The Times Queen Elizabeth II: Commemorating her life and reign 1926 – 2022

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For many years, this book has been regarded as one of the best and most perceptive of biographies of the monarch. Had Ben Pimlott not died in his 50s in 2004, he would surely have produced another updated edition. Pimlott was a political scientist and historian who had dabbled with a political career, written lives of British Labour figures, and in 1996 this whopper, to which he added five chapters for the Golden Jubilee in 2002. It was immediately acclaimed on publication and in his foreword to a 2012 Diamond Jubilee edition, historian Peter Hennessy said it was the “product of what happened when a leading political biographer and a top-flight historian of the 20th century ... took a long and serious look at the formation, the functions, the style and the adaptability of the lady whom we Brits of the post-war era were, and are, so fortunate to have as our Head of State”. But according to Irving, former managing editor of Britain’s Sunday Times and inaugural editor of Conde Naste Traveller, to know the Queen is impossible. As he told Vanity Fair: “If you’re a biographer of the Queen, when you come to the end of the work of the biography, you ask yourself seriously and honestly, how much more do you understand of this person now than you did when you started the book? I had to say to myself, well, she’s still amazingly unknowable.” Brown is not an intellectual journalist, still less a historian, but she is a captivating storyteller,” wrote Peter Craven when he reviewed the former New Yorker editor’s take on today’s royals, “and she can be wonderful with the telling quote even though the upshot in this hugely overwritten book is far more scintillating about Diana and Charles and Camilla than it is about William and Kate, Harry and Meghan.”

Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait by Gyles Brandreth review Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait by Gyles Brandreth review

He is a frequent lecturer on the monarchy and commentator on royal matters for American broadcasters. When Majesty was published, former New Statesman editor Anthony Howard wrote in The New York Times: “Lacey is historian and biographer in his own right as well as being a highly professional journalist – and though authentic source material on the Royal Family is scanty (no one is allowed to know even the names of the Queen’s dogs) he has methodically been through virtually everything that exists.” Joanna Lumley, an out-and-out fan, knits it all together and says she wanted the book to be “a discovery of her (Elizabeth) through the eyes of other people ... this book is as if I had been let loose with my microphone and wandered about among people I met at random, asking ‘What do you remember of the Queen?’” Margaret had to find some sort of meaning to her life - read Craig Brown’s 99 Glimpses of Princess Margaret for an original take on her life – but her sister, despite perhaps being exasperated by her partying, drinking, and divorce, never really deserted her during her many difficulties. Poor, sad Margaret died only a few weeks before the Queen Mother, a double blow for the Queen. International Col 1 Cambridge International Caribbean International Early Years Collins Big Cat for International Schools International Resources Webinars Catalogues Big Cat Writing Competition Winners 2023The former newspaperman’s biography of the Queen is predicated on the notion that she saved the House of Windsor and therefore monarchy has survived. Indeed, his subtitle refers to her 70-year battle to do just that. Of course, he can’t ignore the massive changes she has weathered during her reign, and brings it bang up to date with discussion about the rift between the Sussexes and the rest of the royal family. The late Queen played a key role in helping to solve the “Brexit impasse”, which allowed the UK to leave the European Union with a deal in 2019, a new book reveals.

Queen Elizabeth II — 12 books to understand her life and reign Queen Elizabeth II — 12 books to understand her life and reign

Towards the end, in his consideration of the future he cites the Harvard political scientist Joseph Nye, who first identified the concept of soft power, calling her one of Britain’s core soft-power assets. “I think Brexit reduced British soft power in much of the world, in terms of influence, but it did not affect the cultural attraction of the Queen.” The question is where to start now? Here is a selection of the many books about the life of the late Queen Elizabeth II. Some are more recent, including a couple from this year, while others were first published years ago.This biography by Ben Pimlott is generally considered the best political life of Elizabeth II. A former chairman of the Fabian Society — and biographer of Harold Wilson and Labour MP Hugh Dalton — Pimlott’s account of the Queen’s life is unsentimental. Updated in 2012 by Pimlott’s friend and colleague Peter Hennessy, it focuses on the Queen’s career as a constitutional monarch, her interventions in politics and the impact her leadership had on monarchy, government and diplomacy. remembers the glorious reign of Britain's longest-serving and much cherished monarch. Drawn from seven decades of detailed and fascinating reporting by The Times, discover insights and memories of the extraordinary period of social change that was our nation's second Elizabethan age.