The Prince of Mirrors

By Alan Robert Clark

Included in the Walter Scott Academy Recommends list 2019

A love that was never meant to be.

Prince Albert Victor, grandson of Queen Victoria, is heir presumptive to the British throne. Kind-hearted and eager to please, he wants nothing more than to live up to his family’s expectations.

But when he meets his new tutor, Jem Stephen, a handsome and renowned intellectual, he must choose between a forbidden love and his duties to the crown.

‘In sculpted, luscious prose Clark tenderly imagines the secret longing of a fated prince’ –Uli Lenart, Attitude

‘A gilded cast of characters parades through this sumptuous tale. A clever mixture of history, psychology and sex’ –Alastair Stewart CBE, ITN anchor

‘Clark writes about big subjects to do with how we choose to live our lives’  –Sue Townsend

‘Touching and compelling’ –Gyles Brandreth, writer, broadcaster and former MP

'Elegant and assured, The Prince of Mirrors is that rarest and most elusive of things: a joy to read' –Neil McKenna, the author of Fanny & Stella, shortlisted for the 2013 Green Carnation Prize

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fairlight Books
• Release date: Jun 7, 2018
• ISBN: 9781912054138

Alan Robert Clark

Alan Robert Clark was born and educated in Scotland. He briefly attended King's College London, before opting instead for a career as a copywriter and creative director with a number of leading advertising agencies. He has also worked as a freelance journalist, and has ghost-written and co-authored a number of biographies. He is the author of three previous novels, Rory's Boys (2011), The Prince of Mirrors (2018) and Valhalla (2020). The Prince of Mirrors was included on the Walter Scott Prize 'Academy Recommends' list in 2019.

Reviews for The Prince of Mirrors

[ponsonby_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When I opened this book and discovered it to be a novel about the Duke of Clarence and Avondale rather than the biography I had anticipated, I was not happy; and when I found it to be written in the present tense, a fashion I strongly dislike, I felt even worse. But I have a strong interest in the period so resolved to try it anyway; and I was pleasantly surprised, because THIS IS A VERY GOOD BOOK. It isn't perfect; some of Clark's writing is a bit too florid, with an excess of adjectives. But the main thing is that it enters very convincingly into Prince Eddy's mind; and not only his but also those of members of his family, and his friends. It tells his story from early childhood until his premature death, and really gets across how difficult it was for him to survive in a milieu so different from that which suited him. The theme of sexuality is sensitively and openly handled; and all the characters are treated sympathetically even if their flaws are on display. Achieving a credible new slant on royal characters is not easy, but Clark succeeds. I now intend to read 'Valhalla', Clark's book centred on Mary of Teck, who is an important character at the end of Eddy's life.