Having just finished Sheila by Robert Wainwright, this comes as a pleasant surprise, unexpected because one would think British upper caste is all about stiff upper lips, reticence, et al - and who is more upper caste than descendants of Queen Victoria? And Wainwright was all so very correct and reticent, which while being entirely proper was a bit tiresome, since the life he described of the rich and aristocrats of England and related parts of the world - which encompassed half the globe, at that, what with British empire and Europe, and US glitterati too, seemed all about partying and so forth.
But this one is very different in texture while still being entirely proper too, very readable and very enjoyable. So if Pamela Mountbattern did not have help of a professional shadow writer to trim this, at the very least, then she was remarkably good at writing, which is not as surprising if not famous, what with her descriptions of how intelligent and active her mother was, even apart from the royal family regimen of active life.
One of the positively reassuring little factors in this book is the conclusion of the daughter about her mother's relationship with Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru being entirely within the intellectual sphere and platonic, which might have had strong affection and attachment but not a physical intimacy component, and definitely not more than what is decently admissible in public. This is believable not only due to her reasoning - they were always surrounded by people and had no possibility of privacy - but also due to her candid descriptions of her parents conducting their separate lives and travelling with or being visited by their respective paramours as a part of extended family, and their acceptance of one another's privacy and needs. And while from another "white" source such an assertion of a relationship being non physical might make one wonder if this was for a different reason, on reading this book one generally must conclude this wasn't so. Mountbattens as family did not support racism and reacted emotionally disapprovingly to such expressions in their hearing, according to Pamela Mountbatten - and her father understood the need and value of Nehru in his wife's life and found it freeing him from worrying about her, too.
Several times in reading this one breaks into smiles or chuckles or more, for instance the stories about the various exotic pets from various corners of the world they brought home as gifts or by choice, or about the family stories related to various cousins, which included the royals, not only of England either but of most of Europe. Pamela's grandmother talking about Willie casually, and her explaining when the mystified would be new member (fiancé of the elder sister Patricia Mountbatten) asked who Willie was, that it was "the Kaiser of course", is just one such fun little story.
