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George VI
by Sarah Bradford
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On Friday, December 11, 1936, King Edward VIII abdicated the British throne to marry Wallis Simpson. The abdication came at a crucial time in history, with Hitler and Mussolini allied, and Europe moving toward war. Suddenly Edward's younger brother, Albert, had to assume the throne. At forty-one, the new King faced not only a difficult family crisis, but a skeptical British press and public as well. Though he was sometimes a reluctant monarch, George VI possessed the self-discipline and integrity that his brother lacked. He would reign until his death in 1952, leaving to his eldest daughter, Elizabeth II, a throne more stable than England had known since Victoria ruled. This book is the first truly intimate portrait of the man and his entire family.…
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". I like Sarah’s work; she is very diligent and a thorough and a very skillful writer. I think this is perhaps her best book because she got a degree of distance from the subject – obviously through time. And she was given a lot of access to documents. I thought she painted a vivid portrait of the man. The response to his death was very touching. We forget that people lined the railway track as his coffin was taken from Sandringham back to London. For me, the book goes further than that. It’s the relationship between George VI, the Queen Mother and the Roosevelt family. I would always argue that their visit to America in 1939 was probably the most important Royal visit in the last century. In the face of American isolationism, it helped push the American elite away from their tender warmth toward Nazi Germany and feel closer to the British. So that, for me, was a turning moment. The whole abdication crisis is also described, as well as the relationship with Churchill that you mention."