Elizabeth
A Biography of Her Majesty the Queen
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4.3 • 3 Ratings
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- £5.99
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- £5.99
Publisher Description
Sarah Bradford's Elizabeth is the definitive biography of the Queen, revealing the real woman behind the public figure - now celebrating the Platinum Jubilee, her 70th year on the throne
The Queen has lived through nearly a century of immense change and upheaval. Her own family experiences, a mixture of happiness and crisis, weddings and divorces, and, in the case of Diana, violent death, have been lived in the glare of tabloid headlines. More than 2 billion people watched the wedding of her grandson Prince William to Catherine Middleton in 2010 shortly before she made the first State Visit to Ireland by a British monarch for 100 years. Our world has changed more in her lifetime than in any of her predecessors': the Queen has remained a calm presence at the centre, earning the respect of monarchists and republicans. How has she done it?
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'The only book that could overtake it is the autobiography, which in this case will never be written' Spectator
'Bradford has a real grasp of history and the ability to make it spark into new life' Sunday Telegraph
'Bradford's forte, ever since she was a history-mad girl, is thinking herself into other lives' Daily Telegraph
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Extracts from this biography caused a furor in the British press last month, with headlines screaming of the Duke of Edinburgh's alleged infidelities and Princess Margaret's suicide threats. Following at least three major biographies of England's Queen comes Sarah Bradford, Vicountess Bangor in private life, an aristocratic insider. She has already published biographies of George VI, Princess Grace of Monaco and Benjamin Disraeli, among others. On this occasion, claiming access to private papers (which the Palace denies she saw), Bradford has written a quiet, rather sensible biography that is neither antimonarchist nor an apology for the public problems of the Windsors. Despite the headlines, she is actually as interested in the intricacies of the royal finances (known quaintly as the Civil List and the Privy Purse) as she is in the sexual shenanigans of Princesses Margaret, Diana and the Duchess of York. Her portrait of the Queen is of a superb professional. She reports on Her Majesty's hard work, her understanding of political affairs, her attention to detail and her consideration of her staff. She also finds Elizabeth to be a woman of her times and her background, for whom confrontation and emotional display are foreign and whose attempts to preserve the monarchy have, on occasion, had unfortunate results. The great majority of this detailed biography is informative and balanced--a convincing portrait of a traditional and often anachronistic way of life, as well as of a reigning monarch. Photos not seen by PW.
