Giles St Aubyn – författare

'An exceptional study, which fascinates, entertain, and illuminates.' The New YorkerThrough half a century of public service King Edward had the advantage of a private secretary whose tact, judgement, loyalty and affection never failed him. Francis Knollys was one of that small intimate circle from whom he had no secrets, personal or political. Previous biographers of the King have lamented the too perfect discretion that led Knollys to destroy all his papers on his master's death, but in fact his discretion outreached even its own reputation. The Knollys Papers were preserved with the perfect secrecy that their creator practised in the discharge of his office, but were put at the disposal of the author, enabling him to extend and deepen the commonly held portrait of a man whose physical grossness has, as in the case of the Prince Regent, been allowed to obscure both a keen intelligence and a serious even conscientious pursuit of duty. King Edward is here shown to have deserved the deep affection and respect felt for him by his private secretary.'In Edward VII Giles St Aubyn has splendidly filled the gap between hagiography and muck-raking ... one of the most elegant yet solidly-founded studies so far produced of this splendid monarch.'. Sunday Telegraph'This book has delighted me by its good judgement of character and its pungency, as well as by the important new material it includes.' Raymond Mortimer

Son of the eccentric Adolphus, seventh and favourite son of George III, Prince George was born in 1819 and was briefly heir presumptive to the throne of England until the birth that same year of his cousin Victoria. Instead he became George, second Duke of Cambridge, and rose to be Commander-in-Chief of the Army aged 37, holding that position for 39 years. Often considered a hidebound reactionary, he nonetheless took a keen interest in reform of the Army, and made considerable efforts to improve the soldier's lot.In the year that the title of Duke and Duchess of Cambridge was bestowed by HRH the Queen upon Prince William and Catherine Middleton on the morning of their wedding, this charming, substantial and formidably researched life of 'The Royal George' has a renewed topicality.

Son of the eccentric Adolphus, seventh and favourite son of George III, Prince George was born in 1819 and was briefly heir presumptive to the throne of England until the birth that same year of his cousin Victoria. Instead he became George, second Duke of Cambridge, and rose to be Commander-in-Chief of the Army aged 37, holding that position for 39 years. Often considered a hidebound reactionary, he nonetheless took a keen interest in reform of the Army, and made considerable efforts to improve the soldier's lot.In the year that the title of Duke and Duchess of Cambridge was bestowed by HRH the Queen upon Prince William and Catherine Middleton on the morning of their wedding, this charming, substantial and formidably researched life of 'The Royal George' has a renewed topicality.

'Even the lives of scoundrels play some part in portraying an age...'Our interest in all things Victorian - in the seamy side of the era especially - is ageless and undimmed. Giles St. Aubyn's Infamous Victorians, first published in 1971, stands as a brilliant illumination of two dark stories of the time, replete with sinister elements of iniquity and hypocrisy.In the first fifty years of Victoria's reign two doctors were hanged after being found guilty of murder at the Central Criminal Court. Both men were 32 years old, both poisoners, both murdered for money. Dr William Palmer was a notorious figure, tried for a single murder though he almost certainly killed others. Dr George Lamson was a morphia addict convicted of killing his crippled young brother-in-law at Blenheim House school. Giles St. Aubyn restores them to life on the page, examines their careers and assesses their guilt.