Intimate biography will take your breath away

Gyles Brandreith Loot.co.za (R250) CORONET

WITH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh as its prime subject, and written by an author who knew him for more than 40 years and has enjoyed extraordinary access, Philip; The Final Portrait, upfront promises to be a worthy read.

I will endeavour to show some restraint in my review of the book, it would exhaust even the breadth of a Thesaurus for me to sing its praises adequately enough.

“I was accustomed to his sense of humour. I liked it. I liked him. I admired his as much as any man I have known. It was knowing him as I did that led me to write this book about him.”

“Philip – elusive, complex, controversial, challenging, often humorous, sometimes irascible – the man Elizabeth II once described as her ‘constant strength and guide’.

“Philip: The Final Portrait tells the story of two contrasting lives, assesses the Duke of Edinburgh’s character and achievements, and explores the nature of his relationships with his wife, his children and their families, and with the press and public and those at court who were suspicious of him in the early days.”

“Philip gave Elizabeth a lifetime of unstinting support. He made her laugh. He understood her. She understood him. It was a unique marriage – the longest in all royal history – and it worked.”

Brandreith’s treatment of his subject matter is written in a style that is informative, intimate, and even entertaining.

Written with breath-taking insight and authority, Philip is an intimate biography like no other about a man like no other.

After reading it, one feels one has seen Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip as their real selves.

The Duke of Edinburgh’s life from a challenging childhood, through the war years and his 73-year marriage to Elizabeth II provides a rich context to a unique life of service and loyalty.

On his passing, people acknowledged his “remarkable character and recognised his extraordinary contribution – and they felt for the Queen”.

I must respectfully disagree with one thing Prince Philip said: “Talk about everything else, don’t talk about yourself, nobody’s interested in you.”

That certainly wasn’t true in his case.

With Philip: The Final Portrait, Gyles Brandreith has crafted one of the most impressive, absorbing, and masterly biographies it has been my pleasure to read, and its 500 pages went by far too quickly.