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Traitor King
- The Scandalous Exile of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor
- Narrated by: Andrew Lownie
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
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Publisher's Summary
The Sunday Times best seller
A Daily Mail Royal Book of the Year, 2021
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?
In Traitor King, best-selling historian Andrew Lownie draws on hitherto unexplored archives to uncover the dramatic world of the Windsors post-abdication. Lownie reveals a couple obsessed with their status, financially exploiting their position and manipulating the media. Filled with treachery and betrayal, this is a story of an exiled royal and the Nazi attempts to recruit him to their cause—and of why the royal family never forgave the duke for choosing love over duty.
Critic Reviews
"Darkly compelling...hundreds of eye-popping details.... Gripping...damning portrait of the Windsors." (Daily Mail, Book of the Week)
"Briskly written and compulsively readable...." (A.N. Wilson, TLS)
"Meticulously researched." (Spectator)
"Entertaining...convincing...timely. Urgent reading for royals." (Evening Standard)
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- Amazon Customer
- 13-01-2024
A great insight on how this man wasted his life!
Very well written and the story flowed. An astonishing life of two very sad and degenerate people. I don’t think anything has changed over the years. Elites protecting their own. If only the public had known what these two were doing during the war years. Looking forward to reading the next book about Mountbatten.
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- Anonymous User
- 29-09-2022
Interesting study of a many dimensional man.
Edward and Wallis were spoiled childish and stupid. This is a great insight into tragedy
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- Anonymous User
- 11-10-2022
Well researched and fascinating story
An interesting history that pulls back the superficial outer layer of the lives of the former king and his wife.
Terrifying to think what could have been had he not abdicated.
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- Richard
- 29-08-2021
Really Excellent.
A great insight into a thoroughly flawed character. One can only thank Wallace Simpson in attracting the very weak and underdeveloped boyish English Royal to resign as King. We may now be living in a very different world if this had not occurred. This biography may not be the last and, as Lownie indicates more damning evidence of Edward and Simpson’s fascist inclinations may yet surface.
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3 people found this helpful
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- paul
- 15-05-2022
A Riveting read for social history enthusiasts.
Lownie's book allows us entre into the world of this pathetic man and his concubine.
Both David and Wallis emerge as trivial and wanton.
If Royalty is one's 'thing' the abdication of this dullard king must be the very best thing that has happened to the monarchy in 200 years...
To imagine that David and Wallis were permitted to reign conjures only horror.
An intriguing listen..
One tiny annoyance in the reading is the pronunciation of 'women'...
perhaps it is my device but it constantly ones across in pronunciation as 'woman' and not 'wimmen'
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- Anonymous User
- 05-03-2022
OK
This book was ok. I learnt a lot that I didn’t know but I would have preferred more detail on their lives in the non war period not such a heavy focus on the Hitler connection.
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- Anonymous User
- 02-06-2023
Great read
Great read, well researched and read. What a despicable couple! All I can say is bring on the republic!
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- Robyn
- 08-08-2022
Heavy on irrelevant gossip, light on substance
I was naively expecting an historian to provide historical evidence to justify his use of the word 'traitor' in the title. What we have instead is gossip, innuendo, anecdotes, and unsubstantiated rumour about every aspect of the Windsors' lives except actual treachery. With the surveillance on this couple by spy agencies around the world, surely there would be a taped conversation or an authentic official transcript or record showing that Edward committed a treasonous act? The fact that prior to US entry into the war Edward advocated and worked for a negotiated settlement in order to avoid WWII after the devastation of WWI does not set him apart - many in the UK were of the same view - but that, apparently, made him a traitor. But instead of hard evidence of any kind to support the 'traitor' allegation, we get chapter and verse on the Windsors' lavish spending on themselves and tight-fistedness with everyone else, their rudeness and self-centeredness, their sex lives and their anti-Semitism (also not uncommon in that era), Edward's and Wallis's positive attributes and actions are mentioned but are lost in the sea of petty opinionated nonsense spouted by anyone who ever came across them in any setting or exchanged a few words with them. Andrew Lownie does not have the presentation skills to narrate this book and some very odd mispronunciations detract further. All in all, very disappointing - especially after his excellent book on Guy Burgess.
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