Royal Prayer: A Surprising History [Hardcover]

David Baldwin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 2, 2010

This fascinating book demonstrates that royal prayers can have immense consequence for the psyche of the nation as well as the individual.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Did you know that Napoleon, who probably numbered King Charles II (merry monarch of many mistresses) among his forbears,was a brother-in-law of the Duke of Wellington? Or that the first Princess to christen a ship flung the bottle at its side,missed,and struck a spectator who sued the Admiralty for damages? Or that the tune of the ' Star-Spangled Banner' was composed by George III's organist at St James's Palace?"

"All these delightfully unexpected details--and many more--garnish the deep but always lightly worn scholarship of David Baldwin. His new book has a richly rewarding theme never previously explored:how over the centuries royal prayers in peace and war have made an immense contribution to national and social unity. Learning with light-heartedness:that's Baldwin's formula,and it's a winner.Put it on your Christmas reading list." - Alistair Cooke OBE MA PhD, Official historian of the Conservative Party and of the Carlton Club

Title mention in Daily Telegraph, November 2009

Mention in Church Times 11/12/09

"Informative and entertaining." Church Times, 18 December, 2009.

(The Very Revd Robert Jeffery )

"This is a fascinating and surprising history of prayer."

Driffield Leader, February 2010

"Quite a 'cabinet of curiosities'...clear and engaging and ...of great interest." The Good Bookstall, March 2010.

"Serjeant of the Vestry of Her Majesty's Chapels Royal, Baldwin surveys examples and conditions under which leaders ask for divine assistance. Among them are royal launching and christening of ships, royal prayers for Bonapartes, a prophecy of 1732 written in the year of George Washington's birth, prayers of the Russian royal family, royal prayers of royal patronage, prayers of Princess of Wales Diana, and royal prayer in the exploration of earth and space and the development of nuclear theology." -Eithne O'Leyne, BOOK NEWS, Inc.

"Informative and entertaining." Church Times, 18 December, 2009.

(, )

"Quite a 'cabinet of curiosities’...clear and engaging and ...of great interest." The Good Bookstall, March 2010.

About the Author

David Baldwin is Sergeant of the Vestry of HM Chapels Royal. Hehas previouslyserved on the staff of Lambeth Palace Library, as Curator of Durham University Library, as a Virger at St Paul's Cathedral, and in the Armouries of HM Tower of London.He was deployed as a NATO Satellite Operator during the Baltic Cold War, was awarded his M.Litt for a study of Seventeenth Century Catholicism in The Queen's Chapel, and is a Fellow of the Linnean Society. He is the author of numerous monographs, including decryption of plays by the 16th century School of Night for the Thomas Harriott Seminar. He won the Prince of Wales's Perspectives Millennium Competition for his design of tidal-powered moving pavements for river embankments of major cities.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Continuum (February 2, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826423035
• ISBN-13: 978-0826423030
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,116,317 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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