This is the first ever biography of the extraordinarily colourful Archduke Wilhelm von Habsburg (1895-1947). Tattooed, bisexual, crossdressing, multilingual, he was a major - and symbolic - figure in 20th-century European culture and politics. Born into one of the great European dynasties with every expectation of a glittering future, instead he became a playboy in Paris during the 1930s and died - a spy for Britain - under interrogation in a Soviet prison. The arc of Wilhelm's life therefore describes the dying fall of the ...
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This is the first ever biography of the extraordinarily colourful Archduke Wilhelm von Habsburg (1895-1947). Tattooed, bisexual, crossdressing, multilingual, he was a major - and symbolic - figure in 20th-century European culture and politics. Born into one of the great European dynasties with every expectation of a glittering future, instead he became a playboy in Paris during the 1930s and died - a spy for Britain - under interrogation in a Soviet prison. The arc of Wilhelm's life therefore describes the dying fall of the ancient regime - the Europe of his birth bears very little resemblance to that of his death.Operating largely in inter-war Europe, Wilhelm is like a Le Carre character - a prisoner of private impulses that drove him to a doomed secret war. To the history of the Second World War the book adds a detailed discussion of Hitler's confrontation with a particular object of his loathing - the Habsburg family. A major subject of the book is Soviet communism and it's effect on the individual; cf Vassily Grossman's Life and Fate and A Writer at War. This is a book of exceptional brilliance and originality - it cites documents from 20 archives and in 12 languages; each chapter title is a different colour.
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Add this copy of Red Prince, The The Fall of a Dynasty and the Rise of to cart. $26.37, good condition, Sold by Pieuler LLC rated 3.0 out of 5 stars, ships from IPSWICH, SUFFOLK, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2008 by The Bodley Head Ltd.
Add this copy of Red Prince, The The Fall of a Dynasty and the Rise of to cart. $86.86, new condition, Sold by Pieuler LLC rated 3.0 out of 5 stars, ships from IPSWICH, SUFFOLK, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2008 by The Bodley Head Ltd.
