The Rise and Fall of the House of Windsor

by A.N. Wilson

"For those who seek coherence beyond the weekly wrap-up offered by PEOPLE magazine comes a book that ponders the deeper effects of this slow decline of the world's last great monarchy....An interesting overview of what has happened to royalty."
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Divorce and separation. Steamy telephone tapes. Brewing custody battles. Embarrassing photographs. Is the House of Windsor self-destructing? The brilliant writer A.N. Wilson, whose biographies include C.S. Lewis and Toltoy, sets out to answer this vexing and fascinating question in his spectacular new book. An observer and writer of great style and an Englishman of particular opinions, Wilson is uniquely placed to rail about the royal follies even as he defends the monarchy's usefulness. He asserts that the Windsors have actually gained in political power under Elizabeth II, and puts all the naughty goings-on in a historical context. A riches-to-ruin saga as bizarre as any novel, THE RISE AND FALL OF THE HOUSE OF WINDSOR is by far the most intelligent--and most surprising--account of the catastrophe that the Royal Family have brought on themselves.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, History, British Literature

216 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1993

About the author

Andrew Norman Wilson is an English writer and newspaper columnist, known for his critical biographies, novels, works of popular history and religious views. He is an occasional columnist for the Daily Mail and former columnist for the London Evening Standard, and has been an occasional contributor to the Times Literary Supplement, New Statesman, The Spectator and The Observer.

Reviews

[Anirudh Pokhariyal · Rating 5 out of 5]

A.N. Wilson's book is a work of art on the family history of the current English Dynasty. The book although not in chronological order perfectly explains the history and the difficulties that the British monarchy was facing in the 90s. Keeping in mind the parallels of the current situation regarding prince Harry and Meghan Markel this book is refreshing in the sense that the problems of ideal family values are still a big problem with the Windsors.
One can read the book and just switch the characters with the current generation of Windsor youths and not much will change.
Monarchy in Britain still faces some of the same problems that it was facing in the 90s but they surely have sorted out some of the problems.

[A. Bowdoin Van Riper · Rating 2 out of 5]

A. N. Wilson likes the British Royal Family, as an institution. He also likes—no, make that “adores”—Queen Elizabeth II. The monarchy, he argues, is the cultural equivalent of ballast in a ship’s hold: it does its job best by remaining stolidly in place, acting as a stabilizing force, and causes serious problems when it moves about. The stolid, beige presence of the current Queen is, for Wilson, exactly what the monarchy requires.

Lurching backward and forward through time, Wilson judges the other members of the House of Windsor against her high standard, and (not surprisingly) finds them wanting. Queen Victoria is borderline-psychotic, Edward VII a libertine, George V puritanical, Edward VIII (who abdicated in order to marry the love of his life) selfish, and Elizabeth the Queen Mother a self-righteous phony. The Queen’s own father (George VI) and sister (Princess Margaret) emerge relatively unscathed, but her husband (Prince Phillip) is a befuddled clod and her eldest son (Prince Charles) as equally dull-witted . . . though more dangerous because he thinks of himself as clever. Princess Diana—whether breathtakingly naïve or coldly calculating—commits the unforgiveable sin of being vivid, and calling public attention to herself as a person.

All of this—the ruminations on the role of the monarchy in modern Britain, and the hatchet-job portraits—is couched in language that drips with icy disdain for such cultural travesties as marrying for love, attending schools other than Eton, drawing satirical newspaper cartoons about the Queen, and revising the Book of Common Prayer. The cultural-conservative savagery of the book (Wilson gets the vapors when the Church of England calls itself the “Anglican Church”) makes it read like an Oxford-accented version of American right-wing talk radio. It offers watching-a-train-wreck entertainment value, but little in the way of real enlightenment.

[Colleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes I don't know what to think of this book. Some of Wilson's suggestions seem quite mad. But then he'll explain some aspect of the British system that are quite interesting, especially to an American for whom it is so foreign and different. Most especially the public's view of the monarchy has had another about face since the book was published in 1993. Nevertheless, I end up enjoying it every time.

[June · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though occasionally the time-jumping can be confusing, this is a fun, and occasionally lurid, history of the English monarchy from Queen Victoria to the mid-'90's.

[Melissa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dated material. Not that compellingly written.

[Ashraf Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

يتحدث الكتاب عن تاريخ العائلة المالكة البريطانية والتحديات التي تواجه استمرار الملكية في بريطانيا