MEMORIES OF NINETY YEARS - Tapa dura

Published in the year of her 90th birthday, these reminiscences of the widow of Prince Henry, younger brother of Edward VIII and George VI, offer insights into a bygone age. Herself the daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch and Queensberry, the author describes a childhood spent divided between such homes as Montagu House, Eildon Hall, Drumlanrig Castle, Dalkeith Palace, Bowhill House, Boughton and Langholm. She evokes a vanished world in which armies of servants and tons of luggage travelled from house to house as the family progressed around the country. She then moves on to her time as a debutante, to London society, to extended stays in Kenya with her uncle, Lord Francis Scott, and finally to her marriage into the Royal Family and how it affected her. The previously unpublished illustrations are from Princess Alice's private albums and scrapbooks.