Traitor King
The Scandalous Exile of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor
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Traitor King
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Narrated by:
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Andrew Lownie
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By:
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Andrew Lownie
About this listen
The Sunday Times best seller
A Daily Mail Royal Book of the Year, 2021
December 1936. The king of England, Edward VIII, has given up his crown, foregoing his duty for the love of Wallis Simpson, an American divorcée. Their courtship has been dogged by controversy and scandal, but with Edward's abdication, they can live happily ever after. But do they?
In Traitor King, best-selling historian Andrew Lownie draws on hitherto unexplored archives to uncover the dramatic world of the Windsors post-abdication. Lownie reveals a couple obsessed with their status, financially exploiting their position and manipulating the media. Filled with treachery and betrayal, this is a story of an exiled royal and the Nazi attempts to recruit him to their cause—and of why the royal family never forgave the duke for choosing love over duty.
©2021 Andrew Lownie (P)2021 Bonnier Books UKCritic Reviews
"Darkly compelling...hundreds of eye-popping details.... Gripping...damning portrait of the Windsors." (Daily Mail, Book of the Week)
"Briskly written and compulsively readable...." (A.N. Wilson, TLS)
"Meticulously researched." (Spectator)
"Entertaining...convincing...timely. Urgent reading for royals." (Evening Standard)
What listeners say about Traitor King
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 13-01-2024
A great insight on how this man wasted his life!
Very well written and the story flowed. An astonishing life of two very sad and degenerate people. I don’t think anything has changed over the years. Elites protecting their own. If only the public had known what these two were doing during the war years. Looking forward to reading the next book about Mountbatten.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Judy Davies
- 07-02-2025
What a damaged man.
I found this book extremely interesting. The author painted an excellent portrait of a damaged man caught in the thrall of an equally compromised woman. They were a vacuous couple with no real talents or interests. Edward’s meddling in foreign affairs was a constant worry to the British government. The author makes a compelling case using UK, American and German sources to justify the title of the book. One of the things I found most striking was Edwards character and mindset was inherited by his royal descendant the current Prince Harry. Likewise Wallis has an uncanny resemblance to Harry’s wife. They all share the same flaws.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 29-09-2022
Interesting study of a many dimensional man.
Edward and Wallis were spoiled childish and stupid. This is a great insight into tragedy
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Elizabeth Rooney
- 28-07-2024
Weakness, Entitlement and Power
A good weighty case for the cessation of inherited titles and any vestiges of the ‘ruling classes’ in power.
Marriages into the same bloodlines must inevitably produce what it had done.
Wallace got what she hadn’t bargained for and he got a Mummy - to entertain and boost his confidence at all times.
A terrible thought that this man could have possibly sat on the throne as King.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 11-10-2022
Well researched and fascinating story
An interesting history that pulls back the superficial outer layer of the lives of the former king and his wife.
Terrifying to think what could have been had he not abdicated.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 02-11-2024
Interesting
Very interesting into the history of the times and the implications for some and not for others
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Richard
- 29-08-2021
Really Excellent.
A great insight into a thoroughly flawed character. One can only thank Wallace Simpson in attracting the very weak and underdeveloped boyish English Royal to resign as King. We may now be living in a very different world if this had not occurred. This biography may not be the last and, as Lownie indicates more damning evidence of Edward and Simpson’s fascist inclinations may yet surface.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- paul
- 15-05-2022
A Riveting read for social history enthusiasts.
Lownie's book allows us entre into the world of this pathetic man and his concubine.
Both David and Wallis emerge as trivial and wanton.
If Royalty is one's 'thing' the abdication of this dullard king must be the very best thing that has happened to the monarchy in 200 years...
To imagine that David and Wallis were permitted to reign conjures only horror.
An intriguing listen..
One tiny annoyance in the reading is the pronunciation of 'women'...
perhaps it is my device but it constantly ones across in pronunciation as 'woman' and not 'wimmen'
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 02-06-2023
Great read
Great read, well researched and read. What a despicable couple! All I can say is bring on the republic!
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 05-03-2022
OK
This book was ok. I learnt a lot that I didn’t know but I would have preferred more detail on their lives in the non war period not such a heavy focus on the Hitler connection.
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