Book description
 An easy to read treat for royal enthusiasts, skilfully assembled
to highlight significant episodes in our history from the comic to the
tragic  informative and enjoyableâ Sarah Bradford  Jeremy Archer
takes Christmas as his springboard and thus, in a series of
fascinating vignettes, he brings to life many varied members of the
Royal Family over two centuries.â Hugo Vickers A Royal Christmas is
a Christmas pudding of a book, enticingly full of silver threepenny
pieces. Organised thematically, it covers such topics as Christmas and
conflict in the 20th century, Christmas pastimes, festive feasts,
Christmas and the Commonwealth, and many more, to reveal the many ways
in which the Royal Family have celebrated Christmas through the ages.
Jeremy Archer has delved into the Royal Archives to uncover the
personal thoughts of many members of the Royal Family during the
Christmas period. What comes over most strongly from Queen Victoria's
journals is the importance of family: the joys they shared, the trials
they endured, and the carefully-selected gifts they exchanged.
Although there is much happiness, tragedy is a common bed-fellow,
particularly in earlier times. And conflict is seldom very far away.
But this is a celebration Â- both of an enduring festive season and an
extraordinary family.
After serving in the British Army for ten years, Jeremy Archer now
lives in London and works in the City. An enthusiastic historian, he has
written on the subject of Christmas from a number of angles. His first
book, 'Home for Christmas', was an anthology of wartime Christmas
extracts from 1777 to the present day. His second, 'Away at Christmas',
looked at how the season was celebrated by some of the world's
best-known adventurers.
