Curl up with the Queen Mum’s favourite valet
THE Queen will be 90 next year, and we can expect a slew of new biographies. In the meantime, here’s our pick of this season’s royal books . . . BACKSTAIRS BILLY
by Tom Quinn (Robson Press £20 % £15) WILLIAM TALLON was a working-class lad who forged an extraordinary career in royal service.
Over more than five decades, ‘Backstairs Billy’ as he was known, became much more than a household servant — to the Queen Mother he was a trusted confidant. Tallon was driven by two passions — the Royal Family and rampantly promiscuous gay sex.
Not that the latter fazed the Queen Mother, who enjoyed his waspishly camp wit just as she appreciated the gin and Dubonnets he supplied throughout each day.
He in turn would regularly pop down to the cellars of Clarence House for fine wines for himself — one of the perks of a poorly paid job.
Quinn’s biography provides a fascinating downstairs angle on the royals’ upstairs life, with lots of unexpected details: for example, that the Queen Mum’s comic turns included impersonations of Blackadder and (brace yourself) Ali G.
THE QUEEN’S SPEECH
by Ingrid Seward (Simon & Schuster £20 % £15 ) INGRID SEWARD, the veteran roya l - watcher and editor of Majesty magazine, aims to do something new in this book — not an easy task with the royals.
Seward finds her angle by combing through all the speeches by the Queen in search of the private feelings behind her public words.
There’s a lot of material to cover. The Queen made her first speech when she was 14, delivering a special message during Children’s Hour on the radio.
Since then, this very reserved woman has given thousands of speeches, including, of course, her Christmas addresses to the nation.
There’s just one drawback — the Queen has been much too canny to risk saying anything too
opinionated.Sothereareno shockingconfessionsorrevelationsforSewardtolatchonto.
Instead,sheoffersaneatandnewapproachcombiningcon ventionalbiographywithaddedquotesfrom thesubject’sownwords.
WHAT A THING TO SAY TO THE QUEEN
by Thomas Blaikie (Aurum £9.99
% £7.49) BACKSTAIRSBillyalsomakesacameo appearanceinBlaikie’scompendiumofroyalanecdotes.
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Bestoftheres tincludesav eryyoungPrinceHarr ybeingtoldthat theQueenwouldbearrivingatteatime.‘Who’stheQueen ?’askedthebamboozledprince—surelyoneof theveryfewpeopleinthew orldwhodidn’tknowwhohisgranwas.
HARRY RITCHIE