A while back I was often the chance to review a book called The Golden Prince by Rebecca Dean. I read the book while I was ill and had meant to come back to it and review it but with not shifting the bug until a few days ago I’ve still not got to it. But here I am doing it now….lets go!
So the story is set in the Summer of 1911. It’s one of those stories where it’s kinda set in our time line but it’s a slightly different take on the events. Edward VIII became notorious for abdicating his throne so that he could marry an American lady called Wallis Simpson but this is a “what if” story set while his Father (George V) was still on the throne and when Edward VIII was crowned The Prince of Wales.
While I was ill I also watched The Other Boleyn Girl and in a way this story is similar. It takes a figure from history and puts a “what if” story in there. In The Golden Prince, Dean melds fact and fiction to create this fab story.
I really loved the story, alot of the story questions the way the Royals do what they do. Originally if you were a Prince you had to marry a Princess you couldn’t marry anyone else. You could marry certain people of noble standing but they had to be a certain rank. Yep I read into it to get my brain round why Lily couldn’t marry Edward and why now Kate can marry Will – as you can imagine the publishers are probably laughing all the way to the bank. So why can Will marry Kate but Lily can’t marry Edward? Well it’s mainly because the Royals chilled out about the noble standing and things like that – also there aren’t as maybe nobles around now lol.
I enjoyed the story but I did struggled to keep up with who was narrating the story as it does switch part way through. There are the four daughters which was good but it was also confusing as to which one we were following – I did end up reading one or two pages two or three times to try and get it straight.
All in all it was good but I don’t think I’d read it again.
