The Bitter Battle Inside Britain's Royal Family in the Darkest Days of WWII Online
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mxazj (Library ebook) Princes at War: The Bitter Battle Inside Britain's Royal Family in the Darkest Days of WWII Online [mxazj.ebook] Princes at War: The Bitter Battle Inside Britain's Royal Family in the Darkest Days of WWII Pdf Free Deborah Cadbury ePub | *DOC | audiobook | ebooks | Download PDF Download Now Free Download Here Download eBook #465128 in Books 2016-03-08 2016-03-08Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.00 x 1.13 x 5.75l, 1.37 #File Name: 1610396340400 pages | File size: 32.Mb Deborah Cadbury : Princes at War: The Bitter Battle Inside Britain's Royal Family in the Darkest Days of WWII before purchasing it in order to gage whether or not it would be worth my time, and all praised Princes at War: The Bitter Battle Inside Britain's Royal Family in the Darkest Days of WWII: 48 of 48 people found the following review helpful. TerrificBy Sarah RThis was a great read. I've read a number of books about the time period and the Princes and yet this book contained new information for me. I especially enjoyed the way the author presented the information about all four brothers concurrently, along with information on what was occurring politically in Great Britain, Europe and the US as well as the progress of the war.The book is well researched and well written. When the author presents a thesis (regarding the Duke of Kent's death, for example) she presents her reasoning logically and clearly. I definitely recommend this book for anyone interested in the time period or the subjects.37 of 37 people found the following review helpful. Ordinary Brothers In Extraordinary Circumstances.By John D. CofieldOne of the most iconic images from the worst days of the London Blitz shows King George VI and Queen Elizabeth walking through the rubble strewn streets of the East End. Deborah Cadbury's history of the House of Windsor at war rekindles much of the spirit and rhetoric of that dark time but also gives some new perspective on what was going on behind the palace walls between the king and his brothers.King George VI was an accidental monarch. Born a second son, Prince Albert, Duke of York spent his childhood and youth being overshadowed by his seemingly more accomplished older brother Prince Edward. Albert, who was known as Bertie within the family, had a severe stammer and suffered learning disabilities which made his scholastic career an embarrassment. He served capably in the Navy during World War I and married the buoyant and self-confident Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon in 1923. With the help of the speech therapist Lionel Logue he eventually learned to deal with his speech defect, but he was still seen as rather limited and dull by most in British government and society.Bertie was thrust into the spotlight when his brother King Edward VIII abdicated in December 1936 in order to marry the twice divorced American Wallis Simpson. Taking the throne as George VI, Bertie began a reign for which few, including himself, had much hope. Nor were his two younger brothers considered much better. Henry, Duke of Gloucester, was a bluff and unimaginative man who had made a career in the Army, while the seemingly more talented and charismatic George, Duke of Kent, had a dark history of drug abuse and sexual excess. Complicating things further was the behavior of the former king, now Duke of Windsor, who led an extremely public life with his Duchess doing embarrassing things like visiting Hitler in Germany. When World War II began in 1939 George VI displayed a new side of himself: with courage and resolve he became a symbol of British resistance to Hitler. The Duke of Gloucester worked hard as well, as did the Duke of Kent until he was killed in an airplane crash in 1942. The Duke of Windsor, on the other hand, made a nuisance of himself and wasted his brother and Prime Minister Churchill's time with endless complaints. On a darker note, the Duke and his wife continued to have questionable dealings with German officials and Nazi sympathizers even after war was declared. This led to their wartime exile to the Bahamas and apparently necessitated some hasty scrambling after the war to gather up potentially embarrassing documents which might have revealed that the former king had perhaps committed treasonable acts.I enjoyed Princes at War quite a bit. I knew quite a bit about George VI and Queen Elizabeth already, and of course there has been plenty of material published about the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Even so I found some new and interesting material in Cadbury's book about the intelligence work done by the British and later the Americans to keep an eye on the former king and his wife, as well as other efforts by German spies to gain influence within the British government. Most of all, I enjoyed reading more about the work done by the Dukes of Gloucester and Kent, who usually get overlooked in histories focussing on their elder brothers. Cadbury benefitted from memoirs written by people who knew the younger Windsors well, including that of the Duchess of Gloucester herself, and was able to give a better picture of their service. Inevitably a great deal of the book deals with whether or not the Duke of Windsor knew about or approved of Nazi plans to make him king of a conquered Britain, and just as inevitably can come to no firm conclusions thanks to the destruction or sequestration of some German records.Princes at War is an entertaining and interesting read. At times while covering the war years Cadbury allows her tone to become somewhat Churchillian, but in the circumstances that seems appropriate enough. In the end this is the story of four rather ordinary brothers who by extraordinary circumstances were placed in prominent positions during a world-changing conflict. Three of those brothers acquitted themselves well and honorably, and their story deserves to be known.67 of 67 people found the following review helpful. Well- researched, well-written account of the four royal brothers at a critical period in historyBy Anthony GoldingThis is a well-researched, well-written book on the four royal brothers from the time of the abdication crisis until the death of George VI in 1952. The focus is on the Duke of Windsor and the King but it also devotes considerable attention to the two younger brothers whose stories are less well known. The perennial questions surrounding the actions and motives of the Duke and, even more so, the Duchess of Windsor are given as full an airing as possible using all available sources but remain essentially unresolved. The author successfully brings the momentous events of the period alive as we experience the highs and lows through the eyes of the central participants. All in all, this is an informative and fascinating read for anyone who wants to deepen their understanding of the critical events of the late 1930s and the Second World War. In 1936, the British monarchy faced the greatest threats to its survival in the modern eramdash;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:bull;a stammering King George VI, terrified that the world might discover he was unfit to rulebull;a dull-witted Prince Henry, who wanted only a quiet life in the armybull;the too-glamorous Prince George, the Duke of Kentmdash;a reformed hedonist who found new purpose in the RAF and would become the first royal to die in a mysterious plane crashbull;the Duke of Windsor, formerly King Edward VIII, deemed a Nazi-sympathizer and traitor to his own countrymdash;a man who had given it all up for lovePrinces 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.Deborah Cadbury draws on new research, personal accounts from the royal archives, and other never-before-revealed sources to create a dazzling sequel to The King's Speech and tell the true and thrilling drama of Great Britain at war and of a staggering transformation for its monarchy. "[Deborah's] nuanced exploration of the kings reticent temperament and the psychic toll taken by his many troubles creates a fuller picture of the man, who was destined to lead during a 'spectacular downfall' in British power." --- Publishers Weekly Starred About the AuthorDeborah Cadbury is the author of seven acclaimed books including Seven Wonders of the Industrial World, for which the accompanying series received a BAFTA nomination for Best Series; The Feminization of Nature; The Dinosaur Hunters; The Lost King of France; Space Race; and Chocolate Wars. Before turning to writing full time, she worked for thirty years as a BBC TV producer and executive producer and has won numerous international awards, including an Emmy Award. She lives in London. 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