A comprehensive, scholarly and fascinating study of the end of the British Empire. No empire has been larger or more diverse than the British Empire. At its apogee in the 1930s, 42 million Britons governed 500 million foreign subjects. Britannia ruled the waves, and a quarter of the earth s surface was coloured red on the map. Where Britain s writ did not run directly, its influence, sustained by matchless industrial and commercial sinews, was often paramount. Yet no empire (except for the Russian) disappeared more swiftly. Within a generation, this mighty structure sank almost...
A comprehensive, scholarly and fascinating study of the end of the British Empire. No empire has been larger or more diverse than the British Empi...
'After my death, ' George V said of his eldest son and heir, 'the boy will ruin himself within twelve months.' The forecast proved uncannily accurate. Edward VIII came to the throne in January 1936, provoked a constitutional crisis by his determination to marry the American divorcee Wallis Simpson, and abdicated in December. He was never crowned king. In choosing the woman he loved over his royal birthright, Edward shook the monarchy to its foundations. Given the new title 'Duke of Windsor' and essentially sent into exile, he remained a visible skeleton in the royal cupboard until his death...
'After my death, ' George V said of his eldest son and heir, 'the boy will ruin himself within twelve months.' The forecast proved uncannily accurate....
