Kings, Queens and Fallen Monarchies (Hardback)
Royal Dynasties of Interwar Europe
Imprint: Pen & Sword History
Pages: 264
Illustrations: 12 mono illustrations
ISBN: 9781399035422
Published: 30th October 2024
This Week's Best Sellers Rank: #3
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Among the great hidden narratives of twentieth-century history are the movements in Europe which, between the two world wars, aimed to restore the royal and imperial houses forced out of power in 1918 (or, in Portugal’s case, eight years earlier). These efforts acquired media coverage and, often, strategic importance far greater than would be now supposed from the cursory, often dismissive, treatment which they have received from most historians since.
Campaigns to reinstate such dynasties as the Hohenzollerns, the Habsburgs, the Wittelsbachs, the Braganças, and even France’s House of Orléans, were taken seriously at the highest governmental and journalistic levels in London and Paris, not to mention the Holy See. Upon the whole phenomenon, this book seeks to shed light. It discusses both the phenomenon’s ‘soft power’ manifestations (the designs of newspaper tycoon Lord Rothermere upon the Hungarian throne for his son, for instance) and the phenomenon’s ‘hard power’ manifestations, among which probably the most dramatic were the successful monarchical campaigns in Albania and Greece.
With a cast that includes not only the monarchist candidates themselves but Churchill, Lloyd George, Hitler, Mussolini, and Franco, this is a drama that embraces a continent and forces thorough reappraisals of events which we thought we knew. No one can read it without acquiring a firmer grasp of political power's very nature and the sheer narrowness of the gap between victory and defeat.
Found this book very interesting dividing up the various countries where Royal houses fell post WW1 and how the countries tried to develop different systems and the aftermath of what happened to these families. Has been fully researched and would interest anyone with an interest in modern history.
NetGalley, stephen hutchison
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
NetGalley, Magdalena Šejdová
I have read a book on a similar topic before, which was published in 1994. As the author reminds us of the last attempt at a monarchist coup in Germany, it proves one thing – the topic is still relevant and worth exploring.
I was very impressed by the structure of the book. I learned a lot of new things, for example, about Portuguese history, which I believe is not as well-known. Each chapter was very well organized, and the events were clearly described. The text is engaging and informative, which allowed me to learn a lot.
This book is a great contribution to the literature on monarchies and their falls.
About Robert Stove
Historian and organist Robert James Stove is the author of César Franck: His Life and Times (Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 2012), The Unsleeping Eye: Secret Police and Their Victims (New York City: Encounter Books, 2002), and Prince of Music: Palestrina and His World (Sydney: Quakers Hill Press, 1990). His articles have been frequently published in The American Conservative (of which he is a Contributing Editor), Modern Age, The Musical Times, The Sydney Organ Journal, Organ Australia, and elsewhere, while his organ-playing has been captured on five CDs all available on the Ars Organi label. In 2021, he was awarded his PhD in musicology from Sydney University, having devoted his doctoral thesis to Sir Charles Villiers Stanford’s organ compositions. He lives in Melbourne with his beloved cat.
Sophia – Mother of Kings The Finest Queen Britain Never Had (Hardback)
Sophia, Electress of Hanover, was born to greatness. Granddaughter of James I and mother to George I, she was perhaps the finest queen that Britain never had. As daughter of Frederick V of the Palatinate and Elizabeth Stuart, Sophia emerged from an impoverished, exiled childhood as the Winter Princess, a young woman of sparky intelligence, cutting wit and admirable determination. Once courted by Charles II, Sophia eventually gave her heart to Ernest Augustus, at whose side she became the first Electress of Hanover and the mother of the first Georgian king of Great Britain. Sophia: Mother of Kings,…
By Catherine CurzonClick here to buy both titles for £34.99