Sceptred Isle

A CENTURY OF BRITISH MONARCHY (274 pp.)--Hector Bolitho--Longmans, Green ($6).

When Queen Victoria opened the Great Exhibition in 1851, she was one of 20 reigning European sovereigns. The number has now dropped to seven,* but, as Hector Bolitho says in A Century of British Monarchy, "the influence of the monarchy in Britain [has] remained as strong as ever." Bolitho looks for the sources of this strength and finds a big one in the energetic character of the royal family itself.

His book, which includes a fine gleaning of drawings and photographs, is chiefly a series of informal personality sketches. Queen Victoria is wisely allowed to characterize herself in her gushy, gossipy, bossy letters, Prince Albert in his steady, sensible ones.

The reign of Edward VII, the rakish son of this sober pair, is wittily described in the imaginary diary of a putative secretary to the King--though it passes over in silence what must have been the domestic travails of Edward's good Queen Alexandra. The forthright role of the royal family in two world wars is given due credit, and the constitutional crisis that dethroned Edward VIII gets a judicious, white-gloved examination. Bolitho concludes that, although the tasks of kingship were apparently "intolerable" to Edward, "as heir to the throne he was the noblest and most devoted Prince of Wales in our history."

Author Bolitho, a New Zealand-born journalist, should be as familiar with his subject as any living writer. A Century of British Monarchy is his twelfth book on the members of the House of Windsor.

* Belgium's Baudouin, Denmark's Frederik IX, Britain's George VI, Greece's Paul, The Netherlands' Juliana, Norway's Haakon VII, Sweden's Gustaf VI.

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