Dimensions
129 x 186 x 20mm
Like his mother Queen Victoria, Edward VII gave his name to an era. Both reflected the personalities of their central figures: hers insular and stiff; his attuned to the need for royal performances in public, European-minded, pleasure-loving, money-conscious and worldly.
This highly entertaining book by celebrated biographer and social historian Richard Davenport-Hines conveys Edward's distinct personality and significant influences throughout his life. Brought up in strict isolation, 'Bertie' rebelled as a young man, to the despair of his parents, conducting many affairs, indulging his love of food, gambling and hunting and living a life of pleasure. But he was also a pioneering philanthropist, travelled widely and made a valuable contribution to European diplomacy. He also turned London into the leading royal capital of Europe, with opulent shops, and laidout the Mall and Admiralty Arch, which would become the main stage for royal public events in the twentieth century.
Richard Davenport-Hines's Edward VII is as pleasurable as its subject and the age of glamour and leisure, social reform and social brilliance, that Edward made.
