Edna Healey has been married to Denis Healey for sixty years and has seen parliamentary life, both in power and opposition, from the inside. An accomplished historian and film-maker, Edna forged her own career as a writer, lecturer and broadcaster, while her husband rose steadily through the Labour ranks to become Secretary of State for Defence and Chancellor of the Exchequer in successive governments. After the fall of the Callaghan government came Denis`s dramatic fight for the leadship of the party which he lost to Michael Foot - a turnign point in his career about which Edna has trenchant points to make. At Denis`s side, she was constantly in touch with the rhythm of politics and saw as much as anyone its labyrinthine workings and damaging divisions. This is not a political biography but the telling memoir of someone who moved in influential circles and knew many of the people responsible for shaping our world in the post-war period.

ISBN: 0 7472 7580 7

A fresh and lively portrait of people form monarchs to governesses, from courtiers to children, who have worked and lived in Buckingham Palace.

In 1763 Queen Charlotte organised a great fête as a birthday surprise for George III and that was in many ways the opening of the Palace. For every monarch Buckingham Palace has served a different purpose: for George III it was a rural retreat which he filled with books and paintings. George IV filled it with fantastic treasures form Brighton Pavilion and Carlton House. Victoria, encouraged and directed by Albert, made the Palace the home of morality, the seat of Empire and the focus of state ceremonial. For Edward VII it was a place for entertaining glittering society. In the twentieth century Buckingham Palace became the focus of national identity for Britain, particularly in wartime. Now it is the official residence of another Queen and visited by thousands.

Edna Healey in her research in the Royal Archives and elsewhere, has uncovered much fresh material, and has brought to life a marvellous procession of people: Doctor Johnson booms across the library; Queen Victoria sings for Mendelssohn; Fanny Burney comments on social behaviour. Throughout the book Buckingham Palace mirrors the changing morals and the tastes and fashions of society. The whole book reflects the constant and recurring dilemma of the fierce light that beats upon the Throne.

Yorkshire Post Literary Award