The King is Dead, Long Live the King!

The fascinating true story of the events surrounding the year 1910 when King Edward VII died, sending shockwaves through Britain.

‘I could read Martin Williams all day. This book throws shafts of light on recent history almost repeating itself, giving vivid glimpses into monarchy and the way things were, and are. Compulsory reading.’ – DAME JOANNA LUMLEY

‘A clear-sighted portrait of the age, deftly drawn, characterful and compelling, this rich and fascinating account of the Edwardian period is as lively and warm as it is painstakingly researched and elegantly written.’ – READER REVIEW ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

***’***Not just beautifully written and informative but entertaining, thought-provoking and, in places, deeply moving (I actually cried!). Highly recommended.’ – READER REVIEW ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘If you’re at all interested in British history or various funereal customs, you’ll really enjoy this. Even if you’re not, it really has a bit of something for everyone and reads so easily.‘ – READER REVIEW ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Unforgettable as it was, the public response to the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022 was not without precedent. When her great-grandfather King Edward VII – glamorous, cosmopolitan and extraordinarily popular – died in May 1910, the political, social and cultural anxieties of a nation in turmoil were temporarily set aside during a summer of intense and ritualised mourning.

In The King is Dead, Long Live the King! Martin Williams charts a period of tension and transition as one era slipped away and another took shape. Witnessed by a diverse but interconnected cast of characters – crowned heads and Cabinet ministers, debutantes and suffragettes, artists and murderers – here is the swansong of Edwardian Britain. Set against a backdrop of bereavement and parliamentary crisis overshadowed by the gathering clouds of war, we see a people caught between past and future, tradition and modernity, as they unite to bid farewell to a much-loved monarch who had personified his age.

From Buckingham Palace to Bloomsbury, and from the lying-in-state in Westminster Hall to a now legendary Royal Ascot enveloped in black, this is a vivid evocation of a world on the brink of seismic upheaval.

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Critical acclaim for The King is Dead, Long Live the King!

‘A social historian and gifted storyteller, Williams is by turns moved and amused as he reflects on the poignancy and rituals of a nation united (pretty much) in grief…’ — The Times

‘adroitly-written…[told by Williams] so skilfully, and with such silken prose, that it’s a pleasure to spend the time inside his head’ — The Oldie

‘delightful details…to rekindle this vanished epoch’ — Country Life

‘Vivid, panoramic, skilfully written, this gripping book is an insight into a time and an age’. — Kate Williams

‘witty, informative and immensely readable… captures the spirit of the times’. — Miranda Seymour

‘A tour de force’. — Dr Kate Strasdin

‘We tend to think that Cecil Beaton single-handedly invented the Edwardian Age. Martin Williams shows us succinctly and elegantly that perhaps it was the King himself.’ — Nicky Haslam

‘a must-have… a wonderful and thought-provoking read.’ — The Historian

‘…a book about a changed and changing world trying to cope with even more change…beautifully written [and] timely’ — The Catholic Herald

‘…resonates powerfully with our own recent experience of collective mourning…Williams describes the king’s gradual demise in evocative detail.’ — Air Mail