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Article: The Palace Follies
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- May 11, 1989
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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THE OXFORD BOOK
OF ROYAL ANECDOTESEdited by Elizabeth Longford
Oxford University Press. 516 pp. $22.50
Imagine a complete file of People magazine going back almost
2,000 years and you will have some idea of the gossipy fun awaiting
readers of this erudite expose' of the wit, wisdom and waywardness of
British monarchs from Boadicea to Elizabeth II.
The reputation of Ethelraed the Unready (978-1016) has been
ruined by a bad translation of a pun, "The Oxford Book of Royal
Anecdotes" informs us. His name really meant "noble counsel" and so
"un-raed" meant "no counsel." When as a mere babe he urinated in the
font during his baptism, everyone took it as a bad omen-like the
diamond that fell ...