Get the Ricochet app
Ricochet will work fine in a browser on your mobile devices, but for the best experience please download our app.
Winston Churchill may be Britain’s greatest Prime Minister, among its greatest advocates of the Parliamentary system. He resolutely remained a commoner despite several offers of peerage. Yet Clementine Churchill, Winston Churchill’s wife, said her husband “was the last believer in the Divine Right of Kings.”
Winston and the Windsors: How Churchill Shaped a Royal Dynasty, by Andrew Morton, shows how intertwined the destinies of Winston Churchill and the House of Windsor were throughout his lifetime. It shows how the Royal Family shaped his early life and how he changed their destiny in his later life.
Morton reveals the close relationship between the Churchills and the Royal Family. Albert Edward, eldest son of Queen Victoria and later Edward VII of the United Kingdom, was a close friend of Randolf Churchill, Winston Churchill’s father. Queen Victoria would probably have termed them cronies and disapproved. After Randolf’s early death, Edward remained close to Lord Randolf’s widow, Jennie Churchill.
Morton shows how Edward served as a father surrogate to Winston Churchill, helping young Churchill during his early career. He assisted Churchill’s political career launch and remained fond of the young talent, even as Churchill’s radical Liberal Party politics drove a wedge between him and the rest of the Royal Family.
Royal relationships were frostier after Edward’s 1910 death. Edward’s wife, Alexandra, blamed Churchill in part for Edward’s death. George V, for whom Churchill was an acquaintance, initially mistrusted him. Morton shows how the two began working together after Churchill helped defend George from a bigamy accusation. Later Churchill was First Lord of the Admiralty. The relationship was strained at times, but remained cordial. In 1914 the Royal Family changed the family name to Windsor.
More interesting are Morton’s descriptions of Churchill’s relations with George V’s children, especially Edward and Albert (who reigned as George VI). Churchill taught the future Edward VIII public speaking and guided Edward’s early career. Churchill quixotically sacrificed his own career defending Edward after the king sought to marry Wallis Simpson.
Afterwards, while Churchill remained friends with Edward, he transferred his loyalty to George VI, working to protect the House of Windsor’s image, running roughshod over Edward when necessary to do so. Morton shows the partnership forged between George and Churchill during World War II and how Churchill advised Crown Princess and later Queen Elizabeth.
Winston and the Windsors is fascinating. It offers a rare look at the relationship between Churchill and Britain’s ruling family, showing how he shaped it for the better.
“Winston and the Windsors: How Churchill Shaped a Royal Dynasty,” by Andrew Morton, Hanover Square Press, October 2025, 400 pages, $32.00 (Hardcover), $15.99 (E-book), $24.90 (Audiobook)
This review was written by Mark Lardas, who writes at Ricochet as Seawriter. Mark Lardas, an engineer, freelance writer, historian, and model-maker, lives in League City, TX. His website is marklardas.com.
Discussion (7)
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
I'm reading this book and enjoying it right now.
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
In his biography of his distinguished ancestor Marlborough, Churchill tells the story of heroic, steadfast loyalty to the crown despite betrayal, petty politics and bad judgment even at enormous personal cost. Pretty clearly a role model for Winston.
CONTRIBUTOR
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
Yes.
CHARTER MEMBER
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
Last week I visited the IWM (Imperial War Museum) where they have an exhibit of Churchill's WWII command center in the basement of Westminster, that he operated for the duration of the war. It was excellently done with none of the creeping woke crap that has tended to permeate the museum curator crowd the last decade.
He was both brilliant and had some very rough edges that they did not shirk from displaying. We got there at 1pm and had to be kicked out at closing time at 5pm. Could have spent at least another hour.
CHARTER MEMBER
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
One of my very favorite books is Our First Revolution by Michael Barone, a detailed study of the Glorious Revolution that unseated the Stuarts and installed William and Mary, in the process establishing the rights of British citizens in ways that hugely influenced the American Revolution. I recommend the Audible book, superbly narrated by Stephen Hoye.
Winston's ancestor John Churchill was a key player in the Glorious Revolution, and his wife also played a very large role, especially after William III died and Anne ascended to the throne.
You're seeing five of seven comments. Sign in, or join for just $5 per month, to read them all and add your own.