This review is of the paperback book "Young Prince Philip - His Turbulent Early Life" by Philip Eade. This is the biography of the current Queen's consort and there are also hardback and Kindle versions.

Whatever people think of the Monarchy, most will agree that Prince Philip has been a constant source of support to the Queen over the 60 years of her reign, and the years when she was the first in line to the Throne when George VI was King. This year, in 2012, they marked their 65th wedding anniversary, so the impact that Prince Philip has had on the Monarchy is crucial.

I didn't previously know a great deal about Prince Philip's early life, other than knowing he was born into the Greek Royal family and later had to go into exile. This book takes the story of Prince Philip's life to around the death of King George VI and starts to make sense of the complex connections between the monarchies of Europe at the time.

The book is semi-authorised, so that friends of Prince Philip were no obstructive in helping with information and quotes, but equally, this is not a fully authorised biography of his early life which the Prince was involved with. This has the substantial advantage that it means the potentially negative areas of his life aren't removed, which helps the biography be much more balanced.

I found the writing style positive and fluent, and I found it provided enough detail about Philip's up-bringing and how he was influenced, without becoming confused with the complex family histories which he was born into. The book doesn't try to make Philip out to be all good, or all bad, and presents the evidence to let the reader make up their own opinion of Prince Philip.

One of the problems that Philip had in his youth was those complex family links, and some of his relatives did become closer to the Nazi regime than he would have personally liked. The author addresses this in chapter seven which is entitled "Dodging the Hitler Youth", and Philip seems to have both been well advised to avoid it, and also well measured enough to not get involved.

I also found the following chapter, "Off to Gordonstoun" fascinating as it details his couple of years which he spent there, and the influence which it had on his life. Shortly after that he went to war, and the chapter entitled "A Good War" shows how that despite the faults he might have had in some areas, he was an inspirational and competent military man.

Although the book doesn't continue into the period when Elizabeth became Queen, one of the most interesting elements was seeing how the British Royal Family welcomed him in. There is a comprehensive section in the book on how the Queen Mother treated him, and the importance of Louis Mountbatten in his life.

I purchased the paperback version which retails at 8.99 pounds, but can be obtained from Amazon at the time of writing for the price of 5.39 pounds including UK delivery. As the paperback has only recently been published there aren't currently any second-hand copies which are much cheaper, but this will of course change over time. The hardback edition retails for 17.50 pounds but is available from Amazon for the price of 17.50 pounds including UK delivery, and these are cheaper second-hand on Amazon, around half the price.

The paperback was published in March 2012 and the hardback book was published in June 2011. The paperback ISBN is 9780007305391 and the hardback ISBN is 9780007305360. There is also a Kindle edition which is priced at 4.99 pounds, disappointingly only 40p cheaper than the paperback version is available for.

Overall I found this a very well researched and interesting book, which added to my knowledge of Prince Philip. The book is well written and is a very good launching point to understanding the character of the Prince, and a recommended read.