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The Windsors at War

The Nazi Threat to the Crown

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The Windsors at War

By: Alexander Larman
Narrated by: Sophie Roberts
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About this listen

 'This riotous and engaging biography has it all'
GUARDIAN

'As much fun to read as a good political thriller'
WALL STREET JOURNAL

The book that inspired the major documentary Edward vs George: The Windsors at War

At the outbreak of war, the British monarchy was in turmoil. Edward VIII had abdicated, leaving his brother Bertie to take on a role he never expected: King George VI. Meanwhile, as Edward awaited the decree that would allow him to marry his mistress, Wallis Simpson, he took an increasing interest in Hitler's expansionist plans. How did this squabbling, dysfunctional family manage to unite in the face of the greatest conflict in their lifetimes? And what was the true extent of Edward's betrayal?

'Genuinely revealing, politically insightful, scrupulously researched . . . has the narrative pace of a champion thoroughbred'
Tina Brown, author of THE PALACE PAPERS Europe Great Britain Military Politics & Activism Royalty War

Critic reviews

Alexander Larman's 'The Windsors at War' is genuinely revealing, politically insightful, scrupulously researched, and has the narrative pace of a champion thoroughbred. It is also an eloquent study of two royal brothers, and of duty and betrayal. (Tina Brown)
A worthy successor to Larman's excellent account of the Abdication Crisis, exhaustively researched and written with wit and brio, The Windsors at War proves conclusively that the Duke of Windsor betrayed both his brother King George VI and his country. If there is ever a prequel to Netflix's The Crown, it should be based on this book.
As profound and exhilarating as it is revelatory - and it is highly revelatory. Larman is a natural-born storyteller with a keen eye for a precious anecdote. I relished this (Daisy Dunn)
Alexander Larman's masterful follow-up to The Crown in Crisis combines thrilling action scenes with political skulduggery and intimate character studies of everyone from King George VI to his brother and nemesis, the Duke of Windsor. Deeply researched, fascinating and compelling from start to finish. (Dan Jones)
The definitive version of how the Royal Family behaved in World War Two, by turns fast paced and furious. I couldn't put it down, except for occasional gasps of incredulity. Larman combines forensic investigative skills with some beautiful prose as he lays out in grim, unremitting detail how the Windsors wavered at critical moments in the war. What a story this is, and what a family (Anne Sebba)
Alexander Larman's enjoyable The Windsors at War [is] a buoyant account of the period from Edward's abdication to the end of the Second World War. (Matthew Dennison)
A detailed and fascinating account (Tessa Dunlop)
A lively, informative book, enriched by its author's fondness for gossip and sharp eye for absurdity... a pitch-black comedy
The Windsors at War opens with a bravura prologue ... Larman sharply contrasts the grim reality the world was facing with the solipsistic petulance of the duke and duchess ... Fortunately, The Windsors at War is about a great more than them. If it has a hero it is the shy, complex man who never had the slightest desire to be king and made extraordinary efforts to rise to the job, finally earning the unqualified admiration of world leaders ... What makes it fresh is Larman's use of recently disembargoed diaries and letters ... The recounting of the story of the handsome, sexually omnivorous, dope-addicted Kent, who reeled from affair to affair (Noël Coward was said to be among his lovers) but was transformed by war service into a brilliantly effective commander until his still-mysterious death in an air crash in the Highlands, is particularly vividly done. Nothing in the book, though, can compete for sheer entertainment with the Windsors' governorship of the Bahamas ... Every detail of it seems to have been penned by the Queen of Crime herself (Simon Callow)
All stars
Most relevant
The ex king can best be described as a soiled and ungrateful person who completely misunderstood the great disservice he did to this country and most of all his younger brother.
Thankfully, the younger brother carried out the onerous position with dignity until his untimely premature death in 1952.
The new Queen Elizabeth more than made up for her uncles discounts and reigned for seventh years without out error.
The was the direct legacy of Edward V111, he gave us our brilliant late Queen, but as is now playing out for all to see, a younger grandson is following in his forebears great uncles footsteps. Let us so pray he will run out of ammunition soon and faces into oblivion in the near future.
This audio is by far the best I've listened to, with the narration being perfect and the history very well researched.
Excellent.It

The ungrateful king

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As a story this has it all. Fans of Wallis & Edward look away now, they don't come out of this well. I was not that impressed by the narrator, but that is a very personal response to Ms Roberts reading style and voice and others might not have the same reaction. The dodgy financial and black market dealings that HRH went in for during and immediately after the war - he was an early and extreme tax dodger - don't feature. The incidents described in "The Marburg Files" episode of "The Crown" are gone into in detail and are, quite rightly, compared unfavourably to the behaviour of the legit Royal Family. His pre war connections with/to dodgy financiers and fascist industrialists are described in detail. Was he a traitor during WW2? My personal opinion is that he would have been an unrepentant one only he was predominantly concerned with hanging on to the money that he'd screwed out of his country and family. Oh, and not paying tax, rather like the Tories and their supporters in the UK of today. Had Hitler invaded the UK he would have joined in with alacrity justifying his behaviour to himself and a gullible public by saying he was doing so to save lives/the political future and independence of the UK. Not unlike Marshal Petain. The current professional Historian/Biographer thinking about the Duke's activities pre and during WW2 appears to be that the German documents that form The Marburg Files give an accurate picture of his attitudes/thinking and behaviour.

I found myself thinking about the behaviour of both the current Duke of York and the current Duke of Sussex. There's a lot to be said for HMQ's mantra "never complain, never explain." Mrs Patrick Campbell (Edwardian stage star) "It doesn't matter what you do, so long as you don't do it in the road and frighten the horses." As Mrs Keppel lunching in state at The Ritz (where else) shatteringly observed of the Abdication "Things were managed much better in my day." Being born a Prince ai'nt easy.

Interesting, but only if you're interested. The high class gossip end of history - not really up there with the Atom Spies. The most historically relevant part of the tale - that so many were so sincerely concerned about the damage to the soon to vanish Empire.

Fascinating Story

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Well read and paced

A very interesting tales of the Duke e post abdication and during the war - filled in the gaps in my knowledge

A really interesting listen - congrats.

Duke of Windsor - behind the scenes

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Excellent book. Very interesting having further validated confirmation of The DD of W’s stance on Hitler with the fairly recently availability of released documentation.
Whilst the narration was excellent, I would have much preferred a male voice, given that the book was written by a man and most of the book is male dominated. I have also watched the subsequent documentary with the author undertaking most of the dialogue. It seemed a very strange decision.


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