Signed Books Jeremy Paxman

What is the point of Kings and Queens? What do they do all day? And what does it mean to be one of them? The days are long gone when monarchs claimed that 6*4 had given them the right to rule. And yet they are still here. Why? The intellectual argument for the abolition of the Monarchy is strong and many claim that royalty is irrelevant in a modern British democracy. Yet royal jubilees, weddings and funerals bring hundreds of thousands on to the streets. How have these remote and privileged people come to have such a hold over the public imagination? In this hugely entertaining study, Jeremy Paxman looks with characteristic intelligence and humour at every aspect of the monarchy and how politics, religion, the military and the law have affected it. From the execution of Charles I to the Abdication Crisis, from Queen Victoria to Elizabeth II, Paxman discovers how the role of head of state has changed over the years and what it means for the rest of us. What is it like to be royal, and what is the true function of someone with little actual power and whose only qualification is to have had the right parents? Whether embarrassingly short of a button or two on a visit to Sandringham, paralysed with fear at the prospect of a conversation with the Queen, or receiving a mysterious summons to lunch with Princess Diana, Paxman recounts his various meetings (and near-misses) with the royals during his search to find out who they really are and what it is they do all day. In true Paxman style - with a mixture of history, reportage and incisive analysis - he defines the role of our country's most privileged citizens, and establishes just how important the Royal Family is to our national identity.

£20.00