Traitor King [electronic resource] : The Scandalous Exile of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor
Lownie, Andrew2021
eBook
Praise for The Mountbattens 'Impressively well-researched... a fresh and dispassionate look' - Daily Mail, biography of the year 'Dares to go where no other Mountbatten biography has gone before' - The Lady 'A complex story, beautifully written - which never felt less like a history lesson, but I learned so much' - Anne Sebba 11 December 1936. The King of England, Edward VIII, has given up his Crown, foregoing his duty for the love of Wallis Simpson, an American divorcée. Their courtship has been dogged by controversy and scandal, but with Edward's abdication, they can live happily ever after. But do they? Beginning his astonishing biography at the moment most turn away, bestselling historian Andrew Lownie reveals the dramatic lives of the Windsors post-abdication. This is a story of a Royal shut out by his family and forced into exile; of the Nazi attempts to recruit the Duke to their cause, and of why the Duke, as Governor of the Bahamas, tried to shut down the investigation into the murder of a close friend. It is a story of a couple obsessed with their status, financially exploiting their position, and manipulating the media to portray themselves as victims. The Windsors were, in their day, the most glamorous exiles in the world, flitting from sumptuously appointed mansions in the south of France to luxurious residences in Palm Beach. But they were spoiled, selfish people, obsessed with their image and revelling in adulterous affairs. Drawing upon hitherto unexplored archives, Lownie shows how their glittering, brittle world was riddled with treachery and betrayal, and why the Royal family never forgave the Duke for choosing love over duty.
Main title:
Author:
Lownie, Andrew, Author
Imprint:
[Place of publication not identified] : Blink Publishing, 2021
Collation:
1 online resource (1 text file)
Biography/History:
Andrew Lownie was educated at Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he was Dunster History Prizeman and President of the Union, before taking his Masters and doctorate at Edinburgh University. A Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and former visiting fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge, he has run his own literary agency since 1988. A trustee of the Campaign for Freedom of Information and President of The Biographers' Club, he has written for The Times, Telegraph, Wall Street Journal, Spectator and Guardian. His previous biographies include lives of the writer John Buchan and the prize-winning Stalin's Englishman on the Cambridge spy Guy Burgess.
ISBN:
9781788704854
Language:
English
BRN:
379284