Lownie, Andrew – The Bell Bookshop

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Emma — Thu, 21 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

THE SUNDAY TIMES #1 BESTSELLER

A Book of the Year in The Times and Financial Times

‘This isn’t a book; it’s a case for revolution’ CAMILLA LONG, SUNDAY TIMES

‘A damning cannonball of truth through the York ramparts’ MAIL ON SUNDAY

‘Surely has a claim to the title of book of the year, for its seismic impact’ JANINE GIBSON, FINANCIAL TIMES

‘This book has changed the way its readers think. Possibly the most important book that touches on the British monarchy since the days of Thomas Payne’ WILL LLOYD

‘As represented in the book’s pages, the royal family, with its appendages and penumbra, can be seen as an impossible entity, toxic to those in it and attached to it, and subtly contaminating the rest of us.’ DAVID AARONOVICH

Drawing on four years of research, numerous FOI requests and interviews with over a hundred people who have never spoken out before, the book traces the lives of the late Queen’s second son and his ex-wife through their childhoods, courtship, marriage, divorce, careers, and royal and charitable activities.

Having still lived together until their departure from Royal Lodge in 2025, they claimed to be “the happiest divorced couple in the world”. The book investigates the reality of their relationship and their love lives. It charts Andrew’s record in the Falklands, his business activities and reveals details of how the couple have been able financially to sustain their extravagant lifestyles. It also recounts the full story of their links with Jeffrey Epstein.

Chronicling their lives in parallel, the picture that emerges is of a spoilt former prince unable to connect and a former duchess pushed by her insecurities into a desperate need to maintain the attention her ‘royal’ status brought. Rigorously researched and packed full of revelations, this is eye-watering biography at its best.

‘This isn't just a royal biography. It's a study in reputational collapse and the danger of unchecked power inside Britain's most protected institution' THE STANDARD

‘A catalyst for Andrew’s de-princing‘ THE TIMES

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Emma — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The first joint biography of the Duke and Duchess of York and the first full biography of either of them, by renowned royal biographer and literary agent, Andrew Lownie.

Drawing on four years of research, numerous FOI requests and interviews with over a hundred people who have never spoken before, the book traces the lives of the late Queen’s second son and his ex-wife through their childhoods, courtship, marriage, divorce, careers, and royal and charitable activities.

Still living in the same house, they claim to be ‘the happiest divorced couple in the world’. The book investigates the reality of their relationship and their love lives. It charts Andrew’s record in the Falklands, his business activities and reveals details of how the couple have been able financially to sustain their extravagant lifestyles. It also recounts the full story of the Yorks’ links with Jeffrey Epstein.

Chronicling their lives in parallel, the picture that emerges is of a spoilt prince unable to connect and a duchess pushed by her insecurities into a desperate need to maintain the attention her ‘royal’ status brought. Rigorously researched and packed full of revelations, this is eye-watering biography at its best.

Traitor King

Emma — Thu, 12 May 2022 00:00:00 +0000

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERUPDATED PAPERBACK FEATURING NEW CONTENTA Daily Mail Royal Book of the Year, 2021A Spectator Book of the Year, 2021’Briskly written and compulsively readable’ – A.N. Wilson, TLS’Meticulously researched’ – Spectator’Entertaining, convincing, timely’ – Evening StandardDecember 1936. The King of England, Edward VIII, has given up his Crown, foregoing his duty for the love of Wallis Simpson, an American divorcée. Their courtship has been dogged by controversy and scandal, but with Edward’s abdication, they can live happily ever after. But do they?In Traitor King, bestselling historian Andrew Lownie draws on hitherto unexplored archives to uncover the dramatic world of the Windsors post-abdication. Lownie reveals a couple obsessed with their status, financially exploiting their position and manipulating the media. Filled with treachery and betrayal, this is a story of an exiled Royal and the Nazi attempts to recruit him to their cause. And of why the Royal family never forgave the Duke for choosing love over duty.

Traitor King

Emma — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0000

A Daily Mail Royal Book of the Year, 2021’Darkly compelling…hundreds of eye-popping details…Gripping … damning portrait of the Windsors’ Daily Mail ‘Book of the Week”Briskly written and compulsively readable…’ – A.N. Wilson, TLS’Meticulously researched’ – Spectator’Entertaining… convincing… timely. Urgent reading for royals’ – Evening Standard11 December 1936. The King of England, Edward VIII, has given up his Crown, foregoing his duty for the love of Wallis Simpson, an American divorcée. Their courtship has been dogged by controversy and scandal, but with Edward’s abdication, they can live happily ever after.But do they? Beginning his astonishing biography at the moment most turn away, bestselling historian Andrew Lownie reveals the dramatic lives of the Windsors post-abdication. This is a story of a Royal shut out by his family and forced into exile; of the Nazi attempts to recruit the Duke to their cause, and of why the Duke, as Governor of the Bahamas, tried to shut down the investigation into the murder of a close friend. It is a story of a couple obsessed with their status, financially exploiting their position, and manipulating the media to portray themselves as victims.The Windsors were, in their day, the most glamorous exiles in the world, flitting from sumptuously appointed mansions in the south of France to luxurious residences in Palm Beach. But they were spoiled, selfish people, obsessed with their image and revelling in adulterous affairs. Drawing upon hitherto unexplored archives, Lownie shows how their glittering, brittle world was riddled with treachery and betrayal, and why the Royal family never forgave the Duke for choosing love over duty.

The Mountbattens: Their Lives & Loves

Emma — Thu, 25 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0000

FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF ENTITLED, ‘THE MOST DEVASTATING ROYAL BIOGRAPHY EVER WRITTEN’, DAILY MAIL

‘Richly entertaining… impressively well-researched’ Daily Mail

The Sunday Times bestselling biography of the glamorous couple behind the modern royal family, the aunt and uncle of Prince Philip.

DICKIE MOUNTBATTEN: A major figure behind his nephew Philip’s marriage to Queen Elizabeth II and instrumental in the Royal Family taking the Mountbatten name, he was Supreme Allied Commander of South East Asia during World War II and the last Viceroy of India.

EDWINA MOUNTBATTEN: Once the richest woman in Britain and a playgirl who enjoyed numerous affairs, she emerged from World War II as a talented humanitarian worker loved around the- world.

From British high society to the South of France, from the battlefields of Burma to the Viceroy’s House, The Mountbattens is a rich and filmic story of a powerful partnership, revealing the truth behind a carefully curated legend.

Was Mountbatten one of the outstanding leaders of his generation, or a man over-promoted because of his royal birth, high-level connections, film-star looks and ruthless self-promotion? What is the true story behind controversies such as the Dieppe Raid and Indian Partition, the love affair between Edwina and Nehru, and Mountbatten’s assassination in 1979?

Based on over 100 interviews, research from dozens of archives and new information released under Freedom of Information requests, historian Andrew Lownie sheds new light on- this remarkable couple.

‘Painstakingly researched… genuinely enthralling’ Observer
‘A page-turner which is also a carefully researched work of history’ Spectator
‘A compelling new biography…superbly researched’ Daily Express
‘Incisive… strongly recommend’ The Times