Customer Reviews

A King's Story: The Memoirs of H.R.H. the Duke of Windsor K.G. (Lost Treasures Series)

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The Duke of Windsor wrote this book in the 1950s while living in Paris. Reading it you begin to get some sense that for all his faults here was an individual of extraordinary personal charm. It was certainly a singular life. Here was a boy who was led to believe he would inherit the throne of the greatest empire on earth but who ends up as a sad fixture on the international cocktail party circuit in the arms of an ageing American divorcee of uncertain past. What happened! The anecdotal style of this simply written book is very enjoyable to read. The passing of the certainties of the Victorian age, the Edwardian twilight, World War I, the thrill of all things new and American in the 20s and 30s: the would be Edward VIII is a uniquely placed witness. History increasingly casts the Duke and his bride as ridiculous even sinister figures. This book helps you to remember that they were human too, falliable, and at the mercy of political and world historical forces beyond their control.

This is a very good story, and well told, even if ghost written.

Oddly, it casts the Duke of Windsor in a poor light, and indicates why, quite apart from the marriage question, he was a bad King. Who can read without wincing his account of how he abruptly cut short the presentations of debutantes to him at Buckingham Palace because it started to rain? This was the high point of perfectly harmless society ladies' lives, and he not only walked out in the middle, but caustically observes that he cannot understand why anyone was upset.

And then there is the peculiar passage where he says that he worked out that it would take nearly a month for bodies like the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, the Board of Deputies of British Jews, and others, to present their loyal addresses, so he insisted on them all being done in one day, in one batch, because he could not be bothered to respond to all of them individually. Yet this was his job as a constitutional monarch!

A welcome feature of the book is that it stops at the moment of abdication. Although this means that he doesn't have to explain his conduct during the lead up to the war, and during the war (which is, however, documented in the Duchess of Windsor's memoirs), it does focus the book almost entirely on his upbringing as a Prince, and on the abdication, which are the most interesting things about him.

Well worth reading.

The greatest love story of our century is an understatement.
A King's Story is well known to be ghost written for the Duke and even with constant prodding, he suffered from selective memory.
He seems to forget all his previous "friendships", those familiar with the saga will know this means the married women in his life before Wallis. A great addition to royal book collection, but if you are looking for the facts, hunt them down in Donaldson book. Companion book is the Duchess Heart has it's reasons. Maybe they should have gotten together so the facts in each book matched.

The Duke wrote this self serving biography while serving his exile as a result of his traitorist behavior. A Nazi sympathizer, the Duke referred to Australians and the people of the Bahamas who he was "serving" as Governor as monkeys. He admits to affairs with married women, perhaps to justify his own wife's adultery? While we all have our destiny, some of us manage to improve the lot of others while some of us are simply parasites. Edward, the Duke of Windsor was a parasite. What is amusing is that he reveals as such in his own biography. Better for England that he gave up the throne.

It is quite a sad testament to our times that there are very few true gentlemen left these days. Civility is indeed going the way of the do-do bird, and the days of gents like David Nivens, Cary Grant, Cole Porter, Sean Connery and the good Duke here, are slowly fading into obscurity. That need not be the case and, hopefully, there are few out there who still feel as do I, that it need not completely die. Perhaps if more read the memoirs here, they will become inspired and such a dream can become realized.

The memoirs themselves are quite extraordinary and give one fantastic insight into this legendary gentleman and family. Reading other reviews that quibble over "selective" memory of the Duke, I can only surmise that these come from the very same individuals who grab the latest issues of "In Touch" and whatever other gossip periodicals they can grasp, only to "learn" the inside dirt on various celebs and noteworthy individuals. If that's what you are truly after in the first place, then this is definitely not for you and you should just stick to reading the by-lines or scanning the photos of the tabloids. Otherwise, if you'd like to get a peek into a life of grandeur and civility, and perhaps some tips on how to bring a modicum of dignity to your own, then this is for you.

Enjoy.

Product shipped late, book was in good condition though. However, opening the pages of the book, the smell of cigarette smoke was a bit overwhelming. Since it was a gift for someone else, I was not able to give this person this book, which was disappointing.