The heir apparent : a life of Edward VII, the playboy prince
(Book)

"Originally published in Great Britain by Chatto & Windus.,,, London, in 2012 as Bertie: a life of Edward VII."

Includes bibliographical references (pages [603]-698) and index.

Born Prince Albert Edward and known as Bertie, the future King Edward VII had a well-earned reputation for debauchery. A notorious gambler, glutton and womanizer, he preferred the company of wastrels and courtesans to the dreary life of the Victorian court. His own mother considered him a lazy halfwit, temperamentally unfit to succeed her. When he ascended to the throne in 1901, at age fifty-nine, expectations were low. Yet by the time he died nine years later, he had proven himself a deft diplomat, hardworking head of state and the architect of Britain's modern constitutional monarchy.