Tag: Royal

September 28, 2023

U-47 in Scapa Flow The Sinking of HMS Royal Oak 1939

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Free Download Angus Konstam, Peter Dennis, Alan Gilliland, "U-47 in Scapa Flow: The Sinking of HMS Royal Oak 1939"
English | 2015 | pages: 82 | ISBN: 1472808908 | PDF | 21,4 mb
Even with Germany in the ascendency at the beginning of World War II, Scapa Flow was supposed to be the safe home base of the British Navy. Nothing and nobody could penetrate the defences of this bastion, which was built up to formidable levels in World War I and symbolized the faith placed by the British in the invulnerability of their navy. So how, in the dead of night on October 13, was Gunther Prien’s U-47 able to slip through the line of protective warships undetected to sink the mighty Royal Oak? This book provides the answer with an account of one of the most daring naval raids of World War II indeed – in all of history. Drawing on the very latest underwater archaeological research, this study explains how Prien and his crew navigated the North Sea, Kirk Sound and some very unlikely odds to land a devastating blow on the British, and became among the very first German heroes of World War II. It reveals the level of disrepair that Scapa Flow had fallen into, and delves into the intriguing conspiracy theories surrounding the event, including an alleged cover-up by the then First Sea Lord, Winston Churchill.

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September 26, 2023

The First Royal Media War Edward VIII, The Abdication and the Press

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Free Download The First Royal Media War
by Adrian Phillips;
English | 2023 | ISBN: 1399065416 | 242 pages | True PDF EPUB | 21.9 MB
The abdication crisis of 1936 demolished the wall of silent deference that had protected the British royal family from press comment and intrusion since the days of Queen Victoria. King Edward VIII was a child of the burgeoning age of media and the first celebrity monarch, but the immense personal popularity created by his charm and good looks was not enough to save him when he came into conflict with a government that embodied the conservative ethos of the time. Nor did the support of powerful media barons. In the United States William Randolph Hearst, who inspired Citizen Kane, dreamed of giving Britain an American Queen and manoeuvred with Wallis Simpson to place her on the throne. In Britain the Anglo- Canadian newspaper magnate Lord Beaverbrook hoped to use the confrontation between the King and the government to force the prime minister, his bitter enemy Stanley Baldwin, out of power. Edward was blocked from broadcasting his case directly to the public, which was the source of deep resentment to him. The government treated the couple’s media initiatives as declarations of war and was prepared to respond savagely. The British press remained tactfully silent almost until the end of the crisis, but behind the scenes, a cold war was being fought. For the rest of his life, Edward fought to air his grievances against the ill-treatment to which he thought that he had been subjected. He believed that he had been forced to abdicate by a coalition of reactionaries grouped behind the Archbishop of Canterbury. Edward resented bitterly the ostracism to which he and Wallis were subjected by his brother and sister-in-law, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, especially the refusal to grant his wife royal status. With sometimes farcical results, Edward tried to find authors who put over his side of the story. Beaverbrook supported Edward but tried to bend Edward’s quest to fit his own agenda. The establishment did its utmost to restrain Edward and maintain a discreet silence over the crisis, but gradually members of the royal court abandoned reticence and fought back. The abdication challenged the British monarchy as an institution. A large part of the legacy is today’s no-holds-barred media environment where the royal family’s issues are fought in a ruthless glare of worldwide attention.

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