Once a King: The Lost Memoir of Edward VIII - Hugo Vickers

Here is another ghost story – we are yet again in the world of the Royal Family and their ghost-writers. The year 2023 kicked off with Prince Harry’s less-than-worthy Spare, and now we have an intriguing alternative take – a behind-the-scenes look at what the Duke and Duchess of Windsor wanted to say in their memoirs, before the ghosts, the Royal Household and the lawyers got their hands on them. Walter Monckton, masquerading as the Duke’s close adviser, was more on the side of the British court. The most interesting dichotomy of ghost and ‘subject’ was highlighted by Prince Harry’s ghost, J R Moehringer, in an article in the New Yorker: ‘Strange as it may seem, memoir isn’t about you. It’s not even the story of your life. It’s a story carved from your life, a particular series of events chosen because they have the greatest resonance for the widest...

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