Great book about the character of European monarchies in the 19th and early 20th centuries. For every intelligent and studious queen who actually did useful work, there were a dozen playboys and idiots who neglected their children and worried only about preserving their inherited status. Reading these sad stories about royal decadence made me think that the end of European monarchies might have been the only good thing to come out of the first world war. The book is well-written and it illustrates nicely why royal families had to focus so much energy on propping up their last facades of legitimacy in their final decades.