Not strictly, or even loosely, speaking an environmental book, but now that Henry Morris has come out as the author of this and the side-splitting predecessor Diary of a Secret Tory MP (reviewed here) you can see why it deserves a review.
There is the odd word or two about wildlife and how much the Royal Family adore it in these pages. For example, the account of the late Queen’s last grouse shoot at Balmoral, aided by considerable fire power and an attack helicopter, brought tears to my eyes, and probably will yours. Sandringham’s Hen Harriers get a mention too, which is more than they did in Prince Harry’s book Spare (not reviewed here because it doesn’t appear, at least by design, to be satirical). The Boxing Day Pheasant shoot is here too.
Henry Morris got in touch with Wild Justice in its early days, and remains the organisation’s most significant donor thanks to his fund-raising run in support of Hen Harriers. It was good to see him at a Wild Justice event in Poole Harbour recently, where Henry arrived a day late because he had had to clean the monarch’s crown jewels the day before.
But what of the book? It’s a laugh, but as with the best satire it is firmly rooted in the awfulness of reality, and as one guffaws at the fictional tales one thinks ‘I bet that isn’t so far from the truth’. And it’s a clever book with witty allusions, finely observed degenerate characters and links to many real events. It’ll make you laugh. Maybe a book to read while not watching the King’s Christmas message?
The cover? A right royal success. I’ll give it 9/10.
The Diary of a Secret Royal: dodgy dispatches from the House of Windsor by Henry Morris is published by Mudlark/Harper Collins.
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