The Royal House of Windsor

Fülszöveg

On 17 July 1917 King George V changed his name from the German-sounding Saxe-Coburg in response to the intense anti-German feelings which marked public opinion during the war years. Thus the Windsors, the family name of the present Royal House, came into being.
Theirs has been a chequered story, and is told here by Elizabeth Longford with insight, sympathy and with wit. The first Windsor had come to the throne at a time of grave constitutional crisis; he reigned during the agonies of the Great War; and Uved on to become a much-loved father to his subjects in a far-flung empire. Their affection for King George surprised nobody more than himself. His intellectual abilities were limited and his early interests - 'stamps, babies and shooting' -were not inspiring, yet his style of kingship, including his famous BBC broadcasts, brought him very close to his people.
George V was succeeded by his eldest son, Edward VHI, whose brief but dramatic reign ended in the trauma of Abdication.... Tovább

Fülszöveg

On 17 July 1917 King George V changed his name from the German-sounding Saxe-Coburg in response to the intense anti-German feelings which marked public opinion during the war years. Thus the Windsors, the family name of the present Royal House, came into being.
Theirs has been a chequered story, and is told here by Elizabeth Longford with insight, sympathy and with wit. The first Windsor had come to the throne at a time of grave constitutional crisis; he reigned during the agonies of the Great War; and Uved on to become a much-loved father to his subjects in a far-flung empire. Their affection for King George surprised nobody more than himself. His intellectual abilities were limited and his early interests - 'stamps, babies and shooting' -were not inspiring, yet his style of kingship, including his famous BBC broadcasts, brought him very close to his people.
George V was succeeded by his eldest son, Edward VHI, whose brief but dramatic reign ended in the trauma of Abdication. These events, with all the delicate personal and poUtical considerations involved, led to the accession of Edward's younger brother as George VI. Shy and withdrawn where his predecessor had been extrovert and dashing, King George found an ideal consort in Queen Elizabeth and rose above aU his disadvantages -among them a stammer he never quite lost - to become, like his father, a beloved figure and a symbol of the nation's unity in war.
When King George died in February 1952, he was succeeded by his twenty-five-year-old daughter. The problems she faced are emphasised by EUzabeth Longford; not least was that of an expectant nation acclaiming the 'new EUzabethan age' with highest hopes. Disillusion was bound to come, and critics of the Queen, and of the Royal Family individually and collectively, have been numerous and vocal. Yet in estabUshing a uniquely informal style of monarchy, even linked to 'off-record' film and television sequences, this Queen made herself more accessible, certainly more widely known, than any sovereign in the nation's history. continued on back flap J 6 pages of colour plates 100 illustrations in black and white
Front jacket: The Royal Family entering St. Paul's Cathedral for the Silver Jubilee Service of Thanksgiving, 1935. (Guildhall Art Gallery) Back jacket: St. Edward's Crown (Crown Copyright; reproduced by permission of the Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office)
contmued from front flap
On a broader scale the monarchy of Elizabeth II is vastly different from that inherited by the first of the Windsors. Constitutionally the crown has had to keep a balance between preserving its important residual rights but acting with discretion in any matter which might be construed as undemocratic interference with the affairs of government. The old Empire has virtually disappeared - and with it many of the Royal titles. Nevertheless, the Queen has proved herself a human hnk not only between the members of the modern Commonwealth, but also a force for unity between the peoples of each country. This 'unfinished story' concludes with an optimistic glance into the future.

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The Countess of Longford cbe is well known as a woman of numerous interests and achievements. After her degree in Literae Humaniores at Oxford she was a lecturer for the Workers' Educational Association in-English, Economics and Politics. She has stood twice for Parliament in the Labour interest. Lady Longford is a Trustee of the National Portrait Gallery, a member of the Advisory Council of the Victoria and Albert Museum and a member of the Royal Society of Literature. She is an Hon. D. Litt of Sussex University. Her previous works include Jameson's Raid, Victoria R.I. (which won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize) and in two volumes Wellington: The Years of the Sword (awarded the Yorkshire Post prize), and Pillar of State.
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