The 'King, Kaiser, Tsar' who were cousins

It was Queen Victoria's grandsons – Georgie, Nicky, and Willy – who marched the world to World War I.  - By Randy Dotinga

King, Kaiser, Tsar: Three Royal Cousins Who Led the World to War
By Catrine Clay
Walker & Co.
416 pp., $26.95

There was Georgie, dutiful and perhaps a little bit dim. Nicky, loving but weak. And Willy, jealous, cruel, and insecure. Bound by family ties, dominated by bossy relatives, and crippled by personal weaknesses, these three royal cousins ineptly reigned as Europe fell into the abyss of the Great War.

Sounds pretty grim, doesn't it? Ah, but there's plenty of life in these long-dead royals and their colorful clans, as British author Catrine Clay proves in her witty, revealing, and perceptive new history.

The scandals, quarrels, and rivalries of these ruling families "were played out in public, on the dangerous stage of international politics," writes Clay in King, Kaiser, Tsar: Three Royal Cousins Who Led  continue...