We woke in the reign of Edward VIII and went to bed in that of George VI.” The remark by Sir Henry “Chips” Channon, a close associate of Edward, summed up the general sense of disbelief at his decision to abdicate the throne in 1936. The parallels with a more recent royal prince are striking. Like Edward VIII, Prince Harry had enjoyed huge popularity thanks to his informal style, which brought welcome modernity to the royal family. Then without warning, he gave up his royal duties for the woman he loved – his wife Meghan Markle who, like Wallis Simpson, is an American divorcee. Even though Prince Harry had little prospect of ever inheriting the throne, the sense of shock sparked by his sudden departure was just as great, and there has been intense media scrutiny ever since, heightened by the recent Oprah Winfrey interview. But can he learn anything from his great-great uncle’s example – and that of other royal exiles?
Edward VIII himself admitted, “there is nothing kingly about me”. Sensitive and highly strung, he was more interested in fashion and parties than knuckling down to his royal duties. In January 1936, he ascended the throne on a wave of popularity, but the trouble was lurking just beneath the surface. There are photographs of him looking bored as he carried out his first public duties. He complained: “Being a monarch… can surely be one of the most confining, the most frustrating, and over the duller stretches, the least stimulating jobs open to an educated, independent-minded person.”
Now that he was king, Edward was expected to give up his mistress, the twice-married American socialite Wallis Simpson. As the head of the Church of England, which forbade marriage to divorcees, it was out of the question that Edward could take her as his wife. But he was ardently in love with her. “To him, she was the perfect woman,” a close friend recalled.
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Parthian Chicken - Eleanor Barnett recreates an ancient Roman dish that borrowed flavours from a rival neighbouring empire in the Middle East
According to ancient Roman natural philosopher Pliny the Elder, Apicius was “the most gluttonous gorger of all spendthrifts”. The cookbook attributed to him, known simply as Apicius or as De Re Coquinaria (On the Art of Cooking), is one of the oldest collections of recipes surviving from antiquity. Its author may have been Marcus Gavius Apicius, a Roman gourmet of the first century AD who reputedly travelled all the way from Campania to Libya on the hunt for the largest, juiciest prawns.
Eastern Promises- Lured by rich trading prospects, from the 17th to the 19th centuries Britain attempted to cultivate relations with China
Lured by rich trading prospects, from the 17th to the 19th centuries Britain attempted to cultivate relations with China sometimes successfully, but often disastrously. Kerry Brown explores the troubled but ultimately vital links between two ambitious realms
The King They Couldn't Kill -Want to know why Henry VII is remembered as an intensely suspicious king, wracked by paranoia? The answer, writes Nathen Amin, lies in his death-defying rise to power
Henry’s wary nature is typically attributed to his shaky claim to the throne. The first Tudor monarch was unable to escape the taunt that he was a usurper with no right to call himself king. In fact, his renowned paranoia was the inevitable consequence of a traumatic youth – a trait ingrained long before he harboured ambitions to wear a crown. If we delve deeper into Henry’s background, we can draw a fuller picture of one of our most circumspect of monarchs – one that might elicit sympathy for a long misunderstood king.
The Spy Who Hoodwinked Hitler - Dummy tanks at El Alamein. Bogus generals in Algiers. Sham armies on D-Day. All were ruses masterminded by Dudley Clarke. Robert Hutton tells the story of the British soldier who made an art form of duping the Nazis
Examining the reconnaissance photos, Behrendt was convinced that the Allies weren’t in any hurry. They were constructing some kind of pipeline towards the southern end of their line, probably to carry water, which was barely halfway completed. There were supply dumps appearing in the south as well – always a telltale clue about where an attack would come. True, a large number of trucks were parked at the northern end of the line, about 25 miles back from the front, but they hadn’t moved for weeks.
"People have achieved all kinds of crazy things at the age of 18″
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A Pole apart
ROGER MOORHOUSE is absorbed by a little-known but politically significant Polish princess whose life encompassed the major events of the later 18th and 19th centuries
Medieval England's p olitical miracle
From Magna Carta to parliament, taxation to the law courts, the 13th and 14th centuries laid the foundations for the modern British state
THE GENIUS IN THE SHADOWS
Æthelstan is one of the greatest of all Anglo-Saxon monarchs. So why, asks Michael Wood, does the first king of the English remain so fiendishly elusive?
The long road back The election was tough for the Conservatives - but the past holds clues on how parties can return from the brink
It’s election night 1997, and Jeremy Paxman is grilling Tory grandee Cecil Parkinson.
