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catherinejay's review
4.0
Most royal biographies fall into the trap of going into much more detail than is necessary about some periods of life and then skimping in other areas which this for the most part avoids. Lacking some analysis I would have enjoyed but still an excellent, factual account.
librarianonparade's review
4.0
The history of the reign of Edward VIII - exceptionally short-lived as it was, and indeed one could question whether he ever 'reigned' at all, given that there was no Coronation - is known above all things for its ending. The traditional fairytale is that he gave up all for love, that he sacrificed his position, his family, his country, his throne, to be with the woman he loved. And of course, in the most superficial sense, all that is true.
However, as with all stories, there is more to it than that. Rarely can a Prince of Wales have approached the idea of his enthronement with less enthusiasm, and it does seem that temperamentally Edward, or David as he was actually known to family and friends, was utterly unsuited to be King. Edward, it seems, had the misfortune to be heir to the throne at a time when the country and the monarchy were changing rapidly - Edward was perhaps the first 'modern' Royal, at a time when the monarchy and the country were still to a very large extent stuck in the Victorian/Edwardian eras. And yet at the same time, he held the very traditional view that a monarch's private life remained private. Not for him the current sense that the Royal Family belong to the nation, that the private and public are intertwined. He simply could not see why whom he chose as friends, how he spent his time, and above all else, who he chose to love and marry, were any business of anyone else.
In this engaging and well-written biography, the Prince of Wales/Edward VIII/Duke of Windsor comes across as a man of arrested development, a man who never truly grew up. He was charming, cavalier, humorous, warm-hearted - but Ziegler depicts him as a immature man of superficial interests, easily distracted, irresponsible, self-pitying, restless and utterly lacking in the sense of duty that has been such a hallmark of the reigns of his brother George VI and his niece Elizabeth II. One cannot imagine either of those figures sacrificing the welfare of the country for their own personal happiness, as David chose to do.
David also comes across as utterly in thrall to Wallis Simpson, and whilst he was consumed with love for her and devoted to his dying day, the relationship never seems entirely healthy. She simultaneously mothered and managed, seduced and dominated him, and his devotion to her was never entirely or equally reciprocated. There was a great deal of self-abasement on his part, an almost cringing servility that comes across as truly pathetic. It leads one to be somewhat grateful that the Abdication Crisis did not resolve in his favour and that England was never faced with King Edward VIII and Queen Wallis. One cannot help thinking when reading this book that England dodged a bullet, so to speak, when Edward VIII abdicated his throne and became instead merely Duke of Windsor.
However, as with all stories, there is more to it than that. Rarely can a Prince of Wales have approached the idea of his enthronement with less enthusiasm, and it does seem that temperamentally Edward, or David as he was actually known to family and friends, was utterly unsuited to be King. Edward, it seems, had the misfortune to be heir to the throne at a time when the country and the monarchy were changing rapidly - Edward was perhaps the first 'modern' Royal, at a time when the monarchy and the country were still to a very large extent stuck in the Victorian/Edwardian eras. And yet at the same time, he held the very traditional view that a monarch's private life remained private. Not for him the current sense that the Royal Family belong to the nation, that the private and public are intertwined. He simply could not see why whom he chose as friends, how he spent his time, and above all else, who he chose to love and marry, were any business of anyone else.
In this engaging and well-written biography, the Prince of Wales/Edward VIII/Duke of Windsor comes across as a man of arrested development, a man who never truly grew up. He was charming, cavalier, humorous, warm-hearted - but Ziegler depicts him as a immature man of superficial interests, easily distracted, irresponsible, self-pitying, restless and utterly lacking in the sense of duty that has been such a hallmark of the reigns of his brother George VI and his niece Elizabeth II. One cannot imagine either of those figures sacrificing the welfare of the country for their own personal happiness, as David chose to do.
David also comes across as utterly in thrall to Wallis Simpson, and whilst he was consumed with love for her and devoted to his dying day, the relationship never seems entirely healthy. She simultaneously mothered and managed, seduced and dominated him, and his devotion to her was never entirely or equally reciprocated. There was a great deal of self-abasement on his part, an almost cringing servility that comes across as truly pathetic. It leads one to be somewhat grateful that the Abdication Crisis did not resolve in his favour and that England was never faced with King Edward VIII and Queen Wallis. One cannot help thinking when reading this book that England dodged a bullet, so to speak, when Edward VIII abdicated his throne and became instead merely Duke of Windsor.
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