This is strictly for lovers of historical ephemera...an old lady's recollections of her family life over a period of 80 plus years. The fact that this old lady is Her Highness, Princess Marie Louise of Great Britain, and that her family is the much extended royal family of many countries. Marie Louise was the grandaughter of Queen Victoria and the daughter of Victoria's youngest daughter, Helena. As the Queen had nine children who all married into various royal houses in Europe and Russia, the spread of Marie Louise's cousins was huge, making her a relative of nearly everybody with any connections at all to any country with a present or past monarchy.It's a fascinating story, with photos, of how these people were just the same as any family with their feuds and squabbles but how, as most families do, they presented a united front when it was required. I loved the descriptions of the grand ceremonies and formal occasions and the masses of jewellery which were de rigueur in those times. Another thing which intrigued me was her detailed descriptions of the very rigid rules of etiquette among the upper classes, with particular attention paid to the rules for VERY formal occasions, such as presentation at Court. I read this book when it was first published in the fifties and enjoyed it just as much the second time around, with the added bonus of its being printed on beautiful paper which was delightful to the touch.
