THE SUNDAY TIMES #1 BESTSELLER
A Book of the Year in The Times and Financial Times
‘The biographer who brought down Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’ THE OBSERVER
‘This isn’t a book; it’s a case for revolution’ SUNDAY TIMES
‘Surely has a claim to the title of book of the year, for its seismic impact’ 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
Andrew Lownie was educated at Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he was President of the Union, before taking his master’s and doctorate at Edinburgh University. A Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, he later returned to Cambridge as a visiting fellow at Churchill College. He has been a bookseller, publisher, journalist writing for The Times, Telegraph, Wall Street Journal, Spectator, Guardian and since 1988 has run his own literary agency. He is President of the Biographers Club, sits on the board of Biographers International Organisation and is a Trustee of the Campaign for Freedom of Information. His books include the prize-winning Stalin’s Englishman: The Lives of Guy Burgess (2015) and the top ten Sunday Times bestsellers The Mountbattens: Their Lives and Loves (2019) and Traitor King: The Scandalous Exile of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor (2021).
