William & Harry: A Portrait of Two Princes

Seward, author of The Queen and Di, takes a close look at Charles and Di's progeny, Princes William (the heir) and Harry (the""spare""), in this primly trashy dual biography. Unfortunately, for all their genetic glamour, their Royal Highnesses are rather dull and callow in the flesh, at least as revealed here. Seward drift-nets gossip from an assortment of teachers, nannies, body-guards, relatives of friends and even a party clown, calls in a battery of child-psychologists to assess the damage from their parents' famously unhappy marriage, and discourages (and yet somehow subtly fuels) speculation about Harry's provenance. But William, the reluctant celebrity slouching into manhood, and the avowedly redundant Harry (""'You're going to be king. It doesn't matter what I do,'"" he is reported to have said at age nine) gravitating to drink, minor loutishness and polo does not make for gripping reading. The book, instead, is dominated by the larger-than-life figure of their mother, Diana--her crying jags, her bulimia, her lovers, her tell-all interviews and her love/hate relationship with the paparazzi who prized and hounded her. Seward writes cleanly and has done her share of research, but this book is for true royals fans only. Photos