Read A Brief History of the House of Windsor for Free Online

about the safetyof young royals in theatres of conflict just as they would about their own sons.
    Once the Armistice had been signed, the former sense of distance between monarchy and public would not return. The age of ‘mass media’ had by that time begun, with the advent of the cinema and the popular press at the turn of the century. Now there would also be wireless. The magazines and pictorial newspapers enjoying a heyday were always looking for ways to engage public attention, and would focus on the activities of the royal family in a way they had not previously done. The new generation of the family would, in any case, give rise to widespread fascination, either through the sheer charisma of the glamorous young Prince of Wales or the heartwarming domestic contentment of his brother Bertie’s family.
    The end of the conflict brought an international economic and social climate that was different from anything the king or his ministers had lived through before. With so few monarchies left, and the example of Bolshevik Russia encouraging revolution elsewhere, with a sense of entitlement among those who had fought and with an economic climate that was to prove the worst within living memory, the royal house was sailing through uncharted waters just as much as it had been during the war years. It was necessary to find out what sort of monarchy fitted these times and then swiftly adapt to provide it.
    When the war had ended, there was speculation about who the older princes would marry. There would now be no further dynastic alliances – no more brides would be shipped across the North Sea, and no British prince could have courted public hostility by looking in that direction for a wife. (The Prince of Wales, having served in the war, was violently anti-German at that time in any case.) Lloyd George told the king privately that public opinion would no longer accept foreign spouses – a daring concept, since up to that time there had scarcely been any other kind. King George agreed, andhe made another announcement, to the Privy Council, in 1917 that was to have enormous, and beneficial, consequences for his family. He stated that in future members of the royal house could wed British citizens. This, more than anything else, was to change the character of the British monarchy and make it into the middle-class-writ-large that it has been ever since.
    In the decades that followed, through depression and war, economic boom and bust, industrial unrest, European integration and global terrorism, the House of Windsor has continued seeking to give its subjects the monarchy they want, treading a fine line between ancient and modern, grandeur and thrift, influence and neutrality. There have been mistakes, even disasters, but to an overwhelming extent Britain’s royal family has been successful. Its popularity has never been in doubt and, though individual members may lose favour for a time, the institution itself remains remarkably sound.
    The marriage of Prince William of Wales and Catherine Middleton in April 2011 appears to have secured the future of the British throne for, at the least, half a century to come. So much about this young man and woman – their casual meeting, their on-again, off-again courtship, the relative ordinariness of their tastes, their friends, and above all their desire to live as unassuming a life as possible – is perfectly in tune with modern attitudes and expectations. They are seen as finding their own way in life, and as having the ability to relate to their future subjects without formality or unease. All evidence suggests that their popularity will continue to grow and that they will be highly successful sovereigns thirty years from now.
    In this they are simply the latest in a series of personalities to have benefited the monarchy, for the Windsors have, throughout their short history, been fortunate in those who have led and belonged to it.
    There is more to the House of Windsor than its