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Princes at war : the bitter battle inside Britain's royal family in the darkest days of WWII / Deborah Cadbury.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Public Affairs, [2015]Copyright date: ©2015Edition: First editionDescription: xiv, 357 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 25 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 1408845245 (United Kingdom hardback)
  • 1610394038 (hardcover)
  • 9781408845240 (United Kingdom hardback)
  • 9781610394031 (hardcover)
Subject(s): Genre/Form:
Contents:
December 1936-September 1939: Circumstances without parallel ; A very full heart ; Enmity and fear -- September 1939-August 1940: In this grave hour ; Into the unknown ; The decisive struggle ; Treachery -- August 1940-December 1942: There will always be an England ; Ever widening conflict ; It's my brother -- January 1943-January 1952: Tested as never before in our history ; Something more than courage ; For valour.
Summary: In 1936, the British 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: a stammering King George VI, terrified that the world might discover he was unfit to rule; a dull-witted Prince Henry, who wanted only a quiet life in the army; the too-glamorous Prince George, the Duke of Kent -- a reformed hedonist who found new purpose in the RAF and would become the first royal to die in a mysterious plane crash; and the Duke of Windsor, formerly King Edward VIII, deemed a Nazi-sympathizer and traitor to his own country -- a man who had given it all up for love. Princes at War is a riveting portrait of these four very different men miscast by fate, one of whom had to save the monarchy at a moment when kings and princes from across Europe were washing up on England's shores as the old order was overturned. Scandal and conspiracy swirled around the palace and its courtiers, among them dangerous cousins from across Europe's royal families, gold-digging American socialite Wallis Simpson, and the King's Lord Steward, upon whose estate Hitler's deputy Rudolf Hess parachuted (seemingly by coincidence) as London burned under the Luftwaffe's tireless raids.
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Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 941.084 C121 Available 33111007976372
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

King George V predicted that his eldest son, Edward VIII, would destroy himself within a year of succeeding to the throne. In December 1936 he was proved right, and the world's press broke their Great Silence: King Edward VIII was abandoning his throne to marry Wallis Simpson, a divorced American socialite. A life spent in the shadow of his charismatic elder brother left the new king, George VI, magnificently unprepared for the demands of ruling the kingdom and empire; this would be a baptism of fire. Hitler's Third Reich was tearing up the old Kingdoms of Europe one by one, and the familiar contours of London were being transformed by sandbags. As Great Britain braced herself for war, the faltering new king struggled to manage internal divisions within the royal family and feared betrayal as intelligence mounted of the Duke and Duchess of Windsors' suspected treachery during the worst days of the war. Drawing on personal accounts from the royal archives and other new sources, Deborah Cadbury goes behind palace doors to uncover the very private conflict between George VI and his too charming older brother; a conflict so bitter it was unresolvable while they were both alive. Cadbury's intimate and gripping account of familial tensions amongst kings and princes, provides a unique look at one of the most turbulent periods in British history. Overcoming his stammer was only the beginning, and Cadbury goes on to reveal just what it took for George VI to rise to the challenge of leading his country during its time of greatest peril - and at what price.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 309-338) and index.

December 1936-September 1939: Circumstances without parallel ; A very full heart ; Enmity and fear -- September 1939-August 1940: In this grave hour ; Into the unknown ; The decisive struggle ; Treachery -- August 1940-December 1942: There will always be an England ; Ever widening conflict ; It's my brother -- January 1943-January 1952: Tested as never before in our history ; Something more than courage ; For valour.

In 1936, the British 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: a stammering King George VI, terrified that the world might discover he was unfit to rule; a dull-witted Prince Henry, who wanted only a quiet life in the army; the too-glamorous Prince George, the Duke of Kent -- a reformed hedonist who found new purpose in the RAF and would become the first royal to die in a mysterious plane crash; and the Duke of Windsor, formerly King Edward VIII, deemed a Nazi-sympathizer and traitor to his own country -- a man who had given it all up for love. Princes at War is a riveting portrait of these four very different men miscast by fate, one of whom had to save the monarchy at a moment when kings and princes from across Europe were washing up on England's shores as the old order was overturned. Scandal and conspiracy swirled around the palace and its courtiers, among them dangerous cousins from across Europe's royal families, gold-digging American socialite Wallis Simpson, and the King's Lord Steward, upon whose estate Hitler's deputy Rudolf Hess parachuted (seemingly by coincidence) as London burned under the Luftwaffe's tireless raids.

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