Finest Hour Spring 2019

Churchill’s Monarchs According to his wife Clementine, Winston Churchill was the last surviving believer in the divine right of kings and “Monarchial No. 1.” Sir David Cannadine has written, however, that “Churchill’s relations with the British royal family…were in practice more complex and contingent, contradictory and controversial” than his wife’s comments suggest. Sir David is among those who have contributed the five portraits that feature in this issue of the British monarchs that Churchill served over the course of his lengthy political career. Churchill first took his seat in Parliament in 1901 during the earliest days of the reign of King Edward VII. Fred Glueckstein examines the often-strained relationship that existed between the cosmopolitan king and the ambitious young man in a hurry. Relations between Churchill and King George V initially differed very…

31 July 1945 LONDON—My Dear Winston, I am writing to tell you how very sad I am that you are no longer my Prime Minister. During the last 5 years of War we have met on dozens, I may say on hundreds of occasions, when we have discussed the most vital questions concerning the security & welfare of this Country & the British Empire in their hours of trial. I shall always remember our talks with the greatest pleasure & I only wish they could have continued longer. You often told me what you thought of people & matters of real interest which I could never have learnt from anyone else. Your breadth of vision & your grasp on the essential things were a great comfort to me in the darkest days of…

Queen Anne is dead; but her contribution to British history abides with us today. The reign of Queen Elizabeth I saw a little England divided and harassed, escaping a grisly hazard from the destruction which would have been also fatal to Protestant and rationalist civilization. Queen Anne presided over, and at moments decisively aided, the rise of England to a united Britain and to the leadership of the European continent. That leadership was not permanently held, but never since the reign of Anne has Great Britain ceased to be one of the leading nations of the world. This reign also is capital in its influence on Parliamentary government as it was to flourish for two hundred years. The development of the party system, the collective responsibility of the Cabinet, the obligation of…

Following his lecture tours in the United States in 1900, Winston Churchill continued his speaking engagements in Canada. During his last lectures in Winnipeg, Churchill learned of the death of Queen Victoria, which had occurred on Tuesday, 22 January 1901. He knew that Victoria’s son Albert Edward, the Prince of Wales, ascended the throne and chose to reign under the name Edward VII. On learning of the Queen’s passing, Churchill wrote his mother: “I contemplated sending a letter of condolence and congratulations mixed, but I am uncertain how to address it and also whether such procedure would be etiquette. You must tell me. I am most interested and feel rather vulgar about the matter. I should like to know an Emperor and a King. Edward the VIIth—gadzooks what a long way…

1. Randolph S. Churchill, The Churchill Documents, vol. II, Young Soldier, 1896–1901 (Hillsdale, MI: Hillsdale College Press, 2006), p. 1231. 2. Randolph S. Churchill, Winston S. Churchill, vol. II, Young Statesman, 1901–1914 (Hillsdale, MI: Hillsdale College Press, 2007), p. 52. 3. Ibid., p. 53. 4. Ibid., p. 94. 5. Ibid., p. 182. 6. Ibid., pp. 182–83. 7. Ibid., p. 185. 8. Ibid. 9. Ibid., p. 211. 10. Randolph S. Churchill, The Churchill Documents, vol. IV, Minister of the Crown, 1907–1911 (Hillsdale, MI: Hillsdale College Press, 2007), p. 803. 11. Young Statesman, p. 426. 12. Ibid., pp. 338–39. 13. Minister of the Crown, p. 1014.…

King Edward VII died in harness. On the fourth of May, 1910, it was my duty as Home Secretary to homage a Bishop. The King performed this ceremony in a very small sitting-room leading out of his bedroom. Assisted by the Bishop of Winchester, I brought the Bishop designate into the Presence. King Edward was sitting in his chair immaculately dressed in a frock coat. His waistcoat had the white revers round the collar which was then fashionable. It was known he was ailing. I thought he looked frail and had the impression he was short of breath, but otherwise he betrayed no sign of illness or weakness. The Bishop raised his hands as if in prayer. The King took them between his own. I administered the oath by which inter alia…