Elizabeth was not born to be queen, being third in line to the throne. Yet from her accession as a young mother of two in 1952 to the age of Covid-19, she proved an astute and quietly determined figure, leading her family and her people through more than seventy years of unprecedented social change. She faced constitutional crises, confronted threats against her life, unified the Commonwealth, saw fifteen British prime ministers come and go, charmed world leaders, and steered her family through a lifetime in the public eye. Her Platinum Jubilee was celebrated in June 2022 and her death mourned months later, both events a reminder of the huge impact she had made. Robert Hardman, one of Britain’s most acclaimed royal biographers, now wraps up the full story of one of the undisputed greats in a thousand years of monarchy. Hardman distills Elizabeth's complex life into a must-read study of dynastic survival and renewal. It is a portrait of a world leader who remains as intriguing today as the day she came to the Throne at age twenty-five.

The definitive portrait of Queen Elizabeth IIby a renowned royal biographer in an updated Commemorative Edition following Her Majesty's passing, 1926-2022. Robert has written this book in the best possible way without showing any bias, including all the controversies that the Queen had to face. Diana's funeral and controversies related to Prince Andrew and Prince Harry-Meghan Markle are all discussed in detail here. For the Jubilee, I also watched a few documentaries about Queen Elizabeth. My favorite was, The Unseen Queen, 2022. Many of the biographies of Queen Elizabeth and other royals have been written in a way that makes the author appear to have an axe to grind. In other words, they can be catty and written in manner that makes the royal look bad. However, this book is so refreshing in that I didn’t find that to be the case here. This book was written in a positive manner and included so many things that I have never learned before. Yes, there are some difficult times and some good times too.Most biographies of Elizabeth II follow the “Crown in Crisis” narrative, which frames the Queen as lurching from one disaster to another, and portrays her reign as one of managed decline. The TV series The Crown is an outstanding example of this story of catastrophes – and Hardman is having none of it. He maintains that, for most of the so-called crises of her reign, the Queen remained firmly in control. On February 6th, 2022 ,she marks 70 years on the Throne. Robert Hardman, the acclaimed and respected author of Her Majesty and Queen of the World has already examined the Queen as a modern monarch and her role as a stateswoman abroad. Now, he wraps up the full story of one of the undisputed greats in a thousand years of monarchy. When discussing current affairs or politics, particularly foreign affairs, she never seems bored by it, or tired by it. I think it's that sort of combination of knowing "I have to do this" and finding it interesting at the same time." There have always been people for and against the monarchy. Here is a quote from the book that I found put the situation quite well: “Left Wing radicals couldn’t understand why ordinary workers view the monarchy as a source of patriotic pride rather than as a class thing." The author is a well known writer and broadcaster, specializing in the monarchy and history. He has spoken to and interviewed many people who knew the Queen including the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge.

This is a delightful book that follows Queen Elizabeth from her birth to today. We see so much about the family here than in other books I have read. While the book is rather long, it is also filled with so many events I’ve not read about before so I enjoyed every bit of it.

There is of course, an ethical question at the center of the constitutional/ parliamentary monarchy. It is this: Recognizing all the benefits of this system, particularly those realized through a capable long reigning monarch, the great percentage of which cannot be realized by an appointed rather inherited royalty: