The Crown in Crisis: Countdown to the Abdication

by Alexander Larman Narrated by Richard Trinder

Overview

The thrilling and definitive account of the Abdication Crisis of 1936.

On December 10, 1936, King Edward VIII brought a great international drama to a close when he abdicated, renouncing the throne of the United Kingdom for himself and his heirs. The reason he gave when addressing his subjects was that he could not fulfill his duties without the woman he loved-the notorious American divorcee Wallis Simpson-by his side. His actions scandalized the establishment, who were desperate to avoid an international embarrassment at a time when war seemed imminent. That the King was rumored to have Nazi sympathies only strengthened their determination that he should be forced off the throne, by any means necessary.

Alexander Larman's The Crown in Crisis will treat listeners to a new, thrilling view of this legendary story. Informed by revelatory archival material never-before-seen, as well as by interviews with many of Edward's and Wallis's close friends, Larman creates an hour-by-hour, day-by-day suspenseful narrative that brings listeners up to the point where the microphone is turned on and the king speaks to his subjects. As well as focusing on King Edward and Mrs. Simpson, Larman looks closely at the roles played by those that stood against him: Prime minister Stanley Baldwin, his private secretary Alec Hardinge, and the Archbishop of Canterbury Cosmo Lang. Larman also takes the full measure of those who supported him: the great politician Winston Churchill, Machiavellian newspaper owner Lord Beaverbrook, and the brilliant lawyer Walter Monckton.

For the first time in a book about the abdication, listeners will hear an in-depth account of the assassination attempt on Edward's life and its consequences, a first-person chronicle of Wallis Simpson's scandalous divorce proceedings, information from the Royal Archives about the government's worries about Edward's relationship with Nazi high-command Ribbentrop and a boots-on-the-ground view of how the British people saw Edward as they watched the drama unfold. You won't be able to put down The Crown in Crisis, a full panorama of the people and the times surrounding Edward and the woman he loved.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press

"fresh chronicle...Mr. Larman brings his cast of characters vividly to life in a fast-paced, lively staging of the drama. It's as much fun to read as a good political thriller.” --Wall Street Journal

Editorial Reviews

FEBRUARY 2021 - AudioFile

The 1936 abdication of Britain’s King Edward VIII gets a full hearing in this absorbing audiobook. Journalist Alexander Larman offers a fresh view—a candid, highly detailed account of what happened and why. Narrator Richard Trinder sounds just like a 1930s British newscaster, and he’s most effective pacing a multi-perspective narrative that compares contemporary accounts to private diaries, published memoirs to their unedited versions, and files long sequestered to each other. Trinder’s dialogue voices, however, are disappointing. His Edward sounds very much like his Wallis, she with a Southern accent, and his Churchill (a marker for British narrators) is just passable. No matter. The story carries you along, and the better you know it already, the more you’ll appreciate Larman’s scrupulous reconstruction. D.A.W. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine

Publishers Weekly

11/16/2020

Historian Larman (Byron’s Women) delivers a juicy account of the events leading up to and following British monarch King Edward VIII’s abdication in December 1936. As German ambassador Joachim von Ribbentrop tried to forge an alliance with Edward, Larman notes, the British government was distracted by the “vexatious” king’s affair with Wallis Simpson, a 40-year-old American divorcée. Viewed by royal courtiers as a “gold digger” with a “capacity for inspiring dislike,” Simpson, who was still married to her second husband when she began her relationship with Edward, was rumored to have learned “specific sexual arts” while living in China in the 1920s. Larman delves into newspaper magnate Lord Beaverbrook’s role in suppressing news of the affair and Simpson’s impending divorce, and Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin’s attempts to dissuade Edward from marrying Simpson. Lengthy subplots, including a review of recently declassified MI5 files indicating that a July 1936 incident in which a man threw his pistol at Edward might have been orchestrated by Italian spies, add intrigue but disrupt the narrative momentum. Still, even dedicated royal watchers will learn something new from this comprehensive account of one of the biggest scandals in the history of the British monarchy. (Jan.)

From the Publisher

"A fresh chronicle . . . Mr. Larman brings his cast of characters vividly to life in a fast-paced, lively staging of the drama. It’s as much fun to read as a good political thriller." —Moira Hodgson, Wall Street Journal

"An entertaining, multilayered study of the abdication crisis of 1936 and the many traitorous and sycophantic characters surrounding King Edward VIII." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"Readers who enjoy British and royal history as well as fans of the Netflix series The Crown will greatly enjoy this insightful book. —Library Journal, starred review

"Excellent, well written, deeply researched, The Crown in Crisis is a dynamic revisionist history of the Abdication that brings to life a national and personal drama with a flamboyant cast of princes, charlatans, socialites, courtiers, press barons, politicians, and adventurers that is both heartbreaking and glamorous, scholarly, and very entertaining." —Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of The Romanovs

"A juicy account of the events leading up to and following British monarch King Edward VIII’s abdication...even dedicated royal watchers will learn something new from this comprehensive account of one of the biggest scandals in the history of the British monarchy." —Publishers Weekly

“Larman combines the personal with the political, high drama with low morals, to create a compulsively readable and comprehensive account. Anyone who wants to deepen their understanding of one of the key events of the 20th century, whose reverberations are still with us today, must read this engagingly fun and detailed book.” —Anne Sebba, New York Times bestselling author of That Woman: The Life of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor

"[Larman] blends previous reporting and newly published archival sources into a deeply researched account that will fascinate royal lovers and history fans alike." —Bookpage

“Alexander Larman’s well-researched and well-written The Crown in Crisis is both scholarly and highly readable. He has mastered the sources superbly, and his analysis of the extraordinary story is full of thought-provoking insights. An exciting new title by a talented young historian.” —Andrew Roberts, author of Churchill: Walking with Destiny

“A completely fascinating and authoritative account of the Abdication Crisis, written with tremendous sophistication and insight.”
—William Boyd, author of Any Human Heart

Library Journal

★ 01/01/2021

The abdication of Edward VIII (1894–1972) in 1936 plunged the British monarchy into a crisis unseen since the English Civil Wars. The abdication had many root causes but is primarily remembered for Edward's desire to marry twice-divorced American Wallis Simpson. Many within the Royal family and Parliament hoped Edward would take his new role seriously and rise to the occasion; however, he was unwilling to give up his private, carefree lifestyle and take on the more public and demanding role of the monarch. Once it became clear Edward would be forbidden from marrying Simpson, he intended to abdicate. Journalist and historian Larman (Byron's Women), who gained unprecedented access to previously classified letters, memoirs, and files in the Royal Archives and British National Archives, paints an uncompromising portrait of Edward's brief and tumultuous reign, including a thorough look at his complicated relationship with Simpson and the extent of Edward's Nazi sympathies. Larman does an excellent job weaving together all the strands of the events and personalities of that unprecedented time. VERDICT Readers who enjoy British and royal history as well as fans of the Netflix series The Crown will greatly enjoy this insightful book.—Chad E. Statler, Westlake Porter P.L., Westlake, OH

FEBRUARY 2021 - AudioFile

The 1936 abdication of Britain’s King Edward VIII gets a full hearing in this absorbing audiobook. Journalist Alexander Larman offers a fresh view—a candid, highly detailed account of what happened and why. Narrator Richard Trinder sounds just like a 1930s British newscaster, and he’s most effective pacing a multi-perspective narrative that compares contemporary accounts to private diaries, published memoirs to their unedited versions, and files long sequestered to each other. Trinder’s dialogue voices, however, are disappointing. His Edward sounds very much like his Wallis, she with a Southern accent, and his Churchill (a marker for British narrators) is just passable. No matter. The story carries you along, and the better you know it already, the more you’ll appreciate Larman’s scrupulous reconstruction. D.A.W. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

★ 2020-11-11
An entertaining, multilayered study of the abdication crisis of 1936 and the many traitorous and sycophantic characters surrounding King Edward VIII.

Employing an impressive amount of research via archival material, letters, MI5 dossiers, Philip Ziegler’s definitive 1990 biography of the king, and numerous other sources, British historian and journalist Larman manages to shine new light on this scandalous and well-picked-over moment in British royal history. He even includes new revelations regarding the assassination attempt by George McMahon on July 16. As he notes, further research and newly declassified documents offer “a stranger and more complex narrative, in which a succession of half-truths and subterfuge give a glimpse into a febrile, paranoid time…in which anything—even a royal assassination—seemed possible.” The author fully fleshes out the many historical characters who took sides during this tumultuous period, most of whom were flummoxed and/or enraged by the inability of the new king, a well-known hedonistic playboy, to extricate himself from association with the once-divorced and still-married American Wallis Simpson. Some of the most memorable include the Queen Mother, who shared her sadness with the king’s decision-making and refused to offer a “maternal blessing”; and those who supported him—e.g., newspaper magnate Lord Beaverbrook and Winston Churchill, “whose attitudes toward the situation was summed up by ‘let the king have his cutie.’ ” Over the course of this absorbing text, several salient points emerge: how incredible it was that the British press suppressed the scandal for so long when the American press was braying wildly; that Edward's venal, soulless character was so well established by the time he took the throne that nearly everyone, from his father to government officials to Simpson herself, sensed it was better he be gone rather than destroy the throne; and that Simpson had tried repeatedly to convince her forceful, cloying lover that she did not want him.

Fun royal history, as Larman captures the era’s delicious wit, spite, and malice.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940177170152
Publisher:	Macmillan Audio
Publication date:	01/19/2021
Edition description:	Unabridged
Sales rank:	1,227,730

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