George VI

THE DEFINITIVE BIOGRAPHY OF GEORGE VI, THE HERO OF THE KINGS SPEECH

George VI reigned through taxing times. Acceding to the throne upon his brothers abdication, he was immediately confronted with the turmoil in European politics leading up to the Second World War, followed by a period of austerity, social transformation. George was unprepared for kingship, suffering from a stammer which could make public occasions very painful for him. Moreover he had grown up in the shadow of his brother, a man who had been idolized as no royal prince has been, before or since. However, as Sarah Bradford shows in this sympathetic biography, although George was not born to be king, he died a great one.

A triumph . . . Sarah Bradford looks set to inherit Lady Longfords mantle as royal biographer supremeMail on Sunday

Lucid, convincing and admirably fair . . . George VI has been fortunate in his biographer Philip Ziegler

Vivid, thorough and enjoyableIndependent