THE REMARKABLE LIFE OF PETER TOWNSEND, THE MAN CONSIDERED TO BE THE GREAT LOVE OF PRINCESS MARGARET'S LIFE, EQUERRY TO KING GEORGE VI AND HERO OF THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN. 'A Royal fairy tale' Sunday Telegraph 'One of the saddest love stories of modern times' The Scotsman 'One afternoon, at Windsor Castle, when everyone had gone to London for some ceremony, we talked, in the red drawing-room, for hours - about ourselves. It was then that we made the mutual discovery of how much we meant to one another. She listened, without uttering a word, as I told her, very quietly, of my feelings. Then she simply said: "That is exactly how I feel, too." It was, to us both, an immensely gladdening disclosure, but one which sorely troubled us.' The romance between Princess Margaret and Group Captain Peter Townsend in the 1950s rocked the British Establishment, pulled at the heartstrings of a nation and brought sorrow to two intensely human individuals. In Time and Chance, Peter Townsend tells his side of the story in intensely personal terms, and places the episode within the whole context of his full and varied life, a story which includes great heroism in World War II as well as his part in one of the most publicised love stories of the twentieth century.

Christian IX and Queen Louise were the first couple of the Glucksburg line on the Danish throne. They had a difficult beginning, as they ascended the throne in 1863, immediately prior to the military defeat by Prussia and Austria in 1864. However, they eventually became popular with the Danish people, not least because they secured such advantageous marriages for their six children that already in their own day they were known as "Europe's parents-in-law". Today there are not many European royals who are not descendants of Christian IX and Queen Louise, who died in 1906 and 1898 respectively. This book is part of the Crown Series, a series of small books on the Danish monarchy and related subjects published in cooperation with the Royal Danish Collection.

By kind permission of Her Majesty The Queen, this book has been based on extensive research over many years in the Royal Archives and elsewhere. The author was the first official Curator of the Royal Photograph Collection. Queen Alexandra was a private person who destroyed or left instructions to destroy, much of her archive, but nevertheless enough remains in the form of original documents, such as engagement diaries and letters and informal information, to chart her life more completely than ever before and to attempt to rectify the negative or dismissive attitude towards her which has gained credence in some previous works. This method, rather than drawing mainly from over-salted and peppered memoirs written much later, aims to show her character, enables readers to get to know her and to appreciate what an enormous amount a senior member of the royal family has to accomplish, while still remaining the loving daughter, sister, wife and mother, and keen supporter of the arts, welfare and education, that Alexandra was. During her life she met many famous, notable and intriguing people, while her own journey - from the young, modest Danish Princess who married the Prince of Wales in 1863, to the popular Queen Consort of King Edward VII, and the beloved Queen Mother - saw her personal development and courageous struggle against disability, especially deafness. She was a generous, thoughtful and caring woman, who maintained her sense of humour and interest in all kinds of things and under sometimes challenging circumstances. She could be a lively correspondent and her letters will help readers to understand her far better than has hitherto been possible. This book is long and detailed and readers may like to dip in and out of it, finding stories in all parts, rather than reading it straight through, but it might claim a place among the variety of entertainments which are comforting us in these difficult times.

Before he fell in love with Wallis Simpson, Edward VIII had fallen in love with America. As a young Prince of Wales, Edward witnessed the birth of the American century at the end of the First World War and, captivated by the energy, confidence, and raw power of the USA as it strode onto the world stage, he paid a number of subsequent visits: surfing in Hawaii; dancing with an American shop-girl in Panama; and partying with the cream of New York society on Long Island. Eventually, of course, he fell violently in love with Wallis, a Southern belle and latter-day Scarlett O'Hara. Forceful, irreverent, and sassy, she embodied everything that Edward admired about modern America. But Edward's fascination with America was not unreciprocated. America was equally fascinated by the Prince, especially his love life, and he became an international media celebrity through newsreels, radio, and the press. Indeed, even in the decades after his abdication in 1936, Edward remained a celebrity in the US and a regular guest of Presidents and the elite of American society.