WATCH RUPERT SOAMES READ ‘THE PROFLIGATE DUKE,’ BY MARY SOAMES
BOOK #5 IN OUR '40TH READINGS AT CHARTWELL BOOKSELLERS' VIDEO SERIES
Lady Mary Soames, Winston Churchill’s youngest daughter, was a friend of Chartwell Booksellers from our inception. She dropped in often when she was in town, always unannounced, to check on sales of her books and sign copies. She was utterly down to earth and altogether charming.
Her first authored work was a biography of her mother, CLEMENTINE CHURCHILL, which came out in 1979, four years before we opened. We have carried it continuously ever after. She followed this with a delightfully offbeat biography of the Churchill family’s most dissolute ancestor, THE PROFLIGATE DUKE: George Spencer Churchill, Fifth Duke of Marlborough, and his Duchess, published in 1987, our fifth year of existence. It is the next book in our 40th Readings at Chartwell Booksellers video series, as read by her son, Rupert Soames.
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George Spencer Churchill, Fifth Duke of Marlborough, was a wastrel, who squandered his family’s wealth and ruined his wife, Lady Susan and their six children, with his infidelities and indiscretion. His saving grace was a genius for gardening, as well as musicianly abilities and a passion for book collecting that endears him to us, at least. First, as the Marquess of Blandford, and later as the Duke Of Marlborough, he was a regal disaster. Lady Soames’ book captures him at his worst, and for the best.
RUPERT SOAMES is the youngest of Mary and Christopher Soames’ five children. He is a corporate executive and was appointed to the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2010.
40th READINGS AT CHARTWELL BOOKSELLERS
toasts the best 40 books about Winston Churchill published during our forty year existence. We launched the series on April 11 with actor JOHN LITHGOW reading
THE LAST LION. You can watch that reading: HERE.