The True Story of the Abdication

The People's King

Susan Williams is a historian at the University of London.   She has published widely on history and literature, her previous books include Ladies of Influence (Allen Lane 2000)

In this candid and moving account Susan Williams tells the story of what really happened to King Edward, drawing on diaries, secret documents and thousands of letters sent to Edward by the public to re-create the tragic events that led to his abdication.  She reveals a hugely popular, deeply loved monarch, one whose modern ideas and sympathy for the poor so unsettled the establishment that his devotion to Wallis Simpson provided the perfect excuse to force him off the throne.

Susan Williams

The Triumph of Seretse Khama and His Nation

Sir Seretse Khama, the first President of Botswana and heir apparent to the kingship of the Bangwato people, brought independence and great prosperity to his nation after colonial rule.  But for six long years from 1950, Seretse had been forced into exile in England, banned from his own country.  His crime?  To fall in love and marry a young, white English girl, Ruth Williams.  Delving into newly released records, Susan Williams tells Seretse and Ruth's story - a shocking account of how the British Government conspired with apartheid South Africa to prevent the mixed-race royal couple returning home.  But it is also an inspiring, triumphant tale of hope, courage and true love as with tenacity and great dignity Seretse and Ruth and the Bangwato people ovecome prejudice in their fight for justice.

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