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By Root 1180 0

they’ve received from the Crown. In their country manors, I saw the ermine-edged robes they wore to the coronation and the little gold chairs they sat on during the ceremony in Westminster Abbey. Many had known the Queen since childhood. She attended their weddings and wrote them “Dear Cousin” letters. “In this circle,” explained one aristocrat, “everyone is considered a relation.” (Even with the help of Debrett’s Peerage, the bible of the nobility, I stumbled on the intricacies of British social precedence. More than once I fumbled a title or jumbled initials in addressing a letter, but my gaffes were graciously forgiven. “You’re an American, dear,” said one Countess. “You cannot be expected to know.”) Royalists all, these aristocrats believe firmly in the Crown and maintain that the monarchy will survive as long as the White Cliffs of Dover. I’m grateful to all of them for their time and consideration.

Their insights contrasted sharply with those of republicans I interviewed. They believe the days of the monarchy are, or should be, numbered. Escorted by the writer Anthony Holden, I attended a meeting of the Common Sense Club in London, where British writers, editors, and scholars consider proposals for dismantling the monarchy, including a written constitution for the country that would terminate the House of Lords and separate church from state. The Common Sense Club takes its name from the pamphlet Thomas Paine wrote in 1776, urging a declaration of independence. The son of a Quaker corset maker, he was arrested, convicted of treason, and outlawed from England. His revolutionary spirit still inspires Mr. Holden and his republican colleagues, who combine immense charm and wit with their politics. I enjoyed my time with them and appreciate their efforts to educate me.

Marc Pachter, Counselor for Special Projects to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, has conducted monthly seminars for the Washington Biography Group, which I attend for his wise advice. He believes that biography is a life lived and observed from the outside peering in. He tells us, “Write with your nose pressed to the window.” So I have tried.

For expertise on British royalty, I turned to several social historians who lecture at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Particularly enchanting were Virginia W. Newmyer; Stanley Weintraub, Evan Pugh Professor of Arts and Humanities, Pennsylvania State University; Edward Keefer, U.S. Department of State; Marlene Eilers; Roland Flamini, formerly diplomatic correspondent, Time magazine; Catherine A. Cline, professor of history, Catholic University; David Cannadine, professor of history, Columbia University.

For answers to my historical queries, I’m indebted to several librarians: Eugene Weber, manager of the Press Association of the United Kingdom, and his helpful staff: Adrian McLeay, Richard Peacock, and Katarina Shelley; Linda Amster, New York Times; Paul Hamburg, Simon Wiesenthal Center; Garner Shaw, the New York Observer; Gwen Odum, Palm Beach Daily News; Steve Glatter, Miami-Dade Public Library; Don Osterweil, Vanity Fair; Jeanette Brown, USA Today; Merle Thomason, Fairchild publications; Paul Cornish and Janet Bacon, British Information Service; Lisa Brody, American Film Institute; Terri Natale, New Statesman; Charles Seaton, the Spectator; Rodney Smith, New Orleans Public Library; Polly Townsend, Desmond-Fish Library, Garrison, New York; Janet Lorenz, National Film Information Service of the Center for Motion Picture Study, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; Margaret O’Sullivan, Putnam County [New York] News and Recorder; Patrick Wagner, Smithsonian Residents Program; the reference librarians at the Alexandria, Arlington, and Fairfax, Virginia, Public Libraries; the Washingtoniana Room of the Martin Luther King Library in Washington, D.C.; the Foundation Center Library in Washington, D.C

For documents and records on the British royal family, I’m grateful to the British Naval Office; the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys, St. Catherine’s House, London; and the presidential