Court painting in England from Tudor to Victorian times Book

I'll admit that Downton Abbey brought me here. I was intrigued by the real life character of Freda Dudley-Ward and I thought it was interesting that the personal letters of a future king would be available almost 100 years after they were written. Since we don't know her side of the story, we can only speculate. She never commented or wrote a tell-all as formers lovers are prone to today.

However, Prince Edward or "David" as his family called him, has turned out to be childish and selfish. He certainly didn't see a problem in pursuing married women, as Mrs. Dudley-Ward was only the first in a long line. I found his writing to be very juvenile and self-centered. Keeping in mind these were to be private thoughts to his partner, his comments on other countries and their people are not complimentary. They certainly do not paint in him in a gracious light.

As an edited work, the editor has added some historical information to put the letters into perspective and that aspect was well done.