When Lady Diana Spencer married the Prince of Wales in 1981, very little attention was given to her feudal family. The once powerful Spencer dynasty was in disarray and seemed to have outlived its usefulness. In the years following Diana's death, however, the spotlight has turned and remained on the Spencers. Members of what appeared to be a dysfunctional aristocratic family have more than come into their own.

First published in 1999, Blood Royal: The Story of the Spencers and the Royals addresses the questions surrounding the Spencer family story: their chequered history, their intriguing character, and, through the influence of Prince William, their future role within the monarchy. For while Diana left an indelible mark on the British nation and on those who loved and admired her around the world, she also left an indelible mark on the royal family of Windsor: her Spencer genes.

From Publishers Weekly

This is a lively if superficial overview of the lives and times of Princess Diana's illustrious family through 500 years, from the Tudor age to the present. Gaining and losing vast fortunes; making shrewd, status-enhancing marriages; and jockeying for social and political power are the recurring themes of this family saga, whose subjects rose from being wealthy farmers during the reign of Henry VII to ranking among the most prosperous and prominent families in the land by the 18th century, only to see both their wealth and their status decline throughout the Victorian and contemporary eras--until Diana, third daughter of the eighth earl, made her "fairy-tale" marriage into the royal family. Including such notables as Sarah Churchill and the infamous 18th-century duchess of Marlborough, whose carefully calculated scheming made the family one of the richest in the land, the Spencer clan is replete with colorful characters. That Princess Diana herself drew strength from this ancestral heritage, as Pearson claims, is undoubtable; more dubious, however, are his repeated assertions that various facets of Diana's own character are direct inheritances from one ancestor or another. This suggestion that biology is destiny culminates in the proposition--based on the observation that Princes William and Harry look more like their mother than their father--that the Spencer genes have superseded those of the Windsors and will be instrumental in shaping the future of the British monarchy. While this claim that the Spencer family history yields vital insights into the destinies of Diana and her children seems somewhat overstated, those who admire the late princess of Wales and those who are drawn to accounts of English dynastic history will find the story of the Spencers engrossing. (Jan.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

The author of The Selling of the Royal Family now tackles the aristocratic Spencers. The late Princess of Wales, formerly Lady Diana Spencer, is probably the Spencer readers know best, but the family tree also includes the names Churchill and Marlborough and a number of fascinating stories. From the ancestor known and almost universally despised as "Shameless Sunderland" and "the great apostate of Althorp" to the legendary Sarah Marlborough, from the Hon. George Spencer, who shocked his family by converting to Catholicism and becoming Fr. Ignatius of St. Paul (currently under consideration for sainthood by the Vatican) to Diana herself, the Spencers are an extremely interesting family. Here, Pearson makes it obvious why Diana Spencer could never be the quiet and complaisant wife Prince Charles and the Royal Family were expecting. The story is entertaining and involving, and the attractive book jacket will catch the eye. Strongly recommended for public and academic libraries.
-Elizabeth Mary Mellett, Brookline P.L., MA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.