Power and Glory, page 35
McMahon, George
Malan, D.F.
Malta
Marburg Files
Margaret, Princess
and the South African tour
VE Day
headstrong character
meets Peter Townsend
on king’s failing health
Margesson, David
Marina, Princess, Duchess of Kent
Marriott, John
Marshall, George
Martin, Joan
Martin, John
Mary, Queen
and Elizabeth’s twenty-first birthday broadcast
refusal to receive Wallis
warmth towards Edward
Christmas at Sandringham
and Philip
correspondence with Bertie
on Elizabeth’s engagement
eightieth birthday celebrations
deplores Edward’s memoir
uncertainty about Elizabeth’s engagement and marriage
on Gandhi’s wedding gift
correspondence with Edward
and the king’s failing health
blames Edward for king’s unhappiness
and king’s death
acts as peacemaker
correspondence with the Queen Mother
failing health
death of
funeral of
alarmed at idea of House of Mountbatten or Edinburgh
Mary, Princess Royal
Matrimonial Causes Act 1923
Maxwell, Sir Alexander
Maxwell, Ella
Melbourne, Lord
Merryman, Bessie (Wallis’s aunt)
Monckton, Sir Walter
and Edward’s desire for an ambassadorial role
as Edward’s adviser
on Edward’s wedding
guest at La Croë
attorney general to Duchy of Cornwall
on Edward’s memoirs
own memoir
and the abdication crisis
divorce
and Edward’s BPRA speech
Minister for Labour and National Service
Moran, Lord
Morrah, Dermot
Morris, James (later Jan)
Morrison, Herbert
prime ministerial ambition
on the king’s political acumen
and the Festival of Britain
Morshead, Owen
Mother’s Union
Moulin de la Tuilerie, Gif-sur-Yvette
Mountbatten, Lady Edwina
Mountbatten, George, Marquess of Milford Haven
Mountbatten, Louis, Earl Mountbatten
viceroy of India
political sympathies
and the evacuation of Prince Andrew of Greece and family
influence on Philip
promotes match between Elizabeth and Philip
bisexuality
and Philip’s British citizenship
on Philip’s income
wedding gift from
in Malta
Edward dismissive of
and the House of Mountbatten
Mountbatten, Patricia
Murphy, Charles J.V.
on Edward
ghostwriter for A King’s Story
on Wallis
on Jimmy Donahue
Murphy, Sir William
Murrah, Dermot
Nagasaki
Nash, John
Nemon, Oscar
New York Daily News
New York Times
Newsweek magazine
Nicolson, Harold
on the atomic bomb
on the prospect of a union between Elizabeth and Philip
on Edward’s altered status
on Wallis
on the royal wedding
biography of George V
and Edward’s memoir
on the king’s declining health
on Elizabeth II
Norfolk, Duke of
Nottingham Cottage, Kensington Palace
nuclear threat
Oakes, Sir Harry
Octavians, Society of
Olivier, Laurence
Oppenheimer, J. Robert
Osborne, D’Arcy
Parker, Mike
Peter II of Yugoslavia
Philip, Prince, Duke of Edinburgh
courtship of Elizabeth
birth of and early years
at Gordonstoun
and death of sister Cecilie
Mountbatten’s influence and
naval career
wartime service
character and demeanour
meets Elizabeth
correspondence with Queen Elizabeth
familial associations with Nazis
British citizenship
hostility towards
on his engagement
refuses offer of HRH title
name change
correspondence with Mountbatten
potentially disruptive capability
wedding preparations
titles
wedding day
honeymoon
‘boss in his own home’
married life in Buckingham Palace
relations with palace staff
and birth of Charles
Clarence House renovations
modern marriage
liberal and progressive outlook
on his son, Charles
polo player
dislike of being a public figure
Canadian tour
Kenyan trip
and the king’s funeral
and the king’s death
reluctance to move to Buckingham Palace
on choice of family name
jaundice
public opinion of
role in coronation
Phillips, Major Gray
Pimlott, Ben
Poklewski, Alic
Portal, Lord
post-war austerity Britain
Potsdam Conference
Price Thomas, Clement
Queen Mary (ship)
Ramsey, Michael, Bishop of Durham
Raphael, Frederic
Rattigan, Terence
Reith, Sir John
Rhodes James, Robert
Ribbentrop, Joachim von
execution of
friendship with the Windsors
Roberts, Cecil
Robertson, Norman
Rogers, Katherine
Roosevelt, Eleanor
Roosevelt, Franklin D.
death of
royal births, traditional witnessing of
Rumbold, Anthony
Russell, Conrad
Sackville-West, Vita
Salote, Queen of Tonga
Sandringham
Seago, Edward
Seagrim, Anne
second Elizabethan age
Second World War
VE Day
Government of National Unity
atomic bomb
VJ Day
Dresden bombing
build-up to
Imperial War Cabinet
Simpson, Wallis see Windsor, Wallis, Duchess of
Sitholi, Kayser
Sitwell, Sir Osbert
Smith, Kenneth H.
Smuts, Jan
supporter of British interests
and the royal tour
death of
ousted from power
socialism
South Africa
royal tour
Nationalist Party
White Train
apartheid
becomes a republic
Soviet Union
nuclear capability
Churchill’s ‘iron curtain’ speech
Spender, Stephen
Stalin, Joseph
Stewart, Duncan
Stimson, Henry
Stuart, Sir Morton
Sussex, Prince Harry, Duke of
Sutherland, Duchess of
Talbot, Commander Gerald
Tenzing Norgay
The Little Princesses (memoir)
Thomas, Godfrey
Thorneycroft, Lord
Townsend, Peter
meets Princess Margaret
royal equerry
war service and decorations
South African tour
Trooping the Colour
Truman, Harry S.
and George VI
and the atomic bomb
and the Duke of Windsor
ends Lend-Lease agreement
and Churchill
electoral success
meets Princess Elizabeth
Tyrwhitt, Dame Mary
United Nations
Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNNRA)
Security Council
United States
atomic bomb
the Windsors in
Lend-Lease agreement
‘The American Century’
VE Day
Vernay, Arthur
Vickers, Hugo
Victoria, Queen
Villa Guardamangia, Malta
VJ Day
Waldorf Towers, New York
Wenner-Gren, Axel
Westminster Abbey
Wheeler-Bennett, John
William, Prince of Wales
Wilson, Angus
Wilson, Woodrow
Windsor, Edward, Duke of (formerly Edward VIII)
governor general of the Bahamas
Nazi associations
seeks ambassadorial role
on the conduct of the war
critical of Roosevelt
critical of Truman
on Hitler
in the United States
antipathy to socialism
critical of de Gaulle
not wanted in France
political sympathies
correspondence with the king
popularity with the British public
visits to Britain
disliked by the Queen Mother
reconciliation with Queen Mary
correspondence with Churchill
finances
correspondence with Queen Mary
experiences boredom
pro-American
self-aggrandising and self-promotion
self-absorption
symbolic importance
meeting with Hitler
correspondence with Lascelles
and Balmoral
troublesome liability
correspondence with Walter Monckton abdication
and de Courcy’s suggestion of a regency
and de Courcy’s suggestion of a return to Britain
and theft of Wallis’s jewellery
fear of upsetting Wallis
declares he no longer wishes to live in Britain
assassination attempt
on the king’s South African tour
good singing voice
‘king-in-exile’
revisits Bahamas
A King’s Story (memoir)
Life magazine articles
estrangement from family
Marburg files
wedding
not invited to Elizabeth’s wedding
love of the bagpipes
correspondence with de Courcy
illness
on world politics
frequents nightclubs
insularity
and the king’s declining health
and Marion Crawford’s memoir
seeks HRH status for Wallis
and Jimmy Donohue
income from A King’s Story
critical reception of A King’s Story
dislike of Baldwin
hints at a sequel to A King’s Story
BPRA undelivered speech
Verdun broadcast
humour
attends king’s funeral
on Elizabeth II
step towards reconciling with Bertie
correspondence with Wallis
on the king’s death
nicknames for the royal family
apparent reconciliation with family
annual pension, loss of
bitterness and anger towards his family
on Mountbatten
not invited to coronation of Elizabeth II
on the Archbishops of Canterbury
and death of Queen Mary
contempt for Queen Mary
The Crown and the People (memoir)
French property purchase
eating disorder
Windsor, Wallis, Duchess of
royal family’s refusal to receive or accept
correspondence with her aunt (Bessie Merryman)
life in Paris
at Balmoral
on post-war life
visits Britain
and theft of her jewellery
suspected of insurance fraud
correspondence with George Allen
not invited to Elizabeth’s wedding
and Edward’s memoir
and the abdication crisis
financial worries
denied HRH status
and Jimmy Donahue
biography of
correspondence with Edward
sees king’s death as opportunity for preferment
nicknames for the royal family
Wood, Robert
Yost, Eugene
Young, Robert
Ziegler, Philip
Also by Alexander Larman
The Windsors at War
The Crown in Crisis: Countdown to the Abdication
Byron’s Women
Restoration
Blazing Star
About the Author
Alexander Larman is a British historian and journalist. He is the author of several acclaimed books of historical and literary biography, including The Windsors at War, The Crown in Crisis, Byron’s Women, and Blazing Star. He is the books editor of The Spectator World magazine and writes regularly for The Observer, The Telegraph, and The Spectator. He lives in Oxford. You can sign up for email updates here.
Thank you for buying this
St. Martin’s Publishing Group ebook.
To receive special offers, bonus content,
and info on new releases and other great reads,
sign up for our newsletters.
Or visit us online at
us.macmillan.com/newslettersignup
For email updates on the author, click here.
Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Epigraphs
Dramatis Personae
Introduction
Prologue: ‘My Whole Life Shall Be Devoted to Your Service’
Chapter One: ‘The Most Terrible Thing Ever Discovered’
Chapter Two: ‘I Never Saw a Man So Bored’
Chapter Three: ‘I Believe She Loves and Will Marry Him’
Chapter Four: ‘This Poor Battered World’
Chapter Five: ‘Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained’
Chapter Six: ‘The Old Values Have Disappeared’
Chapter Seven: ‘The Loneliest Man in the World’
Chapter Eight: ‘Don’t You Recognise an Old Friend?’
Chapter Nine: ‘I Felt That I Had Lost Something Very Precious’
Chapter Ten: ‘The Future Is a Gloomy One’
Chapter Eleven: ‘An Unkind Stroke of Fate’
Chapter Twelve: ‘Untold Injury in Every Quarter’
Chapter Thirteen: ‘In My Faith and Loyalty I Never More Will Falter’
Chapter Fourteen: ‘The Incessant Worries and Crises’
Chapter Fifteen: ‘It May Be That This Is the End’
Chapter Sixteen: ‘And They Lived Happily Ever After’
Chapter Seventeen: ‘The Hopes of the Future’
Chapter Eighteen: ‘God Save the Queen’
Photographs
Acknowledgements
Bibliography
Notes
Illustration Credits
Index
Also by Alexander Larman
About the Author
Copyright
First published in the United States by St. Martin’s Press, an imprint of St. Martin’s Publishing Group
POWER AND GLORY: ELIZABETH II AND THE REBIRTH OF ROYALTY.
Copyright © 2024 by Alexander Larman. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Publishing Group, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271.
www.stmartins.com
Cover design by Danielle Christopher
Cover image: Princess Elizabeth, the future Queen Elizabeth II, conversing with her father, King George VI (1895–1952), in a garden, 8th July 1946 © Lisa Sheridan/Studio Lisa/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
eISBN 9781250289605
Our ebooks may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension 5442, or by email at MacmillanSpecialMarkets@macmillan.com.
Originally published in the United Kingdom by Weidenfeld & Nicolson
First Edition: 2024
* In which Elizabeth I declared in 1588, rallying her troops before the anticipated invasion of the Spanish Armada, that ‘I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too.’
* Lascelles was not uncondescending amid the praise; he still described the twenty-one-year-old princess as ‘a child of her years’.
* Which, after the bomb damage wrought on it earlier in the war, had to be surveyed to make sure that it could stand the (far from considerable) weight of the royal family, as well as the stouter proportions of the prime minister, who had joined them earlier that day.
* Which would have made him look approximately twenty-five; Rattigan, by way of contrast, was thirty-three at the time, and Channon himself was forty-eight.
† He may also have been surprised to discover that the queen agreed with him, although not in the specifics that he described. On 18 September 1945, she wrote to Queen Mary to lament that ‘[We] have aged a lot, and look rather haggard & ravaged! & one’s clothes are so awful!’
* Churchill suggested that ‘[the people] are perfectly entitled to vote as they please. This is democracy. This is what we’ve been fighting for.’
* On 29 June, he wrote angrily in his diary that ‘The Socialists are playing a dirty game in intimidating electors in various districts.’
† Laski was a political theorist and economist whose views tended towards the Marxist.
* They had met privately before, in 1938, but the conversation between the two had been limited to a discussion about the most efficient way to clean one’s pipe; Attlee expressed interest in the king’s self-cleaning pipe device.
Malan, D.F.
Malta
Marburg Files
Margaret, Princess
and the South African tour
VE Day
headstrong character
meets Peter Townsend
on king’s failing health
Margesson, David
Marina, Princess, Duchess of Kent
Marriott, John
Marshall, George
Martin, Joan
Martin, John
Mary, Queen
and Elizabeth’s twenty-first birthday broadcast
refusal to receive Wallis
warmth towards Edward
Christmas at Sandringham
and Philip
correspondence with Bertie
on Elizabeth’s engagement
eightieth birthday celebrations
deplores Edward’s memoir
uncertainty about Elizabeth’s engagement and marriage
on Gandhi’s wedding gift
correspondence with Edward
and the king’s failing health
blames Edward for king’s unhappiness
and king’s death
acts as peacemaker
correspondence with the Queen Mother
failing health
death of
funeral of
alarmed at idea of House of Mountbatten or Edinburgh
Mary, Princess Royal
Matrimonial Causes Act 1923
Maxwell, Sir Alexander
Maxwell, Ella
Melbourne, Lord
Merryman, Bessie (Wallis’s aunt)
Monckton, Sir Walter
and Edward’s desire for an ambassadorial role
as Edward’s adviser
on Edward’s wedding
guest at La Croë
attorney general to Duchy of Cornwall
on Edward’s memoirs
own memoir
and the abdication crisis
divorce
and Edward’s BPRA speech
Minister for Labour and National Service
Moran, Lord
Morrah, Dermot
Morris, James (later Jan)
Morrison, Herbert
prime ministerial ambition
on the king’s political acumen
and the Festival of Britain
Morshead, Owen
Mother’s Union
Moulin de la Tuilerie, Gif-sur-Yvette
Mountbatten, Lady Edwina
Mountbatten, George, Marquess of Milford Haven
Mountbatten, Louis, Earl Mountbatten
viceroy of India
political sympathies
and the evacuation of Prince Andrew of Greece and family
influence on Philip
promotes match between Elizabeth and Philip
bisexuality
and Philip’s British citizenship
on Philip’s income
wedding gift from
in Malta
Edward dismissive of
and the House of Mountbatten
Mountbatten, Patricia
Murphy, Charles J.V.
on Edward
ghostwriter for A King’s Story
on Wallis
on Jimmy Donahue
Murphy, Sir William
Murrah, Dermot
Nagasaki
Nash, John
Nemon, Oscar
New York Daily News
New York Times
Newsweek magazine
Nicolson, Harold
on the atomic bomb
on the prospect of a union between Elizabeth and Philip
on Edward’s altered status
on Wallis
on the royal wedding
biography of George V
and Edward’s memoir
on the king’s declining health
on Elizabeth II
Norfolk, Duke of
Nottingham Cottage, Kensington Palace
nuclear threat
Oakes, Sir Harry
Octavians, Society of
Olivier, Laurence
Oppenheimer, J. Robert
Osborne, D’Arcy
Parker, Mike
Peter II of Yugoslavia
Philip, Prince, Duke of Edinburgh
courtship of Elizabeth
birth of and early years
at Gordonstoun
and death of sister Cecilie
Mountbatten’s influence and
naval career
wartime service
character and demeanour
meets Elizabeth
correspondence with Queen Elizabeth
familial associations with Nazis
British citizenship
hostility towards
on his engagement
refuses offer of HRH title
name change
correspondence with Mountbatten
potentially disruptive capability
wedding preparations
titles
wedding day
honeymoon
‘boss in his own home’
married life in Buckingham Palace
relations with palace staff
and birth of Charles
Clarence House renovations
modern marriage
liberal and progressive outlook
on his son, Charles
polo player
dislike of being a public figure
Canadian tour
Kenyan trip
and the king’s funeral
and the king’s death
reluctance to move to Buckingham Palace
on choice of family name
jaundice
public opinion of
role in coronation
Phillips, Major Gray
Pimlott, Ben
Poklewski, Alic
Portal, Lord
post-war austerity Britain
Potsdam Conference
Price Thomas, Clement
Queen Mary (ship)
Ramsey, Michael, Bishop of Durham
Raphael, Frederic
Rattigan, Terence
Reith, Sir John
Rhodes James, Robert
Ribbentrop, Joachim von
execution of
friendship with the Windsors
Roberts, Cecil
Robertson, Norman
Rogers, Katherine
Roosevelt, Eleanor
Roosevelt, Franklin D.
death of
royal births, traditional witnessing of
Rumbold, Anthony
Russell, Conrad
Sackville-West, Vita
Salote, Queen of Tonga
Sandringham
Seago, Edward
Seagrim, Anne
second Elizabethan age
Second World War
VE Day
Government of National Unity
atomic bomb
VJ Day
Dresden bombing
build-up to
Imperial War Cabinet
Simpson, Wallis see Windsor, Wallis, Duchess of
Sitholi, Kayser
Sitwell, Sir Osbert
Smith, Kenneth H.
Smuts, Jan
supporter of British interests
and the royal tour
death of
ousted from power
socialism
South Africa
royal tour
Nationalist Party
White Train
apartheid
becomes a republic
Soviet Union
nuclear capability
Churchill’s ‘iron curtain’ speech
Spender, Stephen
Stalin, Joseph
Stewart, Duncan
Stimson, Henry
Stuart, Sir Morton
Sussex, Prince Harry, Duke of
Sutherland, Duchess of
Talbot, Commander Gerald
Tenzing Norgay
The Little Princesses (memoir)
Thomas, Godfrey
Thorneycroft, Lord
Townsend, Peter
meets Princess Margaret
royal equerry
war service and decorations
South African tour
Trooping the Colour
Truman, Harry S.
and George VI
and the atomic bomb
and the Duke of Windsor
ends Lend-Lease agreement
and Churchill
electoral success
meets Princess Elizabeth
Tyrwhitt, Dame Mary
United Nations
Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNNRA)
Security Council
United States
atomic bomb
the Windsors in
Lend-Lease agreement
‘The American Century’
VE Day
Vernay, Arthur
Vickers, Hugo
Victoria, Queen
Villa Guardamangia, Malta
VJ Day
Waldorf Towers, New York
Wenner-Gren, Axel
Westminster Abbey
Wheeler-Bennett, John
William, Prince of Wales
Wilson, Angus
Wilson, Woodrow
Windsor, Edward, Duke of (formerly Edward VIII)
governor general of the Bahamas
Nazi associations
seeks ambassadorial role
on the conduct of the war
critical of Roosevelt
critical of Truman
on Hitler
in the United States
antipathy to socialism
critical of de Gaulle
not wanted in France
political sympathies
correspondence with the king
popularity with the British public
visits to Britain
disliked by the Queen Mother
reconciliation with Queen Mary
correspondence with Churchill
finances
correspondence with Queen Mary
experiences boredom
pro-American
self-aggrandising and self-promotion
self-absorption
symbolic importance
meeting with Hitler
correspondence with Lascelles
and Balmoral
troublesome liability
correspondence with Walter Monckton abdication
and de Courcy’s suggestion of a regency
and de Courcy’s suggestion of a return to Britain
and theft of Wallis’s jewellery
fear of upsetting Wallis
declares he no longer wishes to live in Britain
assassination attempt
on the king’s South African tour
good singing voice
‘king-in-exile’
revisits Bahamas
A King’s Story (memoir)
Life magazine articles
estrangement from family
Marburg files
wedding
not invited to Elizabeth’s wedding
love of the bagpipes
correspondence with de Courcy
illness
on world politics
frequents nightclubs
insularity
and the king’s declining health
and Marion Crawford’s memoir
seeks HRH status for Wallis
and Jimmy Donohue
income from A King’s Story
critical reception of A King’s Story
dislike of Baldwin
hints at a sequel to A King’s Story
BPRA undelivered speech
Verdun broadcast
humour
attends king’s funeral
on Elizabeth II
step towards reconciling with Bertie
correspondence with Wallis
on the king’s death
nicknames for the royal family
apparent reconciliation with family
annual pension, loss of
bitterness and anger towards his family
on Mountbatten
not invited to coronation of Elizabeth II
on the Archbishops of Canterbury
and death of Queen Mary
contempt for Queen Mary
The Crown and the People (memoir)
French property purchase
eating disorder
Windsor, Wallis, Duchess of
royal family’s refusal to receive or accept
correspondence with her aunt (Bessie Merryman)
life in Paris
at Balmoral
on post-war life
visits Britain
and theft of her jewellery
suspected of insurance fraud
correspondence with George Allen
not invited to Elizabeth’s wedding
and Edward’s memoir
and the abdication crisis
financial worries
denied HRH status
and Jimmy Donahue
biography of
correspondence with Edward
sees king’s death as opportunity for preferment
nicknames for the royal family
Wood, Robert
Yost, Eugene
Young, Robert
Ziegler, Philip
Also by Alexander Larman
The Windsors at War
The Crown in Crisis: Countdown to the Abdication
Byron’s Women
Restoration
Blazing Star
About the Author
Alexander Larman is a British historian and journalist. He is the author of several acclaimed books of historical and literary biography, including The Windsors at War, The Crown in Crisis, Byron’s Women, and Blazing Star. He is the books editor of The Spectator World magazine and writes regularly for The Observer, The Telegraph, and The Spectator. He lives in Oxford. You can sign up for email updates here.
Thank you for buying this
St. Martin’s Publishing Group ebook.
To receive special offers, bonus content,
and info on new releases and other great reads,
sign up for our newsletters.
Or visit us online at
us.macmillan.com/newslettersignup
For email updates on the author, click here.
Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Epigraphs
Dramatis Personae
Introduction
Prologue: ‘My Whole Life Shall Be Devoted to Your Service’
Chapter One: ‘The Most Terrible Thing Ever Discovered’
Chapter Two: ‘I Never Saw a Man So Bored’
Chapter Three: ‘I Believe She Loves and Will Marry Him’
Chapter Four: ‘This Poor Battered World’
Chapter Five: ‘Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained’
Chapter Six: ‘The Old Values Have Disappeared’
Chapter Seven: ‘The Loneliest Man in the World’
Chapter Eight: ‘Don’t You Recognise an Old Friend?’
Chapter Nine: ‘I Felt That I Had Lost Something Very Precious’
Chapter Ten: ‘The Future Is a Gloomy One’
Chapter Eleven: ‘An Unkind Stroke of Fate’
Chapter Twelve: ‘Untold Injury in Every Quarter’
Chapter Thirteen: ‘In My Faith and Loyalty I Never More Will Falter’
Chapter Fourteen: ‘The Incessant Worries and Crises’
Chapter Fifteen: ‘It May Be That This Is the End’
Chapter Sixteen: ‘And They Lived Happily Ever After’
Chapter Seventeen: ‘The Hopes of the Future’
Chapter Eighteen: ‘God Save the Queen’
Photographs
Acknowledgements
Bibliography
Notes
Illustration Credits
Index
Also by Alexander Larman
About the Author
Copyright
First published in the United States by St. Martin’s Press, an imprint of St. Martin’s Publishing Group
POWER AND GLORY: ELIZABETH II AND THE REBIRTH OF ROYALTY.
Copyright © 2024 by Alexander Larman. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Publishing Group, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271.
www.stmartins.com
Cover design by Danielle Christopher
Cover image: Princess Elizabeth, the future Queen Elizabeth II, conversing with her father, King George VI (1895–1952), in a garden, 8th July 1946 © Lisa Sheridan/Studio Lisa/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
eISBN 9781250289605
Our ebooks may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension 5442, or by email at MacmillanSpecialMarkets@macmillan.com.
Originally published in the United Kingdom by Weidenfeld & Nicolson
First Edition: 2024
* In which Elizabeth I declared in 1588, rallying her troops before the anticipated invasion of the Spanish Armada, that ‘I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too.’
* Lascelles was not uncondescending amid the praise; he still described the twenty-one-year-old princess as ‘a child of her years’.
* Which, after the bomb damage wrought on it earlier in the war, had to be surveyed to make sure that it could stand the (far from considerable) weight of the royal family, as well as the stouter proportions of the prime minister, who had joined them earlier that day.
* Which would have made him look approximately twenty-five; Rattigan, by way of contrast, was thirty-three at the time, and Channon himself was forty-eight.
† He may also have been surprised to discover that the queen agreed with him, although not in the specifics that he described. On 18 September 1945, she wrote to Queen Mary to lament that ‘[We] have aged a lot, and look rather haggard & ravaged! & one’s clothes are so awful!’
* Churchill suggested that ‘[the people] are perfectly entitled to vote as they please. This is democracy. This is what we’ve been fighting for.’
* On 29 June, he wrote angrily in his diary that ‘The Socialists are playing a dirty game in intimidating electors in various districts.’
† Laski was a political theorist and economist whose views tended towards the Marxist.
* They had met privately before, in 1938, but the conversation between the two had been limited to a discussion about the most efficient way to clean one’s pipe; Attlee expressed interest in the king’s self-cleaning pipe device.
