Royal Duke

Résumé du livre

“The sons of George Ill are sometimes lumped together and dismissed as 'Queen Victoria's wicked uncles'. Of them all, Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex, the sixth son, was perhaps least deserving of the title. He was an active and outspoken champion of the great humanizing issues of his day - reform, abolition, emancipation - a keen student of the bible, president of both the Society of Arts and the Royal Society, and for long Grand Master of British Free-masonry. But the Duke of Sussex was no plaster saint. His impulsive marriage to Lady Augusta Murray contravened the Royal Marriage Act, of which he was probably the most notable victim, infuriated the King, and caused a furore in polite society. Even second marriage to Cecilia, ninth daughter of the Earl of Arran and widow of Sir George Buggin, although tacitly accepted by Court and country, was another independent gesture by a Duke who in his lifetime was made to feel all the drawbacks of his royal station while enjoying few of the advantages. Mollie Gillen has made extensive use of the Royal Archives at Windsor, and her thorough research of contemporary journals and letters gives this essentially romantic biography a lively historical colour and background which makes fascinating reading. The author's skill as a historical detective was established with her previous book, The Prince and His Lady, which unravelled the mystery of the Duke of Kent's French companion, Madame de St Laurent. In this definitive biography of the Duke of Sussex, illustrated with sixteen pages of striking and quite rare pictures, Mrs Gillen has produced another tour-de-force, providing us with a sensitive and perceptive portrayal of a Royal Duke who was nonetheless all too human.”-Publisher.