of an interesting man. Eade seems to take a neutral view on his life with a fairly balanced account. I cannot imagine any of the royals are thrilled to be written about but being in the public domain as they are all is fair.

Focused primarily his early life up to the early married life to the Queen, Eade shows how this man of royal birth weathered a very turbulent upbringing being passed off from one relative to the other in the absence of his recovering mother and his unattached father. Through it all he seems to hold up quite well primarily through the close guidance of his devoted uncle, Dickie Mountbatten.

The sometimes awkward melding into the Royal Family of England took some maneuvering as there was certainly opposition from many quarters. It is clear though Queen Elizabeth had her sights set on him from an early age.

Despite some of his shortcomings such as his noted prickliness and resentment of forgoing his Naval career manages to perform well enough in his duties to the Crown. His much rumored dalliances outside of the marriage are glossed over leaving it up to deduction that in the day and age of this society it is fairly common. Ultimately is suggested that the Queen benefited most from having this man at her side and he brought quite a bit out of the shell to take on the many demands of her position. Sadly we in the news we here increasingly of his failing health, but in his early 90's now he can look back to having measured up quite well. ( )

Not a great deal to say about this one. I've always found the royal family entertaining, and Philip is one of its most interesting members. This gives the reader a fine overview of his family life before his marriage to the future queen. I've read several biographies of Elizabeth, so I knew the basic details of Philip's life, but I didn't really know what a scattered and insecure life the young prince led. After reading Eade's book, I think I have a much deeper understanding of how Philip's character and personality were shaped -- how Philip got to be Philip. Although I'm not sure I'd recommend the book to everyone, I found it very enjoyable. ( )