The Roosevelts and the Royals

May 31, 2004
This melodramatically subtitled footnote to history by Swift, a longtime writer on royal history for Majesty
magazine, focuses on the brief visits, in the summer of 1939, by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth to Washington, D.C., and Hyde Park. Foreign visits by heads of state are carefully choreographed. This one was especially so, as the president was wheelchair-bound and the king, more withdrawn than his outgoing queen, was a stammerer and still new to his role as sovereign. On both sides of the Atlantic, the abdication of Edward VIII to marry a twice-divorced American was still deplored. The colorless George VI was on probation. Massive press hype—as well as diplomatic reticence—made the brief visits, which also included a stop at the New York World's Fair, a success. King George was still colorless, but few noticed, and his royal style during the war beginning that September was sufficiently self-effacing and quietly steadfast to erase concerns about his authority on the throne. Even stretched with asides, though, the royal progress encompasses only 47 pages. The rest— following the protagonists from the 1880s to the 1950s—is padding. A passionate collector of royal memorabilia, Swift has packaged a book for collectors of royal memorabilia. 44 b&w illus.

July 15, 2004
Comparative politics involving Great Britain and the United States during the 20th century forms the background for this book, which traces the lives of two couples, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. British amateur historian Swift elucidates the monarchical aspect of World War II, which is typically slighted; accounts tend to focus on the American presidency and the British prime ministership. Swift starts with George VI's visit to the United States shortly before the outbreak--a first for a British monarch. The climax of the four-day visit was on June 11, when the Roosevelts served the king and queen hot dogs at Hyde Park in what became the most famous picnic in U.S. history, symbolizing the two nations' new democratic bond. The book covers the entire lives of its subjects and presents FDR and the queen as natural politicians from whom their spouses had to learn. Although the subtitle is pure hype, this realistic book will appeal to those interested in the history of World War II, the British monarchy, and the Roosevelts. Recommended for public and academic libraries.--William D. Pederson, Louisiana State Univ., Shreveport

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2004
Psychologist Swift is an American royal-watcher and contributor to niche publications devoted to monarchical celebrities. Here he assembles meetings that in various permutations occurred among Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt, Britain's King George VI and consort Queen Elizabeth, and ancillary members of the four principals' siblings and progeny. He covers a century of chronology, beginning with the youthful Franklin's encounters with British blue bloods and ending with a 2002 trip by Prince Andrew to Roosevelt's Hyde Park home. Prince Andrew went there to commemorate the central event of Swift's compendium, George VI's 1939 visit to the U.S., the public relations highlight of which was Their Majesties' (as Swift loyally denominates his subjects) plebeian consumption of hot dogs. Swift's rendition of that trip captures all details of protocol, whether trumpeted in the press at the time or committed to a diary, and characterizes his presentation of subsequent royal-Roosevelt meet-ups during World War II and afterward. Historical minutiae much of it may be, but Swift's work strikes an undeniably popular chord of interest.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)