Spying and the Crown: The Secret Relationship Between British Intelligence and the Royals
£10.70£12.30 (-13%)
A Daily Mail Book of the Year and a The Times and Sunday Times Best Book of 2021
‘Monumental.. Authoritative and highly readable.’ Ben Macintyre, The Times
‘A fascinating history of royal espionage.’ Sunday Times
‘Excellent… Compelling’ Guardian
For the first time, Spying and the Crown uncovers the remarkable relationship between the Royal Family and the intelligence community, from the reign of Queen Victoria to the death of Princess Diana.
In an enthralling narrative, Richard J. Aldrich and Rory Cormac show how the British secret services grew out of persistent attempts to assassinate Victoria and then operated on a private and informal basis, drawing on close personal relationships between senior spies, the aristocracy, and the monarchy.
Based on original research and new evidence, Spying and the Crown presents the British monarchy in an entirely new light and reveals how far their majesties still call the shots in a hidden world.
Previously published as The Secret Royals.
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Additional information
| Publisher | Atlantic Books, Main edition (6 Oct. 2022) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Paperback | 736 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 1786499142 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1786499141 |
| Dimensions | 12.9 x 4.1 x 19.8 cm |
by Ursula Hewson
The book is a gift for xmas. I cant give it without the title.
by john harris
A detailed recapitulation of the stories royal historians have already scoured in depth and at length, but with no fresh insights and no personal investigation. Despite the plaudits from reviewers, very disappointing
by Katrina
I have recently finished reading this book by Richard Aldrich & Rory Cormac. It is an interesting book, but whilst the authors might know a lot about spying their knowledge of Royal history is clearly not so good. It is a pity that they didn’t find someone to read it through before publication to check those areas of their book where their knowledge is not so good.
These are some of the errors that I noticed.
1) There was more than one King Leopold of the Belgians. Leopold I died in 1865.
After this date they get him muddled up with his son Leopold II.
2) They say that Prince Alexander of Battenberg (& Bulgaria) wanted to marry the Empress Friedrich (Victoria) known as Vicky. It was her daughter Princess Victoria of Prussia known as Moretta that he was interested in marrying.
3) On page 128 the authors say that the future King George V & Queen Mary were in the party of the Empress Elisabeth of Austria when she was assassinated in Geneva. I would love to know where they get this information from. In nearly 50 years of reading about European Royalty I have never read that before.
4) The photograph on the bottom opposite page 438 is of the young Princess Margaret & not of Princess Elizabeth.
I have written to the publishers about these errors in the hope that they might be corrected before a paperback version is published as this is how inaccuracies become facts.
by john stretch
First of all, the paperback version suffers from a more and more common shortcoming of small print size. Added to that the binding is excessively tight so you need both hands to hold the book open to read, and a third hand would be useful to hold the book and turn the pages.
I expected coverage of the subject from earlier times, but a short section of the role of espionage in Elizabeth1 v Mary is really all you get until Victorian era, and the main part of the book covers George V1 onwards and so replicates other books covering WW2
Having said that, I did learn a lot about the Crimean War period, and some about earlier times
At present hardback versions are about the same price as paperback, I wish I had noticed that before buying
by Vicuña
I’ve really enjoyed this book which seems thoroughly researched with source material referenced. The early chapters on the Tudor and Elizabethan courts where spies and double agents were keeping the monarch well informed are intriguing.
I really enjoyed the later chapters dealing with more recent times and there’s a new slant on many names that will be familiar; Blunt, Profumo, Burgess, Krushev etc. I had no idea that the late Queen took so much time going through her daily red boxes which included detailed intelligence material. I also founded the concerns about Mountbatten interesting, particularly given his connection to Philip and his influence over the Royal family.
It’s an easy read, packed with trivia and it brought to mind many if the scandals and stories I’ve read about over the last 50 years or so. A cracking slice of modern social history.
by m carter
Very well written. In chronological order and full of revellations, spills the beans on some real traitors.
by Lance Grundy
Absolutely no mention of the Hess affair, which defines the relationship between Crown, the secret services and the government. The period from November 1940 to 10th May 1941 is vital to this story and to omit it defies belief.
by Ursula Hewson
A revealing look into the links between the British monarchy and the country’s security services. It charts the development of Britain’s spy network from its origins in Tudor times protecting Queen Elizabeth I, right up to its involvement with Princess Diana and the various scandals of the modern day royals. Fortunately, there’s no conspiracy theories here and very little speculation. It’s just an interesting account of how the Royal Family and the Establishment has used spying and espionage to further their interests and protect the realm for the past 400-odd years.