Volume 2, Number 9 · June 11, 1964
King Tum
By Neal Ascherson
King Edward the Seventh
by Sir Philip Magnus
Dutton, 528 pp., $8.50
It is democratic of the British that they like their monarchs to enjoy themselves. A tenser or more realistic race might get satisfaction out of watching the hereditary medicine man go trembling about his duties, red-nosed and sneezing at winter parades or itching with an allergy to ermine. Some kingdoms appreciate kings who give to understand that they would rather own a small cosmetics factory and run a Mercedes. But the British feel immensely superior to their sovereigns; the people is father of its king, and likes the lad to have fun playing with that expensive crown he got for his birthday.
Review, 1812 words
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