A Brief History of the House of Windsor: The Making of a Modern Monarchy
By (Author) Michael Paterson
Little, Brown Book Group
Robinson
21st May 2013
United Kingdom
General
Non Fiction
941.0820922
Paperback
288
Width 167mm, Height 208mm, Spine 20mm
204g
The British monarchy may be over a thousand years old, but the House of Windsor dates only from 1917, when, in the middle of the First World War that was to see the demise of the major thrones of continental Europe, it rebranded itself from the distinctly Germanic Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to the homely and familiar Windsor.
By redefining its loyalties to identify with its people and country rather than the princes, kings and emperors of Europe to whom it was related by birth and marriage, it set the monarchy on the path of adaptation, making itself relevant and allowing it to survive. Since then, the fine line trodden by the House of Windsor between ancient and modern, grandeur and thrift, splendour and informality, remoteness and accessibility, and influence and neutrality has left it more secure and its appeal more universal today than ever.Michael Paterson is the author of several history books, including A Brief History of the Privae Life of Elizabeth II, also published by Constable & Robinson.