Book review: Eminent Elizabethans, By Piers Brendon
From Jagger's priapism to Charles's princely charms
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Utilising the iconoclastic profiles in Lytton Strachey's Eminent Victorians as a template, Brendon produced Eminent Edwardians (Northcliffe, Balfour, Pankhurst and Baden-Powell) and now, thirty years on, Eminent Elizabethans.
The problem with his new subjects Murdoch, Thatcher, Jagger and Prince Charles, is that unlike his Edwardian targets, they are four of the most scrutinised figures of our era. Yet by utilising the research techniques of academic history (notes and bibliography run to 40 pages), Brendon substantiates his devastating critiques. He also has a keen eye for the killer quote. From Douglas Hurd, we hear the absent-minded explanation from Thatcher why she preferred Major to him as successor ("He was the best of a very poor bunch") while Keith Richards reveals that Mick has "a tiny todger".
Of his four subjects, the heir to the throne emerges as the most intriguing. His chilly childhood is encapsulated by the Queen's decision to postpone reunion with her infant son "for several days" after a trip to Malta. He was an artistic oddity in a family whose idea of a cultural evening was, according to Anthony Blunt, "playing golf with a piece of coal on Aubusson carpets". "Easily misled by charlatans", Charles grew up to "esteem hierarchy" and "revere ritual". He developed "a swelling desire to impose his opinions." Yet Brendon concedes that his "warmth, charm, courtesy... and self-deprecating humour" restored his "battered" image".
No such redemption is granted to Jagger, whose early rebellious posturing hid a "Home Counties Tory, cautious, orthodox, old fashioned." Jagger himself insisted that his drug bust in 1967 is "why I turned bourgeois". Richards, a touchstone of droll objectivity, noted that "He'd never been anything but bourgeois."
Brendon delineates Jagger's misogyny, satyriasis, multiple personalities, relentless social climbing and bizarre stage persona ("pantomime demagogue"). Brendon's addictively enjoyable dissections are richly informative about this ego-driven quartet.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments