Power and the Palace

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What to expect

'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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Critics Review

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
Eminently readable . . . eye-catching anecdotes
Sean Coughlan, BBC
well-researched; flashes of brilliance . . . Where the book succeeds is in tone: brisk, clear, never reverential. Low is a lovely writer.
Standard
Valentine Low is an old-school royal journalist . . . It is his disarming charm . . . that has guaranteed him access to the great and occasionally ghastly in the higher echelons of British society. Low's gilt-edged gossip would not eventually disappoint . . . Even [his] musings on monarchy's historic power games proved a pleasure.
Spectator
A serious and nuanced analysis which is also a rollicking read, spiced with plenty of good stories
Literary Review
Based on extensive interviews with civil servants, royal aides and politicians, Low's hugely entertaining account of the vexed relationship between Buckingham Palace and Downing Street is awash with gossip, anecdotes and revelations.
Waterstones Best Politics Books of 2025

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