Traitor King: The Scandalous Exile of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor: AS FEATURED ON CHANNEL 4 TV DOCUMENTARY

Description

Traitor King, by Sunday Times bestselling author Andrew Lownie, looks at the years following the abdication of Edward VIII when the former king was kept in exile, feuding with his family over status for his wife, Wallis Simpson, and denied any real job. Drawing on extensive research into hitherto unused archives and Freedom of Information requests, it makes the case that the Duke and Duchess of Windsor were not the naive dupes of the Germans but actively intrigued against Britain in both war and peace. It reveals: - the story behind the German attempts to recruit the Duke as a British Petain in the summer of 1940. - the efforts, by Churchill in particular, to prevent post-war publication of the captured German documents which detailed the Duke's Nazi intrigues. - the reasons why the Duke, as Governor of the Bahamas, tried to shut down the investigation into the 1943 murder of his close friend Harry Oakes. - the full extent of the feud with the British Royal Family, based on his betrayals going back to his dishonesty about his true financial position at the time of the Abdication. - that far from a love story, Wallis felt trapped in a marriage she had never wanted with a pathetic and suffocating husband, one of the reasons she took several lovers, including the gay playboy Jimmy Donahue. Traitor King tells the story of a royal exiled with his wife, turning his back on duty, his family and using his position for financial gain.

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 and formerly served in the Royal Naval Reserve.

'...page-turner of a biography. Andrew Lownie draws revealing insights from his diligent research...This compelling biography disabuses the reader of any romantic notions once held, not least initially by Churchill, about Edward. Lownie paints a devastating portrait of the duke and duchess...this biography is a timely point of comparison when set against the ongoing trials and tribulations of the House of Windsor...a cautionary tale of a royal whose behaviour, values and standards squandered the respect, loyalty and pride of the people he was call upon to serve.' - The Tablet 'Thoroughly researched and compelling narrative of one of the most controversial periods in royal history.' - Andrew Morton 'Lownie reveals Edward not as a dupe of the Nazis, but an active and culpable collaborator...The list of individuals interviewed and archives consulted is formidable. The more impressive then, that this is a wonderfully readable and succinct story.' - BBC History Magazine 'Andrew Lownie has a remarkable ability to fashion a compelling narrative from raw archive text and personal reminiscence. His Traitor King (Blink, 25), about the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and their questionable cohorts, is every bit as absorbing as his earlier history of the Mountbattens.' - Andrew Lycett, Spectator Books of the Year