Philip

The Final Portrait

By: Gyles Brandreth

Narrated by: Gyles Brandreth

Length: 17 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

Elizabeth, their marriage and their dynasty.

This is the story of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh - the longest-serving consort to the longest-reigning sovereign in British history. It is an extraordinary story, told with unique insight and authority by an author who knew the prince for more than 40 years.

Philip - elusive, complex, controversial, challenging, often humorous, sometimes irascible - is the man Elizabeth II once described as her 'constant strength and guide'. Who was he? What was he really like? What is the truth about those 'gaffes' and the rumours of affairs? This is the final portrait of an unexpected and often much-misunderstood figure. It is also the portrait of a remarkable marriage that endured for more than 70 years.

Philip and Elizabeth were both royal by birth, both great-great-grandchildren of Queen Victoria, but, in temperament and upbringing, they were two very different people. The Queen's childhood was loving and secure, the Duke's was turbulent; his grandfather assassinated, his father arrested, his family exiled, his parents separated when he was only 10. Elizabeth and Philip met as cousins in the 1930s. They married in 1947, aged 21 and 26.

Philip: The Final Portrait tells the story of two contrasting lives, assesses the Duke of Edinburgh's character and achievement, 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. This is a powerful, revealing and, ultimately, moving account of a long life and a remarkable royal partnership.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2021 Gyles Brandreth (P)2021 Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Great book.

Loved it! All the personal, thoughts and insights were enjoyable. Any royal lover will appreciate this book.

Post mortem Philip

The author reissued his earlier biography of Prince Philip soon after the Duke’s death. A warm, interesting, clever personal portrait that left me an admirer of the man.
Gyles Brandreth’s narration added to the enjoyment.
Just one small faux pas, perhaps he misspoke but the current new Prince of Wales will be a future William V, not William III.

Fascinating

I love Brandreth’s voice, anecdotes and turns of phrase. I’m also very interested in the royal family. I particularly enjoyed learning tidbits about Philip and Elizabeth’s marriage, but above all, I enjoyed learning about Princess Alice. This book is illustrious, fascinating and well pieced together.
However - and this is to be taken with a pinch of salt - the narration can occasionally come across a touch sycophantically. There is a strong bias - though, why would you read this if you weren’t pro monarchy?
Unlike other biographies, I don’t feel inclined to learn more about the subject, in this case, Philip. Also unlike other biographies, I respect the subject, the Duke, more than before I’d listened to stories about him. I wish his positive traits were more widely discussed, though I acknowledge his more negative traits are fraught. I also respect his wishes to his privacy. I am a 26-year-old woman, half English, and I have been very moved by this book. I would recommend it, and I’d recommend too that people accept his personality for what it was. The Duke’s words, on the other hand, well, I’m sure people will argue about that on social media and in academia for years to come.

Not a Philip bio

Disappointed. I listed to his book on Elizabeth. Not sure which was published first but at times it was word for word. I had to check to
See if I was listening to right boom. Thought it was going to be about Phillip. Waste of a credit