Cecil Whitaker-Wilson

How refreshing and delightful it was to read this small history book about Whitehall Palace by a master of the English language in the true British style! That means by the way that the language is direct, spare and to the point in a most charming style. This is not a dry dusty description of the construction of a building. It is a lively account of its history including the English Monarchs, noblemen and churchmen who built it , renovated it , and added to it, and lived history within its walls. If you are interested in the Tudors, they are here in all their glory.
The book reminded me of Marian Fowler's book on Blenheim Palace which again is not just about the construction of a palace but a lively and sometimes scandulous history of those who lived within it's walls.
Since I am recommending this book to others, I apologize, but I do not know about its availability today. I know that Amazon UK and Amazon .com have records of other history books by Mr Whitaker-Wilson which are better known than this one including a history of Sir Christopher Wren. I am certainly going to look for more. I would be remiss if I did not add that I purchased this book at at a London Used Book store and the book had a new looking bookmark in it from Wychwood Books, Secondhand & Antiquarian Books, Lucy & Henry Baggott, Sheep Street, Stow on the Wold, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. I do not know if they have a website. The book I purchased is the 1934 edition HC which is stamped by the Gloucestershire County Library which actually makes it more charming to me, thinking about it sitting on their shelves in excess of 70 years. It has some additional items pasted in including a postcard of Whitehall Palace and a Print of Henry VIII. There is a bookplate about the book which is pasted in and states:

"This book tells you the story of a country house once owned by Hubert de Burgh in 1240, when Westminster was in the country and Trafalgar Square the little village of Charing. It tells you how this house became the property of the Archbishop of York: how Henry VIII forced Cardinal Wolsey to surrender it: how it became the home of the Tudor and Stuart Kings: how they worked in it , roystered in it, died in it: and what became of it in the end"

Don't you love the understatement! Now if only I could write such straightforward concise reviews of a book.… (more)