To Play the King

To Play the King
Michael Dobbs

Newly elected Prime Minister Francis Urquhart takes on the new King, in the controversial No 1 bestselling second volume in the Francis Urquhart trilogy – now reissued in a new cover.After scheming his way to power in ‘House of Cards’, Francis Urquhart made a triumphant return in ‘To Play the King’ – a Sunday Times No 1 bestseller that became a hugely successful BBC TV series, with Ian Richardson resuming his award-winning role as Francis Urquhart.Its highly controversial and uncannily topical storyline – in which the role of the monarchy in modern Britain comes under scrutiny as Prime Minister Francis Urquhart threatens to expose Royal secrets when his plans are blocked by the idealistic new King – coincided with a huge increase in public interest in the future of the Royal Family following a series of Royal scandals.

MICHAEL DOBBS

TO PLAY THE KING

Copyright (#u0daff878-3fbd-5599-a02a-f4844cc6e11c)

This is entirely a work of fiction. Any references to real people, living or dead, real events, businesses, organizations and localities are intended only to give the fiction a sense of reality and authenticity. All names, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and their resemblance, if any, to real-life counterparts is entirely coincidental.

HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.

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First published in Great Britain by HarperColl‌insPublishers 1992

Copyright © Michael Dobbs 1992, 2014

Michael Dobbs asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

Cover design © HarperColl‌insPublishers Ltd 2015

Cover photographs © Shutterstock.com

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

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HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content or written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication

Source ISBN: 9780006471646

Ebook Edition © APRIL 2015 © ISBN: 9780007397617

Version: 2018-10-08

Praise for To Play the King:

‘With a friend like Michael Dobbs, who on earth needs enemies? Gloriously cheeky. Dobbs’ books grab because of their authenticity’

The Times

‘Highly readable…a model of its kind and impeccably timed’

Daily Mail

Lucy and Andrei

For Medford 1971. For Fiskardon 1981.

For Villars 1991.

For Everything.

Contents

Cover (#u7a30a3b0-b901-5be2-ae88-6c72a7a7ce27)

Title Page (#ubc73f271-4557-542d-8d83-0e851491d21e)

Copyright (#u7453eea5-fba5-53a8-90b6-a97eb61532ac)

Praise (#u0d1d1730-773c-5e1e-89e3-98a824d62963)

Dedication (#uf18fab0c-2881-5468-9cb7-c486de574b1f)

Introduction (#ud3000b3d-29ac-53d2-9063-45776c19425b)

Prologue (#u374ad4ca-dd9b-5e37-b48a-ca304b8cfbc0)

PART ONE (#u616ff80a-8cca-51c4-988e-d28ca8981848)

Chapter One (#u6b725fb2-e59a-5086-a770-4e32489a1be3)

Chapter Two (#u77db9def-c557-54ed-ad21-9b646dad3394)

Chapter Three (#ubf4fb83b-2ab0-5f7b-a9d3-86ea111c05f7)

Chapter Four (#u9147fcff-888b-522c-a789-a016ba74a8f6)

Chapter Five (#u75fa4216-656f-574a-aeff-b2dd67755f69)

Chapter Six (#u642ad870-275e-5ed3-b354-a1f5288092c5)

Chapter Seven (#ub7ad0737-7d39-513e-8cfa-421cf2e290f4)

Chapter Eight (#ud4225491-2772-57b5-888f-5c696da974d0)

Chapter Nine (#u3e46a84a-5c60-5200-9e80-86d080b39f36)

Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)