Just Finished Reading: Churchill and the King – The Wartime Alliance of Winston Churchill and George VI by Kenneth Weisbrode (FP: 2013) [189pp] 

One of the things that most intrigued me in the excellent 2017 movie Darkest Hour (more later!) was the relationship between the newly appointed PM, Winston Churchill and the new(ish) King George VI. To be honest it wasn’t something that I’d ever thought about before as my knowledge of and interest in the Monarchy is generally pretty low. So, when I came across this book I snapped it up. 

Now Winston and the King obviously knew each other for a host of reasons – for one thing they moved in the same circles and Winston had been a minister in various roles long before he became PM. There was also some baggage between the two as Churchill had championed the Kings older brother during the recent, and still raw, Abdication Crisis. So, with all that said and with Winstons' mostly deserved reputation as a maverick and a self-publicist how did they become allies and then, apparently, friends? That is the meat of this surprisingly detailed but slim book. The short answer (or answers) is that they both had a great deal in common – in their personal, family and military histories – and they both had strengths and weaknesses that complemented those of the other. After some reluctance they both came to recognise each other's positive attributes and their shared determination to win the war seemingly against the odds. 

I learnt a LOT here. I’m generally familiar with Churchill’s troubled relationship with power from various readings over the years (much more of that to come I’m afraid) but I knew almost nothing about George VI. I had read a while back about his brother’s abdication and knew that he (George) was at first a reluctant monarch but that was about it. I’m now much more familiar with the man himself and with his relationship with Winston (which I guess was the point of the whole book!). It’s an interesting one. Was the King vital to the defence of the realm in those dark days? No, but he wasn’t irrelevant either. Winston’s job as PM would have been more difficult – and arguably much more difficult – if the King had opposed him as Edward might have done in George's place. It’s feasible that Churchill might have thrown in the towel at several points during the war without the King’s very public and, more importantly, private support. That’s something I hadn’t considered before. All in all, this was an interesting and sometimes fascinating look at a part of Britain’s war that I had previously overlooked. If, like me, you wondered about the relationship between these two men I can’t think of a better place to start to understand it. Recommended.  

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