A crown jewel

ike making barrels or thatching roofs, writing about the royal family is one of the traditional craft skills of the UK. It involves raking over yellowing newspaper cuttings and polishing old chestnuts about “majesty” and “radiance”. But books about the royals sell, including a recent clutch of glum ones, some ostensibly written by members of the family themselves, so they keep on coming. Just when you think you can’t face another one, a book appears that makes you wonder if you’ve ever read a