The Churchills: A Family Portrait

Beautiful and powerful, the Churchills dominated world politics for generations – but like every family they have their secrets... Winston Churchill is arguably the most famous Briton, but a shroud of mystery still surrounds him and his family. Myths propagated by Winston’s political enemies persist to this day, yet the truth is just as compelling. His younger brother John (Jack) has been largely forgotten but played a crucial role both in Winston’s successes and in holding the family together financially. From the allegations of their father Lord Randolph’s syphilis and Winston’s seemingly endless struggle to succeed as a politician, to their mother Jennie’s social successes and Jack’s dashed ambitions, Celia and John Lee use never-before-seen archives of hundreds of family letters to cut through the rumours and lies, and get to the truth about the life of the former Prime Minister and his relationship with his family. In The Churchills: A Family Portrait, the reader is provided the first, fully inclusive study of this remarkable family.
Praise for The Churchills: A Family Portrait:
’The Lees succeeded in providing a clear insight into the family life of Winston Churchill and his brother John (Jack), whilst shedding new light on the important relationship with their parents, Randolph and Jennie. Essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the Churchills’ – Randolph L.S. Churchill ‘A fascinating new book by Celia and John Lee, who were granted unique access to the private papers of Winston Churchill’s nephew, Peregrine S. Churchill, is set to challenge common misunderstandings about the family dynamic. The Lees have done Churchillian history a great service with their diligence, throwing light on a part of the story that has not hitherto been fully understood’ – Andrew Roberts, author of Churchill: Walking With Destiny “By their careful re-reading of the known letters between the principal characters, and the blending in of new material from Peregrine S. Churchill’s archive, Celia and John Lee add enormously to our understanding of the great Churchill family.” – Allen Packwood, Director, Churchill Archives Centre, University of Cambridge “This book brings Winston’s brother John (Jack) into the picture as no previous work has done and is a valuable contribution to our knowledge.” – Richard M. Langworth CBE, author of Winston Churchill, Myth and Reality: What He Actually Did and Said “We also discover here for the first time that Winston and Jack both had happy, loving childhoods by the standards of upper-class families in Victorian England, while Winston had chosen to portray himself as a lonely, victimised child, who triumphed over adversity. – Christopher Hudson, Daily Mail Celia Lee is an historian and biographer, author of Jean, Lady Hamilton (1861-1941) Diaries of A Soldiers Wife; HRH The Duke Of Kent: A Life of Service; and co-editor of and contributor to Women in War: From Home Front to Front Line. John Lee is well known in militar