The Prince and I

I really liked this book. It is the true story of a European woman who accepted a position as nanny to a newborn Saudi Arabian prince in the late 1970s. It is a very interesting look into the lives of Saudi Arabian princesses and how the royal family lives. Rosemarie lived in the palace when Princess Misha'il, the subject of Frontline's "Death of a Princess," was shot in the street for committing adultery. Sometimes the writing is amatuerish, but the story makes up for it. I'm sure it is hard to poetically and correctly describe the romance of the compelling Arabian desert, so she can be forgiven if the writing is awkward at times. The book is very timely today, and especially refreshing for those of us who remember a safe, glittering middle east where Americans once went for jobs that paid spectacular wages: pre-Iran hostage crisis, pre-World Trade Towers attacks. The book is lacking in that there are no pictures - only one on the dust jacket of the handsome baby Prince Saud. I would have liked to have seen pictures of Rosemarie, Princess Moudi, The King and especially of Princess Misha'il. The Saudi's placed extreme pressure on PBS not to air "Death of a Princess" in 1980. It was the most controvesial show on PBS to date. This book has attracted little attention, and I wonder if the power of the Saudi Royal family has anything to do with that.