Queen of Our Times: The Life of Elizabeth II

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The author also doesn't forget to give us some never before heard details about Queen's sense of duty and humor sense. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The author did his best to be even-handed when discussing various scandals and problems. His use of words was charming.... Jeffrey Epstein was mentioned several times as "the inexplicably wealthy businessman". This article from Elite Daily contains a nice list of documentaries if you would like more in that genre...

Hardman calls the first decade of Elizabeth’s era the “unfinished reign” of George VI, when the old guard of the previous Household remained in charge. By the late 1960s, the old men had gone. The Queen was firmly installed, and she embarked on a programme of modernisation. 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. While I’m not interested in the celebrity of monarchy, I am interested in the governance/ geopolitical precedent of the English system. Most of my reading of the Royal Family has taken place in context of history and biography. I also watch a few documentaries. Though I write more of my musings about the ethics of the system in my review, the only other book I have also read/ reviewed is the inferior: Elizabeth: The Unseen Queen tells the story of the Queen's life through BBC exclusive access to never-before-seen home videos and footage of Elizabeth’s private moments, making it the most complete look at her life in existence to date. For the Jubilee, I also watched a few documentaries about Queen Elizabeth. My favorite was, The Unseen Queen, 2022.Shy but with a steely self-confidence; inscrutable despite ten decades in the public eye; unflappable; devout; indulgent; outwardly reserved, inwardly passionate; unsentimental; inquisitive; young at heart.

You can get a feel for Hardman’s style and content in this article, published by the Daily Mail on June 1, 2022, the eve of the Queens Jubilee Celebrations announced in the opening statement of this review: With fascinating revelations from those who knew her best and special access to unseen royal papers granted by Elizabeth II herself, author and royal expert Robert Hardman explores the full, astonishing life of our longest reigning monarch in this authoritative yet intimate biography.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." 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.

Simon Sebag Montefiore Robert Hardman has written a truly exceptional biography of an equally exceptional monarch, rich in new material, wit and original thought. With intimate and unrivalled access to those who really know the story, Queen of Our Times not only gives us the real Elizabeth II, but it also reminds us, often movingly, that we are living through one of history’s greatest reigns. The definitive portrait of Queen Elizabeth IIby a renowned royal biographer in an updated Commemorative Edition following Her Majesty's passing, 1926-2022.

She invited the US ambassador, Will Farish, to attend as her guest of honour. The gesture was not only profoundly comforting for expatriate Americans stranded in the UK, but resonated powerfully across the United States. So, too, did the Queen's message to the American people. To this day, her conclusion – 'Grief is the price we pay for love' – remains one of her most widely quoted statements." This is as much a biography of the last 70 years as of the Queen herself, published only months before her death. It is rich in fascinating insights and revealing details from interviews with key players - from prime ministers and presidents to members of the royal staff, and paints a positive but believable picture of a committed monarch performing the delicate balancing act of maintaining the status quo whilst moving with the times. Queen Of Our Times is the definitive biography of Queen Elizabeth II by one of Britain’s leading royal authorities, Robert Hardman. This commemorative edition includes an epilogue reflecting upon Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee, her passing and her funeral. Die Zitate von verschiedenen Personen, die die Queen trafen und kannten Verleihen dem Buch nochmal mehr Authentizität.

The book also charts the way in which the Queen raised the future King Charles III as both son and heir.A definitive portrait of Queen Elizabeth II on the seventieth anniversary of her reign by a renowned royal biographer. 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. There are plenty of good stories. Who knew that Thelma Holland, who did the Queen’s makeup for her Coronation, was the daughter-in-law of Oscar Wilde? There’s an anecdote about the sharp-eyed Queen inspecting film footage of Queen Victoria at one of her Jubilees. “That’s interesting,” she remarked after a pause. “They had eight horses on the landau.” Or a glimpse of the Queen on a Pacific cruise in the 1970s helping one of her equerries to dress up as a Polynesian beauty. The Queen was kneeling on the floor, and “he was stripped to the waist and she was fitting a brassiere on him.” It’s worth remembering that it is often the small steps, not the giant leaps, that bring about the most lasting change." Queen Of Our Times, read by the author, is the definitive biography of Queen Elizabeth II by one of Britain’s leading royal authorities, Robert Hardman. This commemorative edition includes an epilogue reflecting upon Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee, her passing and her funeral.