Binding is purple cloth with a gilt heraldic design on front cover and gilt lettering on spine. Dj has some slight shelfwear, mainly to top of spine, otherwise bright and clean; now protected inside a cover. 224 pages, including the index; 16 pages of colour plates; 100 illustrations in black and white. Symbol of an era in which Britain freed herself from the restraints which had surrounded life under Victoria, Edward VII was renowned as a sportsman, bon viveur, and lover of beautiful women. As Prince of Wales he had been prevented by his mother from taking any active part in the government of the country, so he had thrown himself wholeheartedly into being the leader of a fashionable and idle set whose behaviour scandalised much of contemporary opinion. Twice, the activities of his friends forced the Prince to appear as a witness in court, and when he came to the throne at the age of sixty, there were those who feared that his conduct might not be fitted to his high office. Yet he was to be one of the most popular kings ever to reign, with both his people and his ministers. At home he was to do much to adapt the monarchy to a new and more symbolic role in the Constitution and abroad he was to help lead Great Britain out of splendid, but precarious, isolation into which she had retreated at the end of the nineteenth century.

History Biography Edwardian