Andrew Lownie

Fascinating biography of Guy Burgess, the third man (depending on how you're counting) of the Cambridge Spy Ring. Burgess is a remarkable person — capricious, waspish, totally self-centred, but also charming and brilliant. It's difficult not to be impressed at how his intellect manages to carry him to the BBC, MI5, MI6 and the Foreign Office despite his obvious and unhidden (quite the opposite) personality flaws. While it is arguable he could have reached much higher positions had he been less drunk and obnoxious at work, the fact that he managed to work effectively, and get away with his behaviour, is somewhat astounding.

Also astounding are the descriptions of the "establishment's" reaction to his defection — I was astonished that he was allowed to maintain accounts with banks, tailors, and bookstores in the UK. And that he could arrange to have his furniture shipped to him. And that people visiting Moscow would commonly visit. I assumed that his ostracization from society would have been more complete. This almost feels like he had just swapped clubs.

The book itself can be a little dry — the list-like details, particularly in the first third, could wash over me. But once things start moving it is really compelling. It seems that the history, character and influence of Burgess is much debated, with little agreement — this book is a good place to start to understand it.… (mais)

fter his overthrow in 1952, King Farouk of Egypt predicted that soon there would be only five kings left in the world: the kings of Clubs, Hearts, Spades and Diamonds – and the King of England. There may still be monarchs around in the 21st century, but as the travails of Princes Andrew and Harry prove, Farouk was correct in one respect: only the British monarchy still attracts obsessive global attention.

The key event in the transition of Britain’s royal family from a significant power player to an international soap opera was the Abdication of Edward VIII in 1936, so that he could marry the twice-divorced American, Mrs Wallis Simpson. Most accounts of the Abdication focus on the brief year of the king’s reign and the manoeuvres of the Establishment in easing the patently unsuitable sovereign off the throne. In contrast, Andrew Lownie concentrates on the long post-Abdication lives of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, definitively answering some of the enduring mysteries of the affair.

Were the Windsors merely pro-Nazi sympathisers or active conspirators in a plot to do a deal with Hitler to restore the duke to his recently vacated throne? Did the couple truly love each other? What was the exact nature of their relationship and their respective sexualities? Why did the rest of the royal family move heaven and earth to keep the couple out of the country for the rest of their lives, only permitting their return to be buried? For anyone seeking solutions to these and similar questions – and the TV schedules and tabloids tell us that there are many such people – Lownie fearlessly yet fairly provides the answers.

Read the rest of the review at HistoryToday.com.

Nigel Jones is an author and historian specialising in the world wars.… (mais)