The entertaining biography of Edward VII and his playboy lifestyle, by
Stephen Clarke, author of 1000 Years of Annoying the French and A Year in
the Merde. Despite fierce opposition from his mother, Queen Victoria,
Edward VII was always passionately in love with France. He had affairs with
the most famous Parisian actresses, courtesans and can-can dancers. He
spoke French more elegantly than English. He was the first ever guest to
climb the Eiffel Tower with Gustave Eiffel, in defiance of an official
English ban on his visit. He turned his French seduction skills into the
diplomatic prowess that sealed the Entente Cordiale. A quintessentially
English king? Pas du tout! Stephen Clarke argues that as 'Dirty Bertie',
Edward learned all the essentials in life from the French.