excessively and competitively,’ recalled Harold Nicolson of the members of the Marlborough House Set. ‘No age since that of Nero can show such unlimited addiction to food.’25 Even so, Edward’s appetite was remarkable. So insatiable was his hunger that he frequently forgot to chew, bolting whole platefuls in a matter of minutes. Alexandra confessed that she found her husband’s greed to be ‘appalling’, but she could do nothing to check it. By the time of his accession, Edward was so large his waist, at forty-eight inches, was the same size as his chest, and his clothes no longer met in the
...more
