Brothers and Wives

Inside the Private Lives of William, Kate, Harry, and Meghan

By: Christopher Andersen

Narrated by: Nicholas Boulton

Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

Featuring unreported details and stunning revelations, the long-awaited follow-up to the “fabulous, addictive” (Chicago Sun-Times) New York Times best seller Diana’s Boys explores the last 20 years in the lives of Princes William and Harry and the evolution of their relationship as adults, with one brother the designated heir, and the other doomed to life as the spare - perfect for fans of Netflix’s The Crown.

Diana’s Boys revealed the powerful bond between the teenaged princes and how it strengthened even more in the wake of their mother’s tragic death. Now, 20 years later, Queen Elizabeth II is in her mid-90s, Prince Charles is in his 70s, and all eyes are turned increasingly toward William and Harry again. Christopher Andersen picks up where he left off, covering everything that has happened to the brothers as they have grown up, gotten married to two remarkable women, and had children - all while facing continual waves of controversy and questions about the ways their relationship has shifted.

Andersen examines how the queen’s behind-the-scenes maneuvering to mold her grandsons in the Windsor image after Diana’s death, and her expectations of William as the future king, played out. He questions whether the brothers’ famously close relationship can survive Harry’s departure from the royal family - the first time this has happened since their great-great-uncle King Edward abdicated the throne to marry a divorcée. He delves into the impact sisters-in-law Kate and Meghan have had on each other as well as on their princes, and how marriage and fatherhood have changed the brothers and, in some ways, also driven a wedge between them. Andersen also looks with an honest eye at how the princes and their wives have been continuously buffeted by scandal - including headline-making allegations of bullying, racism, betrayal, and emotional abuse that has pushed more than one royal to the brink of self-destruction. 

Based on in-depth research and with his “fascinating and insightful” (The Christian Science Monitor) writing, Andersen leaves no stone unturned in this intimate and riveting look into the private lives of the world’s most famous princes.

©2021 Andersen Productions, Inc. All rights reserved. (P)2021 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

Nothing new

Super disappointed. It’s just rehashing of everything starting by when their parents married. There is nothing new in here. Where do I get my money back???

Snide

The narrator’s American accent sounds like snide mocking of Megan and her Mother.
I don’t like it.

DISHONEST, Offensive speculation

Christopher Anderson’s usual nastiness. He sights other writers & “royal experts” throughout as his main sources. Very unprofessional, not well sourced & borders on plagiarism.
Nothing new except to capitalize on a false tale that Prince Charles wondered about his future grandchildren’s appearances. The only possible leak for such a tale would be Camilla (Shand, Parker Bowles) Duchess of Cornwall.
Staff are not usually present at breakfast as the table is laid ahead & the Prince rings for them at breakfast. Anderson knows this. He implies repeatedly that Camilla is his source or using others to leak to him. Seems quite doubtful.

Exceptional

Exceptional narrative of the two Royal brothers. From their births thru 2022. Excellent explanation of what it means to be a Royal!

Nothing new…

It was a good listen, but not really new insights or info if you follow the Royals.

New?

I had to revisit the library to make sure I had actually purchased a new book.

Many untruths

If you’re a H&M fan you’ll love this fable. I, not being a fan, was very disappointed for its bias towards H&M. So many stories this author was spewing were seemingly directly from Harry’s Spare book, and NOT what most reasonable people believe to be the truth. Really hard to listen to….lie after lie after lie!

A story about Diana

The word Diana was probably said a good 150 times. All I took away from this listen was that Will and Harry are the only people who have ever lost a mother.

Good read. Seems Factual

Author portrays character of subjects in a fair and consistent manner. Descriptions of events presented realistically.

Good Read

This seems to have good documentation to details.
The book shares details that I must have not heard or it is being written in true details behind the scene information of why and why not the “Firm” related to scandal.

Much of the same stories we’ve heard before

Like so many books that promise to be about William, Harry and their wives there is a lot of pages devoted to the failed marriage of Charles and Diana, their affairs and that tragic accident in Paris. These are things we all know so much about and feel author has put it in to bulk up the story.
This book is obviously written for the North American audience by the choice of words and terminology, phrases not used in the U.K. It’s read by a speaker with a typically upper class British voice.

Throughout the book it shows how different Harry has been treated to his brother William because one day he’ll be king. It made me very sad to hear that Harry from a young age didn’t want to live within the confines of the Royal family, he felt trapped & suffocating. It’s obvious from his deep love for his wife & family that he felt it necessary to forge his own path away from the U.K. to get away from the incessant negative reporting by the press, and who could blame him. He felt his wife was being hounded by the paparazzi in the same way that his mother was. Getting away from the firm was the only way they could speak out about how they were treated and how they felt.

There were a few things in the boom that I hadn’t heard about previously, but there’s really not of new information contained within the book.

sadly disappointing

nothing really new .I couldn't understand why the author delved so much in the past.not really my type of book the narration could not be faulted I felt the only thing that let it down was the ŕehashed contentt