Power and the Palace

'Lively . . . peppered with entertaining lines. One of [Low's] skills as a journalist is an ability to sift through mountains of archive material and pick out the gems' - Telegraph<p></p><p></p>Covering 200 years of royal history from Queen Victoria to King Charles, and looking forward to the future reign of King William, Power and the Palace is the gossip-laden and highly revelatory account of the relationship between the sovereign and the prime minister - the real story behind The Crown.<p></p><p></p>Power and the Palace lifts the lid on the mysterious power nexus at the heart of the British state: the secretive and little understood relationship between the monarchy and the government. In vivid, page-turning prose, Valentine Low takes us behind the scenes of the weekly audience to uncover the ever-changing dynamic between sovereign and prime minister - from the romance and flattery that bound Victoria and Benjamin Disraeli, to the personal and political gulf that separated Elizabeth II from Margaret Thatcher.<p></p><p></p>He reveals how the monarchy has gradually ceded political power over the past two hundred years while behind closed doors fighting to keep its finances secure - ensuring the long-term survival of the institution. But it has not all been smooth sailing, and the book includes moments of dramatic tension when the relationship threatened to unravel.<p></p><p></p>Based on nearly 100 interviews with senior politicians, top civil servants, royal aides and constitutional experts, Power and the Palace rewrites our understanding of the political power of the monarchy.