Traitor King: The Scandalous Exile of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor: AS FEATURED ON CHANNEL 4 TV DOCUMENTARY Paperback – 12 May 2022

Interesting factual read

The Traitor King is a powerfully argued and interesting spin on the abdication and aftermath story we all feel we know so well by this point. Delving deep into the former King's life through the war period, what marks this effort out is its remarkable attempts at gathering material from the archives to present fresh, sometimes surprising new takes on scenes we thought we already had all the answers to.The mileage varies - much of the wartime material will be more familiar, and some episodes - notably the shady world of crime the surrounded the Duke's time in the Bahamas may feel a certain degree of remove from the core narrative. But in a way, this is part of this book's joy - the tangled web of connections that have led to the feel that no matter how hard we dig, there are always new layers of intrigue waiting to be uncovered.On the flip side, this makes for what could be argued is a more 'scholarly' feel to proceedings, and I think overall the book lacks something of the out and out zippy readability of Lownie's remarkable Mountbattens book. I'd argue the post-war chapters are when the book delivers its real payload, with details on the famous Marburg documents and the Duke as a character himself best emerging here. For an overall portrait of the Windsors, I think Hugo Vickers' Behind Closed Doors is still unbeaten, but what The Traitor King brings to the table is a myriad of fresh fascets and sources that further the telling and nuancing of a tale that continues to hold endless fascination.

Another great read by Andrew Lownie (following his excellent biography of the rascal Guy Burgess) which opens-up the post-1936 lives in exile of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, two figures that loom large over the study of early twentieth-century British history.The book itself is a quick moving, highly enjoyable read, taking us from the abdication, through the years of exile (in all their colour), up to the rather sad end for the former king-emperor, and the even more desperate final years of Mrs S. The text is highly accessible - clearly written, making excellent use of primary source documents, the book carries you steadily through the ups (I'm not sure there are many, really!) and the downs of its subjects' lives.As you might guess from the title, one aspect of the duke's life that figures prominently is his relations with the Germans during WW2, particularly when he resided in Spain and Portugal, delaying his departure to his Bahamian posting. The author makes a strong argument for the duke's traitorous activities, grounded in careful interpretation of primary source documents (usually of the private kind). Such work does much to press the importance of letters, diaries and other private correspondence to the study of history (of all periods).In depicting both the duke and duchess, Lownie does a great job in presenting more rounded figures than the caricatures we are so used to reading about. This is not to say that they did not live up to these caricatures, but Lownie sheds light on many other aspects of their lives which have the effect of adding colour to these portraits. This, to me, is one of the most important skills of the biographer, and is the reason why 'Traitor King' is such a compelling read.I hope you enjoy it as much I did.

Well researched book with some good insight, without being boring. You don’t need to be a Royalist to enjoy this book.

With its attention-grabbing title, this book led me to expect an open and shut case with fresh revelations about the treachery of the Windsors. Unfortunately until more archives are opened to the public - and it is high time they were- it is difficult for the researcher to discover much more.Nevertheless, the author has clearly researched the topic with great thoroughness and found plenty to suggest that there may have been treachery, but much of the Windsor’s behaviour remains open to interpretation. The book does very clearly show that the couple were clumsy, indiscreet and too frequently chose their companions most unwisely. The evidence is well referenced with many interesting and reliable sources but in the end I could only think that if the Windsors were traitors they were very incompetent and half-hearted ones; an alternative conclusion might be that their main aim was to avoid a war with fascists in order to defeat the threat of communism. Most of the time they were a considerable embarrassment to British establishment, wasting the government’s time effort and resources through their self-centred petulance and bitterness as both sides of the divide became determined to inflict pain and suffering on the other.The book is very readable and an excellent resource for those interested in the topic.

I found this book to be an excellent read. It was extremely well written, providing many new facts which I had not read before, all backed up with evidence from a very wide field of research.I found it to be a very fair, balanced book. We were given the facts quite plainly, and I was astonished at some of them. I could not quite believe what I was reading at times! It certainly does not paint these two characters in a good light. It really is sensational reading, in parts, but it is not written in a sensationalist style. I think the factual style of the writing gives it an even greater impact. The writer also discusses alternative ways at looking at the evidence, in order to balance the conclusions drawn, so it does not read as an all out attack on them both but, without doubt, very damning of both characters.If you choose to read this book, you will certainly 'get what it says on the tin'. It certainly was a scandalous exile of the Duke and Duchess.