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  • The King in Love

  • Edward VII's Mistresses
  • By: Theo Aronson
  • Narrated by: Shaun Grindell
  • Length: 13 hrs and 37 mins
  • 3.7 out of 5 stars (21 ratings)
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The King in Love cover art

The King in Love

By: Theo Aronson
Narrated by: Shaun Grindell
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Summary

The King in Love is an all-embracing account of the loves of that celebrated royal womanizer, Edward VII - as prince of Wales and as king. It is also a study of the three women with whom the king was most deeply in love - his "official" mistresses, Lillie Langtry, Daisy Warwick, and Alice Keppel.

Spanning three decades and packed with incident, scandal, and high romance, the story is set in the extravagant and hypocritical world of late Victorian and Edwardian society. It is full of colorful characters: Edward's beautiful and betrayed wife, Alexandra; the three cuckolded husbands - Edward Langtry, the earl of Warwick, and the Honorable George Keppel; the flamboyant Oscar Wilde; the sensuous Sarah Bernhardt; the dissipated Prince Albert Victor; and the sexually complex W. E. Gladstone.

Royal biographer Theo Aronson draws on new and unfamiliar material in this vivid book and reassesses many aspects of his subjects' lives. He challenges long-established myths and reveals much that was hitherto unknown - not least the extraordinary scene that took place at the deathbed of King Edward VII. The result is a brilliant evocation of a world and a way of life that is gone forever.

©2014 Theo Aronson (P)2015 Tantor

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What listeners say about The King in Love

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Retarded Narrator Ruins Historical Biography

I am only 5 minuets into this wonderful biography and from the very first sentence this audiobook is Unbearable to listen to. Shaun Grindell narrates with an irritating ' jittering Crescendo' with the ending of each and every sentence leaving the work unlistenable. I am having to return this terrible audiobook. How Audio found this reading passable for public consumption says a lot about their professional standards. I have 989 audiobooks in my collection, but would have many more wonderful works on my list if it were not for some of the ATROCIOUS narrators ruining excellent books. COME ON AUDIO, ONLY USE PROFESSIONAL NARRATORS when you expect your members to pay Professional Prices.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Impossible

The performance is impossible to listen to .mr Grindell breaks every sentence into separate parts of two or three words .all in the same flat tone . Dreadful

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Spoiled by poor narration

If you could sum up The King in Love in three words, what would they be?

A fascinating book

Who was your favorite character and why?

The king

What didn’t you like about Shaun Grindell’s performance?

Very sloppily read, with many mispronunciations and even wrong words altogether

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Lovers and losers

Any additional comments?

An excellent book spoiled for me by the carelessness of the reading. Could someone not have ensured that the narrator understood what he was reading?

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Mr
  • 02-07-18

Appalling Reader

This is a fascinating story. However, the readers delivery was so lugubrious as to make it impossible to listen to.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Terrible narration.

The text is relatively interesting if you are interested in the Edwardian age, but the narration is awful.
The accent of the narrator appears to be British English, but his pronunciation is decidedly american. So when speaking of Marlborough House it is pronounced as Marlboro, Derby (to sound like carb) is pronounced to sound like kerb. there are innumerable similar instances, which deter from concentrating on the content.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Enjoyable Read

All aspects of history fascinate me…. Even Bertie’s many love affairs. But the author shows the other side of Edward VII, his need not only for sexual thrills but to be loved and mothered also, as well as companionship.
I enjoyed the book, even got used to the ‘breathy’ and slightly drawled narration! Excellent bed time reading.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Interesting

A very interesting book.Queen Alexandra was a long suffering wife.
The book was ruined by the dreadful narrator .

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Terrible narration

The book is interesting enough but the narrator speaks English haltingly and with many mispronunciations which really spoil the book. "Marlborough", a word which is used very often, is always "Marlburrow" and other names are oftem wrong. His emphasis is very strange - for example, what should be an "enormous looking-glass" becomes an "enormous-looking glass". Disappointing.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Awful narrator, interesting story

This book is interesting but the narrator is very annoying. He seems to think he's Mills and Boon, trying to be seductive and sometimes almost whispering! He also appears unable to pronounce words properly. So many great audiobooks ruined by narration.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Enlightening read

Well written window into the discreet and sometimes not so discreet goings on from a bygone age. Brought perfectly to life by an excellent narrator.

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