Traitor King
by
18/99
Critics' Rating Index
16/99
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Scholars' Citation Index
15/99
Volume of Reviews
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About This Book
Drawing upon newly released archives, bestselling biographer Andrew Lownie tells the story of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor's glittering lives after Edward abdicated the throne—a world that was riddled with treachery and betrayal. A Town & Country "Must Read Book" 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 this astonishing dual biography at the moment that most biographers 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, all the while manipulating the media to portray themselves as victims. The Duke and Duchess of Windsor 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 previously unexplored archives, Lownie shows in dramatic fashion how their glittering world was riddled with treachery and betrayal—and why the royal family never forgave the duke for choosing love over duty.
Reviews
"Andrew Lownie's Traitor King begins on Dec."
"The reader might be forgiven for groaning at the publication of yet another book about the Duke and Duchess of Windsor...It must be said that there is very little in Andrew Lownie's briskly written and compulsively readable account that will not be familiar to the addicts...There is Wallis Simpson's hypnotic but still not quite comprehensible hold over the little Prince, from almost the moment they met at a party in 1931; and her bizarre emotional history, including her affair with the German ambassador Joachim von Ribbentrop, who sent her seventeen carnations a day in acknowledgement of the number of times they had slept together...There is Edward VIII's determination to marry her, despite her previous two marriages and the monogamous teaching of the Church of England; their exile in France after his abdication in 1936; the dodgy friends...We read of the unquestionable links with Nazis, among them Edward's cousins, and of the late escape from France after the German invasion...Lownie sticks strictly to the story of Edward and Mrs Simpson, and is never tempted to draw parallels with more recent times...There will probably be no other reader of the book with my cheap mentality, who finds any resemblances between a fundamentally stupid British prince marrying an American divorcée and laying down his royal duties, while at the same time wanting to hang on to all the privileges and wealth that went with his former position; or with a prince rich as Croesus whingeing about money and 'writing' a vengeful memoir to bring in yet more millions...If any reader were vulgar enough to allow these thoughts to flicker across their mind, it would at least remind them that, however preposterously selfish the modern equivalents may be, they are not actually Nazis...One Nazi uniform worn as a tactless joke at a party doesn't make a Parteitag."
"The central section of Lownie's book is concerned with the shady activities of the Windsors during the war...Most damning is the period they spent in Spain and Portugal in 1940 after the fall of France...Still worrying about their tax burden and diminished status if they returned to Britain, they headed to neutral Portugal to consider their options...A huge amount of intrigue accompanied them along the way, with Lownie's descriptions of the antics of various intelligence agents outdoing anything you might read in spy fiction (one British agent was reportedly told to shoot them if they looked like falling into enemy hands)...Again the Windsors made terrible choices, ending their journey with a stay in the palatial home of a Portuguese banker who also happened to be a German asset...This part of the Windsor saga has been covered in detail before, but Lownie suggests a new interpretation of the incriminating German files on the couple held in the National Archives...Did the Duke knowingly collude with the Nazis?...Every previous biographer has given him the benefit of the doubt, suggesting that while he became a pawn in their game, there is no direct evidence that he worked with them...Lownie sticks his neck out here...'The argument of this book is that there is plenty of evidence … that the Windsors were not foolish and naïve, but actively engaged with the German intrigues'...Lownie is dutiful in compiling his evidence on this matter and his argument is convincing...But it's a niche debate...The court of public opinion (along with The Crown) decided on the Duke's guilt long ago."
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