Princes at War: The Bitter Battle Inside Britain's Royal Family in the Darkest Days of WWII

Posted on 19 October 2018 by Deborah Cadbury

In 1936, the monarchy faced the greatest threats to its survival in the modern era the crisis of abdication and the menace of Nazism The fate of the country rested in the hands of George V s sorely unequipped sons Edward VIII abandoned his throne to marry divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson Prince Henry preferred the sporting life of a country squire the glamorous and hedonistic Prince George, Duke of Kent, was considered a wild card and stammering George VI felt himself woefully unprepared for the demanding role of King As Hitler s Third Reich tore up the boundaries of Europe and Britain braced itself for war, the new king struggled to manage internal divisions within the royal family Drawing on many new sources including from the Royal Archives, Princes at War goes behind the palace doors to tell the thrilling drama of Britain at war. Read Princes at War: The Bitter Battle Inside Britain's Royal Family in the Darkest Days of WWII – kino-fada.fr I have enjoyed other books by Deborah Cadbury, including, The Lost King of France, and Queen Victoria s Matchmaking, so I was keen to read this Subtitled, The British Royal Family s Private Battle in the Second World War, this looks at the role of the four sons of King George V With Edward VIII abdicating the throne to marry Mrs Simpson, an unwilling Price Albert Bertie to his family and King George VI, in honour of his father was thrust into the spotlight and onto the throne Oddly, I have enjoyed other books by Deb...A quarter of the way through the book, and the author has yet to say anything interesting or important This is a potted history of Britain during the Second World War from a royal perspective, further marred by pedestrian prose, errors, and the author s partiality This wasn t even ...King Edward VIII the Duke of Windsor the Abdicating King , his great love affair with Wallis Simpson, and Prince Albert George VI s reluctant ascent to the throne were first introduced to the general public in The King s Speech The film took some historical liberties, although the soul of the first part of the story was intact If, of course, you leave out the fact that there were twobrothers witnessing this unprecedented break in the monarc...I really enjoyed this I didn t know a ton about the Duke of Gloucester or Duke of Kent going into this, but the sibling dynamic stuff was FASCINATING Cait, you should definitely read this one.Earlier this summer, only two months after Kate Middleton gave birth to her second child, The Sun published pictures of the Queen making a Nazi salute in the gardens of Buckingham Palace in 1933, to predictable controversy Also in that photo was her uncle, David, later Edward VIII, long known for his admiration for Hitler Some thought it was tasteless of the newspaper to publish the photos, although The Sun made it clear that it had no intention to smear the Queen Its reasoning was that it Earlier this summer, only two months after Kate Middleton gave birth to her second child, The Sun published pictures of the Queen making a Nazi salute in the gardens of Buckingham Palace in 1933, to predictable controversy Also in that photo was her uncle, David, later Edward VIII, long known for his admiration for Hitler Some thought it was tasteless of the newspaper to publish the photos, although The Sun made it clear that it had no intention to smear the Queen Its reasoning was that it was important...King George V did his sons no service when he tried to train them to be tough With his brutal tongue and by turning them over to harsh public schools, he crushed out any kingly qualities they had.Cadbury doesn t mention the evidence described by Andrew Morton that the oldest son Edward VIII never wanted to be king She goes along with the conventional view that he was forced to choose between the throne and the woman he loved Fortunate...Review to ComePoor George VI All happy families are alike each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way , Tolstoy once wrote but the British royal family during WW2 was definitely uniquely unhappy Unexpectedly becoming king when he felt constitutionally unsuited and incapable is one thing that s happened before Becoming king when his predecessor was still alive and had in fact given up the throne for an immensely unsuitable woman, causing a constitutional crisis on the way, and was subsequently Poor George VI All happy families are alike each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way , Tolstoy once wrote but the British royal family during WW2 was definitely uni...This book focuses on the relationships between the four sons of King George V of England and concentrates mainly on the years between1936 1952 The eldest was David, who originally became Edward VIII, then abdicated and became the Duke of Windsor Second son, Bertie, was Duke of York then became George VI The other two brothers were Henry, Duke of Gloucester and George, the Duke of Kent.Although i ve read biographies of Wallis and Edward, I found this book fascinating Much of the book This book focuses on the relationships between the four sons of King George V of England and concentrates mainly on the years between1936 1952 The eldest was David, who originally became Edward VIII, then abdicated and became the Duke of Windsor Second son, Bertie, was Duke of York then became George VI...The author provided a good sense of the bleak prospect Britain faced during the period after the fall of France, when the survival of the existing polity was very doubtful The closest analogy I can think of is the counterfactual of a France under Louis XIV having conquered Europe and preparing to invade Britain to restore James II to the throne of England, Scotland and Ireland This book conveyed the fear in the mind of King and government of the possibility of Britain conquered by the Nazis, The author provided a g...

Princes at War: The Bitter Battle Inside Britain's Royal Family in the Darkest Days of WWII

English
19 October 2018

Deborah Cadbury