Product Overview

'ASTONISHING' THE DAILY MAIL 'STRIKING' THE SUNDAY TIMES 'RADICAL' TATLER
Described by The Telegraph as 'Edward's truth' Once a King is the never before
seen and unfiltered story of King Edward VIII, the original royal renegade,
who abdicated his throne and left the royal family to pursue his own destiny.
Fifteen years after having abdicated the throne to marry the woman he loved -
Wallis Simpson - King Edward VIII, now the Duke of Windsor, published his
memoirs. But whilst preparing the manuscript for his published and mostly
ghostwritten book - which, unlike Prince Harry's autobiography Spare, largely
avoided controversy - the Duke also produced a private manuscript for
posterity. This was written in his own words and with an uninhibited
frankness. Once a King: The Lost Memoir of Edward VIII reproduces this
uncrowned King's previously unseen writing, including much that he could or
would not write for publication in 1951. Jane Marguerite Tippett weaves
together Edward's writing alongside newly uncovered interviews with the Duke
and Duchess, diary entries from ghostwriter Charles Murphy and other sources.
Together this forms an extraordinary new portrait of one of the most famous
characters in modern royal history and his recollections and innermost
feelings, particularly around the abdication of 1936. Read more