Winston & Clementine: The Triumphs & Tragedies of the Churchills

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A dinner party in London in 1908 led to the marriage of Winston Churchill and Clementine Hozier. Neither had wished to go, but Clementine's mother persuaded her daughter to accept the invitation, while Winston's private secretary told him sternly that it was his duty to attend. By chance they sat next to each other, and the outcome was an intense and speedy courtship between a son of the Marlboroughs of England and a daughter of the Airlies of Scotland.

This first dual family biography does not neglect Winston's life as a child, a soldier in India and Africa, and his astonishing rise and fall in politics. It is equally revealing about Clementine's turbulent childhood and young womanhood, when self-doubts led to broken engagements.

But there was no more loyal a wife in the political arena of the first half of the century, and Winston's love was unwavering in spite of Clementine's suspicions. Nevertheless, those close to them recognized that the marriage was not a tranquil one. There were times when the frequent separations, caused by political and military obligations as well as by choice, came as a welcome relief to both of them.

This book corrects some misconceptions about Winston's own family and about Clementine's parentage, and reveals the depth of mutual love and support between Winston and his younger brother, Jack, as well as the bond of affection between their wives which did so much to steady Clementine in her most difficult times.

Here, then, is a full portrait of the Churchills, as revealing in personal relations as in Winston's monumental achievements, to which many people and members of the family today have offered their support and most vivid memories.