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- Jan 26, 2003
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Harold Brooks-Baker has died. I found this article about him very entertaining. Some excerpts follow. The reference to Henry VIII and the Duchess of York made me howl. It couldn't be more on target!
Deborah
"HAROLD BROOKS-BAKER, who headed the ultimate reference bible for the titled classes, died in London on Saturday. The publishing director of the Burke's Peerage group of companies and former MD of Debrett's, who was regularly quoted on royalty and the aristocracy, was 71.
Born in America, and a student alongside JFK's brother Teddy Kennedy at Harvard Law School, he travelled the world as a reporter for the Washington Observer followed by a spell as a bond dealer in Paris and Geneva.
...
He earned a reputation as the most quoted person in US newspapers from the UK, outside of the royal family.
Amongst his pithy comments was his interpretation of the reported divorce settlement of the Princess of Wales?
'Jackie Onassis would have laughed at £15m. She could have spent that for breakfast,' he said.
The Duchess of York was dealt an equally honest assessment, 'If you sat the Duchess of York next to Henry VIII, you would have an interesting time deciding who was the most (sic) vulgar'.
...
His wife Cathy listed her late husband's hobbies as opera, wine, monarchy and a lifelong love of politics, particularly American.
She said, 'The monarchy was his hobby and it came an important part of his profession, and politics was his hobby really - he was fascinated, and he followed, particularly American, politics.
He always admitted to being a visitor in this country, so often his views about the monarchy were rather unusual, but they were fairly well thought out and also rather prescient - he always said he thought Charles and Camilla should get married.'"
Harold Brooks-Baker
Deborah
"HAROLD BROOKS-BAKER, who headed the ultimate reference bible for the titled classes, died in London on Saturday. The publishing director of the Burke's Peerage group of companies and former MD of Debrett's, who was regularly quoted on royalty and the aristocracy, was 71.
Born in America, and a student alongside JFK's brother Teddy Kennedy at Harvard Law School, he travelled the world as a reporter for the Washington Observer followed by a spell as a bond dealer in Paris and Geneva.
...
He earned a reputation as the most quoted person in US newspapers from the UK, outside of the royal family.
Amongst his pithy comments was his interpretation of the reported divorce settlement of the Princess of Wales?
'Jackie Onassis would have laughed at £15m. She could have spent that for breakfast,' he said.
The Duchess of York was dealt an equally honest assessment, 'If you sat the Duchess of York next to Henry VIII, you would have an interesting time deciding who was the most (sic) vulgar'.
...
His wife Cathy listed her late husband's hobbies as opera, wine, monarchy and a lifelong love of politics, particularly American.
She said, 'The monarchy was his hobby and it came an important part of his profession, and politics was his hobby really - he was fascinated, and he followed, particularly American, politics.
He always admitted to being a visitor in this country, so often his views about the monarchy were rather unusual, but they were fairly well thought out and also rather prescient - he always said he thought Charles and Camilla should get married.'"
Harold Brooks-Baker