Promotional Information

A powerful defence of the role of the monarchy

About the Author

A regular contributor to the national press and television, Vernon Bogdanor is Professor of Politics, and Fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford.

Reviews

`This is an important book and should be widely read. It supersedes every other recent study of the subject - and there are plenty of them. Its main virtues are persuasiveness, lucidity and comprehensiveness, in short, authority. There is also a real commitment to answering the key questions instead of getting involved in irrelevant gossip. In fact, there is no gossip. The author asks questions like, `What is the good of the monarchy?' rather than,
`Does the Princess of Wales still believe in the tarot cards?'. He is just about the opposite of Andrew Morton ... The methods of this newest analysis of our constitutional monarchy are straightforward and
generally easy to follow.'
Elizabeth Longford, The Tablet
`a serious study of a difficult constitutional problem: what to do about the British monarchy ... by far the most sensible study of the question to have appeared. Bogdanor's strength is that he knows the precedents.'
Norman Stone, Sunday Times
`Vernon Bogdanor has produced the most lucid, complete and authoritative account of the role of the contemporary monarchy for many years ... It should be compulsory reading for all hacks, royal-watchers or biographers (including official ones) who feel themselves impelled to sound off from time to time about the House of Windsor ... Bogdanor is profound ... scholarly'
Philip Ziegler, The Daily Telegraph
`Bogdanor ... has written the essential handbook for understanding the history and intricate machinery of constitutional monarchy in Britain.'
Sarah Bradford, The Times
`Wide-ranging, important and provocative survey ... He provides a history of constitutional monarchy which, after a rapid romp from Magna Carta to Queen Victoria, slows down when it reaches the twentieth century.'
Times Literary Supplement
`The essential handbook for understanding the history and intricate machinery of constitutional monarchy in Britain.'
The Times
`An invaluable and timely guide to the thorniest of crowns.'
Financial Times
`Excellent new book on the politics and legalities of this subject.'
The Guardian
`The most interesting and to some extent novel aspect of Bogdanor's book is its treatment of the relatively new role of the monarch, that of head of the Commonwealth.'
Times Higher Education Supplement
`Lucid and timely book ... Skilful, thoughtful and well organised.'
New Statesman and Society
`His is not so much a work of extensive demystification ... as exhaustive explanation ... Dr Bogdanor has written a definitive treatment of the role of the British monarch.'
The Guardian
`Vernon Bogdanor ... has written the perfect book. It gives us a vivid picture of how the crown works today as well as how it has evolved historically.'
Independent on Sunday
`This is an important book and should be widely read ... Its main virtues are persuasiveness, lucidity and comprehensiveness, in short, authority.'
The Tablet
`A timely and impressive survey of the crown's political role ... As Bogdanor concludes: the only way "to estimate the likely future of the monarchy is to understand its past". His excellent book goes some way in doing just that.'
The Spectator
`Lucid and authoritative study.'
Church Times
`Vernon Bogdanor ... has written the perfect book.'
Independent on Sunday
`The first serious study of the most ancient part of the British Constitution since Frank Hardie's Political Influence of the British Monarchy ... Mr Bogdanor ... excels in his study of the Monarchy as a functioning part of the modern constitution ... The book excels as a textbook of constitutional law and usage and shows how vital the Monarchy is in the maintenance of British freedom and government ... by far the best
biography of the Queen to appear in her lifetime.'
Contemporary Review
`Vernon Bogdanor's solemn and stately defence of the royal family is timely ... if nothing else.'
Chartist
`Mr Bogdanor's book ... begins with an admirably lucid account of the evolution of the monarchy since the Revolution Settlement of the late seventeenth century. It includes detailed, informative and sometimes revealing chapters on the role of the monarch's private secretary, the financing of the Crown, and the relationship between Crown and Church, and Crown and Commonwealth. The author's generalizations, always enlightening and sometimes acute, are based
on an extensive and exact knowledge of the specific ... splendidly readable, informed and sometimes penetrating discussion.'
Government and Opposition
`Lucid sketch of the monarch's place in our national life...Mr Bogdanor's highly readable book is an excellent prerequisite to understanding this looming issue.'
Catholic Herald
`Bogdanor has done a remarkable job in clarifying both doctrinal and historical matters and has offered something of an encyclopaedic account of the subject ... there is no doubt that this will become a standard work for scholars and students of constitutional law.'
Public Law
`Now we can celebrate another OUP triumph in the shape of this excellent monograph by Vernon Bogdanor ... The great joy of this book is that it has the lawyer's respect for detail, the historian's grasp of the importance of context and the political scientist's understanding of the location of power in the state ... The book is as good a guide to that amorphous concept, the Establishment, as we are ever likely to read.'
Political Quarterly
`very readable ... It is a timely publication ... Its five useful appendices and select bibliography provide a menu of facts and preliminary reading which should be compulsory for anyone thinking of lifting the pen to write on the subject in future.'
Canon Peter Boulton, Ecclesiastical Law Journal, Issue 18, January 1996
`a series of scholarly essays that locate the place of the monarch in the constitution ... Bogdanor provides an invaluable study, the first for many years that addresses the constitutional role of the monarch. He has drawn on a wide range of archival as well as published material ... an essential reference for politicians and the Palace in times of constitutional uncertainty as well as a scholarly - and in the view of this reviewer, merited - defence of the
monarchy. It is a refreshing read.'
Philip Norton, University of Hull, Political Studies (1997), XLV
`a lively and provocative read'
Lilian Pizzichini, Independent on Sunday