The older I get the more I'm convinced that it's the purpose of politicians and journalists to say the world is very simple, whereas it's the purpose of historians to say, 'No! It's very complicated.' The job of the historian… — David Cannadine Copy Share Image
Royal relationships across the generations have often been strained and distant, rather than close and affectionate. Most eldest sons, interminably waiting to become king, have not been on the best of terms with the sovereign to whose death they look… — David Cannadine Copy Share Image
Cruel and paradoxical though it undoubtedly is, the record shows that yje most succesful 20th century monarchs have been those who were not actually… — David Cannadine Copy Share Image
Lord Beaverbrook was fundamentally a lonely man, with a low sense of his own self-worth, who was incapable of forming a stable, loving relationship… — David Cannadine Copy Share Image
The older I get the more I'm convinced that it's the purpose of politicians and journalists to say the world is very simple, whereas… — David Cannadine Copy Share Image
For those who reject it, the Victorian experience is something to feel embarrassed about, to apologise for, to escape from, and never to repeat.… — David Cannadine Copy Share Image
Charitable endeavour exalts the prestige and the status of the giver. This may sound unduly cynical but as with all philantrophic activity, it is… — David Cannadine Copy Share Image
Prince Charles's concern for the underprivileged and disadvantaged has not exactly endeared him to the Conservative Central Office. As Norman Tebbit replied, it is… — David Cannadine Copy Share Image
More attention should have been given to the fundamental transformation which took place during Queen Victoria's reign, from ruling sovereign to constitutional monarch. Again,… — David Cannadine Copy Share Image
Kitty Kelley's method, already perfected in her unauthorised and unflattering biographies of Frank Sinatra and Nancy Reagan, is to write bestsellers that take what… — David Cannadine Copy Share Image
David Irving has consistenly applied an evidential double standard, demanding absolute documentary proof to convict the Germans (as when he sought to show that… — David Cannadine Copy Share Image
For all her active goodness, Florence Nightingale herself was far from being the angelic figure of popular adulation: according to Lytton Strachey's Eminent Victorians… — David Cannadine Copy Share Image
On several occasions, we are informed that the professional ideal 'took steps', 'organised assaults', and 'selected social problems'. But this is anthropomorphic metaphor implausibly… — David Cannadine Copy Share Image
Vernon Bogdanor's account The Monarchy and the Constitution is written as much in the shadow of Edmund Burke as it is of Walter Bagehot.… — David Cannadine Copy Share Image
