The Times<\/i> Book of the Week <\/b><\/p>\n
* * * <\/b>
‘I could read Martin Williams all day. He is a staggeringly communicative historian; this book throws shafts of light on recent history almost repeating itself, giving vivid glimpses into monarchy and the way things were, and are. Compulsory reading.’ — Dame Joanna Lumley<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
‘A social historian and gifted storyteller, Williams is by turns moved and amused as he reflects on the poignancy and rituals of a nation united (pretty much) in grief…’ — The Times<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
‘adroitly-written…[told by Williams] so skilfully, and with such silken prose, that it’s a pleasure to spend the time inside his head’ — The Oldie<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
‘delightful details…to rekindle this vanished epoch’ — Country Life<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
‘Vivid, panoramic, skilfully written, this gripping book is an insight into a time and an age’. — Kate Williams<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
‘Martin Williams has written a fascinating and absorbing account of the Edwardian era, the demise and funeral of the King, and the iconic Black Ascot that followed it. He has brought a lost age grippingly to light’. — Hugo Vickers<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
‘witty, informative and immensely readable… captures the spirit of the times’. — Miranda Seymour<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
‘A tour de force’. — Dr Kate Strasdin<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
‘We tend to think that Cecil Beaton single-handedly invented the Edwardian Age. Martin Williams shows us succinctly and elegantly that perhaps it was the King himself.’ — Nicky Haslam<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
‘… moves with unflagging wit and style. A fresh perspective on a brilliant life and a lost era beautifully evoked, it is impossible not to be swept away by this gem of a book. Pure pleasure.’ — Robin Muir<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
Unforgettable as it was, the public response to the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022 was not without precedent. When her great-grandfather King Edward VII – glamorous, cosmopolitan and extraordinarily popular – died in May 1910, the political, social and cultural anxieties of a nation in turmoil were temporarily set aside during a summer of intense and ritualised mourning.<\/p>\n
In The King is Dead, Long Live the King!<\/i> Martin Williams charts a period of tension and transition as one era slipped away and another took shape. Witnessed by a diverse but interconnected cast of characters – crowned heads and Cabinet ministers, debutantes and suffragettes, artists and murderers – here is the swansong of Edwardian Britain. Set against a backdrop of bereavement and parliamentary crisis overshadowed by the gathering clouds of war, we see a people caught between past and future, tradition and modernity, as they unite to bid farewell to a much-loved monarch who had personified his age. <\/p>\n
From Buckingham Palace to Bloomsbury, and from the lying-in-state in Westminster Hall to a now legendary Royal Ascot enveloped in black, this is a vivid evocation of a world on the brink of seismic upheaval.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Unforgettable as it was, the public response to the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022 was not without precedent. When her great-grandfather King Edward VII died in May 1910, the political, social and cultural anxieties of a nation in turmoil were temporarily set aside during a summer of intense and ritualised mourning. Williams charts a period of tension and transition as one era slipped away and another took shape. Witnessed by a diverse but interconnected cast of characters – crowned heads and Cabinet ministers, debutantes and suffragettes, artists and murderers – here is the swansong of Edwardian Britain. From Buckingham Palace to Bloomsbury, and from the lying-in-state in Westminster Hall to a now legendary Royal Ascot enveloped in black, this is a vivid evocation of a world on the brink of seismic upheaval.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[75],"product_tag":[834,892],"class_list":["post-98166","product","type-product","status-publish","product_cat-history","product_tag-biography-royalty","product_tag-history-specific-events-topics","pa_book_author-williams-martin","pa_cover-hardback","pa_dewey-941-0823092-edition23","pa_imprint-hodder-stoughton","pa_language-english","pa_pages-8306","pa_publisher-hodder-stoughton","pa_readership-general-trade-code-k","first","onbackorder","taxable","shipping-taxable","purchasable","product-type-simple"],"yoast_head":"\n