At the beginning of 1937, the British monarchy was in a state of turmoil. The previous king, Edward VIII, had abdicated the throne, leaving his unprepared and terrified brother Bertie to become George VI, surrounded by a gaggle of courtiers and politicians who barely thought him up to the job. Meanwhile, as the now-Duke of Windsor awaited the decree that would allow him to marry his mistress Wallis Simpson, he took an increased interest in the expansionist plans of Adolf Hitler. He may even have gone so far as to betray his country in the process. And as double agents and Nazi spies thronged the corridors of Buckingham Palace, the only man the King could trust was his Prime Minister, Winston Churchill. But they faced a formidable, even unbeatable, adversary: his own brother.

The Windsors at War tells the never-before-told story of World War Two in Britain and America with a fresh focus on the royal family, their conflicted relationships, and the events that rocked the international press. How did this squabbling, dysfunctional family manage to put their differences aside and unite to help win the greatest conflict of their lifetimes? Alexander Larman, author of The Crown in Crisis, now chronicles the Windsor family at war with Germany―and each other.

The Windsors at War (Amazon US) (Amazon UK) (Audible.com) (AbeBooks Used Book Marketplace)

Last year I had the opportunity to read and review #NetGalley ARC Review: #TheCrowninCrisis: Countdown to the Abdication by Alexander Larman. Now Larman has come up with a sequel of sorts, discussing the Windsor family’s roles during World War II. As readers of the blog well know, I find the Duke and Duchess of Windsor fascinating but for different reasons that what originally piqued my interest.

With every book written about the royal family during the 1930s and 1940s, I find the Duke and Duchess of Windsor more and more despicable and am so glad Edward VIII was forced off the throne. While his brother Bertie, otherwise known as King George VI, was holding Great Britain together during World War II, the Duke and Duchess were in cahoots with Nazi sympathizers who would like nothing better than to have Great Britain fall at the hand of the Nazis and install Edward as a puppet king.

Prime Minister Winston Churchill and King George VI knew of these machinations and kept brushing off the Duke, who wanted a role in the armed services during the war. Finally, when details came to light to the government of the company the Duke and Duchess were keeping while exiled in France and Spain, it was decided to get the Windsors out of Europe post haste. That was how the Duke and Duchess ended up as governor general of the Bahamas, as far away from the European front as possible.

All in all, this book shows more examples of how Great Britain ended up with such a steadying force as the late Queen Elizabeth II’s father as head of the country and commonwealth, and what whiny, vapid, shallow human beings the Duke and Duchess of Windsor were.

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